10/8/01
9:10:00 PM
AFRICAN WILDLIFE DATABASES BENEFIT ANIMAL CONSERVATION EFFORTS
The health and welfare of African lions, leopards and cheetahs are coming into focus in Illinois. What is being learned, researchers say, will help with the management of the threatened big cats in Africa, as well as those in zoos throughout the world.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011001072318.htm
WE "HEAR" PERSONALITY IN COMPUTER-GENERATED SPEECH AND THE MORE IT SOUNDS LIKE US, THE MORE WE LIKE IT
People read personality into a synthetic voice even when they know that its made by a computer. Whats more, if the voice mirrors their personalities, people will like and be more readily influenced by that voice. These new findings, which have implications for the design and use of increasingly widespread text-to-speech (TTS) systems, appear in the September issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011001072153.htm
PRAYER MAY INFLUENCE IN VITRO FERTILIZATION SUCCESS; BLINDED AND RANDOMIZED INTERNATIONAL STUDY REVEALS SURPRISING RESULTS
Prayer seems to almost double the success rate of in vitro fertilization procedures that lead to pregnancy, according to surprising results from a study carefully designed to eliminate bias.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011002065831.htm
RESEARCHERS UNCOVER ALARMING NUMBER OF UNDIAGNOSED HYPERTENSION, DIABETES IN HEART STUDY
A landmark heart disease study at UT Southwestern Medical Center, which will continue for at least seven more months, has already identified a large number of study participants who have undiagnosed high blood pressure or diabetes.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011003064352.htm
ADAPTIVE-DECISION STRATEGY OFFSETS UNCERTAINTIES IN CLIMATE SENSITIVITY
The uncertainty of climate change because of global warming is much greater than previously thought, and as a result, policy-makers should adopt a robust, adaptive-decision strategy to cope with potential consequences, researchers at the University of Illinois say.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011003064020.htm
SCIENTISTS IMAGE MATERIAL THAT COULD IMPROVE MRI TECHNOLOGIES
Using a technique similar to the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) widely applied by hospitals for medical diagnosis but at a resolution 10,000 times greater, physicists at Northwestern University have gained insights into a high-temperature superconductor that might one day benefit hospital MRI technologies and the patients who rely on them.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011004065731.htm
THE ACOUSTICS OF LAUGHTER: NEW INSIGHTS INTO THIS MYSTERIOUS FORM OF EXPRESSION
While scientists have thoroughly researched many other human sounds, such as singing and talking, remarkably little is known about the acoustics of laughter. Seeking to rectify this, Vanderbilt psychologist Jo-Anne Bachorowski and Cornell psychologist Michael Owren studied 1024 laughter episodes from 97 young adults as they watched funny video clips from films such as "When Harry Met Sally" and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." The surprising results were published in the September issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011004065312.htm
SANDIA'S SOIL AND GROUNDWATER CHEMICAL "SNIFFER" MAY HELP PROTECT THE NATION'S WATER SUPPLY
A real-time gas- and water-quality monitoring system that consists of a miniature sensor array packaged in a weatherproof housing developed by the Department of Energys Sandia National Laboratories may become one tool in the effort to protect the nations water supply.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011005065414.htm
TERASCALE COMPUTING SYSTEM -- THE MOST POWERFUL SYSTEM IN THE WORLD COMMITTED TO UNCLASSIFIED RESEARCH -- INSTALLED AT PITTSBURGH SUPERCOMPUTING CENTER
The Terascale Computing System (TCS), the most powerful system in the world committed to unclassified research, is installed on schedule. Developed and implemented by the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center in collaboration with Compaq Computer Corporation, with funding from the National Science Foundation, the TCS provides computational capability to scientists and engineers nationwide.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011003063130.htm
10/8/01
8:52:34 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
Vietnam floods kill 200, waters still high - VIETNAM http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12695/story.htm
US science panel plans new fuel-efficiency study - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12693/story.htm
Northeast Util says missing nuclear fuel rods safe - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12682/story.htm
UPDATE - Oil mop-up starts after Alaskan pipe is punctured - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12691/story.htm
US plants could be harmed by warmer climate - study - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12689/story.htm
UPDATE - US utilities, green groups huddle on emissions - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12688/story.htm
Greens launch legal case to stop UK nuke plant - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12683/story.htm
New green targets may hit UK aluminium recycling - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12704/story.htm
UK power industry readies for green energy trading - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12699/story.htm
UPDATE - Ex-British Gas service arm mulls flotation - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12702/story.htm
Sweden says green power plan will lift prices - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12697/story.htm
UPDATE - Greenpeace urges Novartis to recall baby products - PHILIPPINES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12692/story.htm
Norway establishes green natural gas committee - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12687/story.htm
Rotten fish cargo source of power for Denmark - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12694/story.htm
Japan to dismantle first commercial reactor - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12698/story.htm
German court allows appeal against bottle deposits - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12703/story.htm
More than 100 join French Chernobyl cancer claim - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12700/story.htm
Sharon ruining Palestinian environment - minister - EGYPT http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12696/story.htm
10/8/01
8:49:29 PM
Follow the Money
Remember what Deep Throat said "Follow the Money". It brought down the Nixon Administration.
The best lead on who was behind this was the puts purchased (stock option contracts betting the price will fall). On one of the cable shows on finance a analysist said the number of puts in United Airlines, American Airlines (only in the airlines used by the hijackers) and businesses in the WTC that were going to be substantially impacted, was 90 times the number of puts purchase on a daily average THE DAY BEFORE THE ATTACK and this was WORLDWIDE purchases. He gave some examples of a put purchased for $375,000 that was worth $2.4 million the day after the attack. Who would gamble that much without insider knowledge? The numbers of puts purchased, in addition to the size of the investments, indicate that an extremely large number of people, possibly thousands, knew the exact day of the attack, the exact target, and the exact means.
The "money trail" was a big story for a day and then very suddenly no further mention has been made of it. It was used just long enough to secure the seizure of money from targeted groups and additions to the anti-terrorist legislation.
One more thing I picked up on the news. Some bigwig in the military, I don't remember his name, was being interviewed on the 17th day following the attack. He was asked "when can we expect some action in Afganistan". His reply "The buildup there has been going on for several weeks so it could be very soon." 17 days is a little short of "several weeks". The quick response indicates the buildup was beginning even before the attack took place.
A thought I had - If you know, or suspect, you are going to be attacked, it might be strategic to stage an attack on yourself so you can be ready with the response. Thus catching your enemy off-guard and unprepared. When comparing this operation with the attack on WTC in 1993 it appears far too sophisticated and effective for the type of group it is being blamed on. It would seem that Some intellegence would have been picked up on an operation of this size. It could be that some in the intellegence community allowed, or even assisted, in it happening for the strategic purposes of those they answer to.
If not guilty for the actual attack there are those in the US governmnet that are guilty of knowing about it and letting, if not aiding and abetting, in making it happen. It is interesting to note how little criticizm there has been of the CIA, FBI, or the intellegence community for letting this happen. Rather they have been rewarded with bigger budgets and more power.
What people need to continue to ask themselves is not just "who had motive" but WHO BENEFITED THE MOST.
10/8/01
8:38:03 PM
US Officials : Terrorist Cells' Activities Mirror Attackers' Acts
(CNN) -- 10.05.01 | Recent activities of known and suspected members of terrorist cells resemble those of the reputed hijackers and their associates in the days preceding the September 11 terrorist attacks, two senior U.S. law enforcement sources told CNN Friday.
There was no evidence of "a specific threat" against the country, the sources said. But, as one noted, recent information "adds to the sense of unease" among law enforcement and other government officials.
"There are people we are watching who are talking the same language -- things like "you will be happy soon" -- and other things reminiscent of pre-9-11 activities," one source said, referring to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "People talking the same language, circles of calls: things that are just very similar."
Suspicious activities included travel in and out of Afghanistan, the second official said. Monitored conversations and other activities "much more overseas than here" in the United States also have raised red flags, the source said.
"People taking a trip, people not showing up for work: things that match the string we have put together as we re-create the events on and just before 9-11," have alerted authorities, the source said.
Law enforcement and intelligence officials believe the risk remains high that there could be another terrorist attack in the United States, especially if the country uses its military as part of the campaign against terrorism.
10/8/01
8:31:51 PM
Mock Terrorists Breached Security At Weapons Plants
By Stephen J. Hedges and Jeff Zeleny, Chicago Tribune Washington Bureau
October 5, 2001
WASHINGTON -- America's 10 nuclear weapons research and production facilities are vulnerable to terrorist attack and have failed about half of recent security drills, a non-government watchdog group has found.
U.S. Army and Navy commando teams penetrated the plants and obtained nuclear material during exercises designed to test security, according to the Project on Government Oversight report, being released Friday.
In a drill in October 2000 at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, "the mock terrorists gained control of sensitive nuclear material which, if detonated, would have endangered significant parts of New Mexico, Colorado and downwind areas," the report says.
In an earlier test at the same lab, an Army Special Forces team used a household garden cart to haul away enough weapons-grade uranium to build several nuclear weapons.
In another test at the Rocky Flats site near Denver, Navy SEALs cut a hole in a chain link fence as they escaped with enough plutonium for several nuclear bombs. They were discovered only as they left the facility.
Government security rules require the nuclear facilities to defend themselves against the theft of nuclear materials by terrorists or through sabotage.
A spokeswoman at the National Nuclear Security Administration, a branch of the Energy Department, declined Thursday to comment on the report.
The report is based on information provided by 12 whistle-blowers, according to Danielle Brian, the non-government watchdog group's director, as well as declassified Energy Department material that describes the security exercises.
The repeated security breaches are cause for serious concern, Brian said, because Energy Department employees were warned before each security exercise but still failed to stop would-be terrorists in more than half of the drills.
"These are tests where the security forces are necessarily dumbed-down so that they know the tests are coming," Brian said. "They are very restrictive tests [but] they're still losing half of the time.
"No one thought it really mattered, until two weeks ago," Brian added.
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon have raised alarms about security concerns, from local community responses to chemical and biological weapons to the security at nuclear power plants.
Nine of the weapons facilities are within 100 miles of cities with more than 75,000 people. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is near the San Francisco metropolitan area, which has more than 7 million people. The Rocky Flats site is near Denver, home to 2.6 million people.
Eight of the 10 weapons plants contained a total of 33.5 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium. Experts say it takes only a few pounds of plutonium to craft a nuclear bomb.
The study has drawn the attention of the House Reform Committee, which has launched its own review of security measure at the nuclear weapons plants.
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), chairman of a national security subcommittee in the House, declined to discuss the report. But he issued a statement indicating he was "deeply troubled" that the nuclear facilities failed security tests even though they had been alerted in advance.
"We want to know what DOE is doing to resolve this deficiency, both in the short term and in the long term," Shays' statement said.
Security tests at the nuclear weapons facilities are simulated on computers and run as drills between an invading terrorist force and the plant's security team. Participants strap on devices similar to those from a laser tag game.
When someone is "killed" by an opposing force, they must lie down and end their participation in the exercise.
10/8/01
8:15:15 PM
Preventing A Terrorist Mushroom Cloud
by David Krieger
The images of the hijacked planes crashing into the World Trade Center are nightmare images of unspeakable horror that will forever be a part of our reality.
Imagine, however, another nightmare -- that of a mushroom cloud rising over an American city. This is a threat we can no longer ignore. Perhaps today citizens and leaders alike will better understand the seriousness of the nuclear threat.
The destruction of the World Trade Center was a powerful warning. It signals that determined terrorists are prepared to sacrifice their lives to harm us, that future attacks could involve weapons of mass destruction, and that nuclear dangers are increasing because of terrorist activity.
Our leaders have failed to grasp that our present nuclear weapons policies contribute to the possibility of nuclear terrorism against our country. We are simply not doing enough to prevent nuclear weapons or weapons-grade nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists.
A US blue ribbon commission, headed by former Senate majority leader Howard Baker, has called for spending $3 billion a year over the next ten years to maintain control of the nuclear weapons, nuclear materials and nuclear scientists in the former Soviet Union. The Bush administration had planned to cut funding for this program from $1.2 billion to $800 million next year.
In 1998 India and Pakistan both demonstrated their nuclear capabilities. Pakistan, which borders on Afghanistan, is now the only country in the world to recognize the Taliban regime. Should there be a US led war in Afghanistan, it is possible that the Pakistani government could fall to extremists linked to the Taliban, thus putting nuclear weapons into the hands of a regime that might well support and harbor terrorists.
Up to now, the Bush Administration’s primary response to the nuclear threat has been to push for a national missile shield costing billions of dollars, the technology of which is unproven, and which would at best be years away from implementation. A missile shield would likely do irreparable harm to our relations with other countries, countries that we need to join us in the fight against international terrorism, including Russia.
The mad nuclear arms race during the Cold War, and the paltry steps taken to reverse it since the end of the Cold War, have left tens of thousands of nuclear weapons potentially available to terrorists. Today there is no accurate inventory of the world’s nuclear arsenals or weapons-grade fissile materials suitable for making nuclear weapons. Estimates have it, however, that there are currently some 30,000 nuclear weapons in the world. We simply don’t know whether these weapons are adequately controlled, or whether some could already have fallen into the hands of terrorists.
More than ten years after the end of the Cold War we and the Russians still have more than 10,000 nuclear weapons each with a total of some 4,500 of them on hair-trigger alert, ready to be fired in moments. Russia has been urging the US to move faster on START 3 negotiations to reduce the size of the nuclear arsenals in both countries, but US leaders have been largely indifferent to their entreaties.
Large nuclear arsenals on hair-trigger alert are Cold War relics. They do not provide deterrence against terrorist attacks. Nor could a missile shield have prevented the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center or the Pentagon, or protect against future nuclear terrorism.
The Bush administration’s foreign policy course has been unilateralism and indifference to international law. It seems now to have recognized, however, that we cannot combat terrorism unilaterally. A multilateral effort to combat terrorism will require the US to change its policies and embrace multilateral approaches to many global problems, including the control and elimination of all weapons of mass destruction.
The global elimination of nuclear weapons can no longer be a back-burner, peace activist issue. It is a top-priority security issue for all Americans, and it will require US leadership to achieve.
David Krieger, an attorney and political scientist, is President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Other articles on nuclear dangers and other critical issues of peace may be found at the Foundation’s web site:
David Krieger, President
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
PMB 121, 1187 Coast Village Road, Suite 1
Santa Barbara, CA 93108-2794
Web site: http://www.wagingpeace.org
10/8/01
6:45:55 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
EUROPE TIGHTENS CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING RULES
By Donald Sutherland
BRUSSELS, Belgium, October 5, 2001 (ENS) - The European Commission has issued stricter guidelines for all financial environmental costs and liabilities reporting by companies covered by European Union accounting directives.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-05-01.html
U.S. VEHICLE FUEL ECONOMY HITS RECORD LOW
WASHINGTON, DC, October 5, 2001 (ENS) - The average fuel economy of all car and truck models sold in the U.S. has fallen to 20.4 miles per gallon, the lowest level in two decades, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported this week.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-05-06.html
MANDELA USES PARK CREATION TO PLEAD FOR PEACE
PHALABORWA, South Africa, October 5, 2001 (ENS) - At the opening of an enormous new tri-national conservation area in southern Africa, former President Nelson Mandela called on the people of the world to get rid of the scourge of terrorism. At a ceremony Thursday he used the newly named Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park as an example of lasting global peace.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-05-02.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: OCTOBER 5, 2001
U.S., Mexico Agree to Cooperate on Cross Border Issues
Energy Awareness Month Offers Exhibits, Tours
EPA Grants Promote Energy Efficient Buildings
Army Will Review Impacts of Hawaii Training
Electronic Sniffer Could Monitor Water Safety
Children's Health Month Promotes Environmental Awareness
Burbot Could be Listed as Endangered
Global Warming Could Threaten Prairie Plants
Workshop Targets Invasive Desert Species
Savanna Army Depot Could Get Wildlife Refuge
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-05-09.html
HEALING OUR WORLD: WEEKLY COMMENT
By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
Spend, Spend, Spend - Patriotism or Disconnection
In the wake of the September 11 tragedies, people all over the world began doing what our political and business leaders have deemed unpatriotic - they stayed closer to home, spent more time with their families, and bought only what they needed. A glorious opportunity was missed by those that govern us to begin fostering a nation and a world whose values could not be disputed.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-05g.html
10/8/01
6:43:17 PM
The 1971 Montreal Sabotage Convention is directly on point here, and provides a comprehensive framework for dealing with the current dispute between the United States and Afghanistan over the tragic events of 11 September 2001. Both States are contracting parties to the Montreal Sabotage Convention, together with 173 other States in the World . The United States is under an absolute obligation to resolve this dispute with Afghanistan in a peaceful manner as required by UN Charter Article 2(3) and Article 33 as well as by the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928, as well as in accordance with the requirements of the Montreal Sabotage Convention-- all of which treaties bind most of the States of the World. In addition, the United States should offer to submit this entire dispute to the International Court of Justice in The Hague (the so-called World Court) on the basis of the Montreal Sabotage Convention, and should ask the Government of Afghanistan to withdraw its Reservation to World Court jurisdiction as permitted by article 14(3) of the Montreal Sabotage Convention. Furthermore, all other contracting parties must invoke the Montreal Sabotage Convention against both the United States and Afghanistan in order to produce a peaceful resolution of this dispute.
Francis A. Boyle
Professor of International Law
Francis A. Boyle Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954(voice) 217-244-1478(fax)
Mailto:fboyle@law.uiuc.edu
10/8/01
6:39:21 PM
The UN International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings of
1997 is directly on point, and is in effect. The US has signed but not yet
ratified. Nevertheless, the US is under an obligation so as not to defeat
the object and purpose of the Convention until it decides whether or not to
ratify. Article 17 says: "The States Parties shall carry out their
obligations under this Convention in a manner consistent with the principles
of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of States and that of
non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other States." Afghanistan is not a signatory.
But there are 58 signatories, and 26 State Parties. Other States could
easily and quickly become parties. This would provide a comprehensive legal
alternative in order to deal peacefully with the terrorist bombings. The United States
should be focusing on getting all States, including itself, to sign up to
this Convention and then implement it, rather than planning for a clearly
illegal war against Afghanistan.fab.
10/8/01
6:35:49 PM
"Even if the Bush administration were to publicly provide clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Bin Laden and his organization were somehow behind the terrorist bombings in New York and Washington, the United States government would still have no valid justification or excuse for committing acts of war against Afghanistan. Both the United Nations Charter of 1945 and the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 absolutely require the United States to exhaust all means for the peaceful resolution of this dispute. So far the Bush administration has not even begun this legally mandated process."
The United States is under an absolute obligation to resolve this dispute with Afghanistan in a peaceful manner as required by UN Charter Article 2(3) and Article 33 as well as by the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928, as well as in accordance with the requirements of the Montreal Sabotage Convention-- all of which treaties bind most of the States of the World.
Francis A. Boyle
Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954(voice) 217-244-1478(fax)
10/8/01
6:11:03 PM
REVOLT AGAINST THE EMPIRE - WELCOME TO THE GREAT BOYCOTT
This is a boycott against the eight biggest pesticide companies in the world, but it is much more than that. It's a boycott against THE POWER and against a way of life represented by all the gigantic multinational corporations, which every day extend their control over the planet. By the time you finish reading this material you'll realize how destructive their power is, in detail. You'll understand more clearly why these simple stark things need to be done:
1. stop buying these corporations' products;
2. don't buy their stock on whatever exchanges they're traded;
3. demand that others including institutions sell their stock in these companies;
4. don't work for these corporations;
5. find a way to personally pass on the word.
The eight corporations to be boycotted are:
Dow
Du Pont
Monsanto
Imperial Chemical Industries
Novartis
Rhone Poulenc
Bayer
Hoechst
There is one overriding reason for going after these eight corporations. They are all forwarding genetic projects to engineer food seeds so that our food supply in the fields will accept much higher doses of herbicides without curling up and dying. This will drench both the soil and our bodies with corporate toxic chemicals and improve their profit statements.
Of course, these mega-companies are up to their eyeballs in poisons. Poisons, you might say, are their life. These corporations and others like them stand for control of the planet, as around us the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Huge multinationals, of course blur with governments, thereby availing themselves of important political connections, intelligence agencies, military links.
http://home.earthlink.net/~alto/boycott.html
10/8/01
6:07:47 PM
The Other Tragic National Disaster
by Allene R Wahl
There are no disturbing headlines or graphic pictures in the media. A war has not been declared. Nor is there a coalition of irate citizens coming together to decry a domestic or foreign potentate. There are not just 6,000 victims but millions. It didn't all happen within an hour, but, it has been the ongoing, insidious destruction of the physical and financial health of unsuspecting and trusting human beings over the last twenty years or so. We call it collectively, Chemically Induced Immune Disorders which are caused primarily by our love affair with unnatural, toxic substances. These toxic substances have been foisted upon us by irresponsible corporations, through misinformation by their advertisers and with the complete approval of a government sworn to, and paid by us, to protect us from such harm. Additionally, our seriously flawed, Pasteur germ focused medical industry, completes the task of further damaging these immune compromised individuals by dispensing certain common pharmaceuticals which destroy gut flora. Since the gut flora is an integral part of our protective immune system, once destroyed, we are vulnerable to any pathogen (always present in the Earth's environment) to which we are exposed. The most common pathogens involved are viruses such as HIV, Hepatitis, Cytomegalovirus, herpes, etc. Other common pathogens in this population are Candida Albacans (fungal overgrowth), parasitic infestation and sometimes bacterial infections.
Call it AIDS, Gulf War Syndrome, Environmental Illness, Hepatitis C Epidemic, Silicone Prosthesis Induced Immune Disorder, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia Syndrome, etc., all of which share many, if not all, of the same litany of debilitating, AIDS-like symptoms heretofore mostly unheard of before the 1980's. History shows us that there is more than an obvious connection between the politics of the time and the dismantling of many existing environmental laws. And secondly, the over-prescribing of gut flora destroying, uncontested pharmaceuticals drugs.
There are no volunteers lined up to help; many times family, friends and associates withdraw out of frustration or fear. There are no collections to help defray the out-of-pocket cost for the natural therapies required just to remediate the symptoms.
Government, the medical industry and the media no longer mention much about this enormous and growing tragedy. The future of much of Mankind is in great jeopardy unless these signals of the HUMAN indicator species, described here, are heeded.
"It's the immune system, stupid"
Allene R. Wahl, Ph.D., C.N.C.
Int'l. Resource Center for Chemically Induced Immune Disorders
Ph. (847) 678-5934
e-mail: mailto:allenew@juno.com Website:
http://members.tripod.com/immune_disorders/index.html
10/8/01
6:02:27 PM
THE COVER-UP OF GULF WAR SYNDROME - A QUESTION OF NATIONAL INTEGRITY
http://www.gulfwarvets.com/arison/gws.htm
U.S. Chemical Weapons Cover-Up in Gulf War
http://www.parascope.com/articles/0397/khamlog1.htm
10/8/01
6:00:32 PM
World Trade Center-Pentagon Terror Attacks News (This is really the place to start!)
http://www.konformist.com/911/911.htm
WHO'S TRULY BEHIND THE ATTACK ON AMERICA?
http://www.konformist.com/911/jimmarrs.htm
TAVISTOCK - THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN AMERICA (*Must* read!)
http://educate-yourself.org/nwotavistockbestkeptsecret.html
10/8/01
5:50:13 PM
WHO'S TRULY BEHIND THE ATTACK ON AMERICA?
by Jim Marrs
Many people have compared the horrendous terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. It is an apt comparison, though not for the reasons most people think.
For true students of history, it is now nearly beyond dispute that certain high-ranking officials in Washington, D. C. knew in advance of the Japanese intention to attack the U.S. fleet in Hawaii, yet did nothing to prevent it.
President Roosevelt, who at the time was blatantly violating the Neutrality Act, has been quoted as saying, "A Japanese attack on us.would certainly fulfill two of the most important requirements of our policy [to engage America in the war despite his pledge to keep us out of war.]"
Must the citizens of the United States wait another 50 years to learn that the 9-11 terrorist attack was allowed to take place just like Pearl Harbor?
Could such an appalling scenario possibly be true?
Consider the comment of Kenneth Katzman, a terrorist expert with the
Congressional Research Service, who told the Washington Post, "How nothing could have been picked up [by U.S. intelligence agencies regarding the coming attack] is beyond me."
Simple countermeasures against such an attack now seem apparent. For example, if the airlines would assigned just one armed plainclothes security man to each flight, this tragedy may have been averted since apparently the hijackers were armed only with knives or other type blades. So, how were they able to overpower a plane load of people and, more importantly, gain access to the cockpits? Who taught them to fly jumbo jets?
As in the case of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the key to understanding the event lies not in who actually committed the violence but rather who was able to strip away the normal security protection.
Government and airline officials knew immediately that planes had been hijacked, yet no interceptors appeared in the air until after the attacks were completed. Who stripped away the normal security protection of America on 9-11?
At least in this most recent case, the government cannot blame the attack on a lone deranged individual, some Lee Harvey McVeigh. They must deal with a full-blown conspiracy, even though authorities were quick to point the finger at Osama bin-Laden. Any investigation of bin-Laden must look beyond the man, to the backers and financiers behind him.
The trail of the terrorists will most probably become murky, with plenty of accusations for all concerned. But one thing appears quite clear, the tragic events of 9-11 play right into the hands of persons with an agenda aimed at eroding American liberties and sovereignty.
After decades of bloated and misused defense budgets, there are now calls for doubling our defense allocation. In a time of rising recognition that the CIA is an agency never sought by the public and one which has brought so much condemnation on this nation, there are now cries for doubling its size and budget. If the chief security officer for a large company fails to protect one of its most prized assets, is he more likely to be fired or have his pay doubled?
Watch for more anti-terrorist legislation to further shred the U.S. Constitution.
As we all scramble to deal with the effects of terrorism, are we in danger of losing our few remaining individual liberties? The media blithely reported that each of the cell phone calls made by doomed passengers on the hijacked airliners was recorded by the government. Doesn't this mean that all cell phone calls are, or can be, recorded? Whatever happened to telephone privacy? Where is the indignant outcry over such Big Brotherism.
But the biggest threat comes from the inner elite of the globalist societies. Within hours of the attack, the television and radio airwaves were full of ranking Council on Foreign Relations members, such as Henry Kissinger, Wesley Clark, Alexander Haig and Strobe Talbot. Talbot, President Clinton's deputy secretary of state, told Time magazine in 1992, "In the next century [today], nations as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority."
No matter who was speaking, their "party line" was the same: terrible tragedy, find and punish those responsible, stop terrorism. But, of course, since terrorists move between national boundaries, we must joined with other "freedom loving" nations and work with the United Nations and NATO to combat this new menace. This is a thinly-disguised effort to have a mourning and emotional American public stampeded into their New World Order.
Also, consider that we are distracted from a faltering economy [the current crisis may require more federal financial controls], a plummeting public opinion of George W. Bush and surging energy prices.
Would leaders allow a public disaster to happen with an eye toward advancing their agendas? It's happened before. in Nero's burning Rome, Germany's gutted Reichstag, at Pearl Harbor and gain at the Gulf of Tonkin.
While we should grieve for our losses, we must keep our heads. When the emotions of the moment run hot, we must remain cool and thoughtful so that we can find who is truly behind this attack on America.
Jim Marrs
jmarrs@ntws.net
9/13/2001
Source: http://www.konformist.com/911/jimmarrs.htm
10/8/01
5:42:27 PM
Mossad And 911
United Press International
September 26, 2001
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan -- The retired Pakistani general who is closest to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden contends the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington were the work of renegade U.S. Air Force elements working with the Israelis. Gen. Hameed Gul led Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence during the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Gul serves as an adviser to Pakistan's extremist religious political parties, which oppose their government's decision to support the United States in any action against Afghanistan's Taliban regime. Gul contends bin Laden had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, saying instead that they were the work of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service -- a version of events that has been endorsed by Islamic fundamentalist clerics and is widely accepted by Muslims throughout the Arab world.
Here is the transcript of the exclusive interview Gul gave to Arnaud de Borchgrave, United Press International editor at large:
De Borchgrave: So who did Black Sept. 11?
Gul: Mossad and its accomplices. The U.S. spends $40 billion a year on its 11 intelligence agencies. That's $400 billion in 10 years. Yet the Bush Administration says it was taken by surprise. I don't believe it. Within 10 minutes of the second twin tower being hit in the World Trade Center CNN said Osama bin Laden had done it. That was a planned piece of disinformation by the real perpetrators. It created an instant mindset and put public opinion into a trance, which prevented even intelligent people from thinking for themselves.
Q: So you're already convinced bin Laden didn't do it?
A: I know bin Laden and his associates. I've been with them here, in Europe and the Middle East. They are graduates of the best universities and are highly intelligent with impressive degrees and speak impeccable English. These are people who have rediscovered fundamental Islamic values. Many come from the Gulf countries where ruling royal families have generated hatred by the way they flout divine law, wasting billions on gratifying their whims, jetting around in large private jets by themselves, and sailing the Mediterranean in big private boats for weeks on end. Osama's best recruits come from feudal areas that are U.S. protectorates and where millions of poor people are seeking human dignity. I have even visited a Christian convent school in Murree, 60 miles from here, where my 13-year-old daughter is studying. The young girls there have told me Osama is their hero. Osama's followers identify with Mujahideen freedom fighters wherever they are defending Islam and its values.
Q: So what makes you think Osama wasn't behind Sept. 11?
A: From a cave inside a mountain or a peasant's hovel? Let's be serious. Osama inspires countless millions by standing up for Islam against American and Israeli imperialism. He doesn't have the means for such a sophisticated operation.
Q: Why Mossad?
A: Mossad and its American associates are the obvious culprits. Who benefits from the crime? The attacks against the twin towers started at 8:45 a.m. and four flights are diverted from their assigned air space and no air traffic controller sounds the alarm. And no Air Force jets scramble until 10 a.m. That also smacks of a small scale Air Force rebellion, a coup against the Pentagon perhaps? Radars are jammed, transponders fail. No IFF -- friend or foe identification -- challenge. In Pakistan, if there is no response to IFF, jets are instantly scrambled and the aircraft is shot down with no further questions asked. This was clearly an inside job. Bush was afraid and rushed to the shelter of a nuclear bunker. He clearly feared a nuclear situation. Who could that have been? Will that also be hushed up in the investigation, like the Warren report after the Kennedy assassination?
Q: At this point, someone might be asking what you've been smoking. What is Israel's interest in such a monstrous plot, which, of course, no one believes except Islamist extremists who concocted this piece of disinformation in the first place, presumably to detract from the real culprits?
A: Jews never agreed to Bush 41 (George H.W. Bush, the 41st president) or 43 (his son George W. Bush, the 43rd president). They made sure Bush senior didn't get a second term. His land-for-peace pressure in Palestine didn't suit Israel. They were also against the young Bush because he was considered too close to oil interests and the Gulf countries. Bush senior and Jim Baker had raised $150 million for Bush junior, much of it from Mideast sources or their American go-betweens. Bush 41 and Baker, as private citizens, had also facilitated the new strategic relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran. I have this from sources in both countries. So clearly the prospect of a Bush 43 was a potential danger to Israel.
Jews were stunned by the way Bush stole the election in Florida. They had put big money on Al Gore. Israel has given its imperialist guardian parent opportunities to turn disaster into a pretext for imposing an all-encompassing military, political and economic agenda to further the cause of global capitalism. While Colin Powell is cautious and others are reckless and want to make up for their failure to defeat Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War 10 years ago, the global agenda is the same.
Israel knows it has a short shelf-life before it is overwhelmed by demographics. It is a state that was born in terrorism that terrorized Palestinians into the exile of refugee camps, where they have now subsisted in squalid refugee camps, and is now very much afraid of Pakistan's nuclear capability.
Israel has now handed the Bush family the opportunity it has been waiting for to consolidate America's imperial grip on the Gulf and acquire control of the Caspian basin by extending its military presence in Central Asia. Bush conveniently overlooks -- or is not told -- the fact that Islamic fundamentalists got their big boost in the modern age as CIA assets in the covert campaign I was also involved with to force the Soviets out of Afghanistan. Bush senior was vice president during that entire campaign. And no sooner did he become president on Jan. 20, 1989, than he summoned an inter-agency intelligence meeting and issued an order, among several others, to clip the wings of ISI (Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence) that had been coordinating the entire operation in Afghanistan. I know this firsthand as I was DGISI at the time (director general, ISI).
Q: So how do you read U.S. strategy in Pakistan?
A: The destabilization of Pakistan is part of the U.S. plan because it is a Muslim nuclear state. The U.S. wants to isolate Pakistan from China as part of its containment policy. President Nixon's book "The Real War" said China would be the superpower of the 21st Century. The U.S. is also creating hostility between Pakistan and Afghanistan, two Muslim states to reverse the perception that the Islamic world now has its own nuclear weapons. Bush 43 doesn't realize he is being manipulated by people who understand geopolitics. He is not leading but being led. All he can do is think in terms of the wanted-dead-or-alive culture, which is how Hollywood conditions the masses to think and act.
All summer long we heard about America's shrinking surplus and that the Pentagon would not have sufficient funds to modernize for the 21st century. And now, all of a sudden, the Pentagon can get what it wants without any Democratic Party opposition. How very convenient! Even your cherished civil liberties can now be abridged with impunity to protect the expansion of the hegemony of transnational capitalism. There is now a new excuse to crush anti-globalization protests.
Bush 43 follows Bush 41. Iraq was baited into the Kuwaiti trap when the U.S. told Saddam it was not interested in his inter-Arab squabbles. Two days later, he moved into Kuwait, which was an Iraqi province anyway before the British Empire decreed otherwise. Roosevelt baited the Pearl Harbor trap for the Japanese empire, which provided the pretext for entering World War II. And now the Israelis have given the U.S. the pretext for further expansion into an area that will be critical in the next 25 years - the Caspian basin.
Q: Were you a fundamentalist in the days of the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan when you worked closely with the CIA?
A: Not as much as I am today.
Q: What turned you against America?
A: Betrayals and broken promises and what was done to my army career.
Q: And what was that?
A: President Ishaq Khan, who succeeded Zia ul-Haq after his plane was blown out of the sky, wanted to appoint me chief of staff, the highest position in the Pakistani army. The U.S., which by then had clipped ISI's wings, also blocked my promotion by informing the president I was unacceptable. So I was moved to a corps commander position. As ISI director, I held the whole Mujahideen movement in the palm of my hands. We were all pro-American. But then America left us in the lurch and everything went to pieces, including Afghanistan.
The U.S. pushed for a broad-based Afghan government of seven factions and then waved goodbye. Even in the best of democracies, a broad-based coalition does not work. So we quickly had seven jokers in Kabul interested in only one thing - jockeying for power. The gunplay quickly followed, which led to the creation of Taliban, the students of the original Mujahideen, who decided to put an end to it.
Q: What happened to the 1,000 shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles that were supplied by president Reagan in 1986 and 87 to the Mujahideen, and that literally grounded the Soviet air force?
A: After the Soviets pulled out, the CIA allocated $60 million to try to buy them back. This just drove the black market price up for one Stinger from $100,000 to $300,000. The Taliban still have about 250 of them for the kind of situation they face today against U.S. aircraft.
Q: Is the U.S. now your enemy?
A: Is the U.S. national interest in contradiction with the Muslim world? The U.S. needs oil, as do its European allies. You have between 6 and 8 million American Muslims and their ranks are growing. About the same number in Europe. Israel aside, we are America's natural allies. Prof. Sam Huntington in his "Clash of Civilizations" puts Confucius and Judeo-Christians in one corner, and us in the other. His prescription is wrong but is being adopted by Bush 43 who has now put 60 countries on his hit list. This is the diabolical school that wants to launch an anti-Muslim "crusade." Muslims understood what Bush meant when he used that word.
We need a meeting, not a clash, of civilizations. We are on the brink of disaster. It is time to pull back from the brink and reassess before we blow ourselves up. The purpose of Islam is service to humanity. The time for like-minded people to have a meeting of the minds is now.
Q: But you are against democracy, so how can there be a meeting of the minds?
A: Democracy does not work. Politicians are constantly thinking of their next election, not the public good, which means, at best, constantly shading the truth to hide it from their constituents. Their pronouncements are laced with lies and the voters are lulled or gulled into believing utter nonsense. The Koran says call a spade a spade. It is the supreme law and tells right from wrong. There is no notion of "my country right or wrong" under divine law. The creator's will predominates. All if subservient to Allah's will and adherence to a set of basic, fundamental values.
Q: So what kind of a system are you advocating?
A: The world needs a post-modern state system. Right now, the nation-state and round the clock satellite TV lead people to imitate America's way of life. Which is mathematically impossible. You have 4 percent of the world's population consuming 32 percent of the world's resources. The creator through Prophet Mohammed said equal distribution. Capitalism is the negation of the creator's will. It leads to imperialism and unilateralism.
Q: So what does this post-modern state system look like?
A: A global village under divine order, or we will have global bloodshed until good triumphs over evil. Islam encapsulates all the principal religions and what was handed down 1,400 years ago was the normal evolutionary sequel to Judaism and Christianity. The prophet's last sermon was a universal document of human rights for everyone that surpasses everything that came since, including America's declaration of independence and the U.N. Charter of universal rights. If you superimpose true secular values on true Islamic values, there is no difference. So surely divine law should supersede man-made law. Islam is egalitarian, tolerant and progressive. It is the wave of the future.
Q: Marxism also believed that the nation-state would eventually wither away.
A: Socialism jumped the rails when it was co-opted by the imperialist Soviet state. Islam believes in dynamism, Christianity stands for static statism. The pope in all his pronouncements has expressed a dogmatic attachment to the status quo. Why are so many black Americans converting to Islam? Because they are looking for true equality which they cannot find under capitalism. Allah has no gender, neither male nor female. Islam has no indirect taxation in an interest-free economy. Usury was a Jewish concept.
Q: Is Iran your model?
A: There isn't a single true Islamic state in the world today. Iran has moved forward from its 1979 revolution, but I am not sure whether it's the right direction.
Q: And Taliban?
A: They represent Islam in its purest form so far. It's a clean sheet. And they were also moving in the right direction when this crisis was cooked up by the U.S. Until Sept. 11, they had perfect law and order with no formal police force, only traffic cops without sidearms. Now, in less than two weeks, they have mobilized some 300,000 volunteers to fight American and British invaders if they come.
Q: And your reaction to U.S. demands on Pakistan?
A: If Pakistan gives the U.S. base rights we will have a national upheaval. And if the U.S. attacks Afghanistan, there will be a call -- a fatwa -- for a general jihad. All borders will then disappear and it will be a no-holds-barred Islamic uprising against Israel and American imperialism. Pakistan will be engulfed in the firestorm. So I can only hope that cooler heads will prevail in Washington.
Q: What about the other U.S. demands?
A: Overflight rights are meaningless since the U.S. violates air space daily all over the world. As for intelligence sharing with
ISI, you can't even catch your own terrorists. And what ISI gives you will be of marginal value anyway.
Q: President (Pervez) Musharraf has made strong statements supporting the U.S.
A: He was my student in the army. He is a good man, but he doesn't understand Islam. The army will never fight the masses. If push comes to shove, Musharraf will say no to the Americans rather than turn against the people. He is not just facing a handful of angry people. By his own admission, it's 10 percent to 15 percent of the population, or at least 10 million people willing to fight. For openers, they would close the port of Karachi. A country cannot breathe without lungs.
Q: Back to Osama's terrorist network. Who was behind the bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya?
A: Mossad is strong in both countries. Remember the Israeli operation to free hostages in Entebbe (Uganda)? Both Kenya and Tanzania were part of the logistical tail. A so-called associate of Osama was framed at Karachi airport. The incidents took place on Aug. 8, 1999, and on the 10th a short, clean-shaven man disembarks at Karachi airport and presents the passport of a bearded man. Not your passport, he was told. He then tries to bribe the clerk with 200 rupees. A ludicrously small sum given the circumstances. The clerk says no and turns him in and he starts singing right away. Not plausible. Osama has sworn to me on the Koran it was not him and he is truthful to a fault. Pious Muslims do not kill innocent civilians who included many Muslim victims. The passport must have been switched while the man was asleep on the plane in what has all the earmarks of a Mossad operation. For 10 years, the Mujahideen fought the Soviets in Afghanistan and not a single Soviet embassy was touched anywhere in the world. So this could not have been Osama's followers.
Q: What if bin Laden has been lying to you and is guilty. Is that inconceivable?
A: If Taliban are given irrefutable evidence of his guilt, I am in favor of a fair trial. In America, one is entitled to a jury of peers. But he has no American peers. The Taliban would not object, in the event of a prima face case, to an international Islamic court meeting in The Hague. They would in turn extradite Osama to the Netherlands.
10/8/01
5:36:52 PM
"Today the Tavistock Institute operates a $6 Billion a year network of Foundations in the U.S., all of it funded by U.S. taxpayers' money. Ten major institutions are under its direct control, with 400 subsidiaries, and 3000 other study groups and think tanks which originate many types of programs to increase the control of the World Order over the American people. The Stanford Research Institute, adjoining the Hoover Institution, is a $150 million a year operation with 3300 employees. It carries on program surveillance for Bechtel, Kaiser, and 400 other companies, and extensive intelligence operations for the CIA. It is the largest institution on the West Coast promoting mind control and the behavioral sciences."
10/8/01
5:32:17 PM
AF Intel source: pro-Bush gov't factions 'absolutely' behind Tuesday's mass devastation!
NewsHawk
"The enemy is very much within"
TOP_VIEW has just conducted a brief yet immeasurably important phone interview --set up by a trusted and totally reliable intermediary already known to us -- with an Air Force Reserve intelligence specialist.
The interview was carried out this evening, over two days after the incredible death and devastation that took place in New York City and Washington D.C.
Our Air Force source told us his superiors had activated him at about 10 AM Tuesday morning.
He absolutely refused to permit us to record the conversation, even though he was speaking into some kind of electronic gizmo that substantially altered the sound of his voice; making him sound like Darth Vader with a serious chest cold. Some portions of his statements were unintelligible, and he refused to repeat several of these. Although this source was somewhat taciturn and close-lipped, for the most part he was cooperative in terms of giving us enough time to transcribe what he was saying. Overall what is stated plainly and unequivocally is of absolutely paramount importance for every single person in this nation and the world: certainly among those of us who value our inalienable human rights and liberties and want them to remain un-imperiled, un-abrogated and unabridged.
TOP_VIEW: We'd like to hear what you have to say about the events on Tuesday. First of all, I assume you have knowledge of the events that goes above and beyond what the public is being told by the media and the government?
Intel source: That's quite correct.
TOP_VIEW: Can you -- are you able and willing to relay this information to us?
Intel source: Well, that depends. Some of it. You're going to publish this?
TOP_VIEW: On the Internet.
Intel source: It's essential that nothing which could possibly be used to identify myself or "**" (our intermediary) is made public.
TOP_VIEW: We totally understand. Completely. That's exactly how it will be, and -
Intel source: You've known "**" a long time?
TOP_VIEW: For about 6 years, sir.
Intel source: So... he'll vouch for you? (Chuckles) Fire away.
TOP_VIEW: Well... it's becoming increasingly clear that certain federal government sectors had prior knowledge of the destruction carried out on Tuesday. Would you concur with this?
Intel source: (unintelligible)
TOP_VIEW: Excuse me? I didn't understand you.
Intel source: Never mind.
TOP_VIEW: Is it true that our government knew what was going to happen?
Intel source: You could say that. Actually there are certain (pause) groups in our government who pretty much ran the whole show.
TOP_VIEW: Are you saying that there was cooperation and collaboration between elements of our government and the perpetrators?
Intel source: No. What I'm saying is that these groups (within the federal government -TV) were the perpetrators of the action, right down the line from top to bottom.
TOP_VIEW: This is really incredibly shocking, what you're saying here. Did I understand correctly, that you say elements of the federal government were the prime force behind these so-called terrorist attacks Tuesday?
Intel source: That's correct. Absolutely.
TOP_VIEW: God, what a horrifying thing to come to grips with! What is your feeling about this sir, and exactly why are you even talking to us about this? Are you positive about what you're saying?
Intel source: (laughs) What should I answer first? I would never make this kind of statement without being fully certain it was factual. My own feeling is that it's completely sickening. It's repugnant and unacceptable and I'm completely opposed to what was done. But it's true and we all have to deal with it. There are forces within our government who are completely determined to change the structure of our society at the most basic level, and these are the kind of things they're going to be doing to make sure that (fundamental changes in our society) happens.
TOP_VIEW: What's going on in the military right now with regard to what's occurred? Do many military higher-ups know this, and if so what's their position?
Intel source: (unintelligible)
TOP_VIEW: Excuse me?
Intel source: I said some do know and some don't. Some wouldn't believe it, just like many citizens wouldn't believe it. There are certainly lots of conflict going on at the upper levels of the military right now between people aware of the true facts.
TOP_VIEW: What about yourself?
Intel source: I consider myself to be a patriotic American who believes strongly in the Constitution. I'll do whatever is in my power to uphold and defend those principles, and so will many others.
TOP_VIEW: Well that's something I wanted to get to. The primary motivation for an atrocity of this magnitude would seem to be to soften up the country for some serious curtailment of civil liberties, in the name of protecting us from such "terrorist" attacks. I've likened it to Hitler's burning of the Reichstag in Germany.
Intel source: That's a good comparison. (Unintelligible)... one of the main reasons the action was carried out Tuesday. There's also other agendas having to do with control of the Middle East oil fields, and things related to that (issue).
TOP_VIEW: Well, are people such as yourself in any way prepared to, or able to, oppose these forces?
Intel source: Speaking for myself, I'd say there's a lot I'm prepared to do and will do. Speaking to you is one of those things. And there are many more like me.
TOP_VIEW: Now, how does the attack on the Pentagon figure into this whole thing?
Intel source: I can't discuss that at all.
TOP_VIEW: Can you some time in the future?
Intel source: Maybe. I think I'll need to sign off here soon.
TOP_VIEW: Is there anything else in particular you'd care to say, any advice or whatever?
Intel source: I'd say that our way of life is facing the biggest threat in our history, and the enemy is very much within. VERY MUCH WITHIN.
TOP_VIEW: So it boils down to: what happened on Tuesday was an inside job?
Intel source: Absolutely. All the way down the line and to a much higher level than most of you could ever imagine. There's a very intense struggle going on within our government like I said.
TOP_VIEW: It's a struggle we're all involved in, sir.
Intel source: That's quite true.
TOP_VIEW: It seems very clear to me that the Bush administration was way involved in the attacks. Would that be correct? They obviously want to bring about the exact kind of fundamental social restructuring that you mentioned.
Intel source: It's a good bet. Right now, it's best we cut this short.
TOP_VIEW: Good night and thank you very much for speaking with us.
This concluded our short but vastly significant interview with a patriotic Air Force intelligence officer.
Folks, we've heard it from the proverbial horse's mouth. Americans are in the most critical struggle in our entire history, and the enemy is a deceptive, malevolent and indeed demonic force deeply ensconced within the very fabric and structure of our federal government, and which also infests even our news and information sources, our entertainment, our schools and workplaces and many other aspects of our life and our society.
As our source stated: "the enemy is very much within."
Source: http://www.konformist.com/911/newshawk2.htm
10/8/01
5:12:40 PM
Pakistan's ex-spy chief blames Mossad
By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE, UPI Editor at Large
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States were perpetrated by renegade U.S. Air Force elements working in conjunction with Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, according to the retired Pakistani general who is closest to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.
Gen. Hameed Gul, head of Inter Services Intelligence, the equivalent of a CIA-cum-FBI combination, during the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, spent two weeks in the war-torn country immediately prior to Sept. 11. He has been acting as "strategic adviser" to Pakistan's extremist religious political parties. Four religious leaders left his house in the army's principal garrison town as this reporter arrived at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. The interview lasted 90 minutes.
Already countless millions of Muslims believe that the World Trade Center and Pentagon suicide attacks were part of a Mossad plot to force the United States into confrontation with the Muslim world. Now Gul has added a new disinformation wrinkle to the plot. And what Gul says or writes is taken at face value by religious leaders and is repeated in thousands of mosques at Friday prayers.
In an exclusive interview with United Press International, the fundamentalist general said it is now clear that there was also a plot by U.S. Air Force officers against the Pentagon.
"The twin towers were first attacked at 8:45 a.m.," he said, "and four flights were diverted from their assigned air space, and yet Air Force jets didn't scramble until 10 a.m. That smacks of a small-scale Air Force rebellion, a coup attempt against the Pentagon perhaps? Radars are jammed, transponders fail. No IFF -- friend or foe identification -- challenge ... This was clearly an inside job. (President) Bush was afraid and rushed to the shelter of a nuclear bunker.
"(Bush) clearly feared a nuclear situation. Who could that have been? Will that also be hushed up in the investigation, like the Warren report after the Kennedy assassination?"
Gul said that his friend bin Laden had sworn to him on the Koran that he was not involved.
"From a cave inside a mountain or a peasant's hovel," Gul asked, how could bin Laden mount such a sophisticated operation? "Let's be serious," he said with a smile. "Mossad and its American associates are the obvious culprits," he added by asking, "Who benefits from the crime?"
Asked why Israel would benefit, Gul replied, "Israel knows it has a short shelf-life before it is overwhelmed by demographics (and it) has now handed the (Bush administration) the opportunity it has been waiting for to consolidate America's imperial grip on the Gulf and acquire control of the Caspian basin by extending its military presence in Central Asia."
Gul said the U.S. plan was "the destabilization of Pakistan because it is a Muslim nuclear state. The U.S. wants to isolate Pakistan from China as part of its containment policy. President Nixon's book 'The Real War' said China would be the superpower of the 21st century. The U.S. is also creating hostility between Pakistan and Afghanistan, two Muslim states, to reverse the perception that the Islamic world now has its own nuclear weapons. Bush 43 doesn't realize he is being manipulated by people who understand geopolitics. He is not leading but being led. All he can do is think in terms of the wanted-dead-or-alive culture which is how Hollywood conditions the masses to think and act."
"Bush 43" is actually Washington shorthand for distinguishing President George W. Bush from his father. President George W. Bush is the 43rd president: George Bush Sr. was the 41st.
Gul admitted that he turned against America when the United States walked away from Afghanistan following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.
"We were all pro-American (during the war) but then America left us in the lurch and everything went to pieces, including Afghanistan."
Asked if the United States was now his enemy, Gul replied, "Is the U.S. national interest in contradiction with the Muslim world? The U.S. needs oil, as do its European allies. You have between 6 and 8 million American Muslims and their ranks are growing. About the same number in Europe. Israel aside, we are America's natural allies. Professor Sam Huntington in his (book) 'Clash of Civilizations' puts Confucius and Judeo-Christians in one corner, and us in the other. His prescription is wrong but is being adopted by Bush 43 who has now put 60 countries on his hit list. This is the diabolical school that wants to launch an anti-Muslim 'crusade.' Muslims understood what Bush meant when he used that word. We need a meeting, not a clash, of civilizations."
If Pakistan gives the U.S. base facilities, Gul warned, "we will have a national upheaval" and if the United States attacks Afghanistan, there will be "a general jihad (holy war) ... and Pakistan will be engulfed in the firestorm. So I can only hope that cooler heads will prevail in Washington."
Asked to consider the possibility that bin Laden -- or OBL as he is referred to in Pakistani conversations -- was lying to him and is indeed guilty as charged by the United States, Gul said, "If Taliban are given irrefutable evidence of his guilt, I am in favor of a fair trial. In America one is entitled to a jury of peers. But he has no American peers. The Taliban would not object, in the event of a prima face case, to an international Islamic court meeting in The Hague. They would extradite Osama to the Netherlands."
10/8/01
5:09:50 PM
And Osama bin Laden still visits Saoudi Arabia and is not estranged from his family there, as is being reported in American government circles. At least 100,000 Zulu translations of the Q'uoran were distributed in South Africa. This was confirmed by Yusuf Deedat, Bin Laden's representative in Durban. He and his father Ahmed visited Saudi Arabia to confer with the Bin-Laden family -- which is financing several of Deedat's projects. they also saw Osama there frequently.
More at http://www.rense.com/general13/zulus.htm
10/8/01
4:46:27 PM
MSNBC is about to launch a 5-part series by Michael Moran entitled: The Secret Empire: The U.S. Military in the 20th Century. Details at
http://www.msnbc.com/news/WARROOM_front.asp?0dm=V22AN
U.S. targets 23 terrorist camps
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20011003-37269.htm
Very interesting on the WTC BOMB PLOT:
http://eionews.addr.com/psyops/plot_within_a_plot_part2.htm
Peace breath (Magnificent!)
http://www.peacebreath.com/flash/index.html
10/8/01
4:41:58 PM
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it ...always."
- Mahatma Gandhi
Both above sent by "Jonathan Eveleigh" <rainbow@aum.freewire.co.uk>
"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal."
- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."
- H.G. Wells
"The world is now too dangerous for anything less than Utopia."
- Buckminster Fuller
10/8/01
4:39:11 PM
AlterNet Launches New "Understanding Terrorism" Page
http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=27
Since September 11, hundreds of thousands of readers have turned to AlterNet for the in-depth background information and analysis they need to understand 9-11's terrible events. We continue our coverage with the fourth in a series of special pages:
Terrorism and Counter-terrorism
http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=27
Featuring
- Ten Things to Know about Terrorism
- insights into the terrorist mindset
- leftist excuses for past terrorism
- investigations of the Al Qaeda network
- an interview with Osama bin Laden
Also today on the AlterNet frontpage:
10 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT TERRORISM
Mark LeVine, AlterNet
How does an act of terrorism differ from an act of war? What is the history of terrorism? Find out in this 10-point summary.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11647
AFTER THE ATTACKS, CRISIS LOOMS FOR CHARITIES
Justin Rood, AlterNet
Many nonprofits fear that despite the huge giving to disaster relief efforts, many of the nation's 1.7 million charities will be left hard up for money in the wake of 9-11.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11655
ENVIRONMENTALISTS RE-CHECK PRIORITIES, STRATEGY AFTER 9-11
J.A. Savage, AlterNet
National green organizations fear being tainted as un-American for continuing to oppose Bush's anti-environmental policies, and are significantly shifting their strategies.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11656
A MESSAGE TO TROOPS, WOULD-BE TROOPS AND OTHER YOUTH
Jeff Paterson, AlterNet
The first active-duty military resister of the Persian Gulf War talks about his refusal to kill people in the Middle East, and why today's soldiers should do the same.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11648
OF CANNABIS AND COMPASSION
Sid Tafler, Monday Magazine
A trip through the (not so) underground cannabis culture in British Columbia, Canada. Is the world ready for the marijuana revolution?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11643
DREAMING OF WAR
Ellen Willis, The Nation
Will our nation's new confrontation with real terror kill our taste for the vicarious kind? Perhaps, but we will be no less susceptible to illusion.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11657
THE LONG TERM AFFECTS OF THE ATTACKS FOR LOW-INCOME AMERICANS
Torie Osborn, WorkingForChange
For millions of Americans living in poverty or teetering at the brink, the attack on the World Trade Center has imperiled any slight gains made in recent years.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11659
WAIVING THE FLAG
Erin Aubry Kaplan, LA Weekly
I understand America's need to fly flags, our need for symbols bigger than the biggest words. Then why was I shocked when my husband brought one home?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11646
VISIONARY AND LEADER PASSES ON
Farah Jasmine Griffin, LISTEN Inc.
This Monday saw the unfortunate death of Lisa Sullivan, the founder and president of LISTEN Inc., a unique youth development organization. She will be greatly missed around the country.
* In WireTap: http://www.wiretapmag.org
HYBRID CARS ARE READY, ARE YOU?
Ross Thompson, Conscious Choice
War in the Middle East could mean higher gas prices. That makes electric and hybrid cars a good choice for even the not-so-eco-minded driver.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11628
TRACKING TERRORIST MONEY -- TOO HOT FOR U.S. TO HANDLE?
Lucy Komisar, Pacific News Service
A controversial European book that exposed the secret banking systems possibly used by terrorists remains unpublished in the U.S. Ironically, Rudy Giuliani may already know its details.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11650
REICH: FED RESPONSE IS TOO TEPID
Robert Reich, AlterNet
Alan Greenspan is pushing on a wet noodle. Instead of interest rate cuts or corporate tax cuts, the government should cut payroll taxes by $100 billion over the next 12 months.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11658
10/8/01
4:23:50 PM
URGENT
TIME: ALMOST MIDNIGHT
PLACE: USA
If America’s Nuclear Power Plants had been targeted on September 11th, it could have resulted in 10s of millions of deaths and unspeakable suffering. Why are these plants still open, still creating mountains of deadly radioactive waste? Both the plants and their waste are extremely vulnerable to terrorism, accidents, and other foreseeable catastrophes.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the nuclear industry got lucky last time. Yet they are doing virtually nothing to protect us after the horrific "wake-up call". Why not? The answer is this: PUBLIC INDIFFERENCE! When's the last time you worried about nuclear power enough to get out and DO something, like write a letter to your local paper's editor, or to your congressperson?
Let's tell the politicians we are no longer indifferent! We woke up, and we want them to, too.
Announcing the 11th Day, 11th Hour Protest
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of every month, contact your elected representatives and tell them to SHUT DOWN the nukes and SWITCH to renewable energy. Make Boeing build windmills. Make General Electric build solar panels for roof-tops, and light-bulbs that are energy-efficient and last for decades. Make General Motors build magnetic-levitation mass transit systems. Make Electric Boat build wave and tidal energy systems. These technologiesexist; only the will-power is missing. Demand a switch away from oil, coal, and worst of all nuclear, and to renewable energy solutions: Wind, wave, tide, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, biomass, etc. etc.. All these technologies are currently feasible; let's use them.
We have to demand peace. We have to demand justice, not war. We have to demand that the World Bank cancel the "Third World Debt" as a gesture of love to the planet. We have to demand that tensions be reduced around the globe, by increased sharing and cooperation, and by public trials of those charged with crimes against us, not by summary executions using secret hunter-killer teams of unaccountable Special Forces, and not by wholesale slaughter of civilians either.
If we don't solve a whole lot of problems quickly, terrorism will inevitably increase in size, scope, and frequency.
Think about how much worse 9-11 could have been if each plane had attacked a nuclear power plant. Then, try to do something about it.
Contact "President George W. Bush" <president@whitehouse.gov>
For more information about the 11th day, 11th hour protest, contact:
Russell D. Hoffman
Coordinator, The Worldwide 11th Day, 11th Hour Protest Against Nukes
"11-11 coordinator" <rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com>
Here are some suggested links for more information about radiation:
www.ratical.org
www.nirs.org
Learn more about renewable energy options here:
www.geni.org
This document is available here:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/11thhour.htm
Please add your name to this message and forward it to everyone you know This is a continuing monthly protest until ALL nuclear plants are shut down, ALL nuclear weapons are dismantled, and the radioactive waste issues are all somehow (good luck, world!) resolved!
Russell D. Hoffman, Concerned Citizen, P.O. Box 1936, Carlsbad, CA 92018
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/onofre/index.htm
mailto:rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
10/5/01
8:31:05 PM
MOJOURNAL
NEW ON MOTHERJONES.COM
* The War Dividend * - Web Exclusive: Congress is poised to write a blank check for the Pentagon's favorite programs -- whether or not they have anything to do with fighting terrorism.
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/commentary/opinion/blank_check.html
* Beyond the Blasts * - Web Exclusive: Keeping the press at bay; generals leery of war; some arab-americans support profiling; anti-terror exercises; e-needles in haystacks; more
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/blast4.html
* Bush Files * - Web Exclusive: Homeland security office clash; Rumsfeld's new image; missile shield still bad idea; O'Neill on short leash; team Bush; tough questions no one's asking; more...
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/bushfiles.html
* Discuss * - If I had $20 billion: What would you do with the money Congress just allocated to fight terrorism?
http://www.motherjones.com/cgi-bin/WebX?50@@.ee99c61
10/5/01
8:18:15 PM
Public Citizen
Nuclear Industry Shouldn't Be Let Off the Hook for Accident Costs
Lawmakers Wrong to Force Taxpayers to Subsidize Nuclear Industry's Insurance Costs
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The House Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality was wrong to vote today to reauthorize the Price-Anderson Act, which calls for the government - and therefore taxpayers - to foot most of the bill in the event of a nuclear power accident, Public Citizen said today.
Not only is it a bad idea to reauthorize the act, but lawmakers should gather much more information about the security of nuclear power plants before even considering the legislation, particularly in light of the events of Sept. 11, Public Citizen said. The nuclear power industry has a dismal record of passing mock security drills, and recent published reports indicate that nuclear power plants could not withstand the attacks perpetrated on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"This is absolutely the wrong time for the Congress to be considering the extension of this program," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "The current law doesn't expire until next August, but the leadership in the House of Representatives has put this legislation on a fast track. It's foolhardy to consider this until a full and thorough discussion of nuclear safety is conducted."
The Price-Anderson Act was passed in 1954 to help the nascent nuclear power industry get off the ground by providing government-backed indemnification in the event of any nuclear power accidents. Now, nuclear power plants must buy $200 million worth of insurance, and the industry's costs in the event of an accident would be capped at $9 billion. However, a nuclear accident would likely cost $500 billion, according to government estimates. The government would have to pay for what the nuclear industry doesn't cover. Under the pending legislation, the act would be reauthorized for 15 years. Public Citizen opposes the reauthorization, but says that if lawmakers do approve it, they should impose strict security requirements to protect against terrorism and assure the security of the reactors and surrounding communities.
Of particular concern in light of the events of Sept. 11 is the subcommittee's approval of concessions to new reactors constructed according to the pebble bed modular reactor design, which cuts costs by eliminating the traditional containment that protects the reactor from explosions and intrusions.
"This reckless move to promote dangerous new reactors is straight off the nuclear industry's wish-list," Hauter said. "There is no excuse for such blatant disregard of the safety risks that a new generation of nuclear plants would pose to the American public."
Further, the bill continues to require the American taxpayer to pick up the tab for willful and negligent actions of private contractors at U.S. Department of Energy facilities. As Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member John Dingell (D-Mich.) pointed out, neither the Environmental Protection Agency nor the Defense Department provide this level of subsidized indemnification to their private contractors who perform unsatisfactorily.
"What's the rush?" Hauter asked. "This is not the time to rush this legislation through the Congress. By doing so, we would expose our citizens to even more harm - financially and otherwise. Congress should put an end to corporate welfare for the nuclear industry."
For more information about the Price-Anderson Act, visit
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based on Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.Citizen.org
10/5/01
8:15:08 PM
FAIR
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
ACTIVISM UPDATE: New York Times Responds to FAIR, Calls Criticism a Distortion
October 5, 2001
FAIR's October 2 Action Alert, "Can the New York Times Count-- Or Quote-- Peace Activists?," got an immediate response from New York Times senior news editor Bill Borders.
Borders wrote a number of responses to FAIR activists, including several claiming that "as it often does, FAIR has, I think, distorted our position here." What follows below is one such response, along with FAIR's reply.
--From Bill Borders--
The crowd estimate of a "few hundred" appeared only in the first edition of last Sunday's paper. When the reporter wrote it, it was accurate. Later, the crowd grew, and the article was updated in all the other editions of the Sunday paper to "thousands." In retrospect, it would have been wiser not to put the smaller estimate into the early edition, but the reporter did not know that the crowd would grow so much.
FAIR is aware of these facts, but chose to withhold them from the "action alert" it sent you. I don't know why they did this; you might want to ask them.
Thanks for writing, and for holding us to a high standard.
Best, Bill Borders, The New York Times.
--FAIR's reply--
Dear Bill Borders:
Thank you for replying so quickly to our readers who inquired about the Times' coverage of peace activists.
Contrary to an assertion you made in some of your responses, FAIR did not knowingly withhold information from its readers. Making such an accusation without evidence is unprofessional.
In several responses, you wrote that "as it often does, FAIR has, I think, distorted our position here." We wrote our alert based on the third edition of the paper (labeled "Late Edition"), as well as the online edition, which as of this morning had not been changed to reflect the "growth" of the crowd. So our point was correct, as you acknowledge; I do not think that amounts to a distortion of your position.
If the Times does understand that its reporting was in error, it seems the most responsible thing to do would be to issue a correction that would be available to all of your readers. It is unlikely that very many people buy the final edition of the Times to fact-check what they have already read that morning.
I hope the Times will consider issuing a correction in this Sunday's edition.
Peter Hart, FAIR
It's also worth noting that Borders does not address FAIR's larger point about the Times' under-coverage and mischaracterization of peace protests (notably in the headline "Protesters in Washington Urge Peace with Terrorists"). The October 5 edition of the Times does, however, include a profile of peace activists that avoids many of the errors and distortions that so far have characterized some of the paper's previous coverage.
To read FAIR's original alert, "Can the New York Times Count-- Or Quote--Peace Activists?," visit
http://www.fair.org/activism/nyt-peace-activists.html
10/5/01
7:58:19 PM
Indict Katherine Harris, Democrats Urge
by Donna Ladd
Even as George W. Bush enjoys mountainous wartime popularity, one of his election lieutenants is causing cracks in the nation's veneer of political politeness. Within 24 hours of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris's announcement that she would run for U.S. Congress next year, Democrats.com bit back with a Web site and an e-mail alert. The group, co-founded by the Web designer of President Clinton's White House Web site and a consultant for Geraldine Ferraro's 1998 Senate race, is not only reminding voters of last year's election debacle. They are calling for the Democrats' version of Cruella de Vil to be indicted of several crimes they say helped Bush stumble into the White House.
"Katherine Harris belongs in jail, not the U.S. Congress," wrote Democrats.com founder Bob Fertik, in the e-mail. Fertik and his partner, David Lytel, say Harris violated a list of state and federal laws including the Votings Rights Act, the Ballot Design Law, and the American With Disabilities Act. They are collecting signatures (and donations) to encourage Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth and Leon County State Attorney Willie Meggs to bring up charges against Harris on 14 points associated with the 2000 presidential election. For one, Harris contracted with a private company for a "fraudulent felon purge," costing Democrat Al Gore thousands of votes, the group alleges. In addition, the congressional candidate allowed Republican operatives to work inside her office, draft speeches for her, and coordinate with Bush-Cheney attorneys on interpretation of election laws. And she allowed county canvassing boards to count 680 clearly illegal overseas military ballots, including some cast after Election Day.
Fertik says that Harris's entry into the race will help erode the bipartisan spirit that has swept the country since September 11. "Harris is such a divisive figure because she blocked the counting of 175,000 uncounted votes. How can we as a nation fight for 'Democracy' if our votes aren't counted?" Fertik told the Voice. He also accuses her of trying to cash in on the benevolent spirit of the moment, rather than waiting for a more appropriate time. "She thinks she can personally benefit from our present national unity, but she is doing tremendous damage to that unity instead," he said.
Citing a September 29, 2001, report in the St. Petersburg Times, Democrats.com is also fingering Harris for five non-Bush-related transgressions, including flying first class, making personal calls on her government-issued cell phone, and not allowing the state's inspector general to report directly to her, as required by Florida law. Harris recently fired Inspector General Dwight Chastain, who had complained that, despite numerous requests for meetings, he had almost no access to the secretary of state.
Fertik rejects any suggestion that Democrats.com is trying to use Harris to redirect attention back to the botched election and away from a suddenly popular Bush. "Katherine Harris chose to announce her campaign this week--not us," he said, adding, "We did not suspend law enforcement in the United States on September 11."
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0140/ladd.php
10/5/01
7:44:43 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
ROCK ON!
Canadian Minister of Health Allan Rock said yesterday that labels on genetically modified food should be mandatory in the country. In August, a national task force recommended a voluntary labeling system in Canada, but Rock said the country should instead follow the lead of the European Union, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, and impose labeling rules on the food industry. "It is about time government caught up to the will of Canadians to be reasonably informed about what they are putting in their bodies," Rock said. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical giant Novartis confirmed yesterday that Greenpeace was correct in claiming that some baby food sold in the Philippines by Novartis subsidiary Gerber contained genetically modified soy.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 05 Oct 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12674/story.htm>
IF YOU BUILD IT, SPRAWL WON'T COME
In the wake of the destruction of the World Trade Center tower, environmentalists are calling for a rapid rebuilding of lower Manhattan as a way to fight increased urban sprawl and traffic congestion. They worry that the sudden shortage of office space downtown, combined with concerns about security and the economy, could drive corporations out of the city center, at the expense of air quality and open spaces. As a result, some environmental groups say they would turn a blind eye to streamlined building procedures. Meanwhile, Grist diarist and environmental justice activist Swati Prakash continues to fight the good fight while simultaneously trying to meet the city's new, post-terrorism needs. Read her account of this week in New York City on the Grist Magazine website.
straight to the source: New York Times, Kirk Johnson, 05 Oct 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/05/nyregion/05SPRA.html>
FILL UP YER CAMEL, SIR?
A court in Pakistan ruled yesterday that Britain's Premier Oil can go ahead with plans to test for natural gas in the country's largest national park, which is home to rare urial sheep, ibex, and chinkara gazelle. Shehri-Citizens for a Better Environment and Friends of the Earth International say Premier's exploratory surveys would threaten the animals and disturb the 20,000 tribal people living in the park. They plan to appeal the ruling to the country's Supreme Court. For its part, Premier says it will minimize the environmental impact of the operation, going so far as to travel by camel where there are no roads.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 05 Oct 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12673/story.htm>
GOING WITH THE GRAIN
In a closely contested vote yesterday, the U.S. House defeated an amendment to a massive farm bill that would have shifted $19 billion from crop subsidies to conservation efforts. The defeat, which was engineered largely by lawmakers from traditional farming states, paves the way for approval of a 10-year, $171 billion farm bill that would increase subsides for grain and cotton farmers. Critics, including the Bush administration, say the bill gives too much money to large farms and not enough to environmental efforts, but supporters claim it is the greenest farm bill ever considered by Congress, with conservation spending up 78 percent from past packages.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Dan Morgan, 05 Oct 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8360-2001Oct4.html>
straight to the source: New York Times, Elizabeth Becker, 05 Oct 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/05/national/05FARM.html>
DRIVEN TO DRINK
The average fuel efficiency of new vehicles has hit a two-decade low of 20.4 miles per gallon, according to a report released yesterday by the U.S. EPA. The report attributed the decline in fuel economy largely to the popularity of sports utility vehicles, which get notoriously poor fuel economy and are regulated by laxer rules than other passenger vehicles. The report will add fuel to the debate over whether the government should impose stricter fuel-economy standards on automakers. This summer, the National Academy of Sciences issued a report that found that higher standards could be implemented at a relatively low cost, but automakers are disputing that finding at a hearing today. Academy officials say any factual errors corrected as a result of the hearing would be unlikely to alter the report's conclusions.
straight to the source: Detroit News, Jeff Plungis, 05 Oct 2001 <http://www.detnews.com/2001/autos/0110/05/b01-310950.htm>
do good: Take action to demand fuel efficient cars <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/autos.asp?source=daily#fuel>
10/5/01
7:37:15 PM
Blair Snitch Project
by Scott Shuger
Both the NYT and the LAT lead with the British government's release yesterday of what it claims is evidence linking Osama Bin Laden and his terror organization to the September 11 attacks. The material was introduced via prime minister Tony Blair's speech on the topic to Parliament and the posting of a 16-page official document on the Internet. USAT, which reefers the British revelations, leads with "DEATH TOLL IN NYC FALLS BY 1,400," which is happening because the NYPD is removing duplicate missing persons reports from its master list. The paper's headline is followed by this world-turned-upside-down subheadline: "Analysis offers hope it could be below 5,000." The WP, which fronts the British news, leads with the midair explosion of a Russian airliner enroute to Siberia from Tel Aviv that killed all 76 people onboard. The story says that terrorism has not been ruled out, but that a more likely explanation, seemingly supported by U.S. satellite data, is that the plane was accidentally struck by a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile launched during a military training exercise. The WSJ tops its front-page world-wide news box with a sketch of the U.S. strategy of its planned Afghanistan bombing campaign: targeting Taliban headquarters, training camps, airfields and military supplies in hopes of producing an atmosphere in which anti-Taliban armed factions will be encouraged to move against Osama Bin Laden. Roads, bridges and other civilian infrastructure will not be targeted, and food and medicine will be airdropped to the general population.
The coverage reports that the British brief against Bin Laden is often vague to protect sensitive intelligence sources and methods but that according to Blair, it leaves no doubt. The papers also report that yesterday, Pakistani government officials stated that the evidence was sufficient even for a legal case against Bin Laden. The brief's highlights: 1) Known associates of Bin Laden warned of an attack on or around September 11, telling certain members of the organization to return to Afghanistan before that date; 2) An unnamed senior associate of Bin Laden's was in charge of planning the September 11 attacks; 3) It has been confirmed that three of the hijackers have been positively identified as members of Bin Laden's network, and one of them has been ID'd as involved in planning the 1998 East African embassy bombings and the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole; 4) A surviving participant in the Kenya embassy bombing afterwards called a telephone number in Yemen for money, a telephone number that was later the same day called by Bin Laden's phone. None of the papers' main stories has another similar datum, which is included in the official British government document: 5) The faxed claim of responsibility for the embassy bombings was traced to a phone number that had been in contact with Bin Laden's phone. Of the majors, only the WP's story includes the Web address for the British government site posting the case against Bin Laden--(www.number-10.gov.uk).
The WP front reports that U.S. intelligence officials have told members of Congress that there is a "high probability" that terrorists associated with Bin Laden will try to launch another major attack on American targets "in the near future," a likelihood rising to "100 percent" (in the words of one unidentified intelligence official) if the U.S. strikes Afghanistan.
The WSJ relays "the most graphic report yet" of how widespread the economic fallout from the September 11 attacks has been: initial claims for unemployment insurance rose 71,000 (to 528,000), more than double what Wall Street had been expecting. The paper quotes an economist predicting that the U.S. unemployment rate--which was at 4.9% in August--will hit 6% early next year.
The NYT lead editorial says that although it would be irrational and counterproductive to respond to the terror attacks with a drastic reduction in the number of immigrants and foreign visitors admitted to the U.S., homeland security officials need to "crack down on lax enforcement of the immigration laws, with a sense of urgency." Buried at the end of a WP Page 14 story on the U.S. consular system that seamlessly issued tourist or business visas to all 19 hijackers is the revelation that the State Dept. doesn't have quick access to FBI databases of suspected criminals, even though this information is commonly available to local police departments.
The USAT fronter on the U.S./British commando hunt for Osama Bin Laden, which the paper continues to say is already in progress on the ground in Afghanistan, says that two key members of Congress told the paper that the intelligence being acquired about Bin Laden's movements is "surprisingly good" and that the commandos "almost" know where he is.
The papers go inside with word that a 63-year-old Florida man has come down with pulmonary anthrax, which is common in farm animals but very unusual in humans (only 18 cases in the U.S. in the 20th century). The secretary of HHS, Tommy Thompson, said yesterday at a White House briefing that the man's disease was not caused by terrorism.
Notice to Sally Quinn: They also mess up your hair. The LAT goes inside with a gas mask debunker, which reminds that most of the masks available in surplus stores are there because they don't work, that you have to be taught how to wear one to get protection and to avoid suffocating, and they aren't effective absent a detection system that tells you when they're needed--a system utterly absent in civilian life. Plus, for protections against serious chemical or biological agents you need to be wearing a correctly fitted protective suit as well.
And what could be a more traditional value than insensitive stupidity? The WP reports that the Rev. Louis Sheldon, chairman and founder of the Traditional Values Coalition, said yesterday that the public and private relief agencies providing assistance to September 11 attack survivors should not aid surviving members of gay partnerships.
10/5/01
7:34:11 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
ANTI ANTI-WAR AND THEY HATE US?
by James Norton and Clay Risen, Flak Magazine
-- Political skepticism is a necessary element of any healthy democracy. But recent anti-war protests and foreign-policy critics risk destroying the Left's political capital for years to come.
WHY WE STILL NEED MOVIES
by Bob Westal, Film Threat
-- With Hollywood movie production at a standstill, one film critic reminds us why movies still matter.
CAREERS: CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
by Jennifer Long, Moxie
-- Every Spring college graduates finish school and often spend the summer figuring out what to do with themselves. Recent grad Jennifer Long's handy article is chock full of tips for the searching twenty-something.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
10/5/01
7:30:55 PM
The "Security" Charade
by Robert Bowman
If deceptions about terrorism go unchallenged, then the threat will continue until it destroys us.
The truth is that none of our thousands of nuclear weapons can protect us from these threats. No Star Wars system no matter how technically advanced, no matter how many trillions of dollars are poured into it, can protect us from a nuclear weapon delivered in a sailboat or a Cessna or a suitcase or a Ryder rental truck. Not one weapon in our vast arsenal, not a penny of the $270 billion a year we spend on so-called defense can defend against a terrorist bomb. That is a military fact.
As a retired lieutenant colonel and a frequent lecturer on national security issues, I have often quoted Psalm 33: "A king is not saved by his mighty army. A warrior is not saved by his great strength." The obvious reaction is, "Then what can we do?" Is there nothing we can do to provide security for our people?"
There is. But to understand it requires that we know the truth about the threat. President Clinton did not tell the American people the truth about why we are the targets of terrorism when he explained why we bombed Afghanistan and Sudan. He said that we are a target because we stand for democracy, freedom, and human rights in the world. Nonsense!
We are the target of terrorists because, in much of the world, our government stands for dictatorship, bondage, and human exploitation. We are the target of terrorists because we are hated. And we are hated because our government has done hateful things.
In how many countries have agents of our government deposed popularly elected leaders and replaced them with puppet military dictators who were willing to sell out their own people to American multinational corporations?
We did it in Iran when the US Marines and the CIA deposed Mossadegh because he wanted to nationalize the oil industry. We replaced him with the Shah and armed, trained, and paid his hated Savak National Guard, which enslaved and brutalized the people of Iran, all to protect the financial interests of our oil companies. Is it any wonder that there are people in Iran who hate us?
We did it in Chile. We did it in Vietnam. More recently, we tried to do it in Iraq. And, of course, how many times have we done it in Nicaragua and all the other banana republics of Latin America? Time after time we have ousted popular leaders who wanted the riches of the land to be shared by the people who worked it. We replaced them with murderous tyrants who would sell out their own people so the wealth of the land could be taken out by the likes of Domino Sugar, Folgers, and Chiquita Banana.
In country after country, our government has thwarted democracy, stifled freedom, and trampled human rights. That's why it is hated around the world. And that's why we're the target of terrorists.
People in Canada enjoy democracy, freedom, and human rights. So do the people of Norway and Sweden. Have you heard of Canadian embassies being bombed? Or Norwegian, or Swedish?
We are not hated because we practice democracy, value freedom, or uphold human rights. We are hated because our government denies these things to people in Third World countries whose resources are coveted by our multinational corporations. That hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the form of terrorism and in the future, nuclear terrorism.
Once the truth about why the threat exists is understood, the solution becomes obvious. We must change our ways. Getting rid of our nuclear weapons unilaterally if necessary will enhance our security. Drastically altering our foreign policy will ensure it.
Instead of sending our sons and daughters around the world to kill Arabs so we can have the oil under their sand, we should send them to rebuild their infrastructure, supply clean water, and feed starving children. Instead of continuing to kill hundreds of Iraqui children every day with our sanctions, we should help Iraquis rebuild their electric power plants, their water treatment facilities, their hospitals, and all the things we have destroyed and prevented them from rebuilding.
Instead of training terrorists and death squads, we should close the School of the Americas [Ft. Benning, GA.]. Instead of supporting insurrection, destabilization, assassination, and terror around the world, we should abolish the CIA and give money to relief agencies.
In short, we should do good instead of evil. Who would try to stop us? Who would hate us? Who would want to bomb us? That is the truth the American people need to hear.
Robert Bowman flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam. He is presently (1998) bishop of the United Catholic Church in Melbourne Beach, FL.
Originally printed in The National Catholic Reporter, Oct. 2, 1998.
10/5/01
7:27:02 PM
Did White House Lie About Threat To Air Force One?
By Jerry White
The White House has been caught in a lie about the alleged terrorist threat against Air Force One which it had cited as the reason for President Bush's absence from Washington for most of September 11. According to reports by CBS News and the Washington Post, White House officials have acknowledged that the Secret Service never received a phone call warning of a direct threat to the president's airplane. The government's reversal has gone largely unreported in the media.
In the immediate aftermath of the terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Bush's movements became a matter of controversy within political and media circles. As the destruction in New York and Washington unfolded and unconfirmed reports emerged of a car bomb at the State Department and the danger of further hijackings, Bush, who began the day in Florida, was whisked from one military installation to another by the Secret Service.
Looking pale and shaken, he taped a brief initial message from an underground bunker at an air force base in Louisiana. Several hours later?when all non-US military aircraft in American air space had been grounded?Bush was flown to another fortified location at the Strategic Air Command headquarters in Nebraska. The president did not return to Washington until 7 p.m., nearly 10 hours after the initial attack.
Bush's failure to quickly return to Washington sparked pointed criticism, including from within the Republican Party. Under conditions of a massive attack on US civilians, involving the destruction of a symbol of American financial power and the partial destruction of the nerve center of the American military, any appearance of indecisiveness or panic on the part of the US president was of great concern to the American political and financial elite.
New York Times columnist William Safire, a one-time Nixon aide and fixture within the Republican Party, suggested that Bush had panicked and all but abandoned his post in the first hours of the crisis. Writing in a September 12 op-ed piece, Safire said, "Even in the first horrified moments, this was never seen as a nuclear attack by a foreign power. Bush should have insisted on coming right back to the Washington area, broadcasting?live and calm?from a secure facility not far from the White House."
Stung by such criticisms, Bush's chief political strategist Karl Rove and other top administration officials worked feverishly to reassure the political, corporate and military establishment, and bolster Bush's authority among the population at large. By the afternoon of September 12, the Associated Press and Reuters were carrying stories, widely circulated throughout the media, that were intended to diffuse criticism of Bush's actions the previous day. They quoted a White House spokesperson saying, "There was real and credible information that the White House and Air Force One were targets of terrorist attacks and that the plane that hit the Pentagon was headed for the White House." White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer repeated this claim at an afternoon news briefing that same day, saying the Secret Service had "specific and credible information" that the White House and Air Force One were potential targets.
In a further column in the New York Times on September 13, entitled "Inside the Bunker," Safire described a conversation with an unnamed "high White House official," who told him, "A threatening message received by the Secret Service was relayed to the agents with the president that 'Air Force One is next.'" Safire continued: "According to the high official, American code words were used showing a knowledge of procedures that made the threat credible."
Safire reported that this information was confirmed by Rove, who told him Bush had wanted to return to Washington but the Secret Service "informed him that the threat contained language that was evidence that the terrorists had knowledge of his procedures and whereabouts."
Two weeks after these astonishing claims, the administration has all but admitted it concocted the entire story. CBS Evening News reported September 25 that the call "simply never happened."
The fact that top officials, at a time of extraordinary crisis and public anxiety, lied to protect the president's image has immense implications. If, within 24 hours of the terror attacks, the White House was giving out disinformation to deceive the American public and world opinion, then none of the claims made by the government from September 11 to the present can be taken for good coin.
If Bush lied about his activities on the day of the attacks, why should anyone assume he has not lied about the government's investigation, the identity of the perpetrators, the motives and aims of US war preparations, and the intent and scope of expanded police powers demanded by his administration to wiretap, search and seize, and detain suspects?
This entire episode provides ample grounds for the American people to treat all claims by the government with the utmost suspicion and not accept any of its assertions without independent and verifiable information.
The duplicity of the government is all the more significant since the Bush administration has taken the position that people not only in the US, but throughout the world, must accept on faith its assertions that Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network are responsible for the attacks, and that the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban government in Afghanistan bears direct responsibility because it harbors bin Laden.
It is quite possible that bin Laden played a role in the September 11 atrocities. To date, however, Bush has offered no evidence, and, apparently, has no intention of doing so. Instead the administration insists that the American people place blind trust in the White House and give it a blank check for waging war and trampling on civil liberties.
The phony Air Force One story not only exposes the duplicitous methods of the Bush administration, it also underscores the shamelessness and complicity of the media. When the White House came out with the story of a terrorist phone threat against the president's plane, the media uncritically repeated it, with banner headlines and chilling segments on the evening news. As it has throughout the present crisis, the media functioned unabashedly as a propaganda arm of the government.
But when the White House, two weeks later, retracted the story, most networks failed to even report the fact, as did leading newspapers such as the New York Times. The Washington Post, for its part, buried the government's about-face on its inside pages. No media outlet made an issue of this incriminating admission, or discussed its broader implications.
Well before the official retraction, it was widely accepted in the Washington press corps that the administration had made up the Air Force One story. In her column in the September 23 New York Times, Maureen Dowd noted that Karl Rove had "called around town, trying to sell reporters the story? now widely discredited ?that Mr. Bush didn't immediately return to Washington on Sept. 11 because the plane that was headed for the Pentagon may have really been targeting the White House, and that Air Force One was in jeopardy, too" (emphasis added).
Dowd and her colleagues believed the government was lying, but the public had no way of knowing the story was not credible since the news media refused to openly challenge it.
There may be another reason for the silence of the press. The story handed out on September 12 by Rove, Fleischer and other White House officials raised issues even more explosive and potentially damning than Bush's feckless behavior on September 11.
Safire pointed to one such question in his September 13 New York Times column. Referring to the White House claim that the terrorists had knowledge of secret information about Air Force One, Safire asked: "How did they get the code-word information and transponder know-how that established their mala fides? That knowledge of code words and presidential whereabouts and possession of secret procedures indicates that the terrorists may have a mole in the White House?that, or informants in the Secret Service, FBI, FAA, or CIA."
Safire's entirely valid question as to how a supposed terrorist could have knowledge of such top-secret and sensitive information has never been taken up by the media at large, or addressed by the government.
If, indeed, such a phone call took place, it would raise an alternate theory of contact between the terrorists and one or another agency of the government at least as plausible as that suggested by Safire: Namely, that the call was not a threat, but rather a tip-off from an informant for the US who had knowledge of the plans and activities of the terrorists.
The World Socialist Web Site does not claim to have an answer to these questions. But it is legitimate and necessary to raise them, especially since they are posed by the government's own statements.
One thing is clear: the government lied to the people of America and the world. Either it lied on September 12 when it issued the story of the threat to Air Force One, or it lied two weeks later when it retracted the story. The millions of people who are being told they must accept unbridled militarism and the gutting of their democratic rights in the name of a holy war against terrorism must draw the appropriate conclusions from this indisputable fact.
10/5/01
7:20:40 PM
From: http://www.rense.com/general14/WSJbushsenior.htm
WSJ - Bush Sr. In Business With bin Ladin Family Via Carlyle Group Judicial Watch.org 9-28-1
WASHINGTON, DC - Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, reacted with disbelief to The Wall Street Journal report of yesterday that George H.W. Bush, the father of President Bush, works for the bin Laden family business in Saudi Arabia through the Carlyle Group, an international consulting firm. The senior Bush had met with the bin Laden family at least twice. (Other top Republicans are also associated with the Carlyle group, such as former Secretary of State James A. Baker.) The terrorist leader Osama bin Laden had supposedly been "disowned" by his family, which runs a multi-billion dollar business in Saudi Arabia and is a major investor in the senior Bush's firm. Other reports have questioned, though, whether members of his Saudi family have truly cut off Osama bin Laden. Indeed, the Journal also reported yesterday that the FBI has subpoenaed the bin Laden family business's bank records.
Judicial Watch earlier this year had strongly criticized President Bush's father's association with the Carlyle Group, pointing out in a March 5 statement that it was a "conflict of interest (which) could cause problems for America's foreign policy in Middle East and Asia." Judicial Watch called for the senior Bush to resign from the firm then.
"This conflict of interest has now turned into a scandal. The idea of the President's father, an ex-president himself, doing business with a company under investigation by the FBI in the terror attacks of September 11 is horrible. President Bush should not ask, but demand, that his father pull out of the Carlyle Group," stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.
"This has the potential of making 'Billygate' (Jimmy Carter's brother's dealings with Libya) look like small potatoes," added Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
See also:
The Strange Death Of bin Laden's Brother In Texas
http://www.rense.com/general14/brother.htm
10/5/01
7:19:12 PM
1st hand account of WTC escape
Through David McReynolds <DavidMcR@aol.com>
Dear All,
Now that I can begin to think clearly again, I would like to take the time to thank each and every one of you for your concern of my well- being. It was a very close call, and I am grateful to be alive. As you probably all know by now, I narrowly escaped from the World Trade Center attack this past Tuesday, unlike the thousands who are still trapped beneath the rubble.
At 8:48am on Tuesday morning, I was reading my e-mail like I do every morning. I had just gotten off the phone with a traffic engineer at the Port Authority regarding a file that I had transmitted to him on the previous day. As I was finishing off my usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I heard a loud explosion, which was immediately followed by tremendous building sways and vibrations.
As I was thrown out of my chair, I immediately thought that this was an earthquake, but still thinking rationally, I thought that it was abnormal since there are no earthquakes in NYC, especially of this magnitude. I remember thinking that the building felt like it was going to collapse from this initial explosion.
As I picked myself up and ran to the emergency staircase located in the core of the huge building, I saw through the east facing windows debris and fireballs falling from the top of the building.
The building had stabilized by the time I reached the stairwell, and evacuation had commenced quickly but calmly. Not knowing the gravity of what was happening above us, people had started pouring into the stairwell from the hallways of the different floors. I saw a coworker from my floor (72nd), and we held and consoled each other.
There were no public announcements in the stairwell, but the evacuation seemed to be going smoothly, there were no more explosions as far as we could tell, no smoke coming up the stairwell, and the building had stopped swaying. We all felt like we were out of imminent danger. As we started to make it down the stairwell, people started chatting and gathering their composures. I heard some people who had been there in '93 telling others that this was a piece of cake since the stairwell was dark and full of smoke in '93. Others were joking about how Mr. Silverstein, who had just recently taken control of the complex, must be fuming at what was happening. A few moments passed and people began to receive messages over their pagers that a 767 had accidentally hit our building. There was no mention of a terrorist attack, and at no time was there any panic.
Mobile phones were completely out in the core of the building due to its immenseness and the large distance from the core of the building to the exterior where signals were usually stronger. There was no smoke at all in the stairwell, but there was a strange peculiar smell, which I later remembered it smelling like how it does when one boards an aircraft. I later found out that this was jet fuel.
Soon we heard shouts from the people above us to keep to the right.
I started seeing blind people, those with difficulty moving, asthmatics and injured people filing down to our left. People were burned so badly that I won't go into describing it. People kept filing down orderly and calmly, but stunned.
Sometime around the 30th or 40th floor, we passed the first firefighters coming up the stairs. They reassured people that we were safe and that we would all get out fine. By this point, they were already absolutely breathless, but still pushing upward, slowly and unyieldingly, one step at a time. I could only imagine how tired they were, carrying their axes, hoses and heavy outfits and climbing up all those stairs. Young men started offering the firemen to carry up their gear for a few flights, but they all refused.
EACH and EVERY ONE of them. As I relive this moment over and over in my mind, I can't help but think that these courageous firemen already knew in their minds that they would not make it out of the building alive and that they didn't not want to endanger any more civilians and prevent one less person from making it to safety on the ground.
We continued down the stairwell, slowly and at times completely stalled. The smell of jet fuel had gotten so unbearable that people began covering their mouths and noses with anything that they could find - ties, shirts, handkerchiefs. Every few floors, emergency crew were passing out water and sodas from the vending machines that they had split open from the hallways. I had no idea how much time had passed by as I didn't have my mobile phone with me. Around the 20th or 15th floor, the emergency crew began diverting the people in our stairwell to a different stairwell. They led us out of our stairwell, across the hallway where I saw exhausted firemen and emergency crew sitting on the floor trying to catch their breaths. I began to think why? What's going on? This whole operation looked very confusing.
Nobody was giving us any indication as to what was going on. The wait in the hallway to get to the other staircase was excruciatingly long as we had to wait and merge with the people who were coming down the staircase into which we were filing. Why had they diverted us? As we started to get down to the lower floors, water started to pour down from behind us. I figured that a water pipe had burst or that it was water coming down from the rescue on the higher floors.
At this moment for the first time since the initial explosion, a sense of panic began to grip me. Only floor 7, then 6. A few more to go, and I would be free. I couldn't wait. It didn't matter that the water was ankle deep. I was a few floors from the ground. Floor ,,,,4,,,,then all of a sudden, a loud boom, and the building began to shake unbearably again. People started falling down the stairwell as smoke started to rise from the bottom. The emergency lights flickered and then went out. The building was still shaking, and I could hear the steel buckling.
Rescuers below us shouted for us to go back up the stairs. At this moment, I was choking and shaking tremendously. I managed to climb back up to the 6th or 7th floor and opened the door to that floor.
The water had already risen to my ankles, and the floor was completely dark. A fireman led us with his flashlights to another staircase by the voices of another fireman who was guiding him through the darkness. We finally made it across that floor to the other stairwell where we were greeted by the other fireman and told to hold. The look on that fireman's face said it all. He said something under his lips to our fireman indicating the severity of the situation.
With the image of the firemen communicating to each other and hindsight, I believe that the fireman had whispered to the other one that Building Two had collapsed.
After a few minutes of huddling by the stairwell on the 6th floor, we were given the green light to run for our lives. I made it down six flights with a few other people and came out onto the mezzanine level of our building. I don't know what I was expecting to see when I got out of the stairwell, but I was not ready for this apocalyptic scene.
It was completely covered in white dust and smoke. My initial reaction was that I couldn't believe that one plane, albeit a 767, 80 floors above our head caused all this damage on the ground floor - inside. I covered my head and ran towards the huge opening in the north side of the building through which we were being evacuated.
As I approached this threshold, the firemen yelled to us to get over to the wall of the building quickly.
Debris was still raining from all sides of the building. We could see the other firefighters who were outside standing underneath the cantilevered parts of the black immigration building (4 and/or 5 WTC).
At their cue, we ran from our building to the outside world and back underneath the immigration building. I was completely disoriented, coughing, and looking at the strange new landscape at the WTC plaza - burning trees, wreckage, fireballs and dust, nothing short of a nuclear winter. I climbed over huge pieces of steel wreckage and made my way through to the skybridge leading to 7 WTC (building 3 to collapse). From there, I descended the escalators down to the street level onto Vesey Street and trotted to safety onto Church Street. I immediately looked back and saw the charred remains of the upper floors of my building. Smoke filled the sky, and I began to have this eerie feeling that WTC 2 was not there. I couldn't be sure because of all the smoke that was billowing from my building blowing eastward. As I was trying to find WTC 2, I saw the unthinkable happen in front of my eyes. WTC 1 began to disintegrate from where it was burning. I turned around and ran.
I later learned that another 767 had hit WTC 2 around the floors where sit in my building. I later learned that WTC 2 had collapsed when we were still inside my building on the fourth floor when it began to shake for a second time. I later learned that I had been spared from the sight of people falling from the higher floors. I am grateful to be alive and uninjured and to be able to share this life-changing experience with you. And, I am so grateful for the courage of the firemen and policemen who gave up their lives to help us down the burning tower.
See also:
NY Fireman: There were 'BOMBS IN THE BUILDING!' http://www.konformist.com/911/bombs.htm
9-11: An Intuitive Perspective http://www.konformist.com/911/jayebeldo.htm
10/5/01
7:12:26 PM
HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING (albeit a long one):
Michael Rowbotham: Written In Belief (3 October 2001)
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0110/S00021.htm
HERE IS AN EXCERPT FROM HIS CONCLUSION:
"After the believable has been presented as a possibility, the seriousness of the allegation is such that even the remote possibility of its truth simply cannot be ignored. We stand at the dawn of a new world order. What will that world order be? There seem to be three options. It could be a world in which regrettable but necessary international security measures lead us towards a hopefully benign, more international and stable governance. It could be a world built on subterfuge, lies and tyranny in which the possibility of global justice, democracy and decency are buried forever. Or it could be a world in which a long-standing, powerful and arrogant conspiracy is wholly or partially unmasked and a new world order of genuine political and economic democracy is enabled to emerge. The stakes simply could not be higher."
Also of interest:
Phil Krapf's Presentation to the UFO Expo
http://www.thechallengeofcontact.com/update2.htm
"Everyone who is not for us, is against us." (Tony Blair, Oct. 3)
http://www.world-action.co.uk/nato.html
Did You Hear About... A search for answers and a blizzard of information have made WTC rumors as ubiquitous as flags. - "The problem with dismissing all the World Trade Center rumors is that not all of them are fiction."
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101011008-176941,00.html
10/5/01
7:07:55 PM
GOOD NEWS!
Bush announced today $320 million in aid "to alleviate a burgeoning refugee problem in Afghanistan triggered by threats of U.S. military action". It will go to the Red Cross, the U.N. and other humanitarian NGOs. Of course it is only a drop in the bucket compared to what goes to the military and probably a gesture to atone for the sufferings and fear his warmongering speeches have unleashed -- but it is a good deed anyway... and I applaud it! ;-)
Bush to Announce $320 Million in Afghan Aid
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011004/ts/attack_bush_dc_99.html
U.S. Plans Humanitarian Airdrop
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011004/ts/attacks_rumsfeld_12.html
"Rumsfeld said satellite photos show masses of Afghans fleeing on foot in search of food and refuge. ``It is a heartbreaking thing to see,'' he said."
BAD NEWS:
Ebola-style killer virus sweeps Afghan border
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/10/04/wref04.xml
THE largest outbreak in history of a highly contagious disease that causes patients to bleed to death from every orifice was confirmed yesterday on Pakistan's frontier with Afghanistan.
At least 75 people have caught the disease so far and eight have died. An isolation ward screened off by barbed wire has been set up in the Pakistani city of Quetta, and an international appeal has been launched for help. Evidence suggests the outbreak of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever emanates from within Afghanistan, raising fears of an epidemic if millions of refugees flee across the frontier into Pakistan.
CCHF has similar effects to the ebola virus. Both viruses damage arteries, veins and other blood vessels and lead to the eventual collapse of major organs. As one doctor put it, a patient suffering from haemorrhagic fever "literally melts in front of your eyes".
Note: The first cases came in June thus ruling out germ warfare.
10/5/01
7:05:13 PM
"Whether it is under the guise of survival and self-defence or directly expressed through dominion and greed, the failure to recognize the common humanity shared by us all lies at the heart of our difficulties. To overcome it, we should begin to develop, from the level of the individual through that of society to the world at large, what I call a sense of universal responsibility; a deep respect for every living being who lives on this one small planet and calls it home."
- Dalai Lama
"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses."
- Major General Smedley Butler, USMC
10/5/01
7:03:40 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
BUSH ADMINISTRATION DENOUNCES HOUSE FARM BILL
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, October 4, 2001 (ENS) - The White House has thrown its considerable weight behind a proposal to reduce massive, decades old subsidies for crops like wheat and corn. The move by the Bush administration could give a boost to proposals that would shift billions of dollars away from farm subsidies and into conservation programs.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-04-06.html
UK APPROVES MOX NUCLEAR FUEL MANUFACTURING PLANT
LONDON, United Kingdom, October 4, 2001 (ENS) - The UK government today approved operation of the controversial mixed oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel manufacturing plant at Sellafield, drawing immediate threats of legal action by environmental groups.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-04-02.html
SAFEGUARDS FOR LARGEST WEST AFRICAN FOREST CONSIDERED
ABIDJAN, Cote d'Ivoire, October 4, 2001 (ENS) - West African forest conservation won support today from the President of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, the Ivory Coast.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-04-01.html
BURNED OUT ANTARCTIC LAB WILL BE REBUILT
CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, October 4, 2001 (ENS) - The British Antarctic Survey has promised to rebuild the costly Bonner scientific laboratory at Rothera Station, but admits its loss by fire is a big setback.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-04-03.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: OCTOBER 4, 2001
Drought Covers 20 Percent of the World
Timber Lobbyist Takes Over Environmental Office
EPA, OSHA Post World Trade Center Monitoring Data
Sensitive Information Removed from Federal Websites
Judge Upholds Sequoia National Monument
Scientific Review of Klamath Basin Decisions Launched
Cell Line Tests Could Reduce Animal Testing
EPA Renews License for Bt Cotton
Island Bird Proposed as Endangered Species
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-04-09.html
10/5/01
6:59:13 PM
PENTAGON : Ukrainian Missile Downed Russian Jet
WASHINGTON (CNN) 10.04.01| Knowledgeable U.S. officials said they have evidence the Russian airliner that crashed Thursday into the Black Sea was shot down by a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile fired during military exercises.
"We believe this was a tragic accident caused by a military exercise gone awry," said a US official.
The Sibir Airlines Tu-154 with 77 people aboard was en route from Israel to Siberia.
U.S. officials said the plane was downed by an SA-5 surface-to-air missile fired from a shore battery during the largest scale Ukrainian military exercises in some years.
The plane started its journey in Tel Aviv, Israel, bound for Novisibersk, Russia. Officials in Israel and Russia said they feared the crash could have been caused by terrorists. An Armenian pilot flying in the vicinity said he saw the plane explode in midair.
CNN Corrrespondent Jill Dougherty in Moscow said early reports showed the Sibir pilot had given air traffic controllers "no indication" of any problems. "Whatever happened, happened quickly," she said.
Vasily Yurchuk, spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, said the plane went down 185 kilometers (115 miles) from the Russian coastal city of Adler, near the Georgian border, The Associated Press reported.
A Russian emergency ministry official told Reuters the plane went down 190 kilometers (118 miles) south of the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk.
Reports said the wreckage of the aircraft was found about 280 kilometers (174 miles) from the coast of the Black Sea.
Ukraine denies its missile involved
Kostyntun Khivlemko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in Kiev, denied the plane was shot down by a Ukrainian missile. He said the missiles being used had a range of only10 kilometers, and the plane was more than 300 kilometers away.
Jane's Defence said an SA-5 has a range of 300 kilometers (186 miles)
Russian President Vladimir Putin also said he doubted whether Ukrainian missiles would have had the range to hit the plane.
Nevertheless, U.S. officials said they had "convincing" indications the plane was hit by a Ukrainian SA-5 missile.
Russia was observing the Ukrainian exercises, but not taking part, Putin said.
His administration was in communication with the Ukraine government, but it was premature to make any judgments, he added. A careful investigation would be needed.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one U.S. official said there was prior notification by the Ukrainian government that airspace had been set aside for military exercises.
It was not yet clear whether the jet was inside or outside that area at the time of the crash, the U.S. official said.
There were reports the plane had stopped in Bulgaria en route to Siberia, but Bulgarian presidential press secretary Nerry Terzieva said the jet neither stopped in Bulgaria and nor entered Bulgarian airspace.
Israel, which operates some of the world's most stringent aviation safety measures, canceled all takeoffs from Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv immediately after news of the crash for fear it may have been a terrorist attack.
The move came before the Ukrainian missile theory emerged. Departure flights were allowed to resume four hours after the crash. In-bound flights had not been affected.
Armenian pilot describes two explosions
The Russian Transport Ministry and domestic security service said the pilot of an Armenian An-24 plane flying near the Tu-154 reported to Russian air traffic controllers in Rostov-on-Don, southern Russia, that he had seen an explosion aboard the plane.
The pilot, Garik Ovanisian, was quoted by The AP as saying: "I saw the explosion on the plane, which was above me at an altitude of 11,000 meters [36,300 feet] above the Black Sea.
"The plane fell into the sea, and there was another explosion in the sea. After that I saw a big white spot on the sea and I had the impression that oil was burning."
Russian officials said 51 of the passengers were Israelis and 15 were Russians. All 11 crew members were Russians.
An investigation would be led by Vladimir Rushailo, head of the presidential security council, and attempts to retrieve the flight's data recorders would be made.
A Russian search and rescue team was sent immediately to the site to look for survivors, as well as divers to find possible evidence.
Early indications are that there were no survivors, Dougherty said.
Putin said on Russian television that "every shred of evidence" had to be retrieved from the crash site as "quickly as possible."
"We need to collect everything there -- get the experts examining everything," he said.
"If the depth allows, we need to get divers searching for the flight data recorder. We need it badly."
Dougherty said: "There is huge concern in Russia in an atmosphere of terrorism. There is a fear that Russia could be targeted for some sort of retribution for its support of a global crackdown on international terrorism."
Russian Airliner Crashes Into Black Sea Last Updated: October 04, 2001 01:46 PM ET
By Richard Balmforth
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian airliner carrying up to 78 passengers and crew on a flight from Israel exploded and plunged into the Black Sea in unexplained circumstances on Thursday.
Ukraine quickly dismissed American suggestions that the plane might have been hit by an accidental missile strike from Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin said it might be a "terrorist act."
The mid-air explosion of the Sibir airlines Tupolev-154 jet, on a scheduled flight from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk in Siberia, inevitably triggered fears of sabotage following suicide hijacked airliner attacks in the United States, which left thousands of people missing and presumed dead.
"A civilian aircraft crashed today and it is possible that it was the result of a terrorist act," Putin told a meeting of European justice ministers.
But a U.S. official in Washington said: "We want to get away from this notion...that this was a terrorism act."
"It could well have been a training accident, it could have been the Ukrainian military conducting a live-fire test. it could be a tragic accident," said one official, who did not wish to be identified, noting that Ukraine had been test-firing live surface-to-air missiles from the Crimea at the time.
UKRAINIAN DENIAL
But Ukrainian military spokesman Konstantin Khivrenko said: "Neither the direction nor the range (of the missiles) correspond to the practical or theoretical point at which the plane exploded. So the Ukrainian military has no involvement, either practical or theoretical, in this accident."
And Russian security sources, quoted by Interfax news agency, said the Ukrainian exercises had been taking place more than 200 miles from where the plane came down.
"They (Ukrainian forces) were using missiles which do not have the required range," a source told Interfax.
The plane went down some 110 miles off Russia's coast in water about 1,000 meters 3,300 feet deep, an Emergencies Ministry official said. Russia sent a rescue ship and plane to the scene and began searching for bodies.
Official accounts of the number of passengers and crew on board varied between 74 and 78. An Emergencies Ministry official in Novosibirsk said the crew were all Russian but that most of the 65 or so passengers were Israeli citizens.
A Reuters reporter who watched the Ukrainian exercises said surface-to-air missiles were being fired from the east side of the Crimean peninsula at 20 or more airborne drone targets at around the time the plane came down.
PILOT SAW BLAST
In the Armenian capital Yerevan, Garik Ovanesyan, the flight director of Armenian Airlines, said the pilot of a plane flying near the Sibir jet had seen flames coming from it.
"The commander...contacted ground control to find out if there were any (military) exercises. Then there was an explosion and fragments falling to the sea," he said, citing the pilot.
Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia's domestic FSB security service, passed Armenian reports of the mid-air explosion to Putin during a crisis meeting in the Kremlin.
Putin spoke by telephone to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon following the crash, the Kremlin press service said.
The Emergencies Ministry said nine bodies -- eight women and one man -- had been recovered from the crash site.
The disaster, whatever its cause, provided a grim background to a meeting taking place between the Kremlin leader and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who arrived in Moscow to discuss the international crisis.
The September 11 attacks have led Washington to declare a "war on terrorism" and prepare military action against the bases in Afghanistan of Islamic militant Osama bin Laden.
Interfax quoted the FSB as saying: "Taking into account the latest events in the world, the theory of a terrorist act is being investigated first of all."
A Sibir airlines official in Novosibirsk said the plane would not normally have passed over the Black Sea and appeared to have been off course. "Why should they have been given such an air corridor?" she asked.
Israel resumed take-offs from Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion Airport four hours after suspending outgoing flights following the crash.
10/5/01
6:56:31 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
House lawmakers OK nuclear plant security measures - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12666/story.htm
US 2001 vehicle mileage falls to 20-year low - EPA - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12678/story.htm
Environment risks seen low at New York attack sites - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12677/story.htm
AK Steel says court dismisses EPA claim - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12671/story.htm
Californians continue to conserve electricity - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12670/story.htm
UPDATE - US House defeats 'green' plan in farm law rewrite - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12668/story.htm
US lawmaker - utilities must cut 4 pollutants, not 3 - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12655/story.htm
Funds - Socially responsible funds keep investors in the green - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12661/story.htm
US House panel backs renewal of nuclear plant law - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12660/story.htm
US grain handlers on lookout for gene-altered corn - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12669/story.htm
New green targets may hit UK aluminium recycling - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12672/story.htm
INTERVIEW - London Electricity says green fund got good start - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12664/story.htm
World's doctors warn of germ warfare risk - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12680/story.htm
Novartis finds GMO soy in Philippines baby food - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12674/story.htm
Sweden says wind power price can be halved by 2010 - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12662/story.htm
Korea increases mad cow testing, says no cases - SOUTH KOREA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12657/story.htm
Russia fires rage, no threat to radioactive dump - RUSSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12681/story.htm
Ireland promises legal battle over Sellafield plan - REPUBLIC OF IRELAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12663/story.htm
Pakistan court rejects petition vs Premier Oil - PAKISTAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12673/story.htm
UPDATE - Protesters arrested at Dutch chemical plant - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12656/story.htm
"Greatest animal kingdom" takes shape in Africa - MOZAMBIQUE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12675/story.htm
Japan brings forward mad cow testing plan - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12658/story.htm
Drought-hit Guatemala peasants struggle to survive - GUATEMALA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12676/story.htm
EU urges Bulgaria to integrate Roma minority - BULGARIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12659/story.htm
Stranded baby whale dies in Australian pool - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12679/story.htm
Afghanistan back in the news - landmines never left - AFGHANISTAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12665/story.htm
10/5/01
6:48:19 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
JUST SAY NOAH
In a project known as Operation Ark -- because, as one environmental official put it, "The only person that has come close to doing something like this is Mr. Noah" -- 1,000 elephants are being moved from South Africa's Kruger National Park to a neighboring protected area in Mozambique. The relocation project will ease pressure on the park's 9,000-plus elephants, as well as create ecotourism-related job opportunities in poverty-stricken Mozambique. The three-year project, which involves tranquilizing the elephants and then lifting them by crane into trucks for transport over the border, is beginning today. It is the first major initiative in the Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou Trans-Frontier Park, which straddles South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe, and is expected to open some time next year.
straight to the source: BBC News, 04 Oct 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1578000/1578759.stm>
WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME
Former President Bill Clinton paid a visit to Hollywood yesterday to speak at a fundraising dinner for the American Oceans Campaign. Leonardo DiCaprio, Barbra Streisand, Dennis Quaid, Rhea Perlman, and other stars were on hand to honor the president for his past environmental work. The event raised $600,000 for American Oceans, which was founded by the actor Ted Danson. Clinton spent most of his 45-minute speech talking about the September terrorist attacks, concluding by saying, "Don't lose heart. Just go on -- and save oceans while you're at it."
straight to the source: USA Today, Kelly Carter, 04 Oct 2001 <http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20011004/3508226s.htm>
GREEN CAMOUFLAGE
The Pentagon spends about $5 billion a year on its "environmental security program," trying to reduce the environmental impact of the armed services. But many greenies think that's not enough, and up until the terrorist attacks, the military was facing growing pressure to take the environment more seriously. A proposal in Congress would require the military to comply with the same environmental regulations as other federal agencies, private landowners, and businesses. Currently, military units are sometimes exempted from laws like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. Native Americans and minorities, who are more likely to live near military facilities, frame the issue as one of environmental justice.
straight to the source: Christian Science Monitor, Brad Knickerbocker, 04 Oct 2001 <http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1004/p13s1-usmi.html>
FLYING FISH
A proposal to create marine parks off the coast of California has led to shouting matches between environmentalists and scientists on the one side and the fishing industry and recreational anglers on the other. The proposal would prevent fishing and other human activities in as much as 20 percent of state waters -- a 100-fold increase over the current 0.2 percent protected by state law. Opponents, some of whom threw fish at the plan's authors when it was unveiled, question the science behind the proposal and say it would devastate angling in California. Proponents, however, argue that marine species would be best protected by habitat conservation. That position might be bolstered by the work of the Pew Oceans Commission, which heard testimony yesterday that unchecked growth in the nation's coastal cities is leading to polluted oceans and damaged marine habitat.
straight to the source: Sacramento Bee, Ed Fletcher, 03 Oct 2001 <http://www.capitolalert.com/news/capalert04_20011003.html>
straight to the source: Christian Science Monitor, Daniel B. Wood, 04 Oct 2001 <http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1004/p1s4-sten.html>
SAFETY PINNED
Despite increased safety concerns following the terrorist attacks, Great Britain has approved the opening of a radioactive fuel reprocessing plant by the state-owned British Nuclear Fuels. Although British officials said the plant, which would convert used plutonium from a nearby facility into mixed oxide fuel, presented a "negligible" security risk, others fear the plant and its plutonium shipments could be the object of terrorist attacks. Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are considering legal challenges, as is the Irish government. The plant is located in northwest England, just 150 miles from the Irish border.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 04 Oct 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12641/story.htm>
10/5/01
6:39:26 PM
Public Citizen
NAS Should Cancel Hearing on Fuel Efficiency Report
Public Citizen Urges Academy Not to Be Swayed by Automakers
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Public Citizen is urging the National Academy of Sciences to cancel an Oct. 5 hearing that was scheduled because of automaker complaints about a controversial report on automobile fuel efficiency.
In a letter to National Academy of Sciences President Bruce Alberts, Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook urged the Academy not to be unduly swayed by automakers. If the Academy wants to reconsider the findings, it should follow proper procedures and solicit written comments from a variety of interested parties to ensure the process is open and fair, Claybrook said.
"If you follow far more appropriate procedures of requiring written critiques first, you will save yourself a lot of richly deserved criticism and concerns of bias toward the regulated industry," Claybrook wrote. "I urge you to stand on higher ground."
The NAS report, issued in July, said automakers should increase fuel efficiency and cut greenhouse emissions. Automakers instantly howled in protest and questioned the scientists' methods, and the industry then met privately with an NAS committee and demanded recalculation of the report's conclusions.
If, after reviewing critiques from all interested people, the Academy should conclude the report has errors, it should schedule a public meeting to discuss everyone's concerns - not just those of the industry, Claybrook said.
Doing so "would be fair and appropriate for an academy that relishes its scientifically based, even- handed approach to controversial issues," she wrote. "The decision to overreact to the auto industry complaints and schedule a special meeting at their request with no prior written documentation places a stain on the Academy's reputation." A copy of the letter is available at
http://www.citizen.org/autosafety/Misc_/articles.cfm?ID=6230
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.Citizen.org
10/5/01
6:34:39 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
U.S. SENATE REJECTS ARCTIC DRILLING AMENDMENT
WASHINGTON, DC, October 3, 2001 (ENS) - The U.S. Senate passed the fiscal year 2002 Defense budget on Tuesday, after rejecting an attempt by Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma to attach a controversial energy package to the bill. The energy amendment would have opened a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and natural gas exploration.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-03-04.html
BETTER FISHERIES MANAGEMENT COULD PREVENT OVEREXPLOITATION
REYKJAVIK, Iceland, October 3, 2001 (ENS) - Countries could get more fish from the oceans if they allowed overfished stocks to recuperate, reduce wastage and manage fisheries resources better, the Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said Monday at a meeting in Iceland.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-03-03.html
CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE CALLED NEXT GREEN REVOLUTION
MADRID, Spain, October 3, 2001 (ENS) - Intensive land cultivation methods using tractors and plows are a major cause of severe soil loss and land degradation in many developing countries, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said Monday. If farmers applied ecologically sound cultivation, millions of hectares of agricultural land could be protected or saved from degradation and erosion, the organization said.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-03-02.html
ASIAN FARMERS MOVING TO GIVE UP THE PLOW
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, October 3, 2001 (ENS) - A major agricultural transformation is sweeping across Asia's breadbasket regions, scientists announced Tuesday. The move toward low till agriculture could help chart a course toward more ecologically friendly, higher producing, cost effective agriculture among all groups of farmers in Asia, the researchers said.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-03-01.html
NIKE VOWS REDUCTIONS IN GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
WASHINGTON, DC, October 3, 2001 (ENS) - Nike Inc., an international sporting goods company, pledged Tuesday to slash greenhouse gas emissions across its operations worldwide. Nike also will measure greenhouse gas emissions from contracted manufacturing and shipping operations with the intent to ultimately reduce those emissions as well.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2001/2001L-10-03-06.html
10/5/01
6:30:21 PM
Robin Therkauf, wife of victim, speaks for peace
Professor Robin Therkauf lost her husband Tom in the attacks on the World Trade Centre on 11 September. She has spoken out against war and for justice, not vengeance.
Interview on the Today programme, BBC Radio 4, Tuesday 2 October 2001
Professor Robin Therkauf 'What we need less of is war rhetoric and war against Afghanistan in particular, and to explore the possibility of a judicial solution...
'The last thing I wanted was for more widows and fatherless children to be created in my name. It would only produce a backlash. 'As the victim of violence, I'd never want this to happen to another woman again.'
Are we at war? Robin Theurkauf [The Friend, 28 September 2001] Robin Theurkauf's husband died in the attack on the World Trade Center. Even as she grieves, she has issued this call to look beyond military options. My husband, Tom Theurkauf lost his life in the World Trade Center disaster. We all direct our grief in different ways, this is mine.
I offer these thoughts both as a new widow and mother of three fatherless boys as well as a scholar of international law and politics. We used to know what war was. It was the opposite of peace. Wars took place between states each with armies in uniforms and a hierarchical command structure. States went to war over territory or more recently over ideology. It is a legal status. One must declare it. At war's conclusion, we come to a peace agreement and return to a non-war condition.
This seems different. The enemy stays in the shadows even as they live among us, organised in loosely connected cells. No state has declared war against us, at least in the familiar way. The action was designed to spread fear and hate and so we are not entirely sure what would be required to end this conflict.
As we assemble a military platform in the Persian Gulf it is worth considering the fact that while political scientists know very few things with any confidence, there is substantial consensus on at least one relevant point. While this attack was intended to provoke, responding in kind will only escalate the violence.
Further, if we succumb to the understandable impulse to injure as we have been injured and in the process create even newer widows and fatherless children, perhaps we will deserve what we get.
Some have made the analogy to the attack on Pearl Harbour and in at least one way it is appropriate. In the aftermath of Pearl Harbour, thousands of young men volunteered to join the military. I can only imagine the success of radical Islam's recruiters after our bombs fall on their heads.
If not 'war', what words should we use? I think a better name is 'international crime'. Restating the problems refocuses the solution. In the short term, the first priority should be to hunt down and arrest the criminals with the goal of achieving justice, not revenge. This is a task left not to the military but to investigative police forces, who can prepare for a trial. Ordinary Americans also can take steps to fight back against this evil. We can combat fear and hate in part by reaching out to Muslims in our communities and by patronising Arab businesses. This show of solidarity will in part thwart these criminals' purpose of creating division in American communities. In the long term, eradicating terrorism will require the elimination not of a group of people but rather of a set of ideas.
Paradoxically, eliminating the people will reinforce and further legitimise the ideas. Terrorist impulses ferment in cultures of poverty, oppression and ignorance. The elimination of those conditions and the active promotion of a universal respect for human rights must become a national security priority. Finally, the United States as a matter of policy must recognise and accept our vulnerability. In today's hyper-militarised environment, no state can ensure security within its borders without the cooperation of others.
The Bush administration's unilateralism has been revealed to be hollow. Rather than infringe on our sovereignty, international institutions enhance our ability to perform the functions of national government, including the ability to fight international crime. Bombing Afghanistan today will not prevent tomorrow's tragedy. We must look beyond military options for long term solutions.
Robin Therkauf is a lecturer in the political science department at Yale University
10/5/01
5:54:21 PM
A GRIEVING FAMILY TELLS BUSH "NOT IN OUR SON'S NAME"
Despite the Bush Administration's refusal to actually release evidence that might link Osama Bin Laden to the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the mass media has lined up almost without exception in support of wide ranging military action against Afghanistan and perhaps other countries.
In yesterday's Washington Post, for example, the opinion page featured two allegedly opposing op-ed pieces side by side. The first column called imminent US military action a "just struggle," warning that progressives must support war despite inevitable mistakes, restrictions on civil liberties and potentially unsavory alliances with murderous regimes. The second column charged that Pacifists are immoral, on the side of murderers, pro-fascist and "objectively pro-terrorist." This is what passes for debate on the question of war in the mass media.
Almost lost in this media drumbeat is the growing number of families who have suffered terrible personal loss but oppose the Bush Administration's plans for military attacks against Afghanistan. Phyllis and Orlando Rodriguez (who is a professor at Fordham University) lost their son Gregory, aged 31, in the attack. He was the head of computer security for Cantor Fitzgerald. They wrote the New York Times and President Bush after the September 11 attacks with the message increasingly being voiced by victim's families: "Not in our son's name."
10/5/01
5:49:00 PM
"The Price Is Worth It"
By Edward S. Herman
Try to imagine how the mainstream U.S. media and intellectuals would respond to the disclosure that at an early planning meeting of the terrorists responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the question had come up about whether the "collateral damage" of prospectively thousands of dead civilians wouldn't be excessive, but that the matter had been settled with the top leader's response: "we think the price is worth it"?
Suppose further that the terrorists' leaders then set out to make their case to their followers, arguing that it was extremely important to show the citizens of the Great Satan that they were not immune to attack on their own land--that they could not continue to bomb others freely and support the violent states of their choice without suffering some retaliation themselves. The terrorists argued that, as the Great Satan has been conducting low- (and often not so low) -intensity wars against the Third World and Arab states for decades, the planned attacks would be both just and legal under international law, justifiable under the UN Charter's grant of the right of self-defense, which He has relied on so often to excuse his own unilateral actions.
The leaders argued further that since the symbolic value of showing the Great Satan's vulnerability by attacking the WTC and Pentagon would be greatly enhanced by taking out several thousand civilians, this must be regarded as acceptable collateral damage. Finally, imagine the terrorists' leaders explaining to their followers that for the sake of global peace and security, no less than the welfare of peoples the world over, it is crucial to raise the costs of imperial violence, and help persuade the Great Satan's population to ask Him to terminate His wars. This, the terrorist leaders argued, would in the long run save far more lives than those lost in the bombing of the WTC and Pentagon.
Wouldn't the mainstream media and intellectuals be wild with indignation at the inhumanity of the terrorists' coldblooded calculus? Wouldn't they respond in one voice that it is absolutely immoral, evil, and indefensible per se to kill civilians on a massive scale to make a political point? And as to the terrorists' underlying argument that the attacks were justified both as retaliation for the Great Satan's ongoing wars and as part of an effort to curb His imperial violence, wouldn't this be rejected as outlandish? Wouldn't establishment spokespersons rush to claim that despite occasional regrettable mistakes this country has behaved well in international affairs, has intervened abroad only in just causes, and is the victim of terrorism, not a terrorist state or supporter of terrorism? And wouldn't it also be stressed that it is immoral and outrageous to even SPEAK of a "just cause" or any give any kind of legitimation for a terrorist action such as occurred in New York and Washington? That the only question in such a case of violence is "who," not "why"? (These last two sentences are a paraphrase of the indignant argument of a U.S. liberal historian.) And in fact, across the board the U.S. mainstreamers have refused to talk about "why" except for superficial denunciations of an irrational enemy that hates democracy, etc.
Turning now to the actual use of the phrase "the price is worth it," we come to U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's reply to Lesley Stahl's question on "60 Minutes" on May 12, 1996:
Stahl: "We have heard that a half a million children have died [because of sanctions against Iraq]. I mean that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And--you know, is the price worth it?"
Albright: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it."
In this case, however, although the numbers dead are mind- boggling--the ratio of dead Iraqi children to deaths in the WTC/Pentagon bombings was better than 80 to 1, using the now obsolete early 1996 number for Iraqi children--the mainstream media and intellectuals have not found Albright's rationalization of this mass killing of any interest whatsoever. The phrase has been only rarely cited in the mainstream, and there has been no indignation or suggestion that the mass killing of children in order to satisfy some policy end was immoral and outrageous.
Since the morning hours of Tuesday, September 11, the civilian dead in the WTC/Pentagon terrorist bombings have been the subject of the most intense and detailed and humanizing attention, making the suffering clear and dramatic and feeding in to the sense of outrage. In contrast, the hundreds of thousands of children dead in Iraq are very close to invisible, their suffering and dying are out of sight; and whereas the ratio of Iraqi children killed by sanctions to WTC/Pentagon deaths was better than 80 to 1, the ratio of media space devoted to the Iraqi children and WTC/Pentagon deaths has surely been better than 500 to one in favor of the smaller WTC/Pentagon casualties. Pictures of sufferers and expressions of pain and indignation have been in a similar ratio. The UN workers in Iraq like Dennis Halliday who have resigned in disgust at the effects of the "sanctions of mass destruction" have been given minimal space in the media to inform the public and express their outrage.
The "who" in the case of the Iraqi mass deaths is clear-- overwhelmingly the U.S. and British leadership--but the "who" here is irrelevant because of how the "why" is answered. This is done implicitly. Madeleine Albright said that the deaths are worth it because U.S. policy finds this to be so--and with Albright saying this is "why," that settles the matter for the media. Their indignation at the immorality of killing civilians as collateral damage to make a political point ends, because the Iraqi children die by U.S. policy choice--and in this case the media will not even allow the matter to be discussed. The per se unreasonableness of killing civilians as collateral damage is quietly set aside (reminding one of how the Soviet's shooting down of KAL 007 in 1983 was per se barbarian, but the U.S. shooting down of Iranian airliner 655 in 1988 was a "tragic error.") The media focus on whether Saddam Hussein will allow UN inspections to prevent him getting "weapons of mass destruction," not on the mass death of children. (And of course the media regularly fail to note that the United States and Britain had helped Saddam Hussein obtain such weapons in the 1980s, and didn't object to his using them, until he stopped following orders in August 1990.)
Because the media make the suffering and death of 500,000 children invisible, the outrage produced by the intense coverage of the WTC/Pentagon bombing victims does not surface on their behalf. The liberal historian who was so indignant at even asking "why" for the WTC-Pentagon bombings and argued that only "who" was pertinent has said nothing about the immorality of killing Iraqis; he is not interested in "who" in this case, partly because he does not have to see dying Iraqi children every day, and partly because his government has answered the "why" to his satisfaction, justifying mass death. Is it not morally chilling, even a bit frightening, that he, and the great mass of his citizen compatriots, can focus with such anguish and indignation on their own 6,000 dead, while ignorant of, or not caring about, or approving his (their) own government's ongoing killing of scores of times as many innocents abroad?
This reflects the work of a superb propaganda system. The U.S. government finding the mass death of Iraqi children "worth it," the media push the fate of these "unworthy victims" into the black hole, thereby allowing that policy to be continued without impediment. With the United States itself a victim of terrorism, here the reverse process ensues: with these ultra-worthy victims, the media feature their suffering and deaths intensively and are not interested in root causes, but only in "who" did it; they beat the war drums incessantly and push to the forefront the most regressive forces in the country, making violence and repression the probable outcome of their efforts. But they will sell papers, get larger audiences, support the "national interest," and prove to the rightwing that they are real Americans.
http://www.ZNet.com Commentary
10/5/01
5:46:27 PM
The Terrible Cost of bin Laden
Earl Ofari Hutchinson
There are two big unanswered questions about the monstrous attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The first is that if President Bush firmly fingers Saudi-exile terrorist Osama bin Laden as the mastermind behind the cataclysmic slaughter what will the U.S. do? In polls, nine out of ten Americans thirst for revenge, Bush promises swift retaliation, an army of 4000 special federal agents, 3000 support personnel, and 400 FBI lab specialists are at work on the investigation, and NATO allies have offered the U.S. full backing for any retaliation. This guarantees that the actual plotters will be slammed in a court docket, and that cruise missiles, or even bombs or U.S. troops could hit Afghanistan.
But if it's Bin Laden, the equally troubling question is who created him? The answer requires a painful glance back at U.S. foreign policy blunder two decades ago on Afghanistan. Alarmed at the Soviet Union's invasion of the country in 1979 to prop up an unpopular, leftist government under siege by loose bands of Islamic guerrillas, then president Jimmy Carter issued a secret policy directive. It authorized CIA covert support to the guerrilla fighters. The directive, however, did not entail the supply of money, and arms to the guerrillas. But the next year Carter was out of the White House, and Reagan was in. Reagan saw the Afghan battle as the last Cold War contest between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and a chance to snatch a victory. In 1985, he issued National Security Decision Directive 166. This opened the CIA spigot in Afghanistan. In the next few years, it dumped $2 billion into its secret Aghan war. This made it the CIA's biggest covert action program since World War II.
The funds went to bankroll weapons supplies, and establish training schools in guerrilla war, urban sabotage, and advanced weapons use. A parade of CIA officials, Pentagon advisors and congresspersons secretly trooped to Afghanistan to encourage the Islamic rebels. Driven by the thrill of battle, religious fanaticism, and U.S. military largesse, hundreds of would-be recruits flocked to Afghanistan from the Arab Gulf states. Osama bin Laden was one of them. He and hundreds of other militants received instruction in CIA-run camps in communications and weapons training, the use of satellite technology to track enemy air movements, and methods to coordinate small guerrilla networks.
In 1990 the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan, and the leftist government collapsed. But bin Laden, and other militants, now armed with expertise in how to wage war, and spread terror to urban areas, quickly soured on the U.S., blaming it for all Arab ills. This was just the start. News correspondents who spent much time in the Afghan killing fields reported that after the Soviet pull-out, radical gunmen from 40 nations flocked to Afghanistan and were trained by Afghan guerrilla groups in the tactics of guerrilla war and urban terrorism.
The deadly stakes soared in the mid-1990s when the Taliban militia, many of whose leaders were veterans of the CIA's terror training schools, seized power. Though the U.S. took a cautious wait and see toward the Taliban, it still pumped in millions in aid to the regime mostly to insure construction of an oil and natural gas pipeline through the country. The bombing of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in 1998 set off loud alarm bells within the Clinton administration that the U.S.'s warped policy in Afghanistan may have created monsters who posed grave danger to the United States. But it was too late. The Taliban was now in power, and could provide a safe sanctuary for U.S. and Israel-hating Islamic groups to plot mass destruction against Western targets.
The steep price of the U.S. policy that turned supposed friends into enemies has pushed Bush into a deep box. If bin Laden is the culprit in the terror attacks, the U.S. must and will demand extradition. Afghanistan will likely resist. The U.S. will probably unleash cruise missiles, drop bombs, and/or send in the troops. This could turn bin Laden into a bigger hero among his supporters, further inflame anti-U.S. sentiment in the region, trigger future terror atrocities, retard the Democratic resistance movement battling the Taliban, poison relations with moderate Arab and Palestinian leaders, and wreck any chance for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement.
The pathetic and tragic bin Laden saga stands as another in a lengthening string of U.S. foreign policy backfires. They've included the bankrolling of the contras in Nicaragua and anti-Marxist guerrillas in Cambodia, propping up brutal dictators in Chile, Congo, the Sudan, and Haiti. The result has been the export of drugs, economic and political dislocation, genocidal ethnic wars, and the suspicion that countries such as Pakistan, which helped direct and supervise the CIA's Afghan war, sponsor state terrorism. These are the costly problems that the U.S's former friends have dumped on its doorstep. And bin Laden may turn out to be the costliest of them all.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a nationally syndicated columnist and the president of the National Alliance for Positive Action. website:
10/5/01
5:44:36 PM
The Phase III Report Of The U.S. Commission On National Security/21st Century
By Grugyn Silverbristle
http://www.servtech.com/~grugyn/tlc-61.htm
See entire article at above web link.
I told you so.
Most people were utterly unaware of the significance of Bush's new bureacracy. But for anyone watching the advance of police-state policies in America, absolutely nothing could have been more ominous.
The Homeland Defense Agency is not a new idea. Conceived by a bi-partisan commission headed by former senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman, this Clinton-era conception, "The Phase III Report Of The U.S. Commission On National Security/21st Century," is nothing less than the framework for a permanent military-bureaucratic American police state.
The new Homeland Defense Agency is the lynchpin of a plan that extensively reorganizes both the executive and legislative functions of the U.S. government. Among other things, the plan makes the National Guard a national police force. It extensively federalizes both the study and the work of science, mathematics, and engineering. It creates numerous new sub-bureaucracies. The Homeland Security agency itself is to "be built upon the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with the three organizations currently on the front line of border security-the Coast Guard, the Customs Service, and the Border Patrol- transferred to it." The plan calls for the new agency to oversee activities of the Department of Defense, as well as to assume a variety of duties now held by agencies from the Department of Commerce to the FBI.
When the plan was announced in January of this year, the media barely covered it, and shortly thereafter, the plan itself, and the government Web site created expressly for it, dropped out of sight. We found the full text of the report at only one location :
http://www.servtech.com/~grugyn/tlc-61.htm
See also:
NEW LAWS BRAND HACKERS AS TERRORISTS: Allows life imprisonment for old hacking offences
http://www.eionews.addr.com/psyops/news/hackersterror.htm
10/5/01
5:43:22 PM
Belgrade attacked by US and Nato... Compared to WTC NY
Note in the website below the "collateral damage" that hurt tons of everyday, innocent people like you and me. I'm not saying any of it was or wasn't justified in either country. I am saying that until we all change the way we live to one that is more compassionate of others and takes into account how our actions affect the entire world - expect more of the same.
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/1/rem.htm
10/5/01
5:42:05 PM
Mideast Truce in Tatters After Seven Killed
BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed six Palestinians during a tank incursion into a Palestinian-ruled area of the Gaza Strip Wednesday after a deadly raid by Islamic militants on a Jewish settlement. The violence left a cease-fire in tatters, dealing another blow to Washington's efforts to end the fighting as it tries to draw Arab and Islamic nations into an anti-terror alliance after last month's attacks on New York and Washington.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011003/wl/mideast_dc_53.html
10/5/01
5:15:06 PM
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
OIL PROFITEERS Editor -- In every conflict, there has always been war profiteering, and I suppose there always will be. But has there ever been a more blatant and shameless example than the Senate Republican oil industry apologists?
Sen. James Inhofe is holding up the defense appropriations bill on the Senate floor -- legislation including our response effort to the terrorist attacks in Washington and New York. Why is Inhofe holding up funding for our nation's defense? The good senator wishes to force passage of the Bush administration energy bill as part of defense appropriations, and several other Republican senators are helping him.
The energy bill was crafted by energy company consultants in private meetings with Vice President Richard Cheney and includes an embarrassing array of subsidies for the oil, coal and nuclear energy industries. The energy bill further would open up the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to industrial oil drilling.
This week, the Senate will attempt to complete work on the defense appropriations legislation. Will the Republicans yield, or will Sen. Inhofe and his cronies hold the nation hostage to the profiteering agenda of Big Oil?
MARK J. PALMER Director, Wildlife Alive San Francisco
Dear Earth Islanders:
The Senate unanimously shut down debate on adding the inappropriate Bush Administration Energy Bill to the Defense Appropriations Bill, clearing the way for approval of the Defense spending legislation unencumbered by Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil drilling and ugly subsidies of oil, coal, and nuclear industries.
Thanks to all of you who wrote and called your Senators!
The Bush Administration Energy Bill itself is still pending on the Senate floor, so debate may come up on it later this fall or next year. So send a letter or call to thank your Senator for their efforts against Arctic oil drilling, but remember to urge them to CONTINUE to oppose any amendments or legislation that seek to open up America's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to industrial oil drilling.
-- Mark J. Palmer
10/5/01
5:12:11 PM
REUTERS 10.03.01 -- 18:49 GMT 19:49 UK
US 'Received Signs of Terror Plan'
By the BBC's Jon Leyne in Washington
The American Government suspected before 11 September that terrorists were planning attacks against the United States, US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said.
But intelligence agencies were unable to obtain more specific information that might have prevented the attacks, he said.
His comments followed a call from a committee of the US Congress for an independent investigation into the intelligence failures.
Powell: Frustrated by intelligence failure
Mr Powell said there had been a lot of signs several months ago that "something was going on".
But he said US agencies had never obtained any reliable warning of what was to come.
Mr Powell expressed frustration about that failure, but defended the work of the intelligence agencies.
It is already public knowledge that, during the last few months, the American authorities issued a number of warnings about the possibility of an attack.
But they were mostly misdirected. One warning, for example, stressed a danger in east Asia.
On another occasion, the threat was thought to be centred on the 4 July independence celebrations.
'Cultural revolution needed'
A committee of the US Congress that supervises intelligence services has called for an independent investigation into what happened.
The committee said there was a need for a "cultural revolution" inside the CIA and the FBI.
But in general there has been a remarkable lack of recriminations since 11 September.
The Washington Post newspaper has also revealed two failed attempts to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden during President Clinton's term in office.
According to officials quoted in the newspaper, the CIA secretly trained 60 Pakistani commandos to prepare for a mission inside Afghanistan.
The operation was ended after the Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif was deposed in a military coup two years ago.
Sudan offer
The paper also said that Sudan had offered to hand over Bin Laden when he was living there in 1996.
At that time, the US authorities believed that they did not have enough evidence to put him on trial.
They failed to persuade Saudi Arabia to take him into custody.
So Bin Laden was expelled to Afghanistan, where he is thought to have been based ever since.
10/5/01
5:09:29 PM
AlterNet Headlines
AFGHAN WOMEN SPEAK FROM BEHIND THE MEDIA VEIL
Laura Flanders, WorkingForChange.com
At a meeting of the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan, those who know the Taliban best talk about how the U.S. should respond to the September 11 attacks.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11640
THE WARTIME OPPORTUNISTS
Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, AlterNet
Fast track and FTAA. Corporate tax cuts. Drilling in Alaska. Star Wars. These are some of the "solutions" to the terror attack offered by corporate mouthpieces.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11638
WHO SPEAKS FOR ISRAEL?
Stephen M. Mindich, Boston Phoenix
As the U.S. enlists the help of Muslim countries in the war on terrorism, one Middle Eastern partner seems forgotten.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11641
DURST: THE OFFICIAL MOTTOS OF POST 9-11 TV
Will Durst, AlterNet
After 9-11, TV channels are adopting new logos. CBS: America on Alert. C-SPAN: Reality TV Since Before It Was Cool. BET: Ain't This Some Shit?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11637
THE CHEMICAL THREAT TO KIDS
Jennifer Bogo, E Magazine
Rates of childhood cancer, brain damage, asthma and hormone disorders have have been rising for decades. A comprehensive look at new studies blames only one factor: toxic chemicals.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11636
HOW THE TERRORIST CRISIS THREATENS OUR PERSONAL LIBERTIES
Dan Kennedy and Harvey Silverglate, Boston Phoenix As we wrap ourselves in the flag, let's not forget to cling tightly to the Bill of Rights.
* In MediaCulture: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=19
HISTORY WARNS AGAINST SIMPLY ARMING AFGHAN INSURGENTS
Peter Dale Scott, Pacific News Service
U.S. leaders prefer using covert forces against the Taliban which reduce anti-U.S. protest and violence. Recent history says such efforts from abroad are doomed.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11633
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Jesse Walker, Reason
>From the Ghandi Option to the Dr. Strangelove Option, the U.S. could take at least six paths in our War on Terrorism -- none perfect, one actually insane and all worth examining.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11614
TECHSPLOITATION: EVERY CLICK A LIE
Annalee Newitz, AlterNet
The mantra, "Don't believe everything you read online," is even more important now that war-time propaganda is circulating through all media.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11625
HEALTH FOOD JUNKIES
Mary Spicuzza, Metro Silicon Valley
If you've crossed the line between healthy eating and obsession, you might have "orthorexia nervosa" -- a term coined by reformed health food addict Dr. Steven Bratman.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11630
WHY THE BOMBINGS MEAN THAT WE MUST SUPPORT MY POLITICS
John Montoya, Adequacy.org
Many people will use this terrible tragedy as an excuse to put through a political agenda other than my own. To those I say, "Shame on you!"
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11623
THE ETHICS OF SEX THERAPY
Randy Lyman, Urban View
Thirty years after Masters and Johnson suggested engaging patients physically rather than verbally could have therapeutic benefits, sex surrogacy remains a murky field.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11593
THE TWO WARS
Philip Smith, DRCNet
Even before the dust had settled around the site of the World Trade Center, drug war hawks were trying to link the drug war to terrorism to further their own political goals.
* In Drug Reporter: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=17
OH, FOR THE DAYS OF NIXON AND PLENTIFUL BEASTS
Herbert Inhaber, Las Vegas Weekly
A generation after the hasty passage of the Endangered Species Act, its defects are becoming increasingly evident.
* In EnviroHealth: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=18
WATCHING THE FTAA: AN INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM GREIDER
Steven Rosenfeld, TomPaine.com
An arcane provision of NAFTA -- that could set a precedent for the forthcoming free trade zone for all of the Americas -- allows corporations to sue governments if new laws threaten future earnings.
* In Globalization: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=21
10/5/01
4:49:06 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
UPDATE - White House says farm bill premature, too lavish - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12642/story.htm
US gov't reports set stage for multi-pollutant debate - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12637/story.htm
USTR demands China drop soybean trade barrier - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12644/story.htm
Energy giant Shell prepares for end of oil era - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12639/story.htm
Oil groups seek court order to revise diesel rule - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12634/story.htm
Blast rips through ship with chemicals off England - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12650/story.htm
European MTBE holds off urge to follow mogas down - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12649/story.htm
Britain approves start of BNFL MOX nuclear plant - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12640/story.htm
EU ups stakes over environment in trade round push - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12643/story.htm
UN report says tropical forests still shrinking - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12636/story.htm
South Africa to launch massive elephant relocation - SOUTH AFRICA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12648/story.htm
UPDATE - Russia forest fires threaten radioactive dump - TV - RUSSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12635/story.htm
Ireland says Sellafield decision "defies logic" - REPUBLIC OF IRELAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12641/story.htm
Greenpeace urges Manila to label GMO foods - PHILIPPINES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12638/story.htm
Shell accused of mismanaging toxic waste in Brazil - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12651/story.htm
Australia brown coal plans spark green protest - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12645/story.htm
Australian farmers call for land rights guarantee - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12646/story.htm
Lost baby whale nursed in kids' pool - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12647/story.htm
10/5/01
4:46:49 PM
The Nation
Moving to exploit a changed political landscape in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, President Bush's Congressional point man on free trade issues has announced that he'll attempt to ram a Fast Track bill through Congress as soon as next week.
Fast Track remains unpopular not just with most Democrats but also with many members of the GOP. Opposed by labor, environmental and human rights groups because it would eliminate the ability of Congress to moderate anti-worker, environmentally precarious and/or undemocratic components of trade deals reached by the Bush administration, Fast Track has long been the top legislative priority of multinational corporations and their lobbying associations.
For the full story on this critical legislative battle read the latest installment of John Nichols' Online Beat. Available currently at:
http://www.thenation.com/thebeat
Also recently published on the site is David Corn's "Intelligence Test," an exclusive look at the many serious questions raised in the wake of September 11 regarding the pre-attack performance of the U.S. intelligence community. Available at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=corn20011003
You can also find a collection of Nation web-only reports on the September 11 terror attacks by a host of thoughtful writers, including Naomi Klein; Christopher Hitchens; Noam Chomsky; Tariq Ali; Sumana Raychaudhuri; Joel Rogers and Matt Bivens.
All available at:
http://www.thenation.com/special/web-onlyindex.mhtml
10/5/01
4:40:00 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
BENZENE WRING
A five-year study by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission found that two chemical companies, Marathon Ashland Petroleum and BP Chemical, have been releasing unacceptable amounts of benzene into the air around Texas City, 60 miles southeast of Houston. The levels of benzene, which is a known carcinogen, were three to six times higher than those permitted by TNRCC guidelines. The companies say the study's conclusions are questionable and deny that area residents could face health complications. Environmental officials, who suffered headaches and vomiting while collecting air samples, are considering levying fines against the companies.
straight to the source: Texas City Sun, Lora Bernard, 03 Oct 2001 <http://www.texascitysun.com/NF/omf/tcsundaily/story.html?[rkey=0004589>
straight to the source: Houston Chronicle, Tony Freemantle, 03 Oct 2001 <http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1071423>
HOT FOOD
A sting operation by Cambodian wildlife officials uncovered 137 restaurants dishing up endangered species in the country's capital city of Phnom Penh. The officials rescued more than 1,300 critters, including wild boars, rare turtles, scaly anteaters (called pangolins by those in the know), and a sun bear. Although no one was arrested as a result of the endangered species dragnet -- Cambodian law only allows fines in such cases -- the governor of Phnom Penh said he was planning an aggressive campaign to control the mushrooming trade in wild meat.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 03 Oct 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12633/story.htm>
PRECEDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
A federal judge dismissed an effort by the timber industry and users of off-road vehicles (ORVs) to overturn former President Clinton's order to designate 328,000 acres of federal land in California's Sierra Nevada as Giant Sequoia National Monument. The plaintiffs challenged the 1906 Antiquities Act, which gives the president the authority to establish monuments. They argued that the act was unconstitutional, and said Clinton should not have been allowed to ban logging, mining, and ORVs in Giant Sequoia. U.S. District Judge Richard Urbina disagreed and upheld Clinton's order. Industry groups have filed suit in other courts to challenge national monuments set aside by Clinton in the West -- and enviros hope Urbina's ruling sets a precedent.
straight to the source: San Jose Mercury News, Marilee Enge, 03 Oct 2001 <http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/sequoias03.htm>
straight to the source: Contra Costa Times, Associated Press, John Heilprin, 03 Oct 2001 <http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/environment/stories/sequoias_200 11003.htm>
catch it only in Grist Magazine: The art of monument making with Julia Child -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha063000.stm?source=daily>
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY FOX
More than 30 tons of toxic PCBs will be dredged from 19 miles of Wisconsin's Fox River if a cleanup plan announced yesterday wins public support. To atone for decades of dumping the toxins, a consortium of seven paper companies would pick up the $308 million price tag for the cleanup of the Fox, which is the leading source of PCBs flowing into the Great Lakes. Enviros said the plan would be a good first step, but they pointed out that only parts of the river would be dredged. Portions of the river and adjacent Green Bay not covered by the plan would be on their own to recover from the more than 75 tons of PCBs that would remain after the cleanup. The state Department of Natural Resources will take public comment on the plan through early December.
straight to the source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jo Sandin, 03 Oct 2001 <http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/oct01/fox03100201a.asp>
straight to the source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Associated Press, Robert Imrie, 02 Oct 2001 <http://www2.startribune.com/stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisStory=85077057>
NOT SITTING ON DEFENSE
The U.S. Senate yesterday voted 99-0 to approve a $345 billion anti-terrorism defense bill, after voting 100-0 not to get sidetracked by amendments like one that would have opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas drilling. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) had proposed to add the entire GOP energy bill to the defense bill, but even he in effect voted against his proposal after Republicans met together and decided not to engage in such partisan tactics. However, Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) later promised to try to advance GOP energy plans by the end of the year, even it meant stirring up partisan conflict in the Senate in the future.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Helen Dewar, 03 Oct 2001
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60900-2001Oct2.html>
10/5/01
4:36:39 PM
TomPaine.com
UNDER COVER OF CRISIS
The Mercenaries Go Back to Work
The mercenary agents of special interest returned to work in Washington even before the smoke of 9/11 had cleared, before the tears had dried. As most Americans asked what they could do for their country, the special interests asked what the country could do for them.
The airline begged for a bailout and got it. Help for laid-off airline workers was an afterthought. The Dinosaur Lobby pushed its energy plan -- call it "The Fossil Fuel Pollution and Profit Protection Act" -- even though renewable power and efficiency offer a better path to energy independence and new jobs.
In the name of 9/11, Star Warriors urged President Bush to throw even more money at missile defense. Never mind the program's string of failed and fixed tests - its only success so far has been lining contractors' pockets.
Not to be outdone, the National Taxpayers Union, defender of the oppressed wealthy, suggested that more tax breaks for corporations and the richest Americans would aid the war on terrorism.
Opportunism knows no bounds. Anything is possible under cover of crisis.
READ OUR OP AD...
http://www.tompaine.com/img/op_ad_011003_large.jpg
...AND READ THESE OP-AD FEATURES...
WARTIME OPPORTUNISTS
by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
Corporate interests and their proxies are looking to exploit the September 11 tragedy to advance a self-serving agenda that has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with corporate profits and dangerous ideologies.
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/10/02/index.html
ATTACKS CHANGED THE NATURE OF ENVIRO-DEBATE
by Lester Graham, Great Lakes Radio Consortium (www.GLRC.org)
The environmental groups were keeping quiet after 9/11. Behind the scenes, there's concern that environmental protection will get trampled in the name of national security. AUDIO and TEXT
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/10/01/index.html
FCC DEFIES TERRORISTS
by Danny Schechter the News Dissector (www.MediaChannel.org)
The Federal Communications Commission won't let Osama bin Laden or anyone else stop the progress of media monopolization.
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/09/26/index.html
AIRLINE PACKAGE HARKS BACK TO CHRYSLER BAILOUT
by John D. Donahue
History may not repeat itself, Mark Twain said, but it does rhyme a lot. For insight on the airline bailout, look back at when taxpayers saved Chrysler from itself. AUDIO and TEXT produced by Sharon Basco
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/09/24/2.html
IDEAS, NOT MISSILES?
by David Corn
Some of the people who know terrorism best are warning the public not to expect too much from military force -- in terms of reducing the threat of terrorism.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/09/28/index.html
THE NEW CRUSADE
by Bruce Lincoln
A high octane mix of patriotic and religious fervor has troubling aspects. Beyond inflaming passions and inhibiting critical thought, it helps anesthetize the nation's conscience as the government and military prepare for war.
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/09/28/index.html
THE FCC, THE MEDIA, AND WAR
by Sam Husseini, Institute for Public Accuracy (www.Accuracy.org)
There's something else that may limit how well the media could stand up to government power -- particularly as our government moves to waging war. Anybody remember the Pentagon Papers? AUDIO and TEXT produced by Steven Rosenfeld
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/09/28/index.html
WHAT BIG BROTHER CAN'T DO
by Simson Garfinkel
Will new investigative tools stop terrorists or help government catch up to the private sector in prying into our lives? AUDIO and TEXT produced by Steven Rosenfeld
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/10/02/index.html
NOW ENGAGE THE WORLD
by Tom Vellenga
Sowing the seeds of peace reaps a peaceful harvest. If we are to defeat terrorism in a lasting way, let us address its root causes: ignorance, inequity, hunger, impoverishment, and disenfranchisement.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/10/01/index.html
10/5/01
4:26:16 PM
MediaChannel.org
World In Crisis, Media In Conflict
PATRIOTISM, PROPAGANDA AND CYBER-POLICE
MediaChannel's ongoing coverage includes:
* Brendan I. Koerner: Technology as scapegoat.
* Laura Flanders: Let's get adversarial.
* Al Giordano: Why the "War on Terrorism" is like the "War on Drugs."
And Much More...
http://www.mediachannel.org/atissue/conflict
The Purpose Of The Press:
JOURNALISM AND JUSTICE
Activists and homeless reporters are carrying on a tradition of politically engaged journalism that challenges media monopolies on their "so-called objective reporting." (From Media Alliance)
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#justice
News Dissector:
WHERE HAVE THE MUCKRAKERS GONE? Legendary reporters lament the erosion of investigative journalism and Danny Schechter meets a young reporter who tells a tale that proves it.
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/rarebreed.shtml
IRAQ, IGNORED
A news blackout on Iraq is making a humanitarian crisis worse, say communicators and activists called together to present solutions. (From the World Association for Christian Communication)
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#iraq
MEDIA ON THE MEDIA
The best international media stories.
* Colombia's Killer
* The Dangers of Environmental Journalism
* Peace and Propaganda in Ireland
And much, much more...
PLUS: Streaming audio and video
http://www.mediachannel.org/news/mediareader
What You're Saying:
VOICES FROM THE FORUM
"A call to media workers against the war" "Analysis of Media Coverage of DC Protests " "The threat of privatized censorship " Join the discussion!
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#forum
REGULATORS AS CENSORS?
The government has ways to silence the media, warns Sam Husseini. And one is called the FCC. (In text and audio) (From TomPaine.com)
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#fcc
MEDIACULTURE
A collaboration between MediaChannel and Alternet exploring the currents, crises and cultures of American media. Recently featured:
* War, Peace and Hip Hop * "U.S. News" vs. Higher Education * Racism or Free Speech? And much, much more...
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#mediaculture
10/5/01
4:22:11 PM
Nine Lives
Workers at "Ground Zero" found a living creature Tuesday, October 2, 2001, Precious, a 9-pound Persian cat who had survived on her own since the Sept. 11 damage of her owner's apartment building during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City. The cat's owners were out of town and had given up hope of ever seeing their kitty after their 114 Liberty St. apartment building was so damaged that it will be unfit for occupancy for several months. The rescuers believe the cat survived by drinking from rain puddles trapped in the wreckage.
10/5/01
4:14:35 PM
Public Citizen
Three Recent FAA Aviation Security Regulations Failed to Adequately Protect Public, Report Finds
Agency Bows to Industry to Water Down Critical Security Improvements; Report Suggests Creation of an Independent Aviation Law Enforcement Agency
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) should not be permitted to oversee airline and airport security because the agency bows repeatedly to airline industry pressure and has a history of diluting or delaying security-boosting rules after industry complaints, a Public Citizen report shows.
The analysis of three recent proposed and final security regulations illustrates how the industry - with the FAA's help - has successfully staved off even basic security measures, such as mandatory criminal background checks of all airport and airline security personnel.
In each case, the industry claimed that the rules would be costly and time-consuming. One airline even complained of increased photocopying costs. And the FAA rejected what it acknowledged was the most effective baggage security proposal because it would cost more than the alternatives.
"The FAA has been commandeered by the very industry it is supposed to regulate and as a consequence, aviation security has become dangerously lax," said Joan Claybrook, Public Citizen president. "Millions of people fly daily and rely on airlines - and the FAA's oversight of those airlines - to keep them safe. But the system is not working, and we have seen the deadly consequences. The Congress must change the system now."
The report suggests that an aviation law enforcement agency should be created that is either independent of the Department of Transportation and the FAA or is housed at the Department of Justice. Unlike the FAA, this new agency could be devoted exclusively to assessing and addressing aviation security threats and coordinating with other law enforcement agencies.
Public Citizen also found that the airline industry has hired as lobbyists a squadron of former members of Congress, FAA and U.S. Department of Transportation top brass, congressional aides, and White House and government agency staffers. The top nine airlines and their trade association, the Air Transport Association (ATA), spent $62.9 million lobbying the FAA, the executive branch and Congress from 1997-2000 (when the federal government was working to convert recent security recommendations to mandatory safety regulations). In 2000 alone, the industry employed 210 lobbyists, including 108 who previously worked for the federal government. To further bolster its influence, the industry contributed $10.9 million to federal election campaigns in 1997-2000.
Public Citizen's report is based on an extensive investigation of the FAA rulemaking process and a careful examination of the docket for three proposed rules recommended by the White House task force on aviation security appointed in 1996 and known as the Gore Commission, which was created after the TWA 800 crash. The report exposes the following about the industry's and FAA's roles in delaying and diluting security improvements:
§ The Gore Commission recommended reasonable, affordable improvements, but the FAA has significantly diluted the proposed and final rules that have been made public. Moreover, the FAA failed to meet deadlines mandated by Congress on two of the three rules Public Citizen examined.
§ The Gore Commission recommended several measures to improve screening company performance, including a national job grade structure for screeners and meaningful measures to reward employees. It also called for airlines to hire screening companies on the basis of performance, not the lowest bidder. The proposed FAA rule, however, did not require any of these measures and would still allow airlines to hire the lowest bidder regardless of their track record.
§ The Gore Commission called for criminal background and FBI fingerprint checks for all airport and airline workers who screen passengers for weapons or have access to secure areas. The industry has long opposed mandatory criminal checks, and the FAA's final rule did not require criminal checks for screeners (the only group addressed by the rule) - it instituted only job history checks. These job history checks, the FAA estimated, would lead to criminal/fingerprint checks of only 63 of the 16,996 new screeners in 1999.
§ The Gore Commission called for greater scrutiny of checked baggage, including a system to make sure checked bags "match" passengers on board. The industry objected, and the FAA scuttled the Gore proposal after deeming it too costly, even though the Gore Commission said cost should not be the determining factor in rulemaking. An FAA-funded study showed that bag-matching would cause an average delay of only seven minutes on 14 percent of flights and cost 25-52 cents per passenger.
§ Critics complain that the FAA is too cozy with the airline industry. The top job at the FAA, the agency's administrator, has been filled in recent years by three people who previously had worked for the airline industry (although the current administrator has not).
"This report shows that the FAA should have little if any future role in aviation security," said Frank Clemente, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch. "The FAA has engaged in constant foot-dragging and kowtowing to industry demands, which have seriously jeopardized public safety."
A copy of the report, Delay, Dilute, and Discard: How the Airline Industry and the FAA Have Stymied Aviation Security Recommendations, is available at:
http://www.citizen.org/congress/regulations/issue_areas/faa/articles.cfm?ID=6215
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.Citizen.org
10/5/01
4:11:28 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
BOOK TIPS: TRYING TO FIND PEACE
by Carol Van Houten, The Constant Reader
-- This week, The Constant Reader turns to a couple of classical thinkers, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and physicist Albert Einstein, for their thoughts on peace.
ADBUSTERS JAMMER'S GALLERY
web site review by Kate Garsombke, Utne Reader Online
-- If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the intrusive presence of advertising, let the Adbusters Jammer's Gallery show you the battles being waged by culture-jamming foot soldiers across the globe.
A CONVERSATION WITH WIM WENDERS
by Michael Coles, DoubleTake
-- The acclaimed director of the films Buena Vista Social Club and Wings of Desire discusses comic books, rock'n'roll, and how he fell into filmmaking.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
10/5/01
3:53:15 PM
Sartre, Fanon, and Us
by Hayan Charara
Pick up a copy of Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and you'll find these words:
It is not right, my fellow-country-men, you who know very well all the crimes committed in our name, it's not at all right that you do not breathe a word about them to anyone, not even to your own soul, for fear of having to stand in judgment of yourself. I am willing to believe that at the beginning you did not realize what was happening; later, you doubted whether such things could be true; but now you know, and still you hold your tongues.
You should know that this was not written by Fanon, the West Indian psychiatrist who joined the struggle for independence against French colonization in Algeria. Rather, it appears in the introduction to his book and was written by a Frenchman imploring his countrymen to read the book, to heed its messages. Four decades ago, the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre challenged the citizens of France to acknowledge the crimes of their nation, and he did so by pointing to one of the enemies. Fanon was a member of the Algerian National Movement, and this struggle for independence involved numerous "terrorist" attacks in which many French colonists and soldiers were killed. Today, both Sartre's invitation to self-criticism and Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth ring eerily true for us. Both deal, in part, with violence against the French. And here in the United States, there is now more than ever concern with violence against us.
It is not easy to talk about our crimes. It's even harder to do so when we must, if only momentarily, set aside the suffering of our people. But it is not right either to avoid these talks. More than six thousand innocent civilians were killed on September 11th in a horrific, unforgettable attack on the World Trade Center. Anyone who is not blind has seen the devastation on the streets and the faces of those "missing"--men and women of every possible background, age, and color. Countless vigils across the country were held. Fund raising for the victims spread across every sphere of American life, from the Red Cross to lemonade stands manned by children. The dead were mourned and remembered in memorials in small town churches and in baseball stadiums. Without a doubt, this was needed. Make no mistake: this was required. Without such compassion and communal healing, not only is our country doomed, but so too is humanity. We have grieved for our losses and we should continue to do so. Otherwise, we'd be monsters.
But as was the case in the 1960s in France, as well as in so many other nations throughout the history of mankind, there comes a moment when we must also acknowledge and confront not only the treacheries of others, but also our own. Be clear about this, too: to do so does not, in the least, detract from the gravity of our losses. Instead, it makes them more significant. After all, we are grieving not just the loss of American lives, but the loss of lives, innocent lives. Otherwise, what we demonstrate is an imbalance in our moral judgments; we tell the world and ourselves that what matters is not human life, but only our own. This is exactly the kind of thought that allowed for the destruction that took place in lower Manhattan. Those responsible for the suicide attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. were not concerned with human life. As long as those targeted were "others," the attackers proceeded without hesitation or regard to whom would be killed. This is precisely what made the attacks so abhorrent.
And we should be abhorred. And we should be disgusted. And we should be angry. And we should be united. But we should also admit to exactly why we are all these things. Is it because innocents were killed, or because Americans were killed? Does our anger stem from outrage against terrorism, or from an act of terrorism against the United States? Are our displays of unity symbols of an unflinching dedication to freedom, or just to the freedom of Americans?
However we answer these questions, let's be clear about something: many people will feel the wrath of the United States. Let's be clear about another thing: most of those who will die will be innocent people, and a very large number of the dead are going to be women and children.
When the bombs are broadcast on television, when the dead surpass in number those killed in the World Trade Center, when the destruction that wiped from the face of the earth two of the tallest buildings ever built is exacted a hundred fold, are we going to remain disgusted, angry, and outraged? Are we going to gather to light candles in remembrance of the innocent murdered? Are we going to raise our flags and voices in the name of freedom?
I'm not holding my breath.
There is a difference. This is the favorite reply to self-criticism. Yes, there's a difference, and it is painfully clear: America and Americans were attacked. Though it's normal and natural to grieve the loss of one's own, our reluctance and resistance to admit to our own crimes of terror against others has illustrated a lack of concern for anyone who is not like us. Most of us haven't held vigils for the millions killed around the world. Worse than this, many of us never blinked an eye when hundreds of thousands were killed in our name. Many of us can't even admit to the fact that at this very moment, the United States is responsible for the slow, excruciating demise of entire peoples. There is a difference though, and it has nothing to do with our nation's supposed moral supremacy; and it has nothing to do with our official condemnation of terrorism; and it has nothing at all to do with the belief that we are the world's spokesperson for freedom. It's simpler than all this. The lives of others-mostly people of color, mostly those in "The Third World"-are not as important as our own.
If this weren't the case, then we'd speak out not only against the deaths of innocent people in New York City and Washington, D.C., but also against the devastation wrought upon nearly every peoples in the non-Western world. This terror we've brought to other places involves our bullets, our missiles, our bombs, our leadership, and our money.
Sartre implored his countrymen to "have the courage" to read Fanon's book. In doing so, he wasn't simply asking the French to be apologetic or to be guilty either. If their eyes remained closed to the violence enacted in their name, they would see much more of it, against themselves and others. We should ask ourselves the same: do we have the courage to admit to our subtle, blind brand of racism? If we've told ourselves that we are against the killing of innocent people; that we are against terrorism; that we are unified in the struggle for freedom for all people; then we need to ask ourselves why haven't we spoken out against our country when it has violated these ideals?
Since our attention is on the Middle East, let's look at a few instances. In Iraq, nearly half a million have died from our bombs and sanctions, which have now been imposed on the civilian population there for more than ten years. The Palestinians have had entire villages bulldozed and children murdered and thousands upon thousands forced to live under apartheid conditions; all of this, of course, impossible without the multi-billion dollar funding of Israel by our government. And in Lebanon, in 1982, an invasion backed by the United States resulted in the brutal murder of more than 17,500 innocent civilians. The atrocity and dead list goes on and on.
If we did not know this was happening, we now know. If we doubted the truth of these crimes, ask the survivors; better yet, examine the recent terrifying acts of vengeance against our nation. Now, we know all too well. We've displayed the courage to stand up against this terror on our people. Do we have the courage to extend it to those who are not?
Addressing the American public and the world at large, President Bush warned, "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." Before we decide which side we're on, let's be clear about who exactly we are. If we hold our tongues too long, we may just realize that the difference between "us" and "the terrorists" is dangerously non-existent.
Hayan Charara is an Arab-American writer originally from Detroit, living in New York. He is the Founder and Editor of Grafitti Rag.
10/3/01
10:41:47 PM
http://www.goodnewsaboutgod.com/studies/currentevents2.htm
Who Benefits from the World Trade Center/Pentagon Attacks?
Who Benefits? That's always the first question to consider when a "terrorist" attack occurs. Instead of clenching one's fist, waving one's flag and shouting vindictive slogans, let's just stop for a moment of calm analysis of the basic facts. When we analyze who benefits, we immediately will know with over 99% surety, who did it!
What was the tone of U.S. and world opinion just a week or two before the attacks?
In the U.S., the economy was lagging badly, the stock market was falling, many were questioning if the government's taxes were legal, the Gary Condit case had been poorly handled, people continued to question Waco and the Oklahoma City bombing, they questioned our support of Israel in her policies regarding the Palestinians, and the approval rate of President Bush was low.
What about World Opinion? Just 8 days before the WTC/Pentagon attacks, Israel was stunned by a UN decision equating Zionism with Racism, according to Ha'aretz Daily.com.
Israel was branded a "racist apartheid" state by thousands of non- governmental organizations (NGOs) attending a U.N. World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa. The conference was attended by representatives of 153 governments.
The declaration, adopted by 3,000 NGOs in 44 regional and interest- based caucuses, shocked Jewish groups.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres called the anti-Israel declarations a disgrace, and said that Israel was "seriously" contemplating withdrawing from the conference in protest. The Israeli delegation to the conference blasted the language of the NGO declaration as an incitement to hatred of Jews.
Jewish delegates walked out. The U.S. delegates followed.
The Forum accused the Jewish state of "systematic perpetration of racist crimes including war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing" in its treatment of the Palestinians.
In addition, the head of the Danish Red Cross, Freddy Karup Pederson, told the Danish Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee that the lifestyle of Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories resembles that of whites under the former racist apartheid system. He also criticized Israel's collective punishment of the Palestinian population.
So, just 8 days before the attacks, the overwhelming attitude of the nations of the world was against Israel's policies and in support of the Arab countries' charges against Israel, a nation heavily supported by, and allied with, the U.S.
What has happened to U.S. and World Opinion SINCE the attacks?
Immediately AFTER the attack, public opinion was turned 180 degrees. Now the Arab countries are being demonized, the U.S. population is overwhelmingly backing the President (according to the Washington Post), urging him to punish, kill, destroy, annihilate the perpetrators of this crime, even though no one really has any proof who did it, the U.S. government is preparing for war, the U.S. and Israel have carte blanche support to bomb nearly every Arab country out of existence.
No one is questioning anymore the "apartheid" policies of the Israelis against the Palestinians. War, as politicians have known throughout history, stimulates the economy and (if the propaganda is handled properly) unifies the population behind the President and squelches ALL criticism.
Anyone who is not 100% behind the President is considered a traitor. President Bush in a televised Speech to Congress, urged global support for his war on terrorists, warning the world: "either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." (Washington AFP) 9-21-01 (An effective way to stifle all dissent!)
If you don't go along with the plan for destruction of the Arabs advocated by the government, you become the target of threats and must have bodyguards, as California Democrat Barbara Lee has discovered. She cast the lone vote in Congress against the use of military force in response to the WTC/Pentagon attacks and now must have Police guarding her Capitol Hill office. (Reuters, AP, ABCNEWS.com 9-18-01)
What ELSE has happened since the attacks?
1) The population has been prepared for a long term war where the number of U.S. casualties will be high (Washington Post Online September 21, 2001).
2) Bush creates a High Office of "Homeland Security" supposedly to protect Americans from attack. The job would involve coordination of government-wide domestic security efforts, including meshing domestic FBI and foreign CIA intelligence, working with U.S. military, emergency officials and state and local governments.
The Homeland Defense position "would probably not need Senate confirmation, which other Cabinet jobs require, nor legislation to create" White House officials said. So there would be no investigation, oversight nor accountability for this person. (Reuters - Washington 9-21-01) (Perfect conditions to appoint a crony)
3) U.S. orders 40 million doses of smallpox vaccine for $343 million in preparation for a possible bioterrorism assault. The contract has been given to a small, Cambridge-based firm, Acambis, a British biotechnology company who reported a net loss of $8 million in the six months prior to June 30, unchanged from last year. (How convenient to get this huge order! It would be interesting to find out the conflict of interest issues here.) (Reuters News, London 9-20- 01) PREPARING THE POPULATION TO EXPECT BIO-TERRORISM.
4) "America and Britain are producing secret plans to launch a ten year "war on terrorism" - Operation Noble Eagle - involving a completely new military and diplomatic strategy to eliminate terrorist networks and cells around the world." (The Times - London 9-20-01)
5) The Senate OKs FBI Spying on the Internet: FBI agents soon will be able to spy on Internet users legally without a court order. Two days after the terrorist attack, the Senate approved the "Combating Terrorism Act of 2001" which enhances police wiretap powers and permits monitoring in more situations. The FBI's surveillance system is called Carnivore. (Lycos Network 9-20-01) MORE CONTROL!
6) The U.S. Plans to overthrow Taliban and put Afghanistan under UN Control, according to The Guardian - London (9-21-01) NOTE: Yugoslavia is ALREADY under UN control. (MORE UN CONTROL)
7) A global surveillance system known as Echelon exists and has the ability to eavesdrop on telephone calls, faxes and e-mail messages, a European Parliament committee has concluded. (Lycos Network 9-20-01) MORE CONTROL!
8) Face-ID Technology gains new support. "State lawmakers who were planning to sponsor legislation restricting its use now say they are reassessing their plans." MORE CONTROL! (Denver Post Capitol Bureau, 9-20-01)
9) "Experts See a High-Security America of Surveillance & Seizures": New York: Security Experts in the United States are describing a new kind of country that could emerge, where electronic identification might become the norm, immigrants might be tracked far more closely and the airspace over cities like New York and Washington might be off-limits to all civilian aircraft." (The International Herald Tribune 9-19-01) MORE SURVEILLANCE OF U.S. CITIZENS.
10) "Lawmakers See Need to Loosen Rules on CIA" Congressional leaders who oversee the nation's intelligence system have concluded that America's spy agencies should be allowed to combat terrorism with more aggressive tactics, including the hiring of unsavory foreign agents, including revived discussion of reversing the US 25 year ban on using covert agents to assassinate foreigners. R. James Woolsey, the former director of the CIA said that "Washington has absolutely undergone a sea change in thinking this week." (New York Times, 9-16- 01) MORE SURVEILLANCE OF U.S. CITIZENS!
11) NATO Announces a Third World War is Almost Upon Us. A pentagon spokesman hinted towards potential targets being Libya, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, Syria and others. (NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson)
12) California Congresswoman, Mary Bono, R-Palm Springs warned that the country should prepare for a fight against international terrorists that will likely include personal sacrifice, the use of ground troops overseas and the risk of retaliation against civilians by the enemy. She also predicts intense scrutiny of airline passengers, a national system of fingerprinting and identification cards and the specter of chemical and biological attacks on the U.S. (The Desert Sun 9-18-01)
13) An enemy is needed to justify a $344 Billion War Budget, when the federal government currently spends only $42 billion on education, $26 billion on affordable housing and $1 billion on school construction.
14) President Bush sent his anti-terrorism bill to Congress one week after the WTC/Pentagon attack, launching an emotional debate that will force U.S. politicians to choose between continued freedom for Americans or greater security. (Lycos Network 9-20-01) DOES ANYBODY KNOW HOW LONG IT TAKES TO WRITE ONE OF THESE BILLS? IT TAKES MONTHS! They are hundreds of pages long. THIS ONE WAS OBVIOUSLY WRITTEN BEFORE THE ATTACK! How convenient! Wake up America!
15) "President George Bush focused his energy on building a GLOBAL ALLIANCE for a fight against terrorism..." (MSNBC 9-18-01) Here comes the New World Order!
16) Fast-Moving House Bill Restricts Liberties - Much of it Unrelated to Terrorism! Congress is being asked to rush to pass emergency anti- terrorist legislation written by the Department of Justice, but much of the legislation turns out to have nothing to do with fighting terrorism. Instead, the legislation contains a host of items which have been on the bureaucratic wish lists for many years.
17) "We Must Ignore the Peace Lobby and Show No Restraint" says The Independent - London (9-24-01)
18) Bush Suspends Habeas Corpus: Legal Immigrants May Be Held Without Cause: "The Bush Administration today announced it is using its powers under the National Emergency Act to suspend the right of Habeas Corpus for all immigrants in the country, including legal immigrants, meaning that any immigrant in the U.S. right now can be held INDEFINITELY by the police or government WITHOUT TRIAL OR DEMONSTRATION OF CAUSE TO HOLD THEM."
Though no one has yet suggested infringing the rights of U.S. citizens, the move is a frightening first step to a national tyranny, based on perpetual suspension of the Constitution in the name of fighting perpetual war."
19) President Bush has agreed to bail out the airlines with BILLIONS of dollars, an industry that was swimming in red ink LONG BEFORE the WTC/Pentagon attacks.
CLIP
NOTE: To read the rest of this article "Who Benefits" go at
http://www.goodnewsaboutgod.com/studies/currentevents2.htm
Subjects covered:
What was known BEFORE the attack - and by whom?
Echelon Gave Authorities 3 Month Warning of Attacks
U.S. planned to attack Taliban BEFORE WTC/Pentagon Attacks
Russia Knew In Advance...Encouraged Citizens to Cash Out Dollars
FBI tracked man in custody 2 weeks before attacks
U.S. Pulled Plug on 500 Arab/Muslim Websites the Day BEFORE Jetliner Attack
U.S. was warned in 1995 of plot to hijack planes, attack buildings
U.S. Government Had Prior Knowledge of Emergency
Spy in the White House? "Terrorists" had Ultra Secret Codes on 911 More Unusual Market Activity Reported BEFORE Attacks:
So how come EVERYONE else knew this was going to happen? Why would the U.S. refuse to investigate when told, unless it was their own plan all along?
BIG CLUE!!
Why did the Towers IMPLODE instead of EXPLODE?
Where are the "Indestructible" Black Boxes?
Who Has Claimed Responsibility?
Are There Other Countries, besides the Arabs, who have ever been involved in terrorism?
Why would a government plan an attack its own citizens, while blaming another?
Fake Terror has been the Road to Dictatorship for thousands of years.
So, Who's Responsible? The Answer is: Who Benefits? You figure it out!
If you are interested in a free subscription to The Konformist Newswire, please visit:
http://www.eGroups.com/list/konformist or e-mail
konformist-subscribe@egroups.com
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10/3/01
10:36:45 PM
Informative article on the Taliban and on Afghanistan
http://www.newyorker.com/FROM_THE_ARCHIVE/ARCHIVES/?010924fr_archive05
Fear and Misery for Afghan Refugees After arduous journeys from Afghanistan, refugees are describing scenes of desperation at home as American-led military attacks seem imminent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/30/international/asia/30REFU.html
China's Support for U.S. on Terror Is a Dramatic About-Face
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/30/international/30SINO.html
It's the oil, never mind the pundits the root cause remains the same
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/01/44/cover-angel.shtml
"It's our own greed and need for control that has led us into this petroleum quagmire."
RECOVERED HISTORY: The Secret War (March 5, 2001)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4146099,00.html
"(...) the object this time is not so much control of territory. It is the large reserves of oil and gas in the Caucasus, notably the Caspian basin. Pipelines are the counters in this new Great Game."
THE DISMANTLING OF AMERICA - The Phoney War in Afghanistan (The bottom line: Same as above, oil!)
http://www.brojon.com/frontpage/bj091701.html
"CHEMTRAIL" TRACKERS SAY TERRORISTS AREN'T THE ONLY DANGERS LURKING IN THE SKIES
http://www.wweek.com/flatfiles/News1982.html
Peace Flag/Bandanas
http://www.thewingsofwisdom.com/peaceflags.htm
10/3/01
10:33:37 PM
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
10/3/01
10:32:17 PM
FAIR
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
ACTION ALERT:
Can the New York Times Count-- or Quote-- Peace Activists?
October 2, 2001
Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, the New York Times has downplayed and distorted peace rallies and demonstrations against a military response.
After thousands of anti-war activists gathered in Washington, D.C. on September 29, the Times responded with a 10-sentence story, under the headline "Protesters in Washington Urge Peace with Terrorists." Given that a call for bringing terrorists to justice through non-military means was central to the rallies, the headline is a gross mischaracterization of the protesters' message.
The Times also misreported other basic facts, like the size of the crowd in Washington. The Times estimated that a "few hundred protesters" were on hand, while the official police estimate was 7,000 (Washington Post, 9/30/01). One only had to watch the live coverage on C-SPAN to know the Times was way off.
The next day, the Times ran a slightly longer story about the second day of protests on page B7. The photo that accompanied the story, however, was dominated by a sign held by one of the counter-demonstrators: "Osama thanks fellow cowards for your support."
The rallies held in Washington were not the first time the paper downplayed peace activism. On September 21, the paper reported on the protests that were held on about 150 campuses across the country. But the perspectives of the thousands of students who participated in the day of action were almost entirely absent. Of the 11 students quoted in the article, only one voiced an anti-war opinion. Instead, the article was dominated by students who supported going to war, or those who could not recall seeing any anti-war sentiment on campus.
ACTION: Please call on the New York Times to improve its coverage of the peace movement by including the perspectives of anti-war activists in its reporting about the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
CONTACT:
New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036-3959
Toll free comment line: 1-888-NYT-NEWS
10/3/01
10:30:47 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
Farm groups 'all out' to win larger US subsidies - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12621/story.htm
USDA begins green payments of $1.5 bln to farmers - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12622/story.htm
UPDATE - Subsidies versus conservation in new farm bill - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12625/story.htm
California urges power savings to avoid Oct blackouts - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12628/story.htm
US regulators renew Bt cotton use for 5 years - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12629/story.htm
Ameren's Union Electric cited for chemical spill - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12630/story.htm
Alaska drilling not put in Senate defense bill - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12631/story.htm
Japan tightens security at nuclear plants - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12624/story.htm
Mont Blanc tunnel open by year-end - Paris - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12627/story.htm
OCP Ecuador wins Quito okay for pipeline route - ECUADOR http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12626/story.htm
Scientists say Great Lakes are cleansing themselves - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12632/story.htm
Cambodian officials bust wild food restaurants - CAMBODIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12633/story.htm
Australia state unlocks brown coal exploration - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12623/story.htm
10/3/01
10:28:27 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
EAR, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE
To their surprise, Mexican authorities have discovered that some of the country's native corn varieties have been contaminated by genetically engineered DNA. The finding is particularly troubling because Mexico has not approved the commercial planting of genetically modified corn. Moreover, the contaminated seeds were found in an area considered to be the world's repository of corn diversity -- the kind of place scientists had hoped would help preserve genetic diversity in the age of Frankenfood. Greenpeace is now asking Mexico to ban the import of genetically modified corn.
straight to the source: New York Times, Carol Kaesuk Yoon, 02 Oct 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/02/health/genetics/02CORN.html>
NO-FRY ZONE
An unidentified plane flew close to the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station on Sep. 13, but fighter jets sent to track the plane down never found it, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D) said yesterday. Dean and other lawmakers across the country are calling on the Bush administration to create no-fly zones around all 103 nuclear plants in the U.S., fearing that the plants are easy targets for terrorist attacks. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, however, says the likelihood is remote that terrorists could take out a plant successfully.
straight to the source: Boston Globe, Raphael Lewis, 02 Oct 2001 <http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/275/metro/Plane_flew_close_to_nucle ar_plant_in_Vt_-.shtml>
straight to the source: Philadelphia Inquirer, Marc Schogol, 02 Oct 2001 <http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/10/02/local_news/NUKE02.htm>
HOW UNATTRACKTIVE
Environmental groups in the U.S. are asking Republican leaders not to take up a controversial trade bill, saying that it could jeopardize the "spirit of bipartisan unity" in Congress. The bill would grant the president the authority to negotiate trade agreements and prevent Congress from amending them; lawmakers could merely vote yea or nay on the pacts. Enviros fear that environmental concerns would receive short shrift in such a framework. But the Bush administration wants the fast-track trade legislation approved so that it can advance the North American Free Trade Agreement and move forward with its agenda at the World Trade Organization meeting next month in Qatar.
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Reuters, 01 Oct 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/636645.asp>
do good: Take action to save the environment from bad trade <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/politics.asp?source=daily#trade>
CYANIDE, SEALED, AND DELIVERED
Residents of Montana won't have to vote again on a 1998 ban on the use of cyanide in open-pit gold mines. The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday chose not to consider an appeals court ruling that upheld the voter-approved ban. A corporate spending cap on initiative campaigns in Montana prevented mining companies from throwing their full weight into the anti-ban effort, but right before voters okayed the ban, the spending limits were found to be unconstitutional. The companies then sued for a revote, claiming they hadn't had enough time to "counteract the effects of their prolonged, state-coerced silence." The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the industry's arguments, and the Supreme Court let that ruling stand.
straight to the source: Missoulian, Associated Press, Gina Holland, 02 Oct 2001 <http://www.missoulian.com/display/inn_news/news02.txt>
10/3/01
10:25:59 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
FLEXING THEIR MUSCLES
The car-sharing company Flexcar is planning to expand beyond its Northwest roots and enter the Washington, D.C., market this fall, where it will compete with Boston-based Zipcar. Both companies work to reduce the number of cars on the road by enticing customers to share vehicles and avoid the hassles of car ownership. Customers pay for the amount of time they use a car; the companies pay for gas, insurance, and maintenance. In Seattle, a Flexcar membership ranges from $35 for five hours of driving in a month to $525 for 100 hours. This spring, Flexcar added 29 cars and 560 members in Portland, Ore., by acquiring the company CarSharing. Further south, in the San Francisco Bay area, the car-sharing news is that 17 percent of the region's 3.5 million vehicle commuters rely on carpools to get to work.
straight to the source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Margaret Taus, 01 Oct 2001 <http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/transportation/40899_flexcar01.shtml>
GOLLY G.E.
Environmental groups and officials in New York state are concerned that General Electric may be making headway in its campaign to scuttle a federal plan forcing it to dredge the Hudson River for pollution. U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman announced in August that she would proceed with a $500 million, Clinton-era plan to order G.E. to remove the millions of pounds of PCBs it dumped into the river. The U.S. EPA was scheduled to finalize details of the plan in September, but that deadline has been extended indefinitely because of the terrorist attacks. Since the terrorist attacks, which came after the public-comment period on the plan ended, G.E. has met behind closed doors at least twice with top EPA officials. State officials and enviros say that they are being kept out of the loop and that G.E. is going over the heads of regional EPA staff to cut deals directly with Whitman's staff. They believe that the company is lobbying the agency to set unrealistic performance standards for the cleanup that would throw the whole plan into disarray.
straight to the source: New York Times, Katharine Q. Seelye, 01 Oct 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/01/nyregion/01HUDS.html>
10/3/01
10:19:25 PM
Watch Out for Jackboots and Swagger Sticks
(This is a preview of the coming "Office of Homeland Security)
by Al Martin
Before his speech, on September 20, 2001, George Bush Jr. kissed Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Everyone knows he should have kissed her because she was the deciding vote in the Florida ballot issue, which formally brought Bush Jr. into the White House. Later during the speech, Bush announced the creation of a Cabinet level position called "Office of Homeland Security."
The Office of Homeland Security will initially be run by former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge. It should be noted that Ridge himself got in trouble a few years ago for praising the efficiency of the Third Reich's civilian administration. Ridge also spoke highly of Mussolini's ability to keep the Italian trains running on time. Now Ridge will be the guy running the Office of Homeland Security.
Although it hasn't been made public yet, there is a proposal being prepared. The Bush administration however is playing it smart. They're being cautious by whipping up public support first. Later they will announce some of the more sinister activities of this agency.
According to an inside source, the "Office of Homeland Security" will operate three divisions. One will be a plain-clothes division similar to the FBI, which will be called the State Security Division (SSD). Ironically SSD is the same acronym as the former East German Secret Police.
The second division of the Office of Homeland Security will be a smaller uniformed division, which currently remains nameless. It will act as a defacto State Political Police.
By the way, Ridge wants the uniforms of this State Political Police division to be modeled on existing state trooper uniforms - except done in black.
If you've ever seen New Jersey or Pennsylvania State Police uniforms, they have dark blue pants and lighter blue uniform on top. They also have those old-fashioned pants that bag out like the old German or Gestapo pants. They'll have jet-black jackboots, and black uniforms with lots of gold insignias indicating the Power of the State. Of course, "State" here is used in the context of the American Nation State.
The third division of the Office of Homeland Security will be called the Office of the United States Air Marshals (Air Marshal Services.) They will have to federalize the new air marshal service because security on aircraft is currently being provided by state police. The problem, of course, is that there will be jurisdictional issues.
The actual name of this agency, Office of Homeland Security, is very reminiscent of 20th century era German/Fascist and Russian/Communist secret police agencies. In America, "Homeland" is a neuter word. In German, however, the word is translated as "Vaterland" (Fatherland), while in Russian, the word is "Rodina" (Motherland). In both cases, these words can be translated into the English neuter word -- "homeland."
There is no precedent for the use of this word "homeland" in the United States Government.
This new agency will also operate "with extralegal authority." They will then be able to act under suspension of habeus corpus and under suspension of the right against self- incrimination, the Fifth Amendment privilege, and also the Fourth Amendment privilege.
That power will be in their charter -- they can act in an extra-legal authority, in certain cases, where the security of the "homeland" is "threatened."
The Bush Administration is essentially laying the foundation for a whole new classification of law. That's why, in his speech, Bush purposely never used the words "national security." He did this deliberately so as not to confuse the two.
With this new agency, the seeds are being sown for a new classification of law that will most likely be called "Homeland Security Law." Nobody knows what it will be called yet. But this is obviously what they're doing. Anyone, who knows the Bushes for what they are, can see that this will be the groundwork for a new, more powerful, more sinister agency, wherein all sorts of covert activity, illegal and not, will be extant.
In order to take the concept of "illegal" covert activity away, they are laying the foundation for a whole new separate body of law that will be parallel to, but above, the National Security Acts.
The Office of Homeland Security will be a separate agency, not under any other agency, not even under the Department of Justice. It will be the most senior agency in the Cabinet. It will probably fall somewhere between the Department of State and the Department of Defense, or somewhere between Treasury and Defense. In terms of authority, it will be called a "Super Agency," which implies it will not be under anyone. It will act as a coordinating agency, but will be above the FBI, CIA, NSA, and DIA. This will, of course, create a whole new set of turf war battles. But no agency head - in this post-WTC environment - will dare say anything against it because they'd lose their job.
Ridge will most likely be a political figurehead. He was probably given this job as political payback for Bush. It hasn't been decided yet, but one of the names that has been mentioned (and I certainly hope it doesn't happen) is Barry McCaffrey. If they put that old nazi in charge, watch out! Meanwhile back in the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, there was a large party of old generals visiting from the Department of Defense and everybody was laughing. They're all interested in seeing what corporations will be getting the new contracts.
With that in mind, the Al Martin Raw website will remain vigilant to see who gets all the new contracts to create this new agency. These will be contracts not only for a whole new office building, but the furniture as well as contracts for electronic components, surveillance equipment, weapons, etc. Let's see which corporations get these contracts, how many shares the Bush family trust has in these corporations, and how much money the so-called "winning" bidders contribute to right-wing think tanks and institutes.
The Office of Homeland Security will have its own helicopters. Even the FBI doesn't have its own helicopters, but has to borrow them from the GSA pool. The Department of Justice doesn't have any of its own helicopters either.
The new Office of Homeland Security helicopters will be painted a matte black and have digitized red lettering that says State Security, dark tinted windows, and numerous aerials and dishes with a big searchlight on the front. Bell Helicopters is supposed to get the new contract to produce this new super-surveillance helicopter. Supposedly they'll have the most sophisticated surveillance electronics ever made. This equipment will include gear that people don't even know has been invented yet.
It can't happen here? Watch out for jackboots and swagger sticks...
The Conspirators by Al Martin
"... the GAO has a new investigative team at the Redstone Arsenal looking at missing weapons components and missing monies. The problem was that they sent down a bunch of accountants. After the audit, the GAO found so much material missing without any payments to account for the losses. The audit, completed last year, showed discrepancies, which were so vast as to be mind-boggling. The 'discrepancy' at the Huntsville military complex was over $16 billion. Now the GAO is looking for new information. They are looking at senior military officers and their offshore accounts and this new investigation is making a lot of people nervous..."
AL MARTIN is America's foremost whistle-blower on government fraud and corruption.
See also:
The On-Going Conspiracy To Create A One World Dictatorship
http://rense.com/general14/theongoing.htm
New Anti-Terrorist Legislature Being Rushed Through
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/09/26/bush.laws.idg/index.html
10/3/01
10:14:14 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
Long-envisioned Alaskan gas pipeline faces hurdles - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12609/story.htm
UPDATE - West Nile alert extended to most of Florida - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12619/story.htm
Motiva executives to testify about July fire, acid spill - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12615/story.htm
UPDATE - US panel backs caution on vaccines with mercury - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12614/story.htm
UPDATE - US House eyes boost in emergency oil stockpile - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12620/story.htm
Foes say US farm bill too costly, not 'green' enough - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12611/story.htm
UPDATE - US greens urge Congress to delay Bush trade bill - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12608/story.htm
House panel takes up nuke plant liability this week - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12603/story.htm
UPDATE - Mayflower unveils "revolutionary" engine - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12606/story.htm
UK power industry should keep eye on environment - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12618/story.htm
Russian forest fires force airport closure - RUSSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12602/story.htm
Prevent soil erosion by less ploughing, FAO urges - PORTUGAL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12612/story.htm
Niger uranium output seen hit by power failures - NIGER http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12607/story.htm
Checks on Antarctica ice for global warming clues - NEW ZEALAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12601/story.htm
German Solarworld, Degussa plan silicon JV - sources - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12604/story.htm
French Greens seek solution to candidate crisis - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12616/story.htm
UPDATE - France orders withdrawal of atrazine, herbicides - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12617/story.htm
EU calls for new housing laws after Toulouse blast - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12610/story.htm
EU eases CO2 trading rules after industry pressure - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12613/story.htm
Austria Green MP fears more nuclear power imports - AUSTRIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12605/story.htm
10/3/01
10:12:43 PM
AlterNet Headlines
Brief summaries of leading stories from AlterNet -- the independent news and syndication service -- for October 1, 2001.
Last week we presented two special pages to help our readers better understand U.S. policy in the Middle East
(http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=29)
and the growing anti-war movement
(http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=26).
Today, we are rolling out a new page, devoted to the people and politics of the Middle East. The lead summary article, "10 Things to Know About the Mid East," is by historian Stephen Zunes. To read that article and others, go to:
UNDERSTANDING THE MID EAST
http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=28
Today we also present several new articles examining the media's coverage of and reaction to 9-11. They can be found in our MediaCulture section:
WAR OF WORDS
Danny Shechter, MediaChannel.org
Media companies will cover the War on Terrorism even as they're lobbying the Bush FCC for rules that will allow them to consolidate more power and make more money.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11605
DESERT STORM DISINFORMATION
Jacqueline E. Sharkley, TomPaine.com
As the United States embarks on a war on terrorism, both the Pentagon and the press would do well to reflect on the disturbing lessons of the Gulf War.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11606
CENSORSHIP AND THE WAR ON TERRORISM
Gerti Schoen, MediaChannel.org
John MacArthur, publisher of Harper's magazine and author of "Second Front," a book about censorship during the Gulf War, answers questions about Bush's policies on war coverage.
http://www.alternet.org/issues/index.html?IssueAreaID=19
Also, some additional stories for your reading pleasure:
A STIMULUS RIGHT NOW, AIMED AT LOWER-WAGE WORKERS
Robert B. Reich, AlterNet
With the country spiraling toward recession, those hurt the most are lower-wage workers sure to be the first to lose their jobs.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11611
HOW THE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT WORLD REACTED TO 9-11
Marjorie Kelly, Business Ethics
It is sobering to think the attacks have something to do with us, something to do with our economic system.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11610
THE FAILURE OF ZERO TOLERANCE
Johanna Wald, Salon
An 11-year-old is hauled off in a police van for packing a plastic knife in her lunchbox? A 6-year-old is cited for "sexual harassment" for running out of the bath naked to tell the bus driver to wait. Just how far have zero-tolerance policies in public high schools gone?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11420
10/3/01
10:09:54 PM
THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT--PART 1
In the United States, judges are usually considered to be "above the fray" -- somewhat removed from politics and money. Of course we all know this is not completely true because judges are humans like everyone else; they are influenced by current events and many of them relax at the country club where they rub elbows with the owning class. Still, judges in the U.S. are usually thought to be fair-minded, independent, and to the extent possible for any human, unbiased.
Unfortunately, since about 1980, groups of wealthy right-wing extremists have been conducting organized campaigns to change all this, and now it is apparent that they have largely succeeded.
Increasingly, our federal judiciary is flagrantly partisan and beholden to corporate money. As a result, environmental laws and regulations in the United States are being gutted. For 30 years environmental protection -- even environmental protection at the local level -- has relied on lawsuits, or the threat of lawsuits, to bring violators into compliance, to require reluctant officials to enforce the law, and to hold the wealthy and the powerful liable when they harm air, water, land, wildlife and humans. Fear of legal liability has been a major restraint --perhaps THE major restraint -- on the worst tendencies of both individuals and corporations.
Now three recent reports reveal that the independence and impartiality of the judiciary has been systematically compromised by wealthy right-wing extremists.[1,2,3] As a result, many laws intended to protect the environment, and intended to give citizens access to the courts, have been rendered ineffective.
In a new report, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) -- the nation's best-known environmental litigation group -- says, "A group of highly ideological and activist sitting judges are already threatening the very core of environmental law.... In the last decade, judges have imposed a gauntlet of new hurdles in the path of environmental regulators, slammed the courthouse doors in the face of citizens seeking to protect the environment, and sketched the outline of a jurisprudence of 'economic liberties' under the Takings and Commerce Clauses of the Constitution that would frustrate or repeal most federal environmental statutes."[1,pg.v]
Here are the outlines of the problem:
** Judges appointed to the federal bench during the past 20 years have radically reinterpreted both the U.S. Constitution and the laws passed by Congress. Evidently motivated by libertarian, anti-government, free market theology, a generation of radical activist judges has intentionally gutted many environmental laws, regulations and citizen safeguards.
** Many state judges have been compromised by organized wealth. The election -- rather than appointment -- of state judges was promoted during the 1840s to extend democracy. Now, however, the rise to power of super-wealthy right-wing extremists has opened state judicial elections to the influence of organized wealth. A report last year from the Georgetown University Law Center reveals that many state judges must now raise $1 million or more just to run for election. No matter who wins such an election, corporate money gains a seat on the bench.[2]
** At least three right-wing extremist organizations have spent tens of millions of dollars during the past decade sending federal judges to all-expense-paid "educational seminars" in resort locations where they learn to interpret the law according to libertarian (anti-government), free-market theology. Over the past decade, a majority of the nation's federal judges have undergone such training at the hands of libertarian, free-market extremists. A former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Abner Mikva, says, "It may be a coincidence that the judges who attend these meetings usually come down on the same side of important policy questions as the funders who finance these meetings.... But I doubt it."[3,pg.iv]
As a result of all this, the U.S. Supreme Court and the lower federal courts have spent the last 10 years reinterpreting the Constitution and federal laws, in these ways:
** The Commerce Clause of the Constitution: The basis for federal environmental protections has always been the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which gives the federal government the right to "regulate commerce among the several states."
The Supreme Court ruled this year that the Army Corps of Engineers has no authority to prevent construction of a landfill in wetlands needed by migratory birds. Such birds have substantial interstate economic effects. They protect crops and forests by holding insect populations in check. Furthermore, millions of people spend more than a billion dollars each year on recreation related to migratory birds. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court decided that migratory birds have nothing to do with interstate commerce, making this a state matter, not federal.
This was not the first Supreme Court ruling to reinterpret the Commerce Clause to reduce the power of the federal government. As a result, lower courts are experimenting with new ways to deny federal authority over environmental matters. For example, a federal judge in Alabama decided that the federal Superfund law (requiring cleanup of toxic dump sites) did not apply to closed dumps where there is no current economic activity; he decided that a closed chemical dump was a local real estate matter, beyond federal jurisdiction. This decision was overturned on appeal, but it signals very clearly that reinterpretation of the Commerce Clause is on the nation's judicial agenda.
As NRDC says in its new report, a string of recent court attacks on the Commerce Clause shows that "our federal environmental protections already hang in precarious balance." [1,pg.8]
** The Takings Clause of the Constitution: The fifth amendment of the Constitution says, "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." Over the years, this has been interpreted to mean that a land owner must be compensated if the entire use of his or her property is destroyed by a federal action. If any uses of the land remain after the federal action, compensation is not required. Thus a zoning decision that denies commercial use of land does not require compensation, so long as the property can still support other uses.
Now, however, activist judges have spent 15 years reinterpreting the takings clause in a series of high-profile cases. For example, a federal judge ruled that a company seeking to mine limestone out of the Florida Everglades had to be compensated tens of millions of dollars when the federal government denied a mining permit. The rock company admitted that it would still be able to sell its land for twice the amount it had paid for it, but the court overturned a hundred years of precedent and awarded the company compensation for the "taking" of its mining rights.[1,pg.12] Under this interpretation of the takings clause, the federal government must pay every polluter to comply with environmental laws.
In another case, federal protection of endangered salmon reduced one California landowner's water rights somewhere between 8% and 22% -- nowhere near the 100% taking that traditionally has triggered compensation. The judge in this case concluded, "The federal government is certainly free to preserve the fish; it must simply pay for the water it takes to do so." As NRDC said, "This conclusion tolls the death knell for effective federal protections for our nation's freshwater species," 30% of which are in danger of extinction.[1,pg.13]
** The 11th amendment to the Constitution prevents federal courts from hearing lawsuits brought against a state government "by citizens of ANOTHER state" or by citizens of a foreign country.
Now the U.S. Supreme Court has radically reinterpreted this clear language, removing the word "another." Here's one example of how the new interpretation of the Constitution helps corporate polluters and their servants in state governments:
The first stated goal of the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) is to "establish a nationwide program to protect society and the environment from the adverse effects of surface coal mining operations." The law says no mining can occur within 100 feet of a stream unless the mining company can show that no adverse effects will occur to the stream. Despite this language, West Virginia state officials have repeatedly issued "mountain top removal" mining permits to coal companies. As the name implies, "mountain top removal" means huge machines remove the tops of mountains, dumping thousands of tons of rock and soil into nearby valleys, burying streams beneath rubble, killing all the life they support.
SMCRA also contains a citizen suit provision, so a W. Va. citizen named Bragg sued in federal court to force West Virginia state officials to comply with federal law. A federal appeals court ruled against Bragg, saying the 11th amendment prevented him from suing his state in federal court. So West Virginia officials are free to ignore federal mining law.
** Citizens' standing to sue: Many federal environmental laws contain a "citizen suit" provision" giving citizens the right to sue in court to enforce the law. Now the citizen right to sue has all but disappeared, thanks to recent federal court rulings. The courts have ruled that most citizens have not been personally harmed to a sufficient degree to give them "standing" to file a lawsuit. For example, citizens who want the Endangered Species Act enforced must show that failure to enforce the law has caused them substantial personal harm. Few citizens (if any) can meet such a test. Because of this and similar rulings by federal judges, citizen suits are largely a thing of the past.
The worst part of all this is that the traditional environmental movement is powerless to reverse these trends. Because the movement has spent 30 years pursuing narrow legal and scientific strategies, playing an insider's game of lobbying and rulemaking in Washington, the movement has no real political base of active citizens across the country who could rise up united and send a strong message to the judiciary (and to Congress) that the American people want environmental laws strengthened, not gutted. In this important venue -- the courts -- wealthy corporations are now holding almost all the cards and the traditional environmental movement is powerless to stop them.
10/3/01
10:04:44 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
LOSING OUR CIVIL RIGHTS
The Village Voice and The Advocate.com -- In the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, Americans are coming together in the name of patriotism to protect their way of life. But some of the most sacred tenets of our "way of life" may be in danger from within.
BRAIN SCANS SHOW THAT MUSIC SOOTHES
MSNBC Health
-- "In a study that may explain why some people have a powerful emotional response to music, researchers have found that melodies can stimulate the same parts of the brain as food and sex."
THE LAST MINUTEMAN
by Cara Hetland, Minnesota Public Radio
-- Between 1961 and 1963 the U.S. built 150 nuclear missile silos in the Midwest. Now, all but one have been deactivated. The remaining silo will allow Americans, for the first time, to see the "secret world of the nuclear intercontinental missile."
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
10/3/01
10:02:38 PM
The 9-11 Movie:
SEE the pattern and the connections with the Twin Towers events of 9-11, 2001?
"All you have to do is tell [the people] they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
- Hermann Goering, German nazi leader
The time-proven political agendas & covert strategies are always simplistic:
1. Create or allow a national drama that will shock the public opinion into a state of confusion & instinctual reactive emotions...
2. Immediately point the finger out towards a "scape-goat", pre-designated as the culprit, and an associated entity (enemy nation, ethnic group or entire culture) suggested as "responsible"...
3. Maintain the flurry of irate emotions by the appropriate kindling of discourses, public appeals, declarations by "eminent citizens", rallies etc... Nowadays, of course, it's mainly a full-fledged psy-op campaign of "media coverage" received in the convenience of the private TV box...
4. At your own timing, implement the agenda you have been carefully preparing and reap a full public support of resources, lives and "political righteousness"...
NOW, BACK TO 9-11. Look carefully at the keywording of offical media coverage in the days following the events:... You will find a certain category of "keywords" in the titles & subtitles of leading newspapers and in the governmental declarations... Sorry, but these keywords do not really point to responsibility and reason...
"The Day of Infamy" , "Twin Terrors" , "If you want to humble an Empire", "What is needed is a unified, unifying, Pearl Harbor sort of a purple American fury -a roughless indignation..." (Time magazine , special issue 9/11/01)
"Does my country really understand that this is WWIII?" (Thomas Friedman, New York Times, 9/13/01)
"Give war a chance" (Philadelphia Enquirer, 9/13/01)
"Time to use the Nuclear Option" (Washington Times, 9/14/01)
The government claims that it had no intelligence knowledge of an obviously meticulously pre-planned & well organized attack and furthermore claims that it was at a loss how to deal with the emergency situation of four hijacked airplanes flying around highly sensitive areas...
Yet, the government calls for "exterminating" previously unknown attackers by "ending states who sponsor terrorism" (Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense). And close american allies (England, Germany, Israel) have been asked to give carte blanche to participate in U.S. reprisals...
"In this new kind [of] war... there are no neutral states or geographical confines. Us or them. You are either with us or against us." (R. W. Apple, Jr., Washington Post 9-14-01)
WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?
The many suspicious aspects of the events (as involving a lot more than just "arab terrorists") are being blatantly ignored (4). ... as if all Americans have become movie addicts ready to gobble up any new Hollywood or Washington "drama".
Did the "chemtrails" rob us from our normal will power? Can we still think for ourselves and use discrimination... or are we sinking deeper and deeper into the blissful oblivion of believing the mass-media and their subliminals (5)... and giving our civil liberties over to FEMA and super-FEMA (NHSA)?
ARE we seeing again another set-up to rouse the American and international public into an instinctual national-ego response and thus get support to proceed with a pre-planned agenda of war, greed & domination?... leading us deep into WWIII (6)?
*
What Happened to our Proclaimed Ideals?
HAVE we entirely forgotten the insights & ideals of "universal good will" that inspired our Founding Fathers (and Mothers!) and our entire civilization? Have the Declaration of Independence and the Charter of the United Nations become disposable wall-paper in contemporary commodity-oriented America?
ARE we now, in the name of the holy stock-market, "free trade" & "American business interests", condoning foreign policies that apply double standards and treat "others" & Mother Nature in ways we would never accept to be treated ourselves? Is war-murder-destruction okay and "politically desirable" in foreign countries but shockingly taboo at home?
WHY exactly are we, worldwide, extensively training "special forces" and "intelligence agents", funding known "terrorist" governments and groups, while, smilingly, grossing untold billions in arms (and drugs) business? (7).
DO we REALLY still believe that human beings all over the earth, no matter their looks, are our "brothers & sisters"? Be honnest! Or are they just remote "data" on computer screens and amusing dolls when we go on exotic safaris?
DO we still SEE that we ALL share this jewel of a planet? Are we really taking that into account in our daily life, actions, thoughts & prayers?
"It no longer works to just put up walls around your cities to keep the barbarians out. Particularly if you trained and funded and armed them last year because they were the enemy of your enemy. And you stopped funding them later because your other enemy no longer was you enemy. And they are now starving, but still trained and armed." [New Civilization Network. (8)]
DID we -the 5% or 10 % elite- turn into complete hypocrites and selfishly benefit from ever increasing luxuries & wasteful gadgets, while myriads are facing genocide, starvation, sickness, loss of freedom and the grim pursuit of un-happiness...?
ARE we almost programmed out of our humanness and beingness, without even noticing it? How did that happen? How did WE let it happen to US?
ARE we living a proxy life, totally cut off from our cosmic roots and crowns. And fearfully removing ourselves from direct contact with Life as "others" and "Nature"?
ARE we increasingly shying away from personal relationships with our friends, partners, spouses, kids, neighbors and "strangers"? Setting ourselves up in an alienated, schizophrenic but "safe" mindscape "tower" (9) -yet bitterly ranting about being lonely?
ARE we living a gigantic lie, instead of living Life?
IS that the true destiny of America? -the down side of the coin?
ARE we going to sheepishly give thanks for being micro-chipped, tracked down in every move & thought, fed sterile GMO, "sweet" aspartame & "irradiated" meals, prescribed expensive drugs with multiple "side-effects", given the "creative" option of "designer babies" who will be members of the elite-race club, and, in our holy moments, be submerged in 3D proxy thrillers?
All that while driving shiny gas-guzzling credit-bought SUVs with GPS computers? And listening to the "inner voice" of xth generation cell-phones?
ARE we realizing the full impact, for this and coming generations, of the "corporate future" dangled in front of us as the next step in human "happiness and progress"?
*
Urgent Call for a Politics of Global Sharing:
ISN'T IT high time to stop being the fat & blind-folded "share-holders" the world is laughing at and lashing at? Giving carte blanche to the purposely remote & fuzzy complex of mega-corporations agendas - intelligence agencies operations - governmental policies... that want to exploit the world for the benefit of the few?
ISN'T IT high time to stop this complacent attitude of: "Oh, we just get the interests and play gambling with the stocks - BUT we are not involved whatsoever with the decisions..."
ISN'T TRUE that NO share-holder wants to REALLY know HOW they get their potential dividends, by which tortuous and roughless routes the money is reaped or lost ...? and what might be the unreported dire effects and human toll of this mega-business that has the means and intent to be "above the rules"...
DO YOU KNOW (or care?) about the World Bank & multinationals pushing, worldwide, for the privatisation of WATER? To the point that, in 1999, small farmers in Cochambamba, Bolivia, had to buy permits (and pay San-Francisco based Bechtel) to gather rainwater on their own property? (10). When are the "global powers" going to charge for "re-conditioned AIR"?
DO YOU KNOW that a US Baby Foods Corporation has successfully used the World Trade Organisation to suppress a Guatemalan law that encouraged mothers to breastfeed their babies? Their claims: "Expropriation of trademark" and, of course, competition with their "products" (11).
DO YOU KNOW that, during the Gulf War, the US and British / UN forces used 350 tons of "depleted uranium laced bullets" that become radioactive upon impact? (12).
ISN'T IT high time to stop on this deadly track and reverse gears before the ever-increasing gap between the "wealthy" and the "have-nots" tips this planet over? Before the last drop of oil-blood is drained from Mother Earth and the last parcel of wilderness is raped?
OR, are "tactical nuclear heads" and "ethnically specific bio-weapons" going to bring the message of total silence to the majorities grumbling at the G-8s?
ISN'T IT urgent to open our eyes wide and clear and SHARE responsibilities, instead of raking in political & financial interests? To WAKE UP as the Human Family?
"One man's gift must not become another's capital." (Tribal Wisdom)
DOESN'T IT make pressing sense that, if we benefit from the world, we also need to contribute to it in equal if not larger shares?
DO YOU REALIZE the blasphemous, insulting and arrogant nature of the initial code-name publicized by the Pentagon for the "War on Terrorism": Infinite Justice!!! (13)
SHARING... is the only way to taste INFINITE JUSTICE! Let us judge our success by what we GIVE, without scheming a return.
WE NEED TO LEARN (or re-learn) the Golden Rule : how to approach and practice Global Love for each other, on the planetary & galactic scales. We need to re-learn how to dialogue to the "other", no matter what their beliefs & life-styles may be, listen to them with true friendly "interest" and find out their needs & wants & gifts.
How can we be of service to other ourselves?
HOW CAN WE, as stewards of this magnificent world-garden, do (or undo) whatever is necessary to ensure the full manifestation of Justice, Equality and Freedom for all? We have the means, we only need a surging wave of international cooperation and co-creation...
"A moment of Great Change is protected by the Giving of Gifts." (Welsh wisdom)
Then, we may not have enemies any longer and we may live without paranoid fears of "being attacked"... and pass on to our children an era of global peace, sharing and celebration of Humankind as One sparkling & glorious face of Spirit.
*
Abundance of Solutions:
No one is powerless.
Remember your dreams and glimpses of other parts of "You"? We are all multi-dimensional spirits visiting a 3D experience. We are all a unique & shimmering spark of the Spirit-Source that has been recognized & honored by all human cultures.
From the very instant we truly realize that we are part of the Whole Hologram, we do access and own Infinity.
Infinity is beyond the dualistic dance of winning-losing and balancing the check-books... Beyond the implanted belief that we are hapless victims at the mercy of master foes...
Infinity is realizing that:
! All is actually possible Now !
This is a plentiful universe where solutions keep blossoming: it takes to embody Infinity to find many.
People of good will are plenty: it takes to be one to find many.
Let's look at the true world heroes who preceded us or dwell among us: the many men & women, known & unknown, who have chosen to further love & peace values rather than personal gratification. We need to be inspired by high-integrity role-models rather than fashion-made puppets...
HOW ABOUT America waking up to a destiny of humbly stewarding the Earth, instead of arrogantly using & abusing it?
Let us match our great wealth and immense resources with an equally great sense of responsibility, instead of hoarding & draining the blood, sweat & treasures of the Earth peoples.
LET'S create an Earth Council made of personalities globally honored as planetary citizens dedicated to Creative Peace...
HOW ABOUT implementing an Emergency Planetary Recovery Plan, as a bold way to launch the 21st century?
AND, IN COOPERATION with all people of good will, let us walk the beauty road to find again our lost dignity, fulfill our true destiny and gain anew the respect of our children and generations to come!
AT OUR FULL DISPOSAL, we have here and now all the necessary tools, technologies, skills, workforce and good will needed to turn around this "world crisis" into an enthusiastic international wave of pioneering the build-up of a WORLD FRIENDLY-TO-LIFE.
* MOTHER EARTH will dance with joy and immediately respond by nurturing all of us with unprecedented organic crops...
* THE PEOPLES OF THE EARTH will find hope again and then reveal their bottled-up inheritance of wisdom, creativity and unique beauty.
* SPIRIT and the other dimensions of the larger universe will applaud and say:
"Well done, Earth people!"
Remember:
We are at the dawn of the 21st century. And our choices NOW will seal the coming human history.
I, for one and for the One in all of us, hold that there won't be a WWIII. We are the Human Family. So Be It !
10/3/01
9:58:36 PM
EarthKeeper
Lessons of History
Dear Earth fellows, let us not fall again into the old traps of one-sided political agendas, based on individual or national selfishness.
REMEMBER the sinking of the "Maine"? 1898. The glorious US battleship Maine explodes in La Havana (Cuba) harbor, killing 260 american sailors. Spain is blamed as the terrorist villain who planted the fateful mine. Public opinion is shouting for revenge. Spain's image is vilipended. Soon, a defense budget of $50 million is unanimously voted and war is declared against Spain. American boys are lost to the enemy and military incompetence, but Spain is rapidly crushed and her colonies annexed by an expansionist America... who ended up in Viet-Nam. Well, in 1976, a commission traced the explosion to an "internal accident"... (1)
REMEMBER the burning of the Reichstag? 1933, Germany. The Reichstag was the German Parliament, symbol of political power. It burns to the ground. An "inside job", now traced to Hitler's agents. Hitler is "incensed" and quickly puts the blame on the Jews, the Gypsies and other "undesirables". His fascist cohorts and aryan patriotic propaganda sweeps the German public opinion into giving him more & more power. You know the results... (2)
REMEMBER Pearl Harbor? 1941. It is now accepted that this wasn't simply a Japanese "surprise attack" but was part of a larger agenda. Known and allowed at the highest levels, this "infamous shock" effectively did arise a wave of patriotic fury and thus did permit the swift entry of the USA into WWII... (3)
DO we really want to repeat old history?
10/3/01
9:53:40 PM
Killing Civilians: Behind The Reassuring Words
By Norman Solomon
The Bush administration has vowed that it will not aim the Pentagon's firepower at civilian targets in Afghanistan. Such assurances are supposed to make us think that innocent bystanders will be spared when the missiles fly and the warheads explode. Don't believe it.
Back in early August 1945, President Truman had this to say: "The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, in so far as possible, the killing of civilians."
Actually, the U.S. government went out of its way to select Japanese cities of sufficient size to showcase the extent of the A-bomb's deadly power. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, hundreds of thousands of civilians died -- immediately or eventually -- as a result of the atomic bombings.
In the past several decades, presidents have routinely expressed their reverence for civilian lives while trying to justify orders that inevitably destroyed civilian lives. Denial is key to the success of public-relations campaigns that always accompany war.
While top U.S. officials spoke of fervent desires to protect civilians from harm in Southeast Asia, the Pentagon inflicted massive carnage on the populations of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Both Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon tirelessly proclaimed their eagerness for "peace with honor." Most of those who died were civilians.
When U.S. troops invaded Panama in December 1989, the USA's major media and policymakers in Washington ignored the hundreds of civilians who died in the assault. Scarcely more than a year later, during the Gulf War, most of the people killed by Uncle Sam were civilians and frantically retreating soldiers. Pentagon officials quietly estimated that 200,000 Iraqis had died in six weeks. During the past decade, damage to Iraq's civilian infrastructure and ongoing sanctions have cost the lives of at least several hundred thousand children.
In the spring of 1999, we were told, the U.S.-led bombing of Yugoslavia aimed only at military targets. The explanations were often Orwellian -- not just from the Clinton administration and NATO, but also from news media.
Consider the opening words of the lead front-page article in the New York Times one Sunday in April 1999: "NATO began its second month of bombing against Yugoslavia today with new strikes against military targets that disrupted civilian electrical and water supplies..." The concept was remarkable: The bombing disrupted "civilian" electricity and water, yet the targets were "military" -- a very convenient distinction for PR purposes, but irrelevant to the civilians who perished due to destruction of basic infrastructure.
Now, while people in Afghanistan fear missiles and bombs, their lives are most threatened by a dire lack of food. The likelihood of a large-scale assault has already forced aid organizations out of the country --"fearing both that they may be caught in the expected raids or that they would be attacked as westerners after the NATO bombers have flown away," says Chris Buckley, the Christian Aid program officer for Afghanistan. He adds that the nation "is in the grip of a three-year drought and on the verge of mass starvation. According to the UN-run World Food Program, by the end of the year 5.5 million people will be entirely dependent on food aid to survive the winter. That's a quarter of the Afghan population."
In human terms, the emerging U.S. military scenarios are ghastly. And -- with Washington already gaining Pakistan's agreement to cut off food aid to Afghanistan -- they're also illegal. Part IV of the Geneva Conventions clearly states that "starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited." The same document forbids targeting "objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population."
No amount of vehement denials can change the reality that huge numbers of civilians are now in the Pentagon's cross hairs.
http://www.zmag.org/solomoncivilians.htm
10/3/01
9:49:59 PM
Afghanistan facing humanitarian disaster Famine Hunger and disease could kill millions, aid agencies warn
Aid workers forced to flee Afghanistan warned yesterday that the country would be pushed into catastrophe unless the US threat of retaliation for last week's terror attacks is withdrawn.
Even before the attacks, aid agencies issued dire warnings that Afghanistan was heading for disaster. A three year drought on top of two decades of war and Soviet occupation has left more than 5m people - a quarter of the population - threatened by starvation.
Remote villages will soon be cut off by snow without the stockpiles of supplies from international agencies that might have carried them through the winter. In the cities there have been crippling increases in the price of food, and epidemics are threatening to take hold in the packed and filthy refugee camps.
Dominic Nutt, emergency officer for Christian Aid, said: "It's as if a mass grave has been dug behind millions of people. We can drag them back from it or push them in. We could be looking at millions of deaths."
Mr Nutt recently travelled from the city of Herat to a village in the hills of the Ghor province called Barkhol, a 200 mile journey which took two days on rutted tracks. He found a community in crisis.
"As we came over the mountain pass we looked down on a scene of devastation," he said. "The area looked as if it had been scorched. What should have been wheat fields was nothing more than stubble."
Villagers told Mr Nutt they had got through almost all their food supplies and had even eaten seeds which should have been planted for next year's crop. Large families were sharing one piece of bread a day. They could not leave because there was no transport. Aid agencies had hoped to get supplies to villages like Barkhol before they were cut off but the US threat means that this will almost certainly be impossible.
Mr Nutt also visited the bleak Maslakh camp near Herat. There it is estimated that up to 40 people are dying every day, many because they arrive too weak to survive after trying to hold out in their villages.
They have food but conditions are harsh. Most have to dig a hole in the sandy soil and try to suspend what ever cloth they have over it as a makeshift shelter. Water is scarce and in some cases contaminated. Sanitation is basic.
The picture is just as severe in other parts of the country. In the central parts, the UN's world food programme has heard reports of Afghans driven to eat poisonous grass which causes paralysis, while those in the north have been eating meals of locusts mixed with animal feed.
The world food programme says that as many as 20% of children in some regions are dying before the age of five and the average life expectancy is 40. But it has been forced to suspend its $150m (£102m) feeding programme.
The picture is further complicated by the mass movement of people within Afghanistan and across its borders. More than 2m people have been driven from their homes by the wars and drought. The UN High Commission for Refugees said at least another million could flee if the US attacked.
Aid agencies point out that many of those who may be hurt are unlikely to have any idea about what has been happening in America.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,554310,00.html
10/3/01
9:37:21 PM
Welcome to the Fourth Reich
David McGowan
dave@davesweb.cnchost.com
http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/
September 21, 2001
Let me see if I understand this situation correctly. In order to wage a war to promote 'freedom' and 'democracy' around the world, it is necessary to sacrifice those very democratic freedoms here at home. That makes perfect sense to me, as it apparently does to all the flag-wavers out there who have fallen victim to the relentless war-mongering propaganda being spewed out by our 'independent' media.
Some of you, by the way, may want to keep those flags readily accessible in the coming months and years. They will come in very handy to drape over the pine boxes that your sons and daughters will be being shipped home in.
It does seem a bit strange though that the man leading the charge to extend 'democracy' to all corners of the globe didn't actually assume office through anything even remotely resembling a democratic process, but was rather appointed by five men who themselves were appointed to office. I guess that's unimportant though, as none of our politicians or their fully complicit media hacks have bothered to comment on it.
Still it should be noted that while Sir George rants and raves about how Osama bin Laden hates democracy and freedom, it was he and his appointers who showed complete contempt for the most basic tenets of democracy just ten short months ago. The Supreme Court decision signed by Rehnquist did state, in no uncertain terms, that: "The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States."
So now we are treated to the repellent spectacle of a man who we had no right to vote for - according to the interpreters of our Constitution - teaching the world by show of force exactly how democracy is practiced. Now isn't that special. It does seem funny though that none of the supposed 'liberals' in Washington or in the press corps have had a goddamned thing to say about any of that.
Not a ripple of dissent on Capitol Hill or from the press corps could be heard in reaction to Bush's absurd statement to Congress and the people Thursday evening that "[The terrorists] hate what they see right here in this chamber: a democratically elected government." Of course, it would be difficult to argue with the first part of that statement.
It is certainly true that many of the world's people hate the men and women that were in that room, and with good reason. It is not, as Bush indicated, because "They hate our freedoms," but rather because they have been driven to unthinkable levels of hatred by having been denied their own freedoms for decades - thanks in large part to the military interventions designed and implemented by the men in that room.
It is frequently said that those who forget history are condemned to repeat its mistakes. George Bush though has not likely forgotten the history that is now being repeated. It was, after all, his grandfather Prescott Bush and his great-grandfather Herbert Walker who had their assets seized by the Alien Property Custodian under the Trading With The Enemy Act for operating Nazi front companies during World War II.
That didn't stop Bush from declaring, in his Thursday night speech to the one-party Congress, that: "We have seen their kind before. They're the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century ... they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism." Quite a remarkable statement coming from the grandson of one of the men who financed the rise and genocidal reign of those ideologies.
Even more remarkable is that he made that statement immediately after declaring that: "We're not deceived by their pretensions to piety." Not surprisingly, his trademark smirk could be detected lurking just beneath the surface of his feigned earnestness.
The script that his forebears helped bring to life many decades ago has now been dusted off and resurrected by the chosen son. All of the elements are already in place. The burning of the symbol of the German ship of state, the Reichstag, has been replaced with the burning of the symbols of the American ship of state - the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon.
The devolution of America into an overt police state has already begun. War of unthinkable proportions has been declared against a wide swath of humanity. The scapegoating and victimization of a religious minority has already begun, this time with Muslims filling the role previously filled by Jews. A severe economic downturn has begun as well, to further inflame the passions of the American people.
Wake the fuck up, America! Your enemies are not hiding in caves in Afghanistan. They are hiding in plain sight. Your enemies are not the Arab-Americans who walk among you; your enemies look just like you. They do not live half a world away, but are right here in Washington. Their faces can be seen daily populating the cable news shows, right alongside of their craven propagandists in the U.S. media.
Their names are Bush, Daschle, Lott, Clinton, Hastert, Byrd, Cheney, Rehnquist, Scalia, Powell, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Gephardt, and all the rest of the human refuse who make up the one-party power structure in Washington. They are assisted in their goals by a cast of shitbag propagandists named Brokaw, Rather, Jennings, Koppel, O'Reilly, Matthews, Russert, and too many others to list here.
These are the people who would rob you of your freedoms and liberties. These are the people who have nothing but the most thinly-veiled contempt for democracy, for civil liberties, for human rights, for racial tolerance, and for the right of self-determination for people everywhere. These are the people who, without so much as a hint of shame, would wage genocidal war around the world while spouting platitudes about 'democracy.'
Bush has pledged that "We will direct every resource at our command ... every necessary weapon of war." Make no mistake about it, the United States has the capacity and the willingness to kill on an unthinkable level. Before we even resort to our 'tactical' nuclear weapons, which is a near certainty, America has any number of 'unconventional' warfare techniques guaranteed to kill millions, all of which have been used in the past.
There is the low-grade nuclear war that was waged against both Iraq and Yugoslavia, by means of depleted uranium shells fired by U.S. tanks and warplanes. The radioactive fallout from such weaponry lasts for decades, and is continuing to claim lives today in the parts of the world where it has been deployed.
There is also the 'food warfare' made possible by the development of self-terminating crop seeds by corrupt international seed cartels - technology that could conceivably cause massive levels of starvation. Then of course there is weather warfare, which some researchers claim America has taken to a whole new level with technology such as the HAARP facility in Gakona, Alaska.
Then there is the type of environmental warfare that was also deployed against Iraq and Yugoslavia, where chemical facilities were deliberately targeted so as to wage what amounted to indirect chemical warfare. In the Serbian city of Pancevo, and in many other places, environmental catastrophes of previously unseen proportions were deliberately created.
All of these are quiet killers. The media makes no mention of them and their victims go uncounted. The massive environmental damage that has poisoned the food and the water go unreported. The 100,000+ children who continue to die in Iraq every year remain out of site of the American people, just as do those who die every time the United States launches a cruise missile or drops a 'smart' bomb.
While actively promoting an unprecedented level of national mourning for the victims of the September 11 attacks, our leaders steer attention away from the fact that every time the United States flexes its military muscle, somewhere in the world a nation mourns. And while the death toll in New York and Washington indeed constitutes a national tragedy, it pales in comparison to the mourning we have caused around the world.
How much more will we cause now? How many bodies will be added to the millions left dead in Vietnam, Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yugoslavia, the Philippines, Guatemala, Haiti, Chile, and elsewhere? And how many of the Americans who were enraged at footage of Palestinians dancing in the streets will cheer and wave their flags when the bombs begin to fall and the body parts begin to fly?
How many will stop to wonder who is actually on the receiving end of the bombs? How many will realize that the scene in New York that so horrified them is being reproduced on an unimaginable scale, and that it is civilians, once again, who are being buried in the rubble? And how many will occasionally stop to ponder how the German people could have been led like lambs to support such atrocities?
http://www.konformist.com/911/4th-reich.htm
10/3/01
9:30:25 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
US senator pushes for drilling in Alaskan refuge - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12592/newsDate/1-Oct-2001/story.htm
Comparison of US ag conservation proposals - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12597/newsDate/1-Oct-2001/story.htm
Britain falls behind in foot-and-mouth slaughter - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12589/newsDate/1-Oct-2001/story.htm
Thames Water top UK polluter, says govt body - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12594/newsDate/1-Oct-2001/story.htm
British Energy plans 10 nuclear plants - paper - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12596/newsDate/1-Oct-2001/story.htm
INTERVIEW - Slovak vets say anti-BSE measures working - SLOVAKIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12591/newsDate/1-Oct-2001/story.htm
Mexican EnvMin confirms detection of transgenic corn - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12593/newsDate/1-Oct-2001/story.htm
India court extends clean fuel deadline by 18 days - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12590/newsDate/1-Oct-2001/story.htm
FEATURE - Hungary still counting cost of pollution legacy - HUNGARY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12588/newsDate/1-Oct-2001/story.htm
Thousands march in Toulouse to condemn blast - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12595/newsDate/1-Oct-2001/story.htm
10/3/01
9:26:41 PM
SURPRISING LINK BETWEEN BODY SIZE AND EXTINCTION RISK
Most of the Australian mammals that have gone extinct in the last 200 years were medium sized, and many biologists believe that this somehow predisposed them to extinction. New research debunks this belief and reveals another link between body size and extinction: small mammals are less likely to die out.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/09/010924062625.htm
A STEP FORWARD IN NANOTECHNOLOGY
Nanotechnology is in the news. Forecasters paint a vision of microscopic machines that can fight viruses or alter the functioning of bodily systems, of power generators smaller than a penny, of entire medical laboratories in an area smaller than a credit card. The problem is, there is a huge gap between the devices we can design and those we can implement, given current technology. A technique that will greatly improve the study of nanostructures and help shorten the development time for quantum computers and similar devices has been demonstrated by a team of University of Michigan researchers.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/09/010924061818.htm
QUANTUM DOTS" COULD FORM BASIS OF NEW COMPUTERS
Scientists at Purdue University are helping researchers take a quantum leap in computer technology. They have linked two tiny structures quantum dots in such a way that is essential for the creation of semiconductor-based quantum computers, which could be faster and provide more memory than conventional technology.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/09/010925071906.htm
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO RESEARCHERS FIND "FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH" GENE
The body's inability to grow new tissue as it ages might be overcome by increasing the activity of a gene known as FoxM1B, according to a study published in the Sept. 25 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/09/010925070413.htm
PRESCRIBED BURNING MAY THREATEN GROUND NESTING BIRDS
Prescribed burning could be a good way to restore oak forests in the eastern U.S. -- but it might also have some unwanted ecological effects. The first study of bird recovery after prescribed burning shows that it can reduce populations of ground-nesting birds.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/09/010925071523.htm
ROBOTS AT WORK MAKE HIGHWAYS SAFER
Making highways safer is the aim of the Advanced Highway Maintenance and Construction Technology Research Center at the University of California, Davis. The center, funded by the California Department of Transportation, develops and deploys machines for dangerous jobs on busy highways, such as laying cones, sealing cracks and collecting litter.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/09/010925071257.htm
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY OVER A LIFETIME COULD REDUCE RISK OF BREAST CANCER
A lifetime of physical activity could reduce the risk of breast cancer, says a unique study from the University of Alberta and the Alberta Cancer Board.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/09/010928071605.htm
10/3/01
9:16:50 PM
God - No More Killing In My Name
NEW YORK-Responding to recent events on Earth, God, the omniscient creator-deity worshipped by billions of followers of various faiths for more than 6,000 years, angrily clarified His longtime stance against humans killing each other Monday.
God. "Look, I don't know, maybe I haven't made myself completely clear, so for the record, here it is again," said the Lord, His divine face betraying visible emotion during a press conference near the site of the fallen Twin Towers. "Somehow, people keep coming up with the idea that I want them to kill their neighbor. Well, I don't. And to be honest, I'm really getting sick and tired of it. Get it straight. Not only do I not want anybody to kill anyone, but I specifically commanded you not to, in really simple terms that anybody ought to be able to understand."
Worshipped by Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike, God said His name has been invoked countless times over the centuries as a reason to kill in what He called "an unending cycle of violence."
"I don't care how holy somebody claims to be," God said. "If a person tells you it's My will that they kill someone, they're wrong. Got it? I don't care what religion you are, or who you think your enemy is, here it is one more time: No killing, in My name or anyone else's, ever again."
The press conference came as a surprise to humankind, as God rarely intervenes in earthly affairs. As a matter of longstanding policy, He has traditionally left the task of interpreting His message and divine will to clerics, rabbis, priests, imams, and Biblical scholars. Theologians and laymen alike have been given the task of pondering His ineffable mysteries, deciding for themselves what to do as a matter of faith. His decision to manifest on the material plane was motivated by the deep sense of shock, outrage, and sorrow He felt over the Sept. 11 violence carried out in His name, and over its dire potential ramifications around the globe.
"I tried to put it in the simplest possible terms for you people, so you'd get it straight, because I thought it was pretty important," said God, called Yahweh and Allah respectively in the Judaic and Muslim traditions. "I guess I figured I'd left no real room for confusion after putting it in a four-word sentence with one-syllable words, on the tablets I gave to Moses. How much more clear can I get?"
"But somehow, it all gets twisted around and, next thing you know, somebody's spouting off some nonsense about, 'God says I have to kill this guy, God wants me to kill that guy, it's God's will,'" God continued. "It's not God's will, all right? News flash: 'God's will' equals 'Don't murder people.'"
Worse yet, many of the worst violators claim that their actions are justified by passages in the Bible, Torah, and Qur'an.
"To be honest, there's some contradictory stuff in there, okay?" God said. "So I can see how it could be pretty misleading. I did My best to inspire them, but a lot of imperfect human agents have misinterpreted My message over the millennia. Frankly, much of the material that got in there is dogmatic, doctrinal bullshit
God praised the overwhelming majority of His Muslim followers as "wonderful, pious people," calling the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks rare exceptions.
"This whole medieval concept of the jihad, or holy war, had all but vanished from the Muslim world in, like, the 10th century, and with good reason," God said. "There's no such thing as a holy war, only unholy ones. The vast majority of Muslims in this world reject the murderous actions of these radical extremists, just like the vast majority of Christians in America are pissed off over those two bigots on The 700 Club."
Continued God, "Read the book: 'Allah is kind, Allah is beautiful, Allah is merciful.' It goes on and on that way, page after page. But, no, some assholes have to come along and revive this stupid holy-war crap just to further their own hateful agenda. So now, everybody thinks Muslims are all murderous barbarians. Thanks, Taliban: 1,000 years of pan-Islamic cultural progress down the drain."
God stressed that His remarks were not directed exclusively at Islamic extremists, but rather at anyone whose ideological zealotry overrides his or her ability to comprehend the core message of all world religions.
"I don't care what faith you are, everybody's been making this same mistake since the dawn of time," God said. "The Muslims massacre the Hindus, the Hindus massacre the Muslims. The Buddhists, everybody massacres the Buddhists. The Jews, don't even get me started on the hardline, right-wing, Meir Kahane-loving Israeli nationalists, man. And the Christians? You people believe in a Messiah who says, 'Turn the other cheek,' but you've been killing everybody you can get your hands on since the Crusades."
Growing increasingly wrathful, God continued: "Can't you people see? What are you, morons? There are a ton of different religious traditions out there, and different cultures worship Me in different ways. But the basic message is always the same: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Shintoism... every religious belief system under the sun, they all say you're supposed to love your neighbors, folks! It's not that hard a concept to grasp."
"Why would you think I'd want anything else? Humans don't need religion or God as an excuse to kill each other-you've been doing that without any help from Me since you were freaking apes!" God said. "The whole point of believing in God is to have a higher standard of behavior. How obvious can you get?"
"I'm talking to all of you, here!" continued God, His voice rising to a shout. "Do you hear Me? I don't want you to kill anybody. I'm against it, across the board. How many times do I have to say it? Don't kill each other anymore-ever! I'm fucking serious!"
Upon completing His outburst, God fell silent, standing quietly at the podium for several moments. Then, witnesses reported, God's shoulders began to shake, and He wept.
http://www.theonion.com/onion3734/god_clarifies_dont_kill.html