NUCLEAR
No Sense in Completing Russian-Technology Nuclear Plant
Russia's Putin Heads Home after Cuba, Canada Trip
U.S. and China: Frowns All Around
Gulf War Chemical and Biological Incidents
Pakistan Withdraws Kashmir Troops
Troops withdrawn from Kashmir border
India Extends Kashmir Truce, Pakistan Responds
Powell Sees End to Saddam's Regime
Route of 6th Japanese HLW transport
Clinton Trip to North Korea Is Mired in Transition Politics
Missile Defense?
Lots of rubles
Nuclear Power's Second Act
Bush pays visit to White House
Bush in Deep Waters on Energy Policy
Environmentalists Warn of Voinovich
A 'Humbled' Bush Visits His New Home
Bush Appears to Bypass a Moderate Ally Again
Sankei newspaper, Tokyo, on Bush's nomination for secretary of state:
YUCCA MOUNTAIN
Mayor lends name to anti-Yucca letter
Yucca Mountain foes attack DOE documents
Reid vows to block possible energy pick
MILITARY
Pentagon 'diligent' on Gulf War illness
A Child's Vision of War
Senior Air Force Cadet Is Accused in Drug Sales
India and Pakistan Try to Ease Tension in Kashmir
India thinking about aerospace command
U.N. Confirms Liberia's Role in Smuggling of Diamonds
Tough Sanctions Imposed on Taliban Government Splits U.N.
Annan to Ask for Meeting With Bush
Editorial Roundup
U.N. turns up heat on Afghan regime
Hillary feted
Another Fatal Osprey Crash
OTHER
CAN'T GET CANCER FROM A CELL PHONE
Studies find no link between cell phones, brain cancer
Cell Phone Studies See No Link to Brain Cancer
BUSH NAMES MORE CABINET MEMBERS
U.S. Weather Follows Global Warming Trend
Plan to Restore River Causes California Furor
National organic standards released
Bush adds to Cabinet picks
Gas mileage hits 20-year low
The Indianapolis Star, on lawsuits against big hog farms:
New Regulations for Federal Contractors
POLLUTION CASE SETTLED
States
Congress passes pet projects along with budget
AN END TO PUBLIC EDUCATION AS WE KNOW IT?
Policeman Gunned Down in Barcelona
U.N. Police Station Attacked in Northern Kosovo
Officers in New Jersey Guilty in Beating Case
Kentucky
Those Who Spy
A Prediction Gap
ACTIVISTS
The Message and Media
Letter sent to Chief Ramsey Today
starcgrassroots Digest Number 259
TODAY'S SIGN THE WORLD IS ENDING
Editorial Roundup
Turkish protesters halt London Ferris wheel
Bush meets with Clinton and Gore
-------- NUCLEAR
No Sense in Completing Russian-Technology Nuclear Plant
Russia Today
Dec 20, 2000
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=232062
HAVANA -- (Agence France Presse) The chairman of the Cuban National Assembly's economics committee has said it currently "makes no sense" for Cuba to try to complete a Russian-technology nuclear plant which is staunchly opposed by the United States.
The plant in Juragua, Cienfuegos province -- on which construction stopped in 1992 after a decade of work and a billion-dollar investment -- would be the first Russian-technology plant in the Americas and the first in tropical conditions. Washington argues it could pose safety risks.
"Investing in finishing an isolated nuclear reactor it is not called for at this time to develop electric power output in the country," economics committee chairman Osvaldo Martinez said in a televised roundtable discussion late Monday following last week's visit to Cuba by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"It makes no sense" under current conditions, the lawmaker stressed, noting that another one billion dollars would have to be invested "and we wouldn't have electrical power output from it until six years after construction resumed." Monday, President Fidel Castro inaugurated the first phase of the Energas plant, built with Canadian partners, which uses gas produced while pumping crude oil.
When Energas is at full capacity, "it will generate theoretically as much as Juragua would if it were finished," Martinez said, underscoring that that would be achieved at a modest cost of 291.2 million dollars, compared to the nuclear plant's price tag.
Martinez, a former economy minister, added that the Juragua plant had been conceived not "as employing one isolated reactor, but rather as part of a more broadly developed nuclear program."
"It made sense as part of a nuclear development program, but it makes no sense when we speak about a lone, isolated nuclear plant," he said.
On a visit to Havana Friday, Putin acknowledged his disappointment at failing to resolve the future of a half-built power plant, for whose upkeep Moscow still pays, or the fate of Havana's 11-billion-dollar Russian debt.
"Our Cuban friends are not showing interest in the (nuclear plant's) construction, and we are not pressing the point," Putin said.
"But we must decide what to do with" the plant, staunchly opposed by the United States as one if its few security concerns in the Americas.
---
Russia's Putin Heads Home after Cuba, Canada Trip
Russia Today
Dec 20, 2000
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=232036§ion=default
TORONTO -- (Reuters) Russian President Vladimir Putin headed home on Wednesday after visits to Cuba and Canada that produced few tangible results but extended the Kremlin's influence in Washington's backyard.
Putin's five-day stay in Cuba breathed new life into post-Soviet relations that had drifted into stagnation under predecessor Boris Yeltsin after three decades as Soviet-era allies and heavy subsidies for the Cuban economy.
Little progress apparently was made in resolving Cuban debts to Russia, thought to total $20 billion. But Putin and Cuban President Fidel Castro signed a declaration condemning the U.S. embargo of Cuba, calling for a multipolar world to offset U.S. influence and regretting the perils of globalization.
Since his election victory in March, Putin has embarked on frequent foreign trips, balancing ties with traditional European partners Britain and Germany with a pitch to revive Soviet-era ties with Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Canada, a NATO member, represents a middle ground, with good ties dating from the Cold War.
His three-day visit to Canada, which ended on Tuesday, similarly generated few concrete financial benefits, but saw Putin and his host, Prime Minister Jean Chretien, line up against U.S. proposals to abandon a 1972 arms treaty and build a National Missile Defense (NMD) system.
Putin used the last day in Canada to underscore the notion of a front opposed to Washington's suggestion of abandoning the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. U.S. President-elect George W. Bush favors just such a move to guard against potential missile strikes by countries such as North Korea and Iran.
"Developing a national anti-missile system and attempts to destroy the 1972 ABM treaty will produce nothing other than the collapse of the entire system of international security," Putin told 1,600 industrialists at a luncheon. "This concern of ours is shared by many countries."
PUTIN SUGGESTS CANADIAN ROLE IN MISSILE TALKS
Putin told Chretien in Ottawa that Canada, caught between Russia and the United States, could act as a go-between on the missile issue. Chretien made no effort to contradict him.
Some analysts suggested Putin had put Canada in an awkward position, at odds with its Cold-War-era image of fixer ready at a moment's notice to tackle international disputes.
"Canada must carefully weigh the concerns of both parties and decide what, if anything, it can or should do to bridge the gap," David Rudd, executive director of the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies, told the National Post daily.
"By simply conveying Moscow's concerns to Washington or vice versa, we risk casting ourselves not as a mediator but as a messenger boy."
There was much talk of cooperation over the Arctic expanses that both countries straddle and Canada boosted Russia's drive for fast-track membership in the World Trade Organization.
Faced with annual trade levels expected to bounce back to a still paltry C$1 billion ($660 million) this year after Russia's 1998 financial collapse, Putin said he had done what he could during a year in office to generate an export boom.
That meant setting up seven regions overseen by presidential emissaries bent on eliminating discrepancies between local and federal law. A new liberal tax code had been approved as had moves to strengthen the legal system.
Few contracts were clinched in Canada -- a deal to involve Russian state airline Aeroflot in construction of a rapid transit line to Moscow's international airport and a pledge of $3 million from the Canadian International Development Agency to improve business practices and corporate governance.
In Cuba, larger projects awaiting completion had only limited hope on the horizon.
Within days of the visit, Cuban officials said Castro's government had abandoned completion of the Soviet-designed Juragua nuclear power plant. A second project to revive construction of a nickel-ore plant remained on the table with a Russian entrepreneur ready to put up the necessary funds.
------
U.S. and China: Frowns All Around
New York Times
December 20, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/opinion/L20CHI.html
To the Editor:
Re "Military Chief Seeks Money, Saying Forces Are Strapped" (news article, Dec. 15):
It is not surprising that Gen. Henry H. Shelton, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warns that China has a "distrustful view" of the United States and is "aggressively modernizing" its conventional and nuclear forces.
Elements within Congress, the news media and various human rights groups have for years been trying to demonize China, pointing to China's military modernization, human rights record, crackdown on domestic dissent and so on as the basis for their position.
These elements may now be succeeding, as indicated by the Chinese stance reported by General Shelton. China, it seems, is now demonizing the United States in return. As we here are analyzing China, so China is analyzing us.
JOHN H. HOLDRIDGE Bethesda, Md., Dec. 15, 2000
The writer was assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, 1981-1983.
-------- depleted uranium
Presidential Special Oversight Board for Department of Defense Investigations of Gulf War Chemical and Biological Incidents
December 20, 2000
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/final_toc.htm
The Honorable William S. Cohen Secretary of Defense 1000 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC 20301
Dear Secretary Cohen,
In accordance with Executive Order 13075 and the Presidential Directive of January 31, 2000 (see Appendix B), I am submitting the Final Report of the Special Oversight Board.
The Board agrees that Vinh Cam, Ph.D., does not agree with certain sections of the report. Unlike the other board members, she did not respond to staff requests for input or inquire about the progress of the final report until she received a coordinating draft in November.
Dr. Cam's dissent details her concerns and contains several assertions with which the other board members disagree. Her comments and my response can be found in Appendix A.
Sincerely,
Warren B. Rudman Chairman
1401 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 401, Arlington, VA 22209 (703) 696-9464 (voice) (703) 696-4062 (fax) email: Gulfsyn@osd.pentagon.mil
Special Oversight Board for Department of Defense Investigations of Gulf War Chemical and Biological Incidents
Final Report
Honorable Warren B. Rudman Chairman
Honorable Jesse Brown Vice-Chairman
RADM Paul E. Busick
Dr. Vinh Cam
LTG Marc A. Cisneros
GSM David Moore
RADM Alan Steinman
This Report is Dedicated to the Memory of
Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. (1920-2000)
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/memoryof.htm
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/executive_sum.htm
Chapter 1 - Mission, Charter, and Activities
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/chapter1.htm
Chapter 2 - The Transition from OSAGWI to OSAGWIMRMD
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/chapter2.htm
Chapter 3 - OSAGWI Case Narratives
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/chapter3.htm
Chapter 4 - OSAGWI Environmental Exposure Reports
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/chapter4.htm
Chapter 5 - Presidential Advisory Committee Special Report Recommendations
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/chapter5.htm
Chapter 6 - Overview of Health Effects
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/chapter6.htm
Chapter 7 - The Role of Stress as a Contributing Factor in Gulf War Undiagnosed Illnesses
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/chapter7.htm
Chapter 8 - Ongoing Initiatives and Lessons Learned from the Gulf War
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/chapter8.htm
Chapter 9 - Findings, Recommendations, and Observations
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/chapter9.htm
Appendices
A.Dr. Cam's Dissenting Comments and the Chairman's Response
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/appdix_a.htm
B.Presidential Documents: Executive Order 13075
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/appdix_b.htm
C.Charter of the Special Oversight Board for Department of Defense Investigations of Gulf War Chemical and Biological Incidents
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/appdix_c.htm
D.Board Member Biographical Information
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/appdix_d.htm
E.Staff Member Biographical Information
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/appdix_e.htm
F.Key Gulf War Illness Studies and Reports
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/appdix_f.htm
G.Case Narrative Matrix
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/appdix_g.htm
H.Monthly Events and Meetings
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/appdix_h.htm
I.Special Oversight Board Special Report
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/appdix_i.htm
J.Chapter References
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/appdix_j.htm
K.Glossary
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/appdix_k.htm
L.Acknowledgements
http://www.oversight.ncr.gov/appdix_l.htm
---
A Review of the Scintific Literature As It Pertains to Gulf War Illnesses
Volume 7 Depleted Uranium
Naomi H. Hartley Ernest C. Foulkes Lee H. Hilborne Arlene Hudson C. Ross Anthony
National Defense Research Institute
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/cover.html
RAND
Contents
Preface
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.pref.html
Figures
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.figs.html
Tables
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.tabs.html
Summary
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.sum.html
Acknowledgments
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.ackno.html
Abbreviations
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.abbrev.html
Symbols
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.symbol.html
Chapter One: Introduction
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.chap1.html
Radiological Considerations
Chemical Considerations
Regulatory Standards
Methods of Detection and Analysis
Chapter Two: Health Effects
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.chap2.html
Overview
Internal Exposure
External Exposure
Clinical Discussion
Chapter Three: Concluding Remarks and Future Research
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.chap3.html
Radiation Effects
Heavy-Metal Toxicological Effects
Research
Appendix
A. Principal Decay Scheme of the Uranium Series
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.appa.html
B. Principal Decay Scheme of the Actinium Series
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.appb.html
C. Resuspension
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.appc.html
D. Single-Particle Lung Dosimetry
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.appd.html
E. Exposure to Radon (222RN) and Its Decay Products
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.appe.html
F. UNSCEAR Tables
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.appf.html
G. Measured Deep Dose Rates for M60A3 and M1 Tanks
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.appg.html
Glossary
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.gloss.html
References
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.refs.html
About the Authors
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.authors.html
RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of its research sponsors.
----------
-------- india / pakistan
Pakistan Withdraws Kashmir Troops
Associated Press
December 20, 2000 Filed at 8:18 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Kashmir.html
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan made a peace overture to its rival India on Wednesday, announcing the withdrawal of some of its troops from the volatile border of Kashmir, the flashpoint of two wars between the South Asian nuclear powers.
The gesture came in response to India's offer to extend by a month a cease-fire with Islamic militants waging a bitter insurgency in the Indian-held part of the divided Himalayan territory.
Pakistan urged India to withdraw troops from its side of the Line of Control, the 1973 cease-fire line through Kashmir, which last year was the scene of fierce fighting between India and Islamic militants. Those clashes nearly escalated into another full-fledged war between the two countries.
``The fact is that we have withdrawn troops from the line of control and that is a very positive step and we would like to see India now reciprocate,'' Gen. Rashid Quereshi, a Pakistani army spokesman, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Concerns mounted over India and Pakistan's bloody rivalry over Kashmir -- which both claim in its entirety -- after the two countries tested nuclear weapons in 1998. They have fought two wars over the territory, divided between them after British rule in the subcontinent ended in 1947.
Pakistan has 25,000 to 30,000 troops deployed along the frontier, where they and Indian forces often trade fire. The army did not specify how many would be withdrawn, but it said the pullback already had begun.
The withdrawal ``manifests Pakistan's earnest and genuine desire to de-escalate the situation in order to facilitate the process of meaningful dialogue on the issue,'' the army said in a statement.
It comes on top of a withdrawal of some troops ordered by Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf soon after he came to power in an October 1999 coup. ``Those soldiers never returned to the Line of Control and this is more that we are withdrawing,'' said Quereshi.
In Washington, President Clinton welcomed the moves by both countries as steps toward reducing tension in the region.
India's ``initiative, along with Pakistan's announcement today that it will withdraw part of its forces deployed along the Line of Control and its earlier decision to exercise maximum restraint there, raises the hopes of the world community that peace is possible in Kashmir,'' Clinton said.
Islamic guerrillas battling Indian forces in Kashmir are demanding either independence or unification with Pakistan. India accuses Islamabad of fomenting the insurgency, but Pakistan said it gives only moral and political support to the rebels, many of whom are based on its soil.
India says it is willing to open negotiations with the guerrillas, but refuses to include Pakistan in the talks. It has refused separate negotiations with Pakistan over the broader issues of their rivalry until it halts support for the insurgents.
India called a unilateral cease-fire in Kashmir in early December. Though Kashmiri rebels rejected a truce, Pakistan responded at the time by calling a halt in hostilities along the Line of Control, and tensions were reduced.
On Wednesday, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told Parliament the cease-fire -- due to end Dec. 28 -- would be extended until at least Jan. 26, India's Republic Day. He said that despite some fighting over the past weeks, the cease-fire had been a success.
``A distinctively different and more optimistic mood prevails. The constituency for peace has expanded significantly,'' Vajpayee said.
Kashmiri groups were skeptical about both India and Pakistan's moves.
One of the top guerrilla groups, the Pakistan-based Hezb-ul Mujahedeen, said it was monitoring the Pakistani withdrawal. Other militants dismissed it as a means to bringing peace. ``Such moves won't get the desired results. Jehad (holy war) will continue until Kashmir's liberation,'' said Yahya Mujahed, a spokesman for Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Kashmir's main separatist alliance, reacted cautiously to the cease-fire extension, saying talks among India, Pakistan and the representatives of the Kashmiri people were essential to resolve the 11-year insurgency.
Hezb-ul Mujahedeen -- which currently chairs the United Jehad Council, the umbrella group of militant factions -- dismissed the extension as a ``bluff.''
``If India is serious it will go for three-way talks, release prisoners in its jail and reduce its army in Kashmir,'' said Salim Hashmi, a spokesman for the group. ``For us peace will come only with our freedom.''
At least 30,000 people have been killed in the disputed province since the Islamic uprising began in 1989. Human rights activists say the death toll is closer to 60,000.
------
Troops withdrawn from Kashmir border
USA Today
12/20/00- Updated 09:03 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/nwswed04.htm
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan made a peace overture to its rival India on Wednesday, announcing the withdrawal of some of its troops from the volatile border of Kashmir, the flashpoint of two wars between the South Asian nuclear powers.
The gesture came in response to India's offer to extend by a month a cease-fire with Islamic militants waging a bitter insurgency in the Indian-held part of the divided Himalayan territory.
Pakistan urged India to withdraw troops from its side of the Line of Control, the 1973 cease-fire line through Kashmir, which last year was the scene of fierce fighting between India and Islamic militants. Those clashes nearly escalated into another full-fledged war between the two countries.
''The fact is that we have withdrawn troops from the line of control and that is a very positive step and we would like to see India now reciprocate,'' Gen. Rashid Quereshi, a Pakistani army spokesman, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Concerns mounted over India and Pakistan's bloody rivalry over Kashmir - which both claim in its entirety - after the two countries tested nuclear weapons in 1998. They have fought two wars over the territory, divided between them after British rule in the subcontinent ended in 1947.
Pakistan has 25,000 to 30,000 troops deployed along the frontier, where they and Indian forces often trade fire. The army did not specify how many would be withdrawn, but it said the pullback already had begun.
The withdrawal ''manifests Pakistan's earnest and genuine desire to de-escalate the situation in order to facilitate the process of meaningful dialogue on the issue,'' the army said in a statement.
It comes on top of a withdrawal of some troops ordered by Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf soon after he came to power in an October 1999 coup. ''Those soldiers never returned to the Line of Control and this is more that we are withdrawing,'' said Quereshi.
In Washington, President Clinton welcomed the moves by both countries as steps toward reducing tension in the region.
India's ''initiative, along with Pakistan's announcement today that it will withdraw part of its forces deployed along the Line of Control and its earlier decision to exercise maximum restraint there, raises the hopes of the world community that peace is possible in Kashmir,'' Clinton said.
Islamic guerrillas battling Indian forces in Kashmir are demanding either independence or unification with Pakistan. India accuses Islamabad of fomenting the insurgency, but Pakistan said it gives only moral and political support to the rebels, many of whom are based on its soil.
India says it is willing to open negotiations with the guerrillas, but refuses to include Pakistan in the talks. It has refused separate negotiations with Pakistan over the broader issues of their rivalry until it halts support for the insurgents.
India called a unilateral cease-fire in Kashmir in early December. Though Kashmiri rebels rejected a truce, Pakistan responded at the time by calling a halt in hostilities along the Line of Control, and tensions were reduced.
On Wednesday, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told Parliament the cease-fire - due to end Dec. 28 - would be extended until at least Jan. 26, India's Republic Day. He said that despite some fighting over the past weeks, the cease-fire had been a success.
''A distinctively different and more optimistic mood prevails. The constituency for peace has expanded significantly,'' Vajpayee said.
Kashmiri groups were skeptical about both India and Pakistan's moves. One of the top guerrilla groups, the Pakistan-based Hezb-ul Mujahedeen, said it was monitoring the Pakistani withdrawal. Other militants dismissed it as a means to bringing peace. ''Such moves won't get the desired results. Jehad (holy war) will continue until Kashmir's liberation,'' said Yahya Mujahed, a spokesman for Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Kashmir's main separatist alliance, reacted cautiously to the cease-fire extension, saying talks among India, Pakistan and the representatives of the Kashmiri people were essential to resolve the 11-year insurgency.
Hezb-ul Mujahedeen - which currently chairs the United Jehad Council, the umbrella group of militant factions - dismissed the extension as a ''bluff.''
''If India is serious it will go for three-way talks, release prisoners in its jail and reduce its army in Kashmir,'' said Salim Hashmi, a spokesman for the group. ''For us peace will come only with our freedom.''
At least 30,000 people have been killed in the disputed province since the Islamic uprising began in 1989. Human rights activists say the death toll is closer to 60,000.
---
India Extends Kashmir Truce, Pakistan Responds
Reuters
December 20, 2000 Filed at 11:56 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-kashmir.html
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India extended its unilateral cease-fire in Kashmir by another month Wednesday, a move which drew a response from Pakistan which said it was partially pulling back its troops from the disputed border.
Earlier, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told parliament the government would also take exploratory steps to break the deadlock over peace talks with Pakistan.
A Pakistan military statement said its decision to partially pull back its troops was a follow up to its earlier decision to exercise restraint on the Line of Control (LOC). Islamabad urged New Delhi to respond to the move by withdrawing its troops.
``The move-back has already commenced and the troops have started moving toward cantonments,'' the statement said.
But Pakistan-based guerrilla groups poured scorn on the Indian move, with the frontline Hizbul Mujahideen dubbing it ''the second scene of the same old drama.''
Vajpayee told parliament there had been a decline in ''terrorist'' activity in rebellion-torn Jammu and Kashmir since India's unprecedented truce went into effect at the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan on November 28.
``After careful consideration of all aspects, the government has, therefore, taken a decision to extend the period of 'no initiation of combat operations' by another month,'' he said.
But despite the cease-fire, police in Srinagar said seven people, including a 12-year-old girl and three Indian soldier, were killed in militant attacks and shootouts in Kashmir in the past 24 hours.
Authorities say more than 30,000 people have been killed in 11 years of rebellion against Indian rule in the Himalayan region.
DECLINE IN FRONTIER CROSSINGS
Vajpayee said there had been a recognizable decline in attempts by ``terrorists'' to cross the Kashmir frontier from Pakistan into India, but added: ``They must cease entirely.''
India accuses its neighbor of arming and sending guerrillas across the international border and military Line of Control that divide the nuclear-capable rivals in the Himalayan region.
``As the initiator of the dialogue process with Pakistan, India remains committed to it,'' Vajpayee said. ``The existence of a suitable environment for such a process is self-evidently necessary.''
The government said in a separate statement there were 149 incidents of violence in Kashmir in the first 20 days of the truce.
Vajpayee said that as part of its commitment to past peace accords, India would initiate exploratory steps it deemed necessary for a resumption of the composite dialogue process.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to spell out what those steps might entail.
India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars since 1947 over Kashmir, have not held any talks under their composite dialogue process since November 1998.
Last year they fought an undeclared war on the snow-capped heights of Indian-held Kashmir, and New Delhi has since refused to hold face-to-face talks until ``cross-border terrorism'' stops.
GUERRILLAS REJECT CEASEFIRE
Pakistan says it provides only moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people's struggle for self-determination.
Vajpayee noted that there had been a ``marked improvement'' in incidents of exchange of fire and that relative peace had prevailed along the line of control, which was drawn after the last full-scale conflict between India and Pakistan in 1971.
The United Jihad Council, an alliance of guerrilla groups fighting India, rejected the extension of the cease-fire.
``If India is sincere in its offer, then it should agree to hold talks with Pakistan and Kashmiris...reduce its forces in Kashmir and recognize Kashmir as a dispute,'' said Mohammad Usman, vice-chairman of the council that unites at least 14 groups.
Kashmir's separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, was non-committal, saying ``more practical steps'' were needed by India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir.
Farooq Abdullah, chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, told Reuters he was not against the idea of a cease-fire but while civilians were still being killed it was not effective.
``I want the government of India to tell Pakistan that we are not going to tolerate the innocent killings that their men are continuing here,'' he said in Jammu.
-------- iraq
Powell Sees End to Saddam's Regime
Associated Press
December 20, 2000 Filed at 1:01 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-US-Iraq.html
WASHINGTON -- Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has outlasted five American presidents, and Bill Clinton will become his sixth a month from now. Colin Powell thinks that's enough.
``Saddam Hussein is sitting on a failed regime that is not going to be around in a few years' time,'' Powell said after President-elect George Bush nominated him to become secretary of state.
On most foreign policy issues, the outgoing and the incoming administrations differ only in emphasis. But the differences over Iraq seem broader and raise the possibility of a fresh approach after Jan. 20.
At a minimum, said Geoffrey Kemp, of the Nixon Center for Peace and Security, ``The rhetoric will be different.''
He said the Clinton administration ``has gone out of its way to avoid talking about Iraq because it didn't want its policy to be under scrutiny.''
Unlike Powell, Clinton administration officials don't talk about the possibility of Saddam's demise. And there has been no public discussion of whether Saddam, who expelled U.N. weapons inspectors two years ago, has been quietly building up armaments that the U.N. Security Council says he can't have.
Officially, the administration is seeking Saddam's overthrow through support of Iraqi opposition groups, but it is doing so in a low key way.
The administration is wary of saying why it is being cautious, but President Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, once offered this explanation: ``If you encourage and almost incite people to rise up against their government, you incur a moral obligation to come to their defense at a moment of peril.''
That's the kind of commitment the administration does not appear ready to undertake.
Former senior aides to President Bush a decade ago have recommended a more proactive approach to Iraq. Paul Wolfowitz, who served in Bush's Defense Department, has urged U.S. recognition of a provisional government led by the Iraqi opposition.
Robert Zoellick, a one-time State Department aide, advocates taking away Saddam's territory by preventing his troops from using tanks in northern and southern Iraq, where Saddam's opponents dominate. This would supplement the current U.S.-led effort to keep the skies in these areas free of Iraqi aircraft, the so-called ``no-fly zones.''
But Kemp said the new administration should seek a common position with allies before acting unilaterally. ``There is great skepticism that unilateral actions by the U.S. are likely to do any good,'' he says.
Powell seems to believe that time is running against Saddam. ``The world is going to leave him behind, and that regime behind, as the world marches to new drummers, drummers of democracy and the free enterprise system,'' he said Saturday, with Bush at his side.
At the time of the Persian Gulf War, Powell was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and Richard Cheney, now vice president-elect, was defense secretary.
The efficiency of the American military that Powell and Cheney led was praised widely at the time, but the question still lingers: Why didn't President Bush finish off Saddam when the U.S.-led coalition of forces had him on the ropes?
The reason was that the coalition had a mandate only to liberate Kuwait and not to drive Saddam from power.
Saddam has remained in power and regained stature among Arab countries and some non-Arab countries, too. And with the breakdown of the Middle East peace process, ``outrage in the region is directed at us'' and not Saddam, says Kemp.
Unfazed, Powell says Iraq's feet should be held to the fire. He recommends that U.N. Security Council sanctions be kept in place until Iraq accounts fully for all weapons of mass destruction and other ``evil technologies.''
``We will work with our allies to re-energize the sanctions regime,'' he said. ``We're doing this to protect the peoples of the region, the children of the region, who would be the targets of these weapons of mass destruction if we did not contain them and eliminate them.''
EDITOR'S NOTE -- George Gedda has covered foreign affairs for The Associated Press since 1968.
-------- japan
Route of 6th Japanese HLW transport
Wed, 20 Dec 2000 22:01:04 +0900
"Citizen's Nuclear Information Center" <cnic-jp@po.iijnet.or.jp>
SHIPMENT ALERT
6th Transportation of Japanese High-Level Radioactive Waste
The ship "Pacific Swan" carrying 192 canisters (8 casks) of Japanese high-level radioactive waste left France on 19 December 8 p.m. French Time (20 Dec. 4 a.m. Japanese Time) and is headed to the high-level waste storage facility located in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture. This is the 6th international marine transportation of Japanese high-level radioactive waste. According to a press release issued by the Tokyo Electric Power Company on 20 Dec. 2000, the ship will take the route around Cape Horn of South America and will arrive in Japan around the end of February 2001.
While certainly the strong statements against the transportation and concerns expressed by the Caribbean countries and Panama influenced the decision to avoid the route via Panama Cannel and the Caribbean Sea, parties involved in the transportation of Japanese radioactive waste (Japanese utilities, French company COGEMA, British Nuclear Fuel plc, Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd. and the governments of the three countries) claim that all three possible routes will continually remain as options for the transportation of Japanese nuclear materials including spent fuel, high-level waste, and MOX fuel. (see CNIC website http://cnic.jca.apc.org/ for information on possible up-coming shipments)
We encourage all who are concerned over the transportation of Japanese nuclear materials to contact the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japanese utilities, Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd., and others involved in this matter.
Parties involved in this particular shipment (all Japanese web-sites listed here have English sections):
Federation of Electric Power Companies (FEPCO): (tel) +81 (0)3 3279 2180 http://www.fepc.or.jp/
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) : (tel) +81 (0)3 3501 8111 http://www.tepco.co.jp/
Chubu Electric Power Company: (tel) +81 (0)52 951 8211 ttp://www.chuden.co.jp/
Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO): (tel) +81 (0)6 6441 8821 http://www.kepco.co.jp/
Kyushu Electric Power Company: (tel) +81 (0)92 761 3031 http://www.kyuden.co.jp/
Japan Atomic Power Company: (tel) +81 (0)3 3201 6631 http://www.japc.co.jp/
COGEMA: (tel) +33 1 39 26 30 00 http://www.cogema.fr
Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd. (PNTL): (tel) +44 (0) 1925 835620
Other contacts:
British Nuclear Fuel plc (BNFL) (tel) +44 1946 728 333 http://www.bnfl.co.uk/
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) (tel) +81 (0)3 3580 3311 http://www.mofa.go.jp/
For more information, contact Gaia Hoerner at CNIC
Citizens' Nuclear Information Center 1-58-15-3F, Higashi-nakano, Nakano-ku,Tokyo, Japan Phone: +81-3-5330-9520 Fax: +81-3-5330-9530 cnic-jp@po.iijnet.or.jp cnic@kiwi.ne.jp cnic@jca.apc.org http://cnic.jca.apc.org/
-------- korea
Clinton Trip to North Korea Is Mired in Transition Politics
New York Times
December 20, 2000
By JANE PERLEZ
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/world/20KORE.html?pagewanted=all
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - Anxious for a foreign policy victory in its last weeks, the Clinton administration is deciding whether to push ahead toward an agreement with North Korea that would shut down its missile program, which is regarded as a potential threat to the United States.
President Clinton briefed President-elect George W. Bush on the negotiations during a two-hour meeting today at the White House, most of which was spent discussing foreign policy, officials said.
Before their meeting, Mr. Clinton said he "may have a chance to put an end" to the North Korean missile threat. "If we can, I think we should," Mr. Clinton added.
To complete the missile deal, Mr. Clinton would have to go to North Korea in the next 35 days and meet with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, whose dictatorship oversees one of the last Communist redoubts in the world - a secretive nation and one with a dire human rights record.
Senior Bush foreign policy advisers, including Secretary of State-designate Colin L. Powell and Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser designate, were briefed by Clinton administration officials in the last several days on the negotiations.
In public, Bush officials said the decision to move ahead was up to Mr. Clinton, and they have remained neutral, neither dissuading nor encouraging the president. Privately, though, Bush foreign policy advisers have been scathing about the notion of Mr. Clinton going to North Korea, calling such a trip grandstanding and unnecessary.
A senior Clinton administration official said today that enough progress had been made with the North Koreans to make a deal tantalizingly close. But he acknowledged significant "gaps" in the negotiations. American and North Korean negotiators have not met face to face since holding talks in Malaysia just before the American election.
At issue for Mr. Clinton is whether he believes he can put a framework on a deal that the Bush administration would be left to brush in with details. The new administration could also choose to repudiate a deal signed by Mr. Clinton.
If Mr. Clinton wins an agreement with the North Koreans that he describes as enforceable, he would be undermining one of the chief rationales that the Bush campaign put forward for its national missile defense program, which is to meant to protect against a limited nuclear attack from possible enemies - specifically North Korea.
The Bush administration could repudiate a missile deal by pressing ahead with full deployment of an expanded national missile defense.
A senior Clinton administration official said today that the decision to push ahead with talks would be based on whether an agreement could "advance the process of serious missile restraint or whether it would be best left for the next administration."
In general, Republicans have been very skeptical of the North Korean government and have consistently questioned how a Stalinist state could be trusted to carry out the destruction of a missile program that has taken most of its funds and its best brains to develop.
A problem for Mr. Clinton as he makes the decision, say his advisers, is that the talks were stalled during the five weeks of election uncertainty in Florida.
Because of the significance of a possible agreement, the national security adviser, Samuel R. Berger, wants the new administration to support Mr. Clinton's efforts in North Korea, the officials said.
The administration is in the dark about whether the North Koreans want to deal with Mr. Clinton or prefer to wait for Mr. Bush.
Among the unresolved problems is how the United States would verify a freeze on missile production, which the North Koreans offered during talks in Malaysia.
The North Koreans have declined to specify whether they would destroy the medium- and short-range missiles that they have already deployed. Those missiles can reach Japan and South Korea, both American allies. The South Korean president, Kim Dae Jung, who devoted his speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize last week to improved north- south relations, has urged Mr. Clinton to go to North Korea.
The administration says the North Koreans have agreed to freeze the development, production and testing of longer-range missiles, which have been considered the major future threat to the United States.
The North Koreans have also agreed to stop exporting missiles to Iran and other countries that have been their clients, the administration said.
Clinton officials appear to be somewhat mindful of not saddling the new administration with an incomplete deal that could become a major headache in the way that the dispatching of 30,000 American soldiers to Somalia by President Bush in the dying days of his tenure turned into a major problem for Mr. Clinton.
If Mr. Clinton goes ahead, he will be striving for what is known as a "framework" agreement, one that would need months of painstaking negotiating later to fill in.
Thus, even if Mr. Clinton found a formula to get verification of a missile production freeze, it would probably be up to Bush officials to negotiate the finer details of inspection.
One of the quandaries for President Clinton, says one of his foreign policy advisers, is North Korea's demand that Mr. Clinton go there to nail down an accord. The White House is aware that just by arriving in North Korea, Mr. Clinton would be fulfilling much of the North Korean agenda, officials say.
So administration officials say they want a deal written first, with only the signatures to be added.
Whether to send an advance trip will be decided by Mr. Clinton this week, the senior administration official said.
-------- u.s. nuc weapons
Missile Defense?
International Herald Tribune
Wednesday, December 20, 2000
THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.iht.com/articles/4839.htm
The incoming Bush administration risks making an early mistake if it rushes to build a national missile defense. A hasty move in this area could quickly deplete the goodwill generally accorded a new president by foreign leaders, especially those of Russia, China and Washington's main European allies. George W. Bush should instead expand research and testing to determine what kind of defensive shield can best meet America's security needs.
A reliable anti-missile system could protect the United States against the future threat of nuclear missile attack from unpredictable nations like North Korea, Iraq and Iran. American intelligence agencies predict that North Korea could have the capacity to launch a handful of nuclear-tipped long-range missiles within five years and that Iraq and Iran could reach that point within a decade.
No workable shield now exists. The prototype interceptor missile developed by the Clinton administration has so far proved highly unreliable in tests. Mr. Bush and his advisers made clear during the presidential campaign that they considered the Clinton system flawed and inadequate. They promised to consider a variety of other technologies, including sea-based and space-based systems as well as the current land-based model.
Any of those alternative approaches would require rigorous study and testing before construction commences. While that evaluation proceeds, Mr. Bush's new foreign policy team should try to persuade skeptical countries that a limited defensive system can be built without wrecking existing arms control treaties or setting off a destructive new arms race.
Their biggest hurdle will be overcoming Russia's current refusal to modify the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to permit limited national missile defenses. The ABM Treaty has been a keystone of the arms control efforts of the last three decades. If America abruptly withdraws from that treaty to build a defensive system, other agreements might begin to unravel, including the two primary nuclear arms reduction treaties signed by Mr. Bush's father at the end of the Cold War.
Those two treaties provide for a two thirds reduction in both sides' nuclear arsenals from their mid-1980s peak and for a total elimination of Russia's land-based, multiple-warhead missiles, Moscow's most dangerous weapons. Already progress in carry ing out the second of these treaties has been held up by disputes over missile defense rules.
China fears that even a limited U.S. missile shield might be able to deflect Beijing's small force of long-range nuclear missiles. In response, China, which is not bound by any nuclear arms limitation agreement with Washington, could be tempted to build hundreds of new intercontinental missiles.
The European allies of the United States do not wish to see the revival of a costly arms race.
Mr. Bush's foreign policy advisers have been around Washington long enough to know that few initial steps would be more divisive abroad than a decision to move ahead with installation of a missile defense system. Colin Powell, the prospective secretary of state, and Condoleezza Rice, the future national security adviser, also recognize that construction of even a limited system would cost tens of billions of dollars. Until the technology is perfected, there is no point in incurring these diplomatic and financial costs.
---
Lots of rubles
December 20, 2000
Washington Times
Inside the Beltway
John McCaslin
Political tidbits and other shenanigans from around the nation's capital.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/inbeltway.htm
An embarrassed State Department is still searching for a missing laptop computer containing top-secret files on foreign nuclear capabilities. Now, a reward has now been posted on "B-NET," the State Department's in-house television network:
"A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the recovery of a black Dell laptop computer with a five-digit serial number ending in the letter 'Q' located on a sticker in the back near the ports. Call Diplomatic Security at 202-647-7277."
-------- u.s. nuc facilities
Nuclear Power's Second Act
New York Times
December 20, 2000
By MATTHEW L. WALD
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/business/20NUKE.html?pagewanted=all
VERNON, Vt. - Nobody has ordered a new nuclear plant in this country in more than 20 years, but rising demand for electricity and prices for natural gas are forestalling extinction and giving aging reactors a new lease on life. Consider Vermont Yankee, on the banks of the Connecticut River here.
For years many people thought that the plant was at death's door. It is one of the oldest nuclear reactors that is still operating in the United States. The core shroud, a crucial internal part that holds the fuel in place and channels cooling water, is showing damage from age. The owners are short of money.
But now a bidding war is brewing among three eager buyers, and financial analysts say the winner is likely to invest even more to seek to extend its operating license for decades and possibly to raise its power output.
Similar decisions have quietly transformed dozens of plants around the country. While no one expects any American utility to order a new nuclear plant in the foreseeable future, the overall effect is a much-improved prospect for the long-battered industry.
Several factors are helping to turn nuclear white elephants into valuable heirlooms. The price of natural gas, the main source for new generation, has quadrupled in the last year. The market price of electricity has soared under deregulation, and the growing economy has led to shortages of generating capacity.
"Suddenly people realize that you can actually make money with these plants," said Ted Marston, the chief nuclear officer at the Electric Power Research Institute, a nonprofit research consortium in Palo Alto, Calif., that has helped utilities obtain license renewals beyond the initial 40 years for which they were approved.
In March, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a 20-year extension on a twin-reactor plant in Maryland, Calvert Cliffs, which is now owned by the Constellation Energy Group. Two months later, it did the same for the three-reactor Oconee plant, owned by Duke Energy, in South Carolina.
Since then, Mr. Marston said, the market value of nuclear reactors has increased tenfold.
The effect is visible here. In October 1999, the AmerGen Energy Company, a partnership between the PECO Energy Company, the parent of Philadelphia Electric and itself a unit of the Exelon Corporation, and British Energy, made a $23.5 million bid in a battle for Vermont Yankee.
But the state Department of Public Service, which represents the interests of energy consumers, said the price was too low, helping kill the deal. AmerGen is now offering more than $93 million, but a second company, the Entergy Corporation, based in New Orleans, has indicated it will offer more. Entergy recently announced a merger with the FPL Group, parent company of Florida Power and Light, which would create the nation's largest electric utility.
The Vermont Public Service board has told Entergy to file a bid by Jan. 12, and told the plant to cooperate with the company in due diligence. The board also told two other companies, Dominion, based in Virginia, which has expressed interest, and Constellation Nuclear, a subsidiary of Constellation Energy, that it would offer them similar accommodations.
The companies say they want to buy up reactors around the country, and through economies of scale and their extensive nuclear experience, run them better and make more money from their operations. AmerGen has already bought Three Mile Island 1, the undamaged twin of the reactor near Harrisburg, Pa., that experienced the nation's worst nuclear accident. It has also acquired Clinton, in southern Illinois, and Oyster Creek, in Toms River, N.J. Entergy has a deal to buy Nine Mile Point 2 and James A. FitzPatrick, near Scriba, N.Y., and Indian Point 3, in Buchanan, N.Y.
While Vermont Yankee has not yet applied for a license extension - its license is good until 2012, and the sellers are leaving that to a new owner - applications have been approved or submitted for about a third of the nation's 103 surviving reactors. In addition, in the last decade, 57 reactors have quietly received the commission's permission to increase heat output and thus electric production, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade association in Washington. Some did it more than once. The capacity increase totals 2,200 megawatts, which is the equivalent of adding two huge reactors.
The independent company that owns Vermont Yankee says output could probably be raised by 15 percent at a cost of about $200 for every kilowatt of additional capacity, which is far cheaper than a kilowatt of capacity at a new natural gas plant. Making the investment only makes sense, though, if the owner believes that the plant will run for more than a few years.
The higher prices for reactors have pushed them roughly into the range of prices for fossil fuel plants, and do not approach a level that would lead to new nuclear construction. Still, it is a sharp turnaround from the idea that nuclear power would be phased out almost entirely over the next 10 or 15 years.
The recovery is visible not only on the balance sheet but in improved operations. Vermont Yankee, for example, now shuts for refueling once every 18 months, and finished the job in 1999 in 34 days. In the 1970's and 1980's, it would shut down every year, for 60 or 70 days.
"We did it under budget, under dose and under days," said Joseph P. Cox, who schedules engineering work at the plant, meaning that money, radiation exposure and time are all carefully watched.
And 28 years into its lifetime, "we're hitting the top of our game," said Michael Balduzzi, vice president for operations.
In the early days, emergency shut- downs came every couple of months or so; now they are so infrequent plant managers remember each one, and every manual shutdown. The last shutdown was in August. Before that, Vermont Yankee ran 285 days uninterrupted. The run before that was 372 days, a plant record.
The result of more powerful plants running more days of the year is that a reduced number of reactors is producing more and more power; in 1999, the 103 reactors produced more power than the whole industry did in the early 1990's, when the number of plants peaked at 110.
The turnaround has stunned opponents, like Debbie Katz, who lives in Rowe, Mass., near the now closed Yankee Rowe plant. Yankee Rowe was one of the four Yankee reactors built by New England utilities, with overlapping ownership and some shared engineering services; she expected them all to close. The other three did. And she pointed out that in 1992, Shearson Lehman Brothers predicted that within 10 years, 25 reactors could face closing because they were not economically viable.
Ms. Katz now tours Vermont with a camper emblazoned with the words, "No Nukes," and painted with the propeller-shaped logo that is the international symbol of radiation. In a reference to AmerGen's British partner, the sign also has a silhouette of Paul Revere on his midnight ride of warning.
Like many nuclear opponents, she was counting on nuclear power to fail the economic test. But deregulation, combined with the recent electricity shortage, has given the industry new life instead. "These reactors they are selling would have closed," she said. Speaking of the wild price swings, she said, "This is such a destabilized situation, it's like being in the Wild West all over again."
Ms. Katz and others say the sales of old plants are putting the job of decommissioning - for which money has already been set aside - into the hands of companies focused on profit, not safety; she likened it to an unscrupulous fortune-hunter marrying a rich widow and soon burying her cheaply.
Critics say the idea of a 60-year-old reactor makes them nervous. Vermont Yankee's shroud, a barrel- shaped structure around the fuel that directs the flow of water being boiled into steam, shows damage in places that were heated during welding. Metallurgists have diagnosed something called intergranular stress corrosion cracking, a process not understood when the part was made in the 1960's. They have added reinforcing rods around it.
But engineers, managers and operators insist that simple age is no barrier to performance.
"They have B-52's flying around that were flown by the pilots' grandfathers," said Michael G. Laporte, a work management supervisor here. A 20-year extension might make the same true for Yankee Rowe.
The owners have spent tens of millions of dollars modernizing and re-analyzing in order to address safety concerns. The control room is now full of digital readouts and a monitoring system that runs on Gateway personal computers, undreamed of in 1966, when work here began.
But Vermont Yankee and other plants still face problems, such as how to store the spent fuel, which is kept in a pool that will be full in 2008.
Immediate neighbors like the plant. "We've always been careful to watch it, but it is very, very well run, and a safe plant," said Patricia O'Donnell, who represents Vernon in the state House of Representatives and is also one of the five members of the Board of Selectmen, the town's executive body. Mrs. O'Donnell expressed her confidence from behind the counter at the clerk's office in town hall, a solid brick building that also houses a spacious library, less than a mile from the reactor that paid for it. The plant is 73 percent of the local property tax base. It is comforting to many here that the goose that lays the golden eggs may not, in fact, be getting too old yet.
In Brattleboro, William L. Morse saw it a little differently. His brother- in-law has worked at Vermont Yankee, Mr. Morse said, and in general, nuclear power "doesn't bother me any." Mr. Morse is the proprietor of Earth's Treasures, which sells Native American arts and crafts to tourists, and the shop is adjacent to one gasoline station and across the street from another, probably more of a hazard than the reactor down the road, he said.
But pondering the idea of running it for 20 years beyond its 40-year license, he said that they "better have a big shutdown and go through it really carefully."
"You hear people say, `They closed those other plants down,' " he said. "Why run this one?"
-------- us nuc politics
Bush pays visit to White House
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Wed, 20 Dec 2000 4:15 ADST
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/weekly/newsnat-20dec2000-10.htm
President-elect George W Bush kicked off a meeting with President Bill Clinton at the White House that was to focus on the challenges he will face on assuming power.
Mr Bush defeated Vice-President Al Gore after a bitter 36-day battle over the November 7 election results in Florida. The two rivals were to meet at Mr Gore's official residence later on Tuesday.
"It's such a huge honor to come as the president elect ... I am humbled and honored and I can't thank the president enough," Mr Bush said of the traditional meeting.
Mr Clinton - who received the same courtesy from outgoing president George Bush, the president-elect's father, after the 1992 elections - said one of the key challenges he hoped to address was policy towards North Korea.
"When I had this meeting eight years ago with the president-elect's father, he told me the biggest problem we were facing was the nuclear program in North Korea, and we were able to build on the work they had done and put an end to that.
"Now the big problem there is the missile program. We may have a chance to put an end to it. And if we can, I think we should."
"This is something that I want to consult with the president-elect and his team about, and we'll see what the facts are. And I'll try to do what's best for the country," said Mr Clinton, who is considering a landmark visit to the Stalinist state.
---
THE POWER INDUSTRY
Bush in Deep Waters on Energy Policy
New York Times
December 20, 2000
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and NEELA BANERJEE
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/politics/20ENER.html?pagewanted=all
AUSTIN, Tex., Dec. 19 - With natural gas prices at an all-time high and Americans facing power shortages in some states, President-elect George W. Bush's plans for an energy policy have started to receive close scrutiny.
His most controversial idea during the campaign - opening Alaskan wilderness to drilling - has enraged environmental advocates. And debate over the drilling has overshadowed other ideas Mr. Bush is considering that could have much wider impacts on energy supplies and the environment.
Mr. Bush has never presented much of a detailed plan. Some in the energy industry hope he will take specific steps to open federal land in the lower 48 states for energy exploration, particularly for natural gas.
Industry officials said they also expected him to take steps to rejuvenate coal and nuclear power while considering ways to curb the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies, making it easier for energy companies to build power plants, refineries, natural gas pipelines and transmission lines.
"Stimulating natural gas production is probably the No. 1 thing" on his energy agenda, a Bush adviser said.
In his visit with Congressional leaders this week in Washington, Mr. Bush emphasized energy as well as tax cuts. "We must be concerned about shortages and at the same time, obviously, concerned about conservation," he said on Monday.
Mr. Bush did not talk about specific pieces of energy legislation in the meetings. But once in office, Ari Fleischer, the Bush transition spokesman, said, he plans to direct the Energy Department to review federal lands currently off limits for drilling.
Officials cite projections that such land could contain up to 137 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to supply the United States for six years.
Robert J. Allison Jr., chairman and chief executive of the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in Houston, said, "A lot of federal lands are off limits in a way that doesn't make sense and that can be developed in an environmentally friendly way."
"The most important thing," Mr. Allison said, "is that we have access to places to drill."
Natural gas fuels more than 90 percent of the nation's new electric- power generation plants. This year, high prices and low supplies have contributed to the threatened blackouts and high power prices in California and other Western states.
Oil and gas companies want to drill on millions of acres of federally protected lands in the Rocky Mountains, and there are significant deposits of natural gas and, to a lesser extent, oil, off the northern coast of California, the Carolinas, Florida and New England.
Mr. Bush has promised to oppose new drilling in the outer continental shelf of states that object, like California and Florida, said Senator John B. Breaux, Democrat of Louisiana, who met with Mr. Bush in Austin, Tex., last week, and for a time had been considered a candidate for energy secretary.
"The impression I have from talking to Mr. Bush," Mr. Breaux said, "is that he feels we do not have a national energy policy that is focused on developing our domestic resources. He wants to move in a lot of areas."
But some industry experts say it would be wrong to place too emphasis on finding gas and oil.
Lawrence Goldstein, president of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation, said, "We're increasingly dependent on a single source of fuel, natural gas, for power plants, and what's happening in California could be happening in the Northeast."
Mr. Goldstein and other industry officials said that a Bush administration might be more willing to focus on nuclear and coal as fuel sources.
Continued high energy prices may improve political support for new gas drilling in some states, but winning approval to open 1.5 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would be difficult, should Mr. Bush choose to pursue it.
Republicans on Capitol Hill said the spike in energy prices had bolstered public opinion toward opening the reserve, but they were still not certain Congress would approve it.
Industry officials also said Mr. Bush was expected to balance the needs of energy production and the environment more fairly than the Clinton administration did, but environmental advocates fear he will go too far.
Dan Becker of the Sierra Club in Washington, said, "There's a lot of oil out by Santa Barbara, but do you want to run the risk of ruining the coast of California while you search for it?"
Mr. Fleischer said Mr. Bush would be sensitive to environmental concerns, and added, "We recognize there will be from some an attempt to create controversy, but America cannot afford to be put through another energy crisis."
With the problems in California, some consumer advocates have talked about re-regulating electric utilities and trying to cap natural gas prices.
But Curtis L. Hébert Jr., the only Republican on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and a candidate for the chairmanship, attributes California's problems to excessive regulations that stymied construction of power plants. New price caps would only discourage construction, Mr. Hébert said.
The $150 per megawatt-hour price caps recently instituted in California will come under review again in four months, industry analysts said, and that may prove a test of the Bush administration's approach to deregulation.
---
Environmentalists Warn of Voinovich
New York Times
December 20, 2000 Filed at 5:31 p.m. ET
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Clean-Air-Swap.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Environmentalists are sounding alarms over the prospect of Ohio Sen. George Voinovich overseeing the retooling the Clean Air Act through a new committee position.
``With Senator Voinovich in that position, the Clean Air Act will clearly be in jeopardy,'' Frank O'Donnell of Clean Air Trust said Wednesday.
At the request of Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., Voinovich will take over the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's subcommittee on clean air, wetlands, private property and nuclear safety, now headed by the more senior Inhofe.
Inhofe, who will assume the gavel of the transportation and infrastructure subcommittee, said it will put him in a better position to influence important transportation issues, including changing the system for distributing gasoline tax money to the states and gaining support for an Oklahoma project.
While Ohio's governor, Voinovich aggressively lobbied against plans to tighten air standards under the Clean Air Act, the nation's main air pollution law.
He clashed with New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman -- who may be in charge of all pollution issues as head of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Bush administration. Whitman wanted the federal government to crack down on pollution blowing from the Midwest to Northeast states like hers.
Earlier this year, O'Donnell's group labeled Voinovich a ``clean air villain'' for trying to require the government to start considering the costs to polluters of any new air standards.
``With that bill, he wanted to rip the lungs out of the Clean Air Act,'' said Paul G. Billings, the American Lung Association vice president of governmental relations.
As for Voinovich's new chairmanship, ``We're not sure what it means for clean air,'' Billings said. ``It's of great concern. We trust health researchers and doctors to tell us when the air is dirty, not economists and their models.''
Environmental lobbyists said Voinovich will bring to the subcommittee a different style than Inhofe, but not a different philosophy.
``Inhofe was very blunt about his views of the Clean Air Act. Voinovich is more subtle. But they both have the same basic views,'' said Ed Hopkins of the Sierra club. ``I fear that the Voinovich approach will be more effective than the Inhofe sledgehammer approach in gutting the Clean Air Act.''
O'Donnell agreed.
``Voinovich is much smarter, probably much more focused and more effective,'' O'Donnell said. ``From a clean air standpoint, Voinovich is probably more dangerous than Inhofe.''
Voinovich's press secretary, Scott Milburn, noted that the senator worked closely with environmental groups, including some that had criticized him in the past, during the crafting of landmark legislation to protect the Everglades.
``I think that experience with him is going to cause a lot of people to reevaluate,'' said Milburn. ``He wants to get where they want to be, he just wants to do it in a fiscally responsible way.''
Hopkins verified the Sierra Club's positive experience with Voinovich, but said the Everglades work had to be viewed alongside the senator's long history of concern for the financial burdens of coal-burning power plants.
``If you didn't know anything about Senator Voinovich other than his Everglades record, there would be no reason to be concerned about this (new chairmanship), but Senator Voinovich has a history of advocacy for weakening regulation of both air and water,'' he said.
Voinovich's bill, which died with the end of the Senate session, would have required the EPA to examine costs against benefits when setting anti-pollution standards for those plants and other smokestack industries. Current law requires the government to look only at health risks before acting.
The gavel swap will take effect in January, when the new congressional session begins.
---
THE PRESIDENT-ELECT
A 'Humbled' Bush Visits His New Home
New York Times
December 20, 2000
By ADAM CLYMER
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/politics/20BUSH.html?pagewanted=all
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - President-elect George W. Bush today carried out a core ritual of the transition of power, calling in person on the chief executive he will succeed and later on the candidate he defeated.
Mr. Bush met for nearly two hours at the White House with President Clinton, almost all of it spent discussing foreign policy, including the possibility of Mr. Clinton's visiting North Korea before the end of his term if a deal to limit that nation's missile program can be reached.
First the two men held a brief exchange with reporters in which Mr. Clinton said he did not think the economy would lapse into a recession, challenging the worries voiced in recent days by his guest. Mr. Bush said he was "humbled and honored" to be in the Oval Office, where his father served, and looked forward to Mr. Clinton's advice.
Mr. Bush had in fact campaigned against both Mr. Clinton, promising repeatedly to "restore honor and dignity to the White House," and Vice President Al Gore, whom he later met for less than 20 minutes at another house where his parents had lived in Washington, the official vice- presidential residence at the Naval Observatory.
Mr. Bush said nothing at all to reporters there, and Mr. Gore said simply that "we're going to have a private discussion." The vice president's press aide, Jim Kennedy, later called the meeting "cordial" and said Mr. Gore viewed it as a chance to "demonstrate that this is a country where we put aside our differences after a long and difficult campaign and join together in support of the person who will be the next president."
Mr. Bush then left the capital in a snowstorm to return to Austin, where on Wednesday he plans to announce the selection of his longtime friend and campaign chairman, Donald L. Evans, as secretary of commerce.
The Bush advisers who confirmed the long-expected choice of Mr. Evans also said Mel Martinez, a Cuban refugee who is chairman of Orange County, Fla. - that is, the chief executive of county government - had been chosen to be secretary of housing and urban development. The announcement of Mr. Martinez's selection is also possible on Wednesday, as are others, perhaps including that of Gov. Christie Whitman of New Jersey as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Mr. Bush will also move ahead this week on three policy fronts, holding meetings in Texas on how to involve religious organizations in more government programs for the needy, which was the theme of his first policy speech during the presidential campaign; on education legislation, which he has said will be the first measure he sends to Congress; and on agriculture.
Ari Fleischer, the Bush spokesman who announced those meetings, said the education discussions were intended to produce "a package that we can enact into law."
Mr. Fleischer said Mr. Bush would meet in Austin on Thursday morning "with the bipartisan leaders of the education committees" of Congress. But the partial list of participants he released, though including Republicans who hold or are contending for leadership, named no such Democrats.
For example, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, James M. Jeffords, Republican of Vermont, was invited. But a spokesman for the committee's senior Democrat, Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, said he had not been asked.
Invitations were extended to two Democratic senators, Evan Bayh of Indiana and Zell Miller of Georgia, former governors who served simultaneously in that role with Mr. Bush. Mr. Bayh was a leader last year in an unsuccessful effort to strike a compromise on federal aid to schools in poor areas, a measure that got 13 Democratic votes but no support from Republicans, who felt it did not go far enough toward block grants.
From the House, the three Republican contenders for chairmanship of the Committee on Education and the Workforce - Representatives Tom Petri of Wisconsin, John A. Boehner of Ohio and Peter Hoekstra of Michigan - will attend. But George Miller of California, the committee's senior Democrat, was not asked, according to his spokesman, Daniel Weiss. Two other, more centrist Democrats on the committee, Representatives Tim Roemer of Indiana and Robert E. Andrews of New Jersey, will be going.
Neither Senator Kennedy nor Congressman Miller offered any complaints, but Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, the second- ranking Democrat on the Senate committee, said it was a mistake for Mr. Bush not to invite Mr. Kennedy.
"I applaud him for holding a meeting - a positive gesture, and I commend him for it," Mr. Dodd said. "But the gesture is incomplete if you're not going to have a full table. It is not a good first signal."
The Bush camp had no comment on how various participants had been chosen.
This meeting with lawmakers on Thursday morning will be followed, Mr. Fleischer said, by a bipartisan meeting that afternoon "with a group of Latino leaders," also to talk about education. Mr. Fleischer said that "we may, or may not," have a choice for secretary of education by then.
On Wednesday afternoon, after the announcement of Mr. Evans as commerce secretary, Mr. Bush will meet with a group of religious leaders and former Mayor Steve Goldsmith of Indianapolis. Mr. Fleischer said that federal law now imposed severe limits on the aid programs in which "faith-based organizations" can participate and that Mr. Bush wanted to remove those barriers and involve "the armies of compassion" in helping the needy. He said that "it's a wonderful way to help people who need a helping hand in America."
Then on Friday, Mr. Fleischer said, leaders from all sectors of the farm economy will meet in Texas with Mr. Bush.
For the president-elect, the visit to the White House today stirred memories. As he entered the building, he greeted a group of permanent staff members, including ushers and doctors, who were there when his father was president, from 1989 to 1993.
Because of the Florida election disputes, the meeting today, six weeks after Election Day, came much later than the usual meeting between a departing president and the president-elect.
When Mr. Clinton called on President George Bush on Nov. 18, 1992, it was just two weeks past Election Day. That meeting itself apparently went smoothly - the president-elect called it "terrific" - although staff members of the two camps were hardly cordial toward each other, with Bush aides shooing reporters when Dee Dee Myers, Mr. Clinton's press secretary, tried to talk to them.
Television cameras then were allowed to record only the arrival. Today they were present as the two leaders sat before the unlighted fireplace in the Oval Office.
Dealing with North Korea, a topic that came up at length in the later private meeting along with Russia, China and the Middle East, Mr. Clinton told reporters: "When I had this meeting eight years ago with the president-elect's father, he told me that the biggest problem we were facing was the nuclear program in North Korea, and we were able to build on the work they had done and put an end to that. And now the big problem there is the missile program. We may have a chance to put an end to that, and if we can, I think we should."
Asked what he would tell Mr. Bush was now the greatest problem facing the nation, Mr. Clinton said: "I want to talk to him, not you. He can talk about that."
Then the president added, "I waited eight years to say that."
---
THE PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR
Bush Appears to Bypass a Moderate Ally Again
New York Times
December 20, 2000
By JAMES DAO
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/politics/20RIDG.html?pagewanted=all
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - Last April, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas offered a glowing assessment of Gov. Tom Ridge in a visit to Mr. Ridge's home state, Pennsylvania.
"I like him a lot," Mr. Bush said after a night at the Governor's Mansion in Harrisburg. "I like his judgment. I respect his record." And he added that he would be considering Mr. Ridge as a running mate.
Those words unleashed a wave of speculation about Mr. Ridge's future that continued until Mr. Bush selected Dick Cheney as his running mate and that began anew last month with talk of Mr. Ridge as secretary of defense.
But it now appears almost certain that with the Pentagon, as with the vice presidency, Mr. Bush has passed over Mr. Ridge after allowing speculation about him to heat up to a boil. And as with the vice presidency, it appears Mr. Bush has chosen a more conservative candidate than Mr. Ridge: former Senator Daniel R. Coats of Indiana.
That news triggered some unhappy questioning today among moderate Republicans. If Mr. Bush likes Mr. Ridge so much, they asked, why is he not bringing him into his administration? Could it be Mr. Ridge's centrist positions, particularly on abortion?
"I think it's unfortunate if Governor Ridge is being bypassed because he's a moderate," said Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania. "How are we going to have bipartisanship with the Democrats, when the Senate is 50-50 and the House is almost evenly split, if we are going to apply litmus tests to moderate Republicans?"
But Republicans inside and outside the Bush-Cheney transition team said today that abortion played at most a minor role in the Bush team's considerations of Mr. Ridge. More important, they said, were Mr. Ridge's voting record on military issues in Congress a decade ago, Mr. Coats's strong support among Republican leaders in Congress and Mr. Ridge's own hesitancy about leaving Pennsylvania.
"Vice President-elect Cheney has made it quite clear that Governor Ridge himself took himself out of running for that post," said Juleanna Glover Weiss, a spokeswoman for Mr. Bush. "So speculation that he had been crossed off the list for other reasons is just nonsense."
Tim Reeves, Mr. Ridge's spokesman, said today that Mr. Cheney called Mr. Ridge while he was on a trade mission to Santiago, Chile, early this month to broach the subject of a cabinet position. Mr. Ridge told him then, and in a follow-up phone call, that he was not prepared to move his family out of Pennsylvania.
But upon his return from Chile, Mr. Ridge seemed to reopen the door to a cabinet job, telling a reporter, "If I'm asked, I'd have to consider it. The answer might be no, but I haven't been asked yet."
Mr. Reeves now says Mr. Ridge was saying that if Mr. Bush implored him to accept a position, he would have to consider it.
He also noted that the Pennsylvania governor, a decorated Vietnam veteran and Harvard graduate who was widely considered a rising star in the Republican Party and did not mind having his named bandied about as a potential secretary of defense, even though he did not want the job.
"He joked about wanting to clip those articles out and send them to his mom," Mr. Reeves said. "It was flattering, and he was honored to be talked about in that way. But it did not cause him to rethink his decision."
There has been much talk in Republican circles that Mr. Ridge had the support of Gen. Colin L. Powell, Mr. Bush's designee for secretary of state, but was opposed by Mr. Cheney, who was pushing for Mr. Coats or Paul D. Wolfowitz, a former Pentagon official under Mr. Cheney. General Powell's office did not return calls seeking comment today.
But Mr. Cheney has called speculation about a battle between him and General Powell over the Pentagon post "so much Washington hype."
Still, conservative analysts said today that there was good reason to oppose Mr. Ridge if he was indeed allied with Mr. Powell, who is also widely viewed as a moderate.
"What concerns me is that you would have a dominant personality" at the State Department, which could diminish the Pentagon, said Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, a defense analysis group.
Mr. Gaffney and an array of other conservative analysts have also raised a host of concerns about Mr. Ridge's positions on defense issues. They said that as a member of Congress from 1983 to 1994, Mr. Ridge voted to reduce spending on a missile defense system and to abolish the MX missile and opposed financing the contra rebels in Nicaragua.
"The fact that Bush is going with Coats," said David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, "makes conservatives very, very happy with George Bush."
For that very reason, some political analysts speculated today that Bush aides floated Mr. Ridge's name simply to make the selection of Mr. Coats seem all the more appealing to conservatives.
But allies of Mr. Ridge said they believed that the Pennsylvania governor was still in the running for other cabinet posts, including transportation and education.
"Ridge has been a strong governor in a tough state," said Scott Reed, a Republican political consultant. "He would be a huge asset to the Bush team in 2004."
---
Sankei newspaper, Tokyo, on Bush's nomination for secretary of state:
Associated Press
December 20, 2000 Filed at 3:29 p.m. ET
Editorial Roundup
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Editorial-Rdp.html?pagewanted=all
Excerpts from editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:
President-elect George W. Bush's appointment of former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell, as secretary of state and former provost of Stanford University, Condoleezza Rice, as his national security adviser is unprecedented.
It is the first time ever that a black American will be secretary of state and that a woman will (be) national security adviser.
Powell and Rice are likely to bring strong leadership to the new administration's foreign policy team, a plus for Bush, who lacks experience in international affairs.
There are already signs that Bush's foreign policies toward China and Russia and over U.S. military involvement in Bosnia will differ from President Bill Clinton's. Powell also has said he is for a National Missile Defense system to protect the U.S. mainland from missile attack and a more limited Theater Missile Defense to safeguard U.S. forces and allies in Asia.
We hope that Bush, with his two new advisers, will engage the U.S. in -- not isolate it from -- world diplomacy, and will work toward building a new world order.
-------- us nuc waste
YUCCA MOUNTAIN:
Site at heart of nomination opposition, controversial memo
Wed, 20 Dec 2000 18:24:44 -0800
Greenwire, December 20, 2000, Item #9
Colin Sullivan, Greenwire staff writer
Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday he will use all his power to block the nomination of former Sen. J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.) as secretary of Energy should President-elect Bush decide to tap the former Senate Energy Committee chairman for the job. Reid's opposition has everything to do with Johnston's pro-nuclear power stance and, more specifically, the likelihood the former senator would support locating a federal nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain, Nev.
At a press conference Tuesday in Washington, D.C., Reid and several environmental groups declared a Johnston nomination tantamount to war on the environment and environmentalists. Though he considers Johnston a personal friend, Reid said he called the former senator Tuesday morning to let him know how passionately he plans to oppose his potential nomination.
"If Bush is appointing Johnston, we should be very afraid," Reid said. "I called [Johnston] personally to say this: I'm going to do everything I can to keep you from getting this job."
Though he could not be reached for comment Tuesday, Johnston has expressed interest in the position and is reportedly mulling it over. After meeting with Bush last week, Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) apparently turned down the job offer but then recommended Johnston.
Reid and the Nevada congressional delegation, meantime, are facing the likelihood of another pitched battle next year over Yucca Mountain nuclear storage. Their ace-in-the-hole in similar congressional battles over the last eight years, Reid admits, has been the Clinton administration's firm opposition to transporting nuclear waste to the federal site in Nevada, at least until the site is proven safe; President Clinton vetoed several bills meant to expedite use of the storage site.
But now Nevadans will have to contend with the Bush administration, which could have Yucca ready and operational as soon as six to eight months after Inauguration Day, according to Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.). Bush has said he will support moving nuclear waste to the DOE site if the plan is based on sound science.
Though it is unclear whether another Yucca bill will come up in Congress this year pending DOE's final licensing assessment of the site, it does seem likely to surface again if the department further delays final licensing or if the Environmental Protection Agency manages to block final licensing through implementation of strict groundwater radiation standards. Both issues are still up in the air, not to mention a possible $80-billion lawsuit against the federal government by nuclear utilities if licensing of the site is further delayed.
Further complicating the matter will be the new 50-50 split in the Senate. Though an aide to Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) said it is too soon to say how that split will affect the issue, one Hill source indicated Reid will again be the key obstruction, especially if he manages to convince new Senate Democrats to back his opposition to the Yucca site.
With that pending conflict as backdrop, a separate matter related to Yucca surfaced Tuesday as the Nevada delegation called for a federal investigation into an alleged bias within DOE that favors the nuclear industry.
The delegation and a number of green groups, including Public Citizen and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, claim a recently leaked memorandum from DOE's Yucca Mountain contractor, the TRW company, proves the department is biased in favor of the proposed waste repository. DOE is supposed to be conducting an objective scientific analysis to assess whether the site is safe, meaning any predisposition toward approving the site means the department is biased and unfair, the groups claim.
The undated TRW memo, which was released to the media, outlines information the director of the contracting project might use to influence the DOE secretary to recommend the site. That contractor was paid "hundreds of millions of dollars" to complete an objective report that looks at what is good and bad about Yucca Mountain, Reid said. But instead of honoring that ethical commitment, he continued, the contractor turned around and conducted an unscientific analysis meant to produce a desired result: a recommendation that the program move forward.
"An honest scientific review of Yucca Mountain has not happened," Reid said.
Largely because of the memo, which was leaked by an anonymous source within either DOE or TRW, the DOE inspector general (IG) has already agreed to conduct an investigation. Reid has also requested a formal inquiry by the General Accounting Office. On Dec. 8, with the support of Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, Reid requested the IG investigation. That inquiry has since been approved and officially started Tuesday.
TRW denies any impropriety and says all scientific evaluations have been conducted in "an open and objective fashion."
"Our team stands behind its work and is confident that, in the end, the IG will find no bias on the part of DOE or the contractor team," said Marynoele Benson, a TRW spokesperson.
Kalynda Tilges Nuclear Issues Coordinator Citizen Alert - Las Vegas P.O.Box 17173 Las Vegas, NV 89114 702-796-5662 702-796-4886 fax Kalynda@hotmail.com <http://citizenalert.org>
Citizen Alert - "A voice for the land and people of Nevada"
---
Mayor lends name to anti-Yucca letter
Wed, 20 Dec 2000 08:03:16 -0800
Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste repository
By Mary Manning <manning@lasvegassun.com>
LAS VEGAS SUN
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman today joined more than 100 environmental groups in demanding that Nevada's Yucca Mountain be disqualified as the site for the nation's first high-level nuclear waste repository.
Goodman was to appear at 11 a.m. today at City Hall plaza with Citizen Alert, Nevada Desert Experience and other environmental groups. Linked to the Las Vegas gathering was a press conference in Washington this morning by Nevada lawmakers and national and international organizations opposing the Yucca site.
"Today we are here to raise another red flag about another potential nuclear disaster," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said this morning.
In a group letter to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, environmentalists asked that he disqualify Yucca on scientific grounds.
The letter was written after a copyrighted article in the Las Vegas Sun on Dec. 1 reported that an Energy Department document prepared by a Yucca Mountain contractor appeared to favor the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. By law, the DOE is required to remain neutral during the site-selection process.
In that story, Ivan Itkin, the DOE's nuclear waste director, acknowledged that he is ready to recommend Yucca Mountain as a safe site to bury 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste.
Yucca Mountain is the only site being studied as the nation's radioactive waste repository.
Groups from 35 states signed the letter. Their main objection involved water found 1,000 feet underneath Yucca Mountain that tests showed was 50 years old or younger. This proves, the groups said, that the mountain is unfit to contain wastes for 10,000 years. Ground water could corrode the buried casks containing the wastes, meaning that radioactivity could escape to the outside environment within decades.
Ground water 1,000 feet below Yucca Mountain sampled three years ago by Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists was found to contain chlorine-36, a radioactive isotope that rode the winds from atomic bomb tests in the Pacific Ocean during the 1950s. Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists are conducting more tests to confirm the findings.
Because the bomb tests were only 50 years ago, and because the water was found 1,000 feet below the surface, the environmental groups say they are convinced, even without further studies, that water moves too fast through the mountain's fractures and faults to serve as a nuclear waste repository.
Goodman was the first public official to sign the group letter. Citizen Alert of Nevada, the Sierra Club, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Indian tribes and a group from Japan also signed it.
"We have urged you, Secretary Richardson, to disqualify the site for safety reasons," the letter said. "DOE has proven itself disingenuous."
DOE's guidelines for a repository forbid water moving into the site in less than 1,000 years.
Water could corrode the containers holding the wastes, releasing radioactivity into the environment, said Michael Mariotte, director of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a Washington-based clearinghouse for information on the nuclear industry.
"American citizens realize that it doesn't make sense to transport nuclear waste across the country to a site that is fatally flawed," Mariotte said today at the Washington press conference.
The group letter also noted that DOE's review of environmental effects ignores the transportation of hundreds of thousands of shipments of highly radioactive wastes through 43 states, as well as the 36 recognized earthquake faults at Yucca Mountain, possible volcanic eruptions and the possibility of water flooding the repository.
The Dec. 1 story reported the contents of a 60-page draft report that DOE is supposed to give Congress by the end of this year or early next year. A two-page memo attached to the report, written by a DOE contractor, said: "The overview (the draft report) provides information that potential supporters can use in expressing support for a site recommendation.
"Suitability of the site is less of a concern to Congress than the broader issue of whether the nuclear waste problem can be solved at an affordable price in both financial and political terms," the memo says.
Reid called the memo another "scandalous episode" in the Yucca site study process and said the memo was evidence of a "secret marriage" between DOE and its contractors.
"What the secret memo said in effect was, 'All those people who oppose Yucca Mountain: here's how you handle them,' " Reid said.
Signers of the group letter say "No compromise is acceptable."
"An unsuitable site should not be used for high-level nuclear waste disposal," the letter says. "If Yucca Mountain cannot meet stringent safety standards, it must be disqualified."
In another Yucca Mountain development, the Clark County Commission voted today to approve a public information campaign for Southern Nevada residents. The campaign will emphasize the dangers of a nuclear waste repository to the Las Vegas Valley's economy and its future as a growing community.
Kalynda Tilges Nuclear Issues Coordinator Citizen Alert - Las Vegas P.O.Box 17173 Las Vegas, NV 89114 702-796-5662 702-796-4886 fax Kalynda@hotmail.com <http://citizenalert.org>
Citizen Alert - "A voice for the land and people of Nevada"
---
Yucca Mountain foes attack DOE documents
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Wednesday, December 20, 2000
By STEVE TETREAULT Donrey Washington Bureau
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/help_about/rjstaff_email.html
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2000/Dec-20-Wed-2000/news/15073749.html
WASHINGTON -- Opponents of the Yucca Mountain Project broadened their criticism Tuesday of internal Department of Energy documents that presume the Nevada site will be found suitable for nuclear waste storage though studies have not been completed.
As part of a two-pronged attack by Nevada leaders on Capitol Hill and in Las Vegas, a coalition of 162 environmental groups urged in a letter to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson that he disqualify Yucca Mountain as a potential repository.
At a U.S. Capitol news conference, group leaders joined Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., in calling for a congressional investigation of the documents. The Energy Department's inspector general has started looking into the matter, Reid said.
The 59-page internal report that was made public earlier this month expects Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, will be found suitable for nuclear waste though the Energy Department has yet to complete site studies.
A two-page memo was attached, written by an employee or employees of project contractor TRW Environmental Safety Systems. The memo, addressed to document reviewers, said the report could be used to marshal support for the program.
"The overview presents a Yucca Mountain repository as the key component in DOE's proposed solution to the nuclear waste problem," the memo said in part.
A representative for the contractor has said the document is no different than other reports that have concluded the DOE has found nothing to disqualify Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository.
Nevada leaders, joined by environmental activists, contend the documents illustrate a cozy relationship between the nuclear waste program and the nuclear power industry, which has been pushing for development of a repository to hold thousands of tons of radioactive spent fuel rods.
"For everyone's sake, the DOE must maintain impartiality while it studies the site to determine whether it is suitable for waste storage, said Wenonah Hauter, director of the Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "Instead, though, the agency is drawing a road map for the nuclear industry to follow in order to have the site approved."
Reid said: "I believe what we have here is a secret marriage between a contractor hired to do a fair evaluation and the nuclear power industry. There should be an honest scientific review of Yucca Mountain, and there has not been one to this point."
In Las Vegas, Mayor Oscar Goodman said he would do everything in his power to thwart shipments of high-level nuclear waste to Nevada, including arresting anyone who tries to transport it through the Las Vegas Valley.
"We're not going to let this stuff come through here without a fight," he said after a briefing Tuesday outside City Hall. "I'll stand in front of them, arrest them and have them prosecuted," Goodman said.
Goodman accused the Department of Energy's civilian radioactive waste chief, Ivan Itkin, of turning the studies on the suitability of Yucca Mountain for a repository "from a scientific process into a political process."
Representatives from a half-dozen public interest groups led by Citizen Alert, a statewide environmental organization, attended the morning briefing with Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Western Shoshone spiritual leader Corbin Harney.
Citizen Alert's nuclear issues coordinator, Kalynda Tilges, equated Nevada's nuclear waste problem to "a sacrifice zone from the government since atomic testing started" in the state nearly 50 years ago.
"They've lied about from the beginning. The dangers, the uses, basically everything about it," she said. "The contractor's memo proves what we've known all along: The DOE and the nuclear industry have stacked the deck against Nevada."
Berkley warned that former U.S. Sen. J. Bennett Johnston, a Louisiana Democrat, who might be an energy secretary candidate, "is not a friend to Nevada." She said he was largely responsible for singling out Yucca Mountain as the only site to be studied for entombing the nation's highly radioactive wastes -- 77,000 tons that is mostly metal-encased, spent nuclear fuel pellets from commercial power reactors.
Harney said Western Shoshones have never relinquished their right to the land where Yucca Mountain stands.
"We're all concerned, especially as native people.
"Your foot," he said to the groups in attendance, "is in the same moccasin I used to wear."
"We're all from Mother Earth here. We're one people. We've all got red blood."
Review-Journal staff writer Keith Rogers contributed to this report.
---
YUCCA MOUNTAIN:
Reid vows to block possible energy pick
Louisiana Democrat proponent of nuclear power industry
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Wednesday, December 20, 2000
DONREY WASHINGTON BUREAU
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2000/Dec-20-Wed-2000/news/15073682.html
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday he would try to block Senate confirmation of J. Bennett Johnston, the former Louisiana senator and nuclear power champion who is being mentioned as a possible energy secretary under incoming President George W. Bush.
When Reid saw Johnston mentioned in a newspaper report as a possible member of the Bush Cabinet, "the name leaped out so hard I couldn't wait to get to the office this morning to call him to see if this was a serious matter."
"He told me he was thinking about it," Reid recalled. "I told him, `I like you a lot, but I'm going to do everything I can to prevent it.' "
Johnston, 68, a Democrat who served in the Senate from 1973 to 1996, was closely associated with energy interests and was the major booster of plans to locate a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Nevada.
As chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, he was considered the engine behind what came to be known as the 1987 "Screw Nevada" bill that designated Yucca Mountain as the only site the government would study for a repository.
Reid said he put his staff to work on the matter, put in calls to other lawmakers and began Tuesday to build a coalition of environmentalists who share his view of Johnston.
"We want to nip this one in the bud," Reid said.
"I'm very distressed to hear that Bennett Johnston is a candidate for energy secretary. It would be a declaration of war on the environment and environmentalists across the country," said Michael Mariotte, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
Johnston is partner of a Washington lobbying firm, Johnston and Associates, whose clients include the Nuclear Energy Institute, Entergy Corp., SBC Communications, Northrop Grumman and the University of New Orleans, according to Washington Representatives, a lobbyist guidebook.
Johnston did not respond to calls for comment on Tuesday.
Bush has said he plans to have Democrats in his Cabinet, and last week discussed the energy post with Sen. John Breaux, D-La. Breaux turned him down but recommended Johnston, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
"If (Bush) is responding by appointing Bennett Johnston, we should all be afraid," Reid said.
Others who have been mentioned as possible energy secretaries include Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., who was defeated for re-election last month, and Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat who supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
But on a radio talk show on Tuesday, Knowles laughed at the idea and said he has plenty of work to do in Alaska, according to his spokesman Bob King. Knowles said on the radio program he had not been contacted by the Bush transition team.
Reid said he believed Gorton is not interested in the job.
Another person mentioned was Don Evans, a Bush friend, his presidential campaign manager and chief executive of Tom Brown Inc., a Denver-based oil and gas company with an office in Midland, Texas. But Evans was expected to be named head of the Commerce Department.
-------- MILITARY
-------- chemical weapons
Pentagon 'diligent' on Gulf War illness
USA Today
12/20/00- Updated 05:54 PM ET
http://usatoday.com/life/health/general/lhgen143.htm
WASHINGTON (AP) - A presidential panel says the Pentagon has worked ''diligently'' and did not cover anything up in investigating Gulf War illness, a series of veterans' ailments still unexplained 10 years after the war. The head of one veterans' advocacy group called the conclusion ''a whitewash.'' A 90-page report released Wednesday details 30 months of work by the board President Clinton ordered to oversee Pentagon investigations of illnesses reported by thousands of vets from the war.
The board concluded that the Defense Department has ''worked diligently to fulfill the president's directive to 'leave no stone unturned' in investigating possible causes'' for illnesses, which include memory loss, nervous system disorders, headaches, joint pains and chronic fatigue.
It also found the department ''made no effort to deliberately withhold information,'' an allegation among critics who believe the Pentagon is hiding data about Iraqi chemical warfare agents or other toxins veterans may have been exposed while serving.
''On the contrary, DoD has made an extraordinary effort to publicize its findings through the publication of reports and newsletters, public outreach meetings, briefings to veterans,'' a website and so on, said the Presidential Special Oversight Board for Department of Defense Investigations of Gulf War Chemical and Biological Incidents.
The board repeated the main theme of all Pentagon findings so far - one that has frustrated veteran groups and contributed to suspicions of a cover-up: ''To date, research has not validated any specific cause of these illnesses.'' It said research must continue.
An estimated $300 million has been spent and scores of studies have looked into such possible culprits as Iraq's chemical and biological weapons, service members' vaccinations, oil well fires, anti-nerve agent tablets taken by troops, desert sand and stress.
One of the board's seven members, immunologist Dr. Vinh Cam, dissented with the report in a three-page letter. An immunologist, Cam charged that the board - largely retired military brass - lacked independence from the Pentagon office it was overseeing, the Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illinois (OSAGWI). She also said it had no authority to suggest that stress be studied further as a possible cause.
''At times (the board) acted more like an extension of OSAGWI,'' Cam wrote in her dissenting letter.
''It's a whitewash - exactly the kind of whitewash we were expecting,'' said Pat Eddington of the advocacy group National Gulf War Resource Center, criticizing what he called the board's ''cozy relationship with the Pentagon.''
In a 1997 lawsuit still pending in federal court, Eddington is seeking thousands of pages of Pentagon and CIA documents he says could contain information on Iraqi chemical and biological weapons and other information relating to troop health. Wednesday's report is the final one by the oversight board, which goes out of business this month.
Steve Smithson of the American Legion said veterans' organizations will continue to push for better medical treatment and compensation for the sick.
''I'm not going to say there was a cover-up, but there have been problems,'' Smithson said. ''Ten years later we still don't know any more, and in the meantime people out there are sick.''
He noted that it was several years before the Pentagon acknowledged troops had been exposed to nerve gas when they blew up an Iraqi weapons stockpile in March 1991 at Khamisiyah.
Wednesday's report said that Khamisiyah remains ''the only known potential exposure'' of troops to chemical warfare agents. Officials have said about 100,000 troops were likely exposed to sarin and cyclosarin nerve gases but that the exposure was too low to cause health problems.
Officials have said that of the 700,000 troops who served in the Persian Gulf War some 100,000 have registered with the Pentagon or Veterans Affairs Department for free exams to look into unexplained illnesses. The two agencies have said about 20,000 of those were found to be ill.
Smithson said his group will work this year for changes in the VA system. So far, only 3,000 veterans have been compensated.
-------- colombia
A Child's Vision of War:
Boy Guerrillas in Colombia
New York Times
December 20, 2000
By JUAN FORERO
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/world/20COLO.html?pagewanted=all
BUCARAMANGA, Colombia, Dec. 17 - Like many boys his age, Juan Esteban Fernández attended school in the mornings. In the afternoons, he helped his parents plant crops in the rugged mountains outside this city in northeastern Colombia.
But Juan's simple world changed four months ago, just weeks after he turned 12, when rebels from Colombia's largest guerrilla group offered him a life of adventure he never could have found in his town, Pamplona.
"They said they'd give me a gun, that they'd pay me," Juan recounted during an interview. "I thought, `This is good.' I wanted to earn some money."
But instead of new opportunities, Juan, a wavy-haired boy with a precocious grin and spindly arms, spent weeks learning how to disassemble, clean and fire AK- 47's and Galil assault rifles for the rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Two months ago, he used those weapons in combat, and recalled proudly that eight enemy fighters had been killed.
The use of child fighters in Colombia's 36-year-old guerrilla conflict is nothing new. But international and Colombian agencies that track the use of child fighters say FARC might rely on children to a larger degree than thought.
A month-long series of skirmishes between the Colombian Army and a rebel column in the high mountains above Bucaramanga has opened a new window onto the use of teenage warriors in the intensifying conflict: Thirty- two of the 77 rebel fighters captured by army troops have been below the age of 18, and 19 of those were 15 and under, including Juan. Of the 46 killed, 20 were children.
Colombian military officials say they believe that as many as half the FARC fighters who comprised the original 360-member column were under age. That has alarmed agencies that track the use of child guerrillas. The agencies were bolstered by an agreement in January on a protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child raising the minimum age for participants in armed conflicts from 15 to 18.
"If this is representative of the proportion of kids in the groups, then the figures are much bigger than the 6,000 that we've talked about in the past," said Carel De Rooy, Unicef representative in Colombia. "What this could mean is, the proportion of children could be twice what we thought, or they're throwing kids to the front as cannon fodder."
Indeed, the Colombian military has long contended that FARC employs children on the front lines. Gen. Martin Carreño, commander of the Fifth Brigade here, said soldiers under his command in other regions have often fought against children.
"They said that the first wave of fighters that they'd launch were children, 12, 13, 15 years old," said the general, who is overseeing the campaign against FARC outside Bucaramanga. "The child doesn't have that sense of danger. Even when there's firing, they don't have that vision that they're going to get shot."
Analysts who have tracked the use of child guerrillas confirm that children are often placed in harm's way for strategic purposes. "They might be using them for intelligence gathering or to see if the path is clear," said Rachel Stohl, a senior analyst with the Center for Defense Information, a Washington-based organization that follows military issues.
Ms. Stohl said the use of under- age fighters persists in 30 conflicts, with international agencies estimating the number of child warriors at 300,000, with 50 governments recruiting teenagers into their armies.
"What they'll do - and this is not just the Colombians - they'll put the child soldiers in the front lines to test the ground, to clear the area of land mines," she said, "and those who make it make it and those who don't, oh well."
Teenagers who recently surrendered to the army outside Bucaramanga described a disorienting experience with FARC. Most said they were recruited with promises of good pay and social status. After three months of training in the southern jungles, they were told they would form part of an important column of fighters who would travel 700 miles north to reinforce a rebel front in the Middle Magdalena River Valley, in north-central Colombia.
"They told us that we would complete a mission and then they'd send us back," said Hector Sosa, 13, a FARC deserter interviewed in the presence of a Colombian army major hours after he surrendered. "One side of me was afraid. On the other side, I wasn't. But I was afraid that I would get killed."
The column began its arduous journey in July but never reached its objective. Instead, for four weeks, 1,500 Colombian army troops have hounded rebels of the so-called Arturo Ruiz Column since they were discovered crossing the high Andes.
At a private home for delinquent children near here, 14 boys - all of them rebels captured in recent days in the fighting outside Bucaramanga - described a variety of reasons for joining FARC, from promises of glory to facing threats if they did not.
The children, dressed in red shorts and blue T-shirts of the private organization caring for them, seemed relaxed and content, joking with each other as they spoke with a reporter. They have been told that, with the help of the government's Family Welfare Institute, they will be resettled with their families. Two army officials who helped organize the encounter were also present.
"I wanted to join because I liked it," said one boy, 15, who like others interviewed was not allowed to give his name. "They had reunions, and they said the best group was FARC. I liked the things we did: standing guard, the weapons course, the training."
Another talkative boy, 13, said he joined two years ago after the rebels recruited him to help pave a road. After days of tiring work, he was offered a chance to join, with the promise that he would no longer work on the road.
"They told us to join the guerrillas, that it was good, that we wouldn't have to carry rocks anymore," recalled the boy, who giggled as he recounted his experiences.
He was also told about FARC's reason for fighting. "I was told that we would have an offensive to take the power," he said. "We were told that we would have a government like Cuba's."
But all the boys, even those who said they had joined the group freely, said they quickly lost enthusiasm as they journeyed north in the Arturo Ruiz Column. By the time they reached the high mountains outside Bucaramanga, army patrols were in pursuit and helicopters were firing at them.
"I was told by one guerrilla, who had been in five years, that we would be killed if we turned ourselves in," said one boy, age 17. "So I was afraid."
Juan, the boy from Pamplona, said he was not able to carry his food pack or weapon during the march. He had lost all enthusiasm, but he said he could not escape.
"When they said they wouldn't pay me, I said, `Let me out,' and they said I'd have to stay until the day I died," he said. Nevertheless, in the chaotic fighting in the mountains, he slipped away this weekend and surrendered.
-------- drug war
Senior Air Force Cadet Is Accused in Drug Sales
New York Times
December 20, 2000
National News Briefs
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/national/20NATI.html
COLORADO SPRINGS, Dec. 19 (AP) - A senior cadet at the Air Force Academy here has been charged with dealing LSD and Ecstasy, and nine other cadets are being investigated.
Military prosecutors have accused the senior cadet, Stephen Daniel Pouncey, of using and selling LSD, ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamine, an academy spokesman, Neil Talbott, said on Monday.
Mr. Pouncey was to appear in military court on Thursday. If found guilty, he faces up to 55 years in prison and dismissal from the Air Force. He remains a cadet and is taking his final exams, which end on Wednesday, Mr. Talbott said.
Mr. Pouncey tested positive in a drug test in October, leading to the investigation. Mr. Pouncey, whose age and hometown were not released, was the first cadet in five years not in basic training to test positive for drugs, Mr. Talbott said.
-------- india/pakistan
India and Pakistan Try to Ease Tension in Kashmir
New York Times
December 20, 2000
By BARRY BEARAK
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/world/20CND-KASHMIR.html
NEW DELHI, Dec. 20 - In a rare run of encouraging news in one of the world's most discouraging conflicts, India and Pakistan today announced steps to lessen tensions along their de facto border in divided Kashmir.
India's prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, told parliament this afternoon that he was extending a unilateral cease-fire in Kashmir by another month and beginning "exploratory steps" to rejuvenate peace talks with Pakistan.
Then, within hours, the spotlight shifted. Pakistan's army announced a partial withdrawal of troops along the so-called Line of Control, which divides the two nuclear-armed rivals in the Himalayan territory they both claim.
The three-paragraph Pakistani statement made no mention of how many soldiers would be pulled back - or from where. Skirmishing between the countries goes on from the forested mountains in western Kashmir to the icebound peaks near the Siachen Glacier to the east.
"The move back has already commenced and the troops have started moving towards cantonments," the announcement read. "However, necessary safeguards have been taken against any possibility of Indian misadventure across the Line of Control and to ensure protection of the local population.
"The action manifests Pakistan's earnest and genuine desire to de-escalate the situation in order to facilitate the process of meaningful dialogue on the issue. It is hoped that India would also reciprocate in a similar manner and de-induct part of its 700,000 strong force deployed in Indian-Occupied Kashmir."
The number of Indian security forces in Kashmir is usually estimated at about half of what Pakistan alleges. There was no immediate response by New Delhi. And it is likely that India will view any peace initiative from Pakistan with suspicion.
In early 1999, while the countries were last engaged in talks, the Pakistani military was planning a huge incursion into the mountains near the Indian town of Kargil. Weeks of combat nearly led to an all-out war.
"This time may be different; we'll just have to wait and see," said Amitabh Mattoo, an expert on Indian security issues at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. "Either Pakistan is posturing or they have come to the genuine belief that they have to get out of this mess."
India and Pakistan were both carved from the British Empire in 1947, and they have been fighting over Kashmir ever since. Two of their three wars have been rooted in the dispute. The Line of Control runs through the most populous parts of Kashmir, giving about two-thirds to India and one-third to Pakistan.
The state of Jammu and Kashmir is part of the Indian federation. Guerrilla attacks have been a major problem there since 1989, when a separatist insurgency began. More than a dozen militant groups now engage in hit-and-run attacks that have turned life upside down. India has tried to fight back with overwhelming might. At least 34,000 people have died in the violence, according to government totals.
Pakistan assists the insurgency. But while Pakistan admits to furnishing moral and diplomatic support, India contends that its arch-enemy does far more than that, providing arms, training, food, money and marching orders.
On Nov. 19, Mr. Vajpayee made a surprise announcement, declaring a cease-fire by Indian forces during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. He presented it as a challenge, asking the militant groups to reciprocate.
Initially, the gesture was scoffed at as a bald manipulation. The militants answered him with their customary bullets and explosives. But then the attacks slacked off.
Today, in renewing the cease-fire, Mr. Vajpayee told Parliament that there had been "a decline in incidents of terrorist violence" and that infiltration across the Line of Control has also dropped.
Also, he said, "we have witnessed a marked improvement in incidents of exchange of fire" with Pakistani soldiers.
The prime minister's report was far from a clean bill of health, however. He singled out two militant groups - Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen - for continuing to fight in their customary manner. He promised to "defeat their inhuman and nefarious designs."
In a separate statement, the government said that during the first 20 days of Ramadan, there were 149 violent incidents in Jammu and Kashmir, with 63 civilians killed and 183 injured.
The cease-fire has certainly discombobulated the militant groups, exposing their fissures. They are a varied lot, united in their opposition to Indian rule but quite different in their motivations. Some are primarily Kashmiris with a goal of independence. Some are mostly Pakistanis and other foreigners off on a jihad, or holy war, trying to wrest a largely-Muslim region from a largely-Hindu nation.
The Kashmiri groups have seemed more open to talks, but they want them on their own terms, as equal partners at the negotiating table with both India and Pakistan.
-------- space
India thinking about aerospace command
Parliamentary committee in favor of aerospace command for Indian military
From: "Bill Smirnow" <smirnowb@ix.netcom.com>
By S.Suhail Haleem
Wednesday, December 20, 2000 3:44:14 AM EST
NEW DELHI: A parliamentary committee has endorsed the idea of an aerospace command for the military, which will give "a defense orientation to our successful space program". The air force is working on the concept of a separate command, which at some stage could be in charge of deploying long-range ballistic missiles.
"As stated by the ministry, it has become essential to establish an aerospace command and extend its frontiers to space," the all-party standing committee on defense said in its latest report on modernization of the air force. The Indian Air Force has given itself the next five years to study the concept of an aerospace command, but the committee wants the exercise "fast-tracked", the Times of India said Wednesday.
Though there has been little public debate on the need for an aerospace command, the IAF top brass, however, has hinted at it now and again. Former Air Chief S.K. Sareen mentioned it. And a couple of months ago, Air Chief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis talked about India's progression from an air power to a space power. But the IAF also apprehends that other services will claim at least a say in a command and control structure to fight a war that involves ballistic missiles like Pakistan's Ghouri and India's Agni II.
The IAF sees itself as central to India's space doctrine, being the "natural inheritor of the space medium", the committee noted. It said Air Headquarters was in the process of "conceptualizing the use of space and various doctrines for establishment of an aerospace command in the Tenth Plan".
The IAF told the committee that its work on the aerospace command during the ongoing phase would largely be exploratory, "the purpose being to generate possible options and concepts".
But the committee thinks the command is a more urgent need. "We are living in a world where the contours of the frontiers of conflict are changing fast, and there is greater interfacing between science and war technology." The committee doesn't elaborate on the yet-to-be-fleshed-out role of the command. It doesn't even directly mention missiles. But defense officials say an aerospace command could integrate elements like satellites for surveillance and communication, and systems to detect and intercept ballistic missiles like the Ghouri and deploy missiles like the Agni II. Both have a reach of around 2,000 kilometers.
Despite the committee's desire to see quick results, officials admit the aerospace command is not likely to come up in a hurry. The IAF has other priorities like replacing its depleting hardware, a point noted by the committee in the same report. And then there is the foreign policy dimension: a dedicated aerospace command could send wrong signals to the West that has criticized India and Pakistan for testing missiles.
-------- u.n.
U.N. Confirms Liberia's Role in Smuggling of Diamonds
New York Times
December 20, 2000
By BARBARA CROSSETTE
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/world/20DIAM.html
UNITED NATION, Dec. 19 - A panel of international experts is expected to tell the Security Council in a report on Wednesday that Liberia and its president, Charles Taylor, have been playing the largest role in the smuggling of diamonds from Sierra Leone. The diamond sales have paid for a guerrilla war there.
The report, circulated today among diplomats, seems to confirm what other reports have said about Mr. Taylor's role. It recommends that the Council embargo all diamonds from Liberia until it can prove that it is not trafficking in gems from Sierra Leone or arming the insurgents there with the proceeds of illegal sales. The report further suggests that a travel ban similar to one imposed on senior Liberian officials by the United States should be applied by all nations.
"President Charles Taylor is actively involved in fueling the violence in Sierra Leone, and many businessmen close to his inner circle operate on an international scale, sourcing their weaponry mainly in eastern Europe," the report said. Mr. Taylor has been the major supporter of the Revolutionary United Front, a rebel army in Sierra Leone that is known for amputating limbs to terrorize civilians.
The panel said there is "unequivocal and overwhelming evidence that Liberia has been actively supporting the R.U.F. at all levels, in providing training, weapons and related matériel, logistical support, a staging ground for attacks and a safe haven for retreat and recuperation, and for public relations activities."
In addition to Liberia, Burkino Faso was cited as being actively involved in the illegal diamonds-for- arms trade. Seven other countries were recommended for a watch list: Uganda, the Central African Republic, Ghana, Namibia, the Republic of Congo, Mali and Zambia. "Invoices from these countries need to be thoroughly checked," the report says.
Sierra Leone now has a diamond certification system approved by the United Nations, and the panel said it works for diamonds that "enter the formal system." But not all diamonds come from government-controlled areas and not all traders can be assumed to be dealing with legitimate stones, the panel found.
The panel also found that several Liberian-registered planes that seemed to be outside the formal control of the Liberian government are being used by arms dealers. It recommended that planes bearing Liberian registration be grounded wherever they are found unless they can provide correct documentation and meet other requirements.
Arms dealers from Africa and the Middle East are using Liberian registration to ship illicit goods, the report says. Among dealers the panel cited are Sanjivan Ruprah of Kenya and Victor Bout, who is said to operate from Sharja in the United Arab Emirates.
Another businessman described as close to Mr. Taylor is Talal el-Ndine, whom the panel describes as a wealthy Lebanese who acts as paymaster for the Revolutionary United Front.
The panel also looked at efforts by Foday Sankoh, the rebel group's leader, to get into the diamond business when he became part of the Sierra Leone government in 1999 after a peace agreement. Mr. Sankoh is now in jail after turning against the government and after his forces attacked United Nations peacekeepers last May.
But he was chairman of the commission for the management of strategic mineral resources in a short- lived power-sharing agreement that was intended to rehabilitate the rebels.
In that capacity, he and Sierra Leone's president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, persuaded the United States to help pay for a conference in March of this year to which American diamond-mining investors were invited.
Among those sending a representative was Lazare Kaplan International, whose chairman is Maurice Tempelsman, who had been involved in diamond mining in Sierra Leone decades ago but who had pulled out as the country sank into chaos.
Officials at Lazare Kaplan International say they attended the meeting at the urging of the United States Agency for International Development, but came away seeing no future in returning to Sierra Leone. Shortly afterward, Mr. Sankoh was again in armed opposition and the plan to redevelop a legitimate diamond mining industry was scuttled.
The panel that wrote the study was led by Martin Chungong Ayafor of Cameroon.
The members were Atabou Bodian of Senegal, an expert from the International Civil Aviation Organization; Johan Peleman, a Belgian arms and transportation expert; Harjit S. Sandhu an Indian agent from Interpol, and Ian Smillie, a diamond expert from Canada.
---
Tough Sanctions Imposed on Taliban Government Splits U.N.
Associated Press
December 20, 2000
By BARBARA CROSSETTE
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/world/20AFGH.html?pagewanted=all
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 19 - Led by the United States and Russia, the Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions on the Taliban government of Afghanistan today, leaving the United Nations profoundly split over the human and political damage the measures could inflict on one of the world's poorest nations.
The vote in the 15-member Council was 13 for the embargo, with China and Malaysia abstaining.
At a year-end news conference, Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed his barely concealed displeasure at the move, which was also opposed by his special envoy trying to start peace negotiations between the Taliban and the remnants of an opposition army fighting in a corner of the country. United Nations relief officials working in Afghanistan have been unusually public in their criticism. Private agencies also lobbied the Council against taking this step. "It is not going to facilitate our peace efforts, nor is it going to facilitate our humanitarian work," Mr. Annan said of the Security Council action. "I think we had given adequate indications of that to the Council. But the decision belongs to the Council and of course, once they take the decision, we have to adapt and take the necessary measures that are required."
Today, the United Nations removed all its remaining relief workers from the country, fearing a backlash from the Taliban, who will be almost completely isolated diplomatically when the resolution takes effect in 30 days, a grace period during which the Taliban could avoid sanctions by meeting the Council's demands. Air links will be cut and an arms and military training embargo will be imposed only on the Taliban, not their armed opposition, which is supplied by Russia, Iran and India. All assets belonging to Osama bin Laden, who is thought to be living in Afghanistan, will be ordered frozen around the world.
The United States has been demanding Mr. bin Laden's expulsion from Afghanistan to stand trial for masterminding explosions at American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. The new sanctions imposed today are linked to the refusal of the Taliban to meet that demand, made in a first round of sanctions a year ago. For Russia, the Taliban are assumed to be behind an Islamic rebellion in Chechnya.
Russian and American pressure on Security Council members and some officials in the United Nations secretariat has been intense, diplomats said. Two weeks ago, as the sanctions resolution was circulating, the Russian representative complained to Deputy Secretary General Louise Frechette that the coordinator of relief work in Afghanistan, Erick de Mul of the Netherlands, was undermining the anti-Taliban campaign by drawing attention to what he believed would be the adverse effects of the tightened embargo on ordinary Afghans, already among the poorest people in the world.
United Nations officials have warned that as many as a million Afghans could face starvation in coming months because of a drought and continued civil war.
Ambassador Nancy Soderberg, speaking for the United States today, said that the Security Council was taking "a strong stand against terrorism." She described Mr. bin Laden as "the world's most wanted terrorist."
"The Taliban cannot continue to flout the will of the international community and support and shelter terrorists without repercussions," she said in the Council following the vote. "As long as the Taliban continues to harbor terrorists, in particular Osama bin Laden, and to promote terrorism, it remains a threat to international peace and security.
Sergey Lavrov, the Russian ambassador, said that the one-sided nature of the sanctions was fully justified. "It is the Taliban who has provided their territory for the use of terrorists and open support for the Chechen, Uzbek, Tajik, Uighur and other extremists," he said.
Barnett Rubin, director of the Center for International Cooperation at New York University and an expert on Afghanistan and Central Asia, characterized the Council resolution today as an expression of Russian and American interests that bears little relevance to Afghanistan's real problems.
"Certainly there is a legitimate concern about Osama bin Laden and other training camps," Mr. Rubin said in an interview. "There is a legitimate concern not only about attacks on United States forces but also about cross-border attacks by extremist groups into Central Asia - although most of those attacks actually come from bases in Tajikistan, which is controlled by the Russian Army.
"But I think we have to ask ourselves," he said, "What is the strategic goal of international action in Afghanistan, bearing in mind that this is a country that has had 21 years of war, that has which has the highest rates of infant, child and maternal mortality, the lowest life expectancy, the lowest literacy rate and the highest rate of hunger - tied with Somalia - in the world.
"Even sanctions that are carefully targeted - and these are intended to be - have some negative impact on civilian populations," Mr. Rubin said, "and the civilian population in Afghanistan does not have a margin for survival."
Human Rights Watch petitioned the Security Council on Friday not to impose a one-sided arms embargo when both sides in the lingering Afghan civil war are guilty of abuses. While the letter, signed by Human Rights Watch's executive director, Kenneth Roth, and its United Nations representative, Joanna Weschler, accused the Taliban of scorched-earth policies, attacks on ethnic minorities, particularly the Hazara, and continuing abuses against women. The letter also mentioned atrocities committed by the alliance of former mujahedeen armies now fighting the Taliban in a pocket of northeastern Afghanistan.
---
Annan to Ask for Meeting With Bush
New York Times
December 20, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/world/20KOFI.html
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 19 - Secretary General Kofi Annan said today that during the past week he has spoken with President-elect George W. Bush as well as his secretary of state-designate, Gen. Colin L. Powell, and Condoleezza Rice, who will become national security adviser.
Mr. Annan, who knows Mr. Powell well, said he had met Mr. Bush only once in the past, and described that meeting as a "warm and friendly conversation." The secretary general added that he thought that the new administration in Washington had a strong foreign policy team.
"It is early yet to say, but I feel confident that the United Nations will benefit from their understanding and support in the next four years," Mr. Annan said at a year-end news conference. He said he intended to ask for a meeting with the leaders of the new administration early in the new year to discuss foreign policy issues.
The Bush administration faces a series of urgent issues demanding American attention at the United Nations. This week, members of the General Assembly are expected to decide whether the United States can reduce its payments to the organization, which a Republican-led Congress has demanded.
---
Associated Press
December 20, 2000 Filed at 3:29 p.m. ET
Editorial Roundup
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Editorial-Rdp.html?pagewanted=all
Dec. 20
Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm, Sweden, on the United States' unpaid U.N. dues:
Without money it is hard to mediate a peace. The United Nations has learned this by experience since it came into being; the world organization has more or less constantly experienced an economic crisis.
Now the situation is reported to be more serious than for a long time, and the snag is as usual to be found in Washington.
One can sympathize with the U.S. opinion that its share of the U. N. budget is too big; you could also agree with the demand for reforms. Still, the American refusal to pay is arrogant and indefensible. Having become a member of an organization and accepted its charter, you must also respect the rules. The head of the U.N. legal secretariat Hans Corell has even described the U.S. action as being incompatible with international law.
Dec. 20
The Bangkok (Thailand) Post, on U.N. sanctions against Afghanistan:
Few actions of the Taliban are so telling as the sanctuary the regime provides for Osama bin Laden. The Saudi Arabian is the world's foremost terrorist currently at large. There is no doubt he is at large specifically because of help from the Taliban. Mr. bin Laden lives, works and plots in Afghanistan.
The Taliban leadership which rule most of Afghanistan have consistently refused to expel or arrest Mr. bin Laden. Their indefensible claim is that to take action against Mr. bin Laden would be un-Islamic. This flies in the face of both logic and the religion. Sheltering a violent and accused terrorist is not an act of Islam....
The U.N. actions are well considered and proper. Under the Taliban, Afghanistan has become, as a spokesman put it, ``a haven of lawlessness''. The world cannot ignore a country which openly supports terrorism.
---
U.N. turns up heat on Afghan regime
Washington Times
December 20, 2000
By Betsy Pisik THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/world/default-20001220214243.htm
NEW YORK - The U.N. Security Council voted 13-0 last night to sharpen its air and arms embargo on Afghanistan in an effort to compel the ruling Taleban militia to surrender Osama bin Laden and stop sheltering terrorists.
The resolution - which imposed an international ban on arms sales to the Taleban and downgraded the regime's diplomatic contracts - inspired rare council cooperation between the United States and Russia.
However, it was opposed by human rights groups and even U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan refused to endorse it.
"It's not going to facilitate peace efforts, nor is it going to facilitate our humanitarian work,"
Mr. Annan told reporters yesterday morning. Appearing resigned, he noted repeatedly that the Security Council is master of its own agenda and that the rest of the organization would abide by its decision.
But the United States dismissed the concerns of the aid groups, saying that the sanctions targeted such nonhumanitarian sectors as foreign assets, drug production and the importation of weapons.
"This is a single-purpose [resolution] aimed at terrorism," said U.S. delegate Nancy Soderberg. She noted that another resolution from last year had also demanded that the Taleban turn over bin Laden.
The measure passed in the Security Council by 13-0, with China and Malaysia abstaining.
The resolution also demands that states freeze bin Laden's assets and refuse to sell chemicals used in opium production. Unlike most previous sanctions plans, this one will be reconsidered after one year.
It can be ended earlier if the Taleban renounces terrorism, hands over bin Laden, and shuts down military training camps on its territory.
The extremist Taleban is not recognized as a legitimate government by the United Nations or any but a handful of states. But even without powerful defenders of the Taleban, this sanctions resolution inspired more debate than might have been expected when Moscow and Washington co-sponsored the draft.
Human rights groups warned that freezing arms sales to the Taleban but not their opposition will prolong a war that has already raged for three years and deepened the hardship endured by the Afghan people.
In anticipation of the new measures, and potentially violent demonstrations to follow, the United Nations yesterday removed the last six foreign aid workers from the Central Asian nation.
"We are just leaving as a precautionary measure and hope to come back as soon as possible," an unidentified U.N. official said in Kabul, the Afghan capital. "We have not felt threatened. . . . We need to come back and we need to go to work."
In the interim, Afghan staffers will run the programs, which are the main source of food and vital services for much of the local population.
The new curbs on the Taleban -an extremist Islamic faction that has ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist since claiming power in a 1997 military rout - come in response to U.S. concerns that bin Laden, an indicted terrorist, and several suspects in the USS Cole bombing are sheltering under the Taleban's protection.
The General Assembly, which has considered the matter of Afghanistan through it's tortured history of foreign occupation, yesterday endorsed a resolution calling on nations to halt the supply of arms and training, and condemned human rights abuses.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar, whose government was the first to recognize the legitimacy of the Taleban, appealed to nations not to worsen the humanitarian tragedy that began with Russia's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.
He noted that persistent warfare had plunged millions of civilians into near-famine conditions and said that 32,177 Afghans had sought refuge in Pakistan over the last three weeks.
The resolution called on nations to freeze the assets of bin Laden and any associates in his al-Qaida terror network, as defined by the U.N. sanctions committee. This is thought to be aimed at Saudi Arabia, where bin Laden has vast business interests.
In addition, the resolution called on the Taleban leadership to honor international agreements banning the production and trafficking of narcotics. Afghanistan has become a leading supplier of heroin under the Taleban, which used the proceeds to fund its holy war.
---
Hillary feted
Washington Times
December 20, 2000
Inside Politics
Greg Pierce News and political dispatches from around the nation.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/inpolitics.htm
Sen.-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton, accompanied by the president, was honored Monday night at a star-studded dinner in her honor by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke.
Actors Robert De Niro and Harrison Ford, singer Judy Collins and newswoman Diane Sawyer were some of the 50 guests who attended the private dinner at Mr. Holbrooke's residence at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel Towers.
Mr. Holbrooke has been America's ambassador to the United Nations since 1999. He was also the chief negotiator for the historic 1995 Dayton peace accords that ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or by e-mail: Pierce@twtmail.com
-------- u.s.
Another Fatal Osprey Crash
New York Times
December 20, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/opinion/20WED2.html
The Marine Corps has wisely grounded its fleet of eight V-22 Ospreys after yet another of these politically resilient but technologically problematic aircraft crashed last week, in North Carolina, killing the four marines aboard. This was the fourth Osprey crash since 1991, and comes just eight months after an Osprey crash in Arizona that killed 19 marines. Defense Secretary William Cohen's plan to appoint a blue-ribbon panel of aviation experts to review the entire Osprey program is long overdue. The Pentagon, which had been expected to approve full production of the Osprey this week, is right to hold off until an investigation of this latest crash is completed and Mr. Cohen's panel has had time to establish whether the aircraft is worth the costs and risks.
The V-22 Osprey is supposed to lift off and land like a helicopter and cruise like a fixed-wing plane. It has been under development for nearly two decades, primarily for use by the Marine Corps, which covets an aircraft that performs like a helicopter but carries twice as many troops and travels twice as far and fast. But the Osprey presents formidable engineering challenges at enormous cost. The Marine Corps estimates the cost of a single V-22 to be $44 million. Congressional analysts say it could be as high as $80 million. The present plan calls for building 458 Ospreys at a total cost between $20 billion and $36 billion. That is too much to spend on such a high-risk investment without assurance that the technology is sound.
The first two Osprey crashes were caused by design and manufacturing flaws unrelated to the Osprey's unusual tilt-rotor technology. Those flaws have been corrected. An investigation of the Arizona crash blamed pilot error, but aviation experts disagreed on whether the error had been compounded by difficulties inherent in the hybrid flight dynamics of the Osprey. These doubts need to be resolved before further billions of dollars are invested and more lives are put at risk.
For years the Osprey has enjoyed strong support in Congress. But its appeal has less to do with military strategy than with the jobs it brings to the districts of its most fervent backers, and with the abundant soft money its prime contractors, the Boeing Company's helicopter division in Pennsylvania and Bell Helicopter Textron in Texas, have lavished on both political parties. More than a decade ago senior Pentagon officials in the Bush administration sought in vain to cancel the Osprey program, calling it too expensive. Among them was Dick Cheney, then secretary of defense. Mr. Cheney will bring to the new Bush administration a welcome measure of skepticism about this ambitious but troubled aircraft.
-------- OTHER
Morrock News,
Weds., Dec. 20, 2000
*CAN'T GET CANCER FROM A CELL PHONE: Two studies of people who regularly used cell phones for three to five years found no evidence that the radio waves emitted by the devices cause brain cancer. One study was published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the other is due for publication Jan. 22 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers said that the results should be reassuring to cell phone users, but that studies of the effects of longer-term use should continue.
---
Studies find no link between cell phones, brain cancer
planetfeedback.com
December 20, 2000
By Brian Gregg and Sue MacDonald
http://www.mypoints.com/mp/shoppingFrame.p_loadframeset?l_inTargetURL=http://www.planetfeedback.com/campaign_starter?p_campaign_id=1224
Consumers concerned about developing brain cancer from cellular phones have less to worry about after two major studies found no link between the phones and brain tumors.
Both studies found no differences in a person's likelihood to develop a brain tumor -- compared with a control group of subjects who don't use wireless phones. The results held up even among people who use cell phones 60 minutes or more a day or regularly for five or more years.
For the time being, at least, the research puts to rest concerns that radiation beamed to the antennas of wireless phones might be egging on or speeding up the development of brain cancer. Some skeptics had worried that cell phone use might be causing tumors on the side of the head where the phone receiver is held.
Two studies agree
Even though brain cancer has been on the rise in the last 20 years, researchers in the Dec. 20 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) pointed out that most of the increase is because of better diagnosis in people over 70.
And among cell-phone users who had brain cancer in the JAMA study, the most common site of a tumor was in the forehead area, not on the side of the head or near the ear, where phones are usually placed. The JAMA study was funded by the cell phone industry and the federal government.
The second study was released Dec. 19, ahead of its scheduled 2001 publication in the New England Journal of Medicine, because of its timeliness. It was funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and involved 782 brain-cancer patients matched with 799 people who did not have brain cancer.
""Our results do not support the view that exposure to low-power microwave radiation from hand-held analogue cellphone telephones causes malignant or benign tumors of the brain or nervous system," wrote the NCI authors.
They cautioned however that the studies are estimates of risks at a time when cell-phone technology is young. As more and more people use cell phones, and use them for more hours a day, and as technology continues to change, more studies will be necessary, they point out.
More studies in the works
The studies are part of a national and international effort to make sure that cell phones and the low-power microwave-frequency signals transmitted to their handset antennas are safe.
The U.S. researchers noted that some of their findings already are out of date because they focused primarily on people who use analog phones, not digital phones. But ongoing studies in Europe, they point out, will answer many of the safety questions linked to digital phones.
The studies' other limitations: they couldn't answer safety questions about people who use cell phones heavily, such as those who spend 100 or more minutes a day on the phone or who use cell phones intensely, year after year.
New labeling in effect
Since Aug. 1, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, which represents more than 400 cellular phone companies, has required that phones sold in the United States must contain a label saying they meet certification requirements of the Federal Communications Commission.
Inside of the package, phones carry a tag displaying the unit's Specific Absorption Rate, which is the number of watts of radiation absorbed into the skin per kilogram. The FCC recommends that a phone's absorption rate be 1.6 watts per kilogram or lower, based on tests conducted on animals.
"There's an interest level out there in this information, and our association is really making a good effort to be a good citizen," said Travis Larson, manager of communications for the association.
Phone use to rise
Hand-held cell phones first became available to the general public in 1984, but widespread use didn't kick in until the mid-1990s. Today, nearly 92 million Americans and 500 million worldwide use cellular phones.
According to Dr. George Carlo, head of the Radiation Protection Project in Washington, an early study hinted that cell phone users had a 300% better chance than non-users of developing tumors on the area of the head where they most often use the cellular phone.
Larson said the industry is in no way admitting there are health risks from cellular phones. Rather, he said, it is trying to be helpful to consumers who have concerns. He said new phones will also contain information that puts the absorption rate data into context, as well as a certification number that can be checked on an FCC Web site.
Robert Cleveland, senior scientist at the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology, said his agency and the cellular phone association will work together to conduct further research on absorption rates. "Right now, as long as something meets the 1.6 limit, as far as we're concerned, it's a safe device," he said.
Cleveland said there is no evidence to believe that the lower a phone's absorption rate is, the safer it is. He said all phones under 1.6 are considered equally safe.
"They have to meet that limit and show us, or the phones are not put on the market," he said. The FCC has collected and accumulated absorption data on cellular phones for some time. It is available at the agency's Web site, http://www.fcc.gov/oet/rfsafety/.
---
Cell Phone Studies See No Link to Brain Cancer
New York Times
December 20, 2000
By GINA KOLATA
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/science/20PHON.html?pagewanted=all
Two of the most rigorous studies yet completed on the relationship between cellular phones and brain tumors have found that cell-phone users are no more likely than anyone else to develop benign tumors or malignant brain cancers.
One study, supported by the National Cancer Institute, was released last night, weeks ahead of its scheduled publication in The New England Journal of Medicine, to match a similar study, which was paid for by the cell-phone industry and the federal government, that is being published today in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Scientists and public health experts said that the results should help ease the fears among many Americans that cell phones - now estimated to be used by more than 90 million residents - can cause brain cancer, which strikes 16,500 Americans a year.
Other large studies are in progress or nearing publication, said Dr. Kenneth J. Rothman, a professor of epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health. But Dr. Rothman said of the new studies, "They are the best information to date, and they provide much reassurance."
The Federal Communications Commission has set standards for the maximum amount of microwave, or radiofrequency, radiation that cell phones can emit. In a published statement, the commission explained that while the federal government continues to assess research on cell-phone safety, studies have led "expert organizations to conclude that typical RF exposures from these devices are safe."
The cancer institute's study, directed by Dr. Peter Inskip and Dr. Martha S. Linet, involved 782 patients with brain tumors or with benign tumors of the lining of the brain or of the acoustic nerve, which connects the brain to the ear. The researchers compared their cell-phone use with that of 799 patients who were of the same sex, age and race but who did not have brain tumors.
The other, smaller, study, led by Dr. Joshua E. Muscat of the American Health Foundation, a private, nonprofit research organization in Valhalla, N.Y., compared the cell- phone use of 469 brain cancer patients with that of 422 patients who were of the same age, sex and race but who did not have brain cancer.
Both groups of investigators found that no matter how they analyzed the data, there was not even a hint that use of a cell phone was linked to brain tumors. The patients with brain tumors were no more likely to use cell phones. Those who used cell phones for longer periods were no more likely to get brain tumors. And brain tumors were no more likely to occur near where the cell phone was held to the head than on the opposite side of the brain.
"Based on the published evidence to date, I don't think there's any evidence that cell phones cause cancer," Dr. Inskip said.
Dr. Mark G. Malkin, a neurologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York who was an author of the smaller study, said, "We think this is reassuring news."
Dr. Malkin noted that cell phones had not been in widespread use for many years and that cancers could take years to develop; thus, he said, it might be worthwhile to repeat the studies in years to come.
But, he said, he uses a cell phone and continues to do so. And, he said, he tells his brain cancer patients not to worry about using the phones.
Scientists said a study from Denmark, to be published soon in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, provided equally reassuring news. Danish researchers identified thousands of cell-phone users from telephone company records, then reviewed medical records to examine if any association existed between use of the device and development of brain cancers. They found none.
Some scientists were not surprised.
Dr. Eleanor R. Adair, a senior scientist at the Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio who has studied the effects of microwave radiation on animals and people, said the sort of microwave radiation used to transmit cell-phone signals had not caused damage in long-term studies and had not injured cells in repeatable laboratory studies. There is no biological reason to expect it to cause cancer, Dr. Adair said.
Dr. John E. Moulder, a professor of radiation oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, noted that two previous, but less powerful, studies also failed to find a link between cell phones and brain cancer. Dr. Moulder has consulted for cell-phone service providers in Australia, Bermuda and Britain.
Dr. Michael Thun, who heads epidemiological research for the American Cancer Society, said there was no increase in brain cancer incidence or mortality in the past decade, when the use of cell phones mushroomed.
"The evidence so far is reassuring," Dr. Thun said, "but cell phones are a recent phenomenon and it is extremely difficult to prove that a new technology is absolutely safe."
But Dr. George L. Carlo, who once headed an industry group, Wireless Technology Research, that supported the smaller study of brain cancer and cell-phone use, said the two studies were inadequate to assess the risks. Most patients they enrolled, Dr. Carlo said, had brain tumors that were too far from where the patients held their cell phones to have been caused by the phones.
Dr. Carlo, an author of a new book, "Cell Phones: Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age" (Carroll & Graf), said he remained concerned about the dangers of cell phones, adding that studies had indicated that microwaves could cause genetic damage and could weaken the blood- brain barrier that protects the brain.
Others, including Dr. Moulder and Dr. Adair, said scientists had tried to replicate those studies but had not yet succeeded.
The brain-cancer question received widespread publicity in 1993, when David Reynard of St. Petersburg, Fla., appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live," maintaining that his wife had contracted brain cancer from a cell phone he had bought for her.
But some physicists, like Dr. Robert L. Park of the University of Maryland, asked how microwaves might cause such an effect. The radiation cannot break chemical bonds and so cannot damage genetic material, Dr. Park said.
All the radiation can do is heat things up, which is why microwave ovens heat food. But cell phones use so little microwave energy that even heating is a nonissue, Dr. Park said. And digital phones, which are rapidly replacing analog models, use even less.
People who worry about cell phones' causing brain cancer, scientists said, were unlikely to be assuaged by the new studies and statements about microwave energy.
The problem, said Dr. Barnett S. Kramer, director of the Office of Medical Applications of Research at the National Institutes of Health, is a limitation of science.
"You can prove that if something has an effect it is below your ability to detect it, but the nature of science is that you can't prove zero effect," Dr. Kramer noted.
In the end, he said, the population becomes divided. "For believers, no proof is necessary. And for skeptics, no proof is possible," Dr. Kramer said. "Somewhere in between, hopefully, are the bulk of the people who will weigh the evidence."
-------- environment
Morrock News,
Weds., Dec. 20, 2000
*BUSH NAMES MORE CABINET MEMBERS: Paul O'Neill, chairman of Alcoa, is George W. Bush's nominee for secretary of the treasury; Bush campaign chairman Don Evans is the nominee for commerce secretary; Cuban refugee and Florida state official Mel Martinez is Bush's pick for secretary of housing and urban development; and Ann Veneman, former agriculture director for California, is the nominee for secretary of agriculture. The nominations were announced Wednesday. He's expected to appoint Christy Todd, governor of New Jersey, as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats as secretary of defense; Wisconsin's governor Tommy Thompson as secretary of health and human services; and Montana Gov. Marc Racicot as attorney general. . . . Bush said he'll resign as governor of Texas on Thursday in preparation for his inauguration as president.
---
U.S. Weather Follows Global Warming Trend
New York Times
December 20, 2000
By KENNETH CHANG
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/science/20WARM.html
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 19 - Despite a chilly end of the year, temperatures in the United States over all continue to run well above the average of the past century, fitting in with the warming trend of the past decade.
The average temperature in the United States in 2000, excluding Hawaii and Alaska, is projected to be about 54.1 degrees, compared with an average of 52.8 degrees over the previous 106 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported. That would make this year somewhere between the 7th and 12th warmest year on record.
"Certainly a warm year, but not as warm as it looked like through October," said Thomas R. Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Center at a news conference today at the American Geophysical Union meeting.
In the first 10 months of the year, temperatures looked as if they would break the 1998 record of 54.94 degrees. "But then November came," Dr. Karl said.
Last month was the second coldest November on record in the United States. "I think this goes to illustrate that even in a warming trend," Dr. Karl said, "one can and should expect an individual month with some very anomalously cold weather."
In addition to the cold November, he said, the year included the coolest July on record in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, above-average rainfall in the summer in the Northeast and Midwest and a severe drought in the South.
Worldwide, temperatures are expected to be about fifth warmest on record, and all 10 of the warmest years globally have occurred since 1982. Temperatures have fallen since the record high average in 1998 in part because the El Niño phenomenon, a warmer-than-normal pool of water in the eastern Pacific Ocean, has faded into the opposite La Niña condition with cooler-than-normal waters. Averaged over the longer term, temperatures have been rising at a rate of about 3 degrees per century.
Effects of the warmer temperatures have been detected worldwide - including the melting of Arctic permafrost and sea ice, increased rainfall in the midlatitude regions and warming of the deep oceans - and scientists are increasingly convinced that emissions of so-called greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide by factories and cars are at least partly to blame.
Of the natural factors influencing climate, the energy output of the sun has increased, which would tend to lift temperatures, but a larger effect in recent years has been volcanic activity, which spews out gases that change into droplets in the upper atmosphere that reflect sunlight back into space.
Some computer models predict that without greenhouse gases, global average temperatures would have fallen in the second half of the century. Current temperatures are also well above global temperatures dating back 1,000 years that have been inferred from the thickness of tree rings and other indirect measures.
"We can say with a fair amount of confidence, this is a very unusual, if not unique, warming," said Dr. Thomas J. Crowley, a professor of oceanography at Texas A & M University. "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, do you say there is a 95 percent chance it's a duck or do you say it's a duck? This is something that is 95 percent duck."
---
Plan to Restore River Causes California Furor
New York Times
December 20, 2000
By DOUGLAS JEHL
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/science/20RIVE.html?pagewanted=all
LEWISTON, Calif., Dec. 17 - Just upstream from this old mining town, the icy waters of the Trinity River are collected behind Lewiston Dam and split into two unequal parts.
The bigger share disappears into a mountain tunnel and ultimately helps to grow crops and build suburbs in California's arid Central Valley. What remains - only about one- quarter on average - follows the Trinity's original looping course to the Pacific Ocean.
This arrangement was supposed to make everyone a winner. But in the 37 years since the Trinity River was dammed and diverted, many people say, the inhabitants and wildlife on the short end of the deal have gotten precious little.
Now, in perhaps its last major environmental act, the Clinton administration has settled on a plan to right what officials call a historic mistake. The plan would return much of the Trinity's flow to its original course, in the hope of restoring badly depleted populations of salmon. At the same time, it would take back water bestowed on farmers and power users in the Central Valley since 1963.
For as long as the Trinity has been split, both sides have cast the stakes as monumental. And now, among a flurry of actions intended to help cement President Clinton's environmental legacy, the proposal is being scrutinized with a particular intensity, as evidence of high stakes in the quest to balance the needs of conservation and development.
Under federal law, the incoming Bush administration would not be able to reverse the Clinton administration's decision on the Trinity, which represents the end of 19 years of federal study and is a product of long negotiations with Indian tribes.
But the power to freeze the action does lie in the hands of the federal courts, which are being asked by water and power users in the Central Valley to block the remapping.
"We don't have a high level of confidence that simply reallocating more water is going to restore the fisheries in the Trinity River," said Jason Peltier, who as a representative of Central Valley water users is a major opponent of the new plan.
"On the other hand," he said, "we have absolute certainty that the water and power infrastructure in California is going to be damaged."
In a state in which water and power are often in short supply and where electricity shortages have become chronic, such warnings carry a particular resonance, and added to the political delicacy of the decision, which was in the hands of Bruce Babbitt, the interior secretary.
At least a half-dozen lawmakers, including Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, had sent letters to Mr. Babbitt urging him to pay close heed to the state's water and power needs as part of any decision. And concern that an unpopular outcome might hurt Democrats in California apparently contributed to the administration's decision to schedule the final announcement after the November elections.
The White House is following the same pattern in the case of several other environmental decisions that remain before Mr. Clinton leaves office, including vast public-lands conservation programs criticized in much of the West as a land-grab.
[Mr. Babbitt formally announced the Trinity River plan on Tuesday in Hoopa, Calif., home to the Hoopa Valley tribe, one of several tribes that have suffered from the salmon's decline and that joined several federal and local agencies as parties to the agreement.]
In Trinity County, an isolated section of Northern California that is home to just 16,000 people and is mostly composed of national forest, strong sentiments in favor of a return of the river's water to its natural home tend to be mixed with enduring misgivings about those who would make it possible.
"Our problem now is caused by the federal government," said Tom Stokely, a Trinity County planner who says the revival of the Trinity's flow would attract tourists and fishermen in numbers important to the local economy. "I guess the general view is that people want them to fix their error, and then go away."
For the Trinity River, whose headwaters are high in rugged, snowy mountains known as the Trinity Alps, the decision would nearly double the minimum flow of water in the river that continues below the vast Trinity Dam and its smaller companion Lewiston Dam, where the diversion takes place. That water ultimately flows into the sea near the Oregon border, as part of the Klamath River, and a federal environmental impact report concluded that the increase could meet federal goals for restoring coho, chinook and steelhead salmon, whose populations have plummeted to as little as 10 percent of their pre-dam levels.
As for diversions to the Central Valley, the plan would reduce that flow by about one-third, a significant decrease in a stream that flows through tunnels and then into the Sacramento River, ending up hundreds of miles to the south in the irrigation projects.
In making the case for the river's remapping, Mr. Babbitt said in an interview that he regarded the Trinity as a "a poster child of river and fisheries destruction" that stands in dire need of repair.
"We recognize reality; we can't go back to what once was, pre-dam," Mr. Babbitt said. "But it's important that we correct the mistakes of the past." Of the Trinity water that heads into the dams, he said, the new plan would still divert about half to the Central Valley, down from an average of about three-quarters over the years since 1965.
Central Valley interests who would be most affected describe a decrease of that magnitude in more pointed ways. Over all, said Thomas Birmingham, general manager of the Westlands irrigation district, near Fresno, the federal government "has paid little attention to the impact on water users" and the generation of hydroelectric power.
Among water users, Westlands, a 550,000-acre district in Fresno and Kern Counties on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, has long been among the principal users of water from the Trinity, and it has taken the lead in seeking a federal court order that would block the restoration.
Even over the past decade, said Mr. Peltier, manager of the Central Valley Water Users Association, years of drought have left the federal government unable to deliver more than a fraction of the water for which farmers have contracted. The Trinity provides more than a million acre-feet a year to the Central Valley Project, the federal system of waterways that is the backbone of California agriculture. The river produces a seventh of all the water, and a fourth of the power, of the entire project.
Among power companies, the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District is among those that have also signaled an intention to fight in court the potential loss of hydroelectric generating capacity, saying that it would cost the state's ratepayers at least $25 million a year.
In an effort to ease the impact of the reconstruction plan, the utilities district proposed a compromise that would have reduced by two-thirds the amount of water to be taken away from the Central Valley. That plan would have relied heavily on mechanical means, including bulldozing of banks and channels, to restore lost fish habitats.
The final plan adopted by the administration also calls for using that kind of mechanical tactic, at a total cost of more than $10 million. But given a second chance to redraw the Trinity's course, federal officials suggested that they were leery of any solution that would have left the original channel with anything less than half its water.
---
National organic standards released
USA Today
12/20/00- Updated 01:30 PM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncswed01.htm
WASHINGTON (AP) - The government on Wednesday released the first national standards for growing and processing organic food, a decade after Congress ordered the development of uniform rules to ease the marketing of the products.
The new regulations, which will replace a hodgepodge of state standards, will ban the use of biotechnology or irradiation in organic products, which are grown without the use of most synthetic pesticides.
The rules also will ban the use of antibiotics in organic meat and require dairy cattle to have access to pasture.
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman called the rules ''the strictest, most comprehensive organic standards in the world.''
Consumers ''who want to buy organic can do so with the confidence of knowing exactly what is it they're buying,'' Glickman said Wednesday at a news conference at a Washington health-food store. Foods that meet the new federal standards will bear a seal ''USDA Organic.''
Farmers and handlers will have 18 months to comply with the standards.
Amy Forgues, a Vermont farmer, said the rules were ''strict but ... also farm friendly.''
The Agriculture Department first proposed a set of national organic standards in 1997, but withdrew them after farmers and others in the $6 billion-a-year organic industry strongly objected to allowing biotech crops and irradiation. Sewage sludge also would have been permitted as fertilizer under the 1997 proposal.
USDA was required to develop the rules under a 1990 law.
Out of more than 10,000 farms nationwide that claim to be organic, fewer than 7,000 are approved by the 88 different state or private certifying agencies around the country.
Nineteen states have no regulations for organic farming. Some states have production standards but no certification process for ensuring that farmers comply with them.
The food industry has been concerned that national standards could lead consumers to think that organic products are safer or healthier than conventional foods.
The National Food Processors Association wanted USDA to require a disclaimer on organic labels saying that such food was no better in safety, quality or nutrition than other products.
USDA declined to add the disclaimer, but altered the seal so that it doesn't look like the USDA's shield that goes on meat, eggs and other products that are government-inspected.
The Food Processors Association agreed that it was important to have national standards for organic products.
''It is in the best interests of consumers, and of food producers, that there be consistent labeling requirements for food products,'' said Kelly Johnston, a spokesman for the Food Processors Association.
---
Bush adds to Cabinet picks
USA Today
12/20/00- Updated 05:33 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/vote2000/bush71.htm
WASHINGTON (AP) -Warning of a possible economic downturn, President-elect Bush named businessman Paul O'Neill as his Treasury secretary on Wednesday, saying O'Neill's corporate experience and steady hand will guide the country if times turn rough. In a second installment of Cabinet nominations later in the day, Bush named Californian Ann Venemen to be the first woman secretary of Agriculture; Mel Martinez, a Cuban refugee who became chairman of Orange County, Fla., as secretary of Housing and Urban Development; and his ''lifelong friend'' and campaign chairman Don Evans, secretary of Commerce.
''Now is no time for small plans or shrinking ambitions,'' Evans said.
The treasury nomination stood alone, with a Bush message on its importance to the new administration.
''Our economy is showing warning signs of a possible slowdown,'' said Bush. ''So it is incredibly important for me to find someone who had vast experience, who is a steady hand, who when he speaks, speaks with authority and conviction and knowledge. I found such a man in Paul O'Neill.''
The 65-year-old O'Neill is chairman of aluminum giant Alcoa, ran another giant company - International Paper Co. - and was deputy budget manager during the Ford Administration.
He said he decided to return to public life to help Bush ''achieve the greatness that I believe he aspires to for America.''
Evans, 54, is chief executive of Tom Brown Inc., a Denver-based oil and gas company with an office in Midland. He was instrumental in helping Bush raise a record $100 million for his presidential race, then helped guide the campaign to a narrow victory over Vice President Al Gore.
Martinez, chairman of Orange County, Fla. - which encompasses Orlando - co-chaired Bush's campaign in Florida and is a close ally of his brother Jeb, the state's Republican governor. Martinez, 54, fled Cuba to the United States in 1962 when he was 15 years old.
Veneman, 51, served as director of the California Food and Agriculture Department from 1996 to 1998. Appointed by former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, she was the first woman to head the agency. She was also the highest-ranking woman in the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1989 to 1991, when Bush's father was president.
Bush has been sounding warnings about a weakening economy and talking up his proposal to cut tax rates across the board to put more money in people's wallets. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill of both political stripes have expressed reservations about whether his proposed $1.3 trillion, 10-year tax cut, rather than incremental reductions, is the right approach, but Bush reiterated Wednesday that he wants a broad tax cut.
''I believe strongly that tax relief is part of the prescription for any economic ill that our nation may have,'' said Bush, flanked on either side by O'Neill and Vice President-elect Dick Cheney, who worked with O'Neill under President Ford. ''I think it is so important for members of the Hill to understand that tax relief is all about economic growth and cash flow and accumulation of capitol.''
Asked whether talking so much about an economic downturn increases the chances it will happen, Bush said, ''One of my jobs is to think ahead, just in case.''
''We are going to play the hand we were dealt,'' Bush said. ''Our hope in this administration is our economy remain robust. But should it not, we have a plan, the cornerstone of which will be tax relief, free trade, Social Security reform, less regulation.
Bush's Social Security proposal calls for letting people put a portion of their payroll deductions into private accounts invested in the stock market. If a recession hits and the stock market tanks, would consumers want to risk putting their retirement money in the market, Bush was asked.
''An investment in the private markets should be viewed as a long term hold,'' Bush said. ''There will be ups and downs in the marketplace. But the facts are that the rate of return on moneys held in the private market are significantly higher than that which is achieved off of the Social Security trust.''
With winter storms whipping the country and heating bills soaring because of high gas prices, Bush was questioned about his energy policy and asked whether his administration could do anything in the short term to help consumers struggling to pay utility bills.
Bush said increasing U.S. production of natural gas should be a priority because there are vast untapped supplies. He said he wants to review federal land policy to make sure that ''we're not missing an opportunity to explore for natural gas in the country'' and said he would seek to remove obstacles that prevent construction of gas pipelines.
Bush wants Congress to pass legislation earmarking money for clean coal technologies to use those reserve without ruining the environment. Bush said he also would seek ''a hemispheric energy policy'' to make sure there are ample supplies.
He talked tough about oil producing nations, saying they should ''treat their friend, the United States, and our market with ease.
''One of the things we're going to have to do is start up a strong diplomatic effor to work with .. our friends in the Middle East, to have an energy policy there that is respectful to their friend here and other democracies,'' said Bush.
He said he will work with OPEC nations to convince them to open up the spigots and ease price pressures.
Bush met later in the day with clergymen, including black ministers, to ''begin a dialogue'' on promoting faith-based programs to help meet social needs.
''My hope is that when people who may not have supported me get to know me,'' they will see that his commitment is to help deal with their needs in an America ''that is hopeful and vibrant and strong'' for everyone.
''I look forward to the chance of healing a nation that has been divided as a result of the election,'' Bush said. ''... Ours will be an administration that focusses on what's right for America, not what's right for a political party.''
Bush said he had found ''the absolutely right person'' for Treasury, and that people who are savvy on Wall Street will agree.
O'Neill said he has known and worked with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan since 1969, when he was beginning the administration service that led to his tour as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.
''I am here substantially because I believe that the president-elect has the right ideas about where our economy should go,'' O'Neill said.
---
Gas mileage hits 20-year low
USA Today
12/20/00- Updated 07:06 AM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/ndswed02.htm
WASHINGTON (AP) - America's love affair with gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles and pickups is keeping national fuel economy at a 20-year low, the government says. With automakers focusing on the bigger, more powerful vehicles, the Environmental Protection Agency found that average gasoline mileage for 2000 model year passenger vehicles was 24 miles per gallon, the same as last year and the lowest since 1980. The figure had climbed to 25.9 mpg in 1987 and 1988. The drop in fuel economy corresponds to a surge in sales of ''light trucks,'' which include vans, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. Those now account for 46% of all U.S. passenger vehicle sales.
Light trucks tend to weigh more than cars and get fewer miles to the gallon. The average 2000 car gets 28.1 mpg, while light trucks get 20.5 mpg.
''Consumers want cars that have certain performance features,'' said Gloria Bergquist, spokeswoman of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers that lobbies on behalf of 13 automakers. ''We sell cars that get 40 miles per gallon, but fewer than 2% of consumers buy them.''
But Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club's global warming program, said Tuesday that automakers spend much of their huge advertising budgets pushing lower-mileage SUVs because they are so profitable.
''They have found that the American public will buy a large pile of steel with plush seats and cup holders, despite the fact that they will guzzle gas, pollute the air and roll over and kill people,'' he said.
Better gas mileage would reduce oil consumption, lower fuel costs and lower carbon dioxide emissions, he said. Passenger vehicles discharge about 20% of the carbon dioxide emissions in the United States.
The federal government's Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, adopted in 1975 to boost fuel economy, require each automaker to reach a 27.5 mpg average fuel economy on new passenger cars and 20.7 mpg for light trucks. The automakers do not have reach the standard for each vehicle, but their entire fleet must meet the average.
Critics say the standards are too low, but since 1996 the auto industry has successfully lobbied Congress to block the Clinton administration from even studying a possible increase.
The EPA report, published last week, said new technologies are on the market that could increase fuel economy, but automakers instead have focused on building heavier vehicles and increasing acceleration. Vehicles that are heavier or have higher horsepower need more gas to operate, making it difficult to lower fuel economy even when new technologies emerge.
The average fuel economy for 1981 vehicles was 24.1 mpg - slightly higher than model year 2000. But if the 2000 fleet had the same average weight and performance as in 1981 with today's technologies, it could have achieved 25% higher fuel economy, according to the report. That would have saved more than 10 billion gallons of gasoline per year, according to EPA officials.
The weight of cars and light trucks increased 10% and 16%, respectively, since 1981. Today's cars can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 10.3 seconds, on average, down from 14.4 seconds in 1981. Average 0-to-60 acceleration for light trucks has moved from 14.6 seconds to 11.0 seconds.
Ford Motor, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler AG have been working with the federal government since 1993 to develop higher-mileage vehicles in a program called the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles.
Under that program, the Clinton-Gore administration challenged automakers to develop by 2004 production prototypes of a family size sedan that would get at least 80 miles per gallon. All three automakers have produced concept cars that at least come close to reaching the goal and are using the technology to develop production vehicles with better gas mileage.
Ford announced last summer that it would increase the fuel economy of its SUV fleet by 25% by the 2005 model year. GM responded by pledging to keep the fuel economy of its light truck fleet better than Ford's.
The report said if all the automakers increased their passenger vehicle fleets' gas mileage by 25% in five years, average fuel economy would increase to 30 mpg.
---
The Indianapolis Star, on lawsuits against big hog farms:
Associated Press
December 20, 2000 Filed at 3:29 p.m. ET
Editorial Roundup By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Editorial-Rdp.html?pagewanted=all
Excerpts from editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:
Worrying comes naturally to farmers, what with late springs, dry summers, floods, hail storms, crop diseases and all the other disasters lying in wait from one growing season to another. Add to the list a new peril, that of litigation.
Environmentalists are planning a legal attack on giant hog farms in a group of Midwest states, including Indiana. The effort is being coordinated by the Water Keeper Alliance, an organization headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr....
Kennedy's alliance has filed two lawsuits in North Carolina and six letters of intent to sue hog farm operators. The group alleges the sprawling, factory-like productions violate federal clean air laws and pollute nearby water sources.
The other side counters with arguments that large corporate operations take up far less land and animal wastes are spread as fertilizer on feed crops.
Meanwhile, the average age of farmers rises steadily. Studies show many hang on because there's nobody to take over. The younger generation is leaving the land for any number of reasons. Given the nation's penchant for litigation, the prospect of being sued may soon be added to the list.
Dec. 19
The News Tribune (Tacoma) on the West's energy troubles:
Weeks into the worst energy crisis the Pacific Northwest has seen in many years, alarmingly few people seem to comprehend the gravity of the situation.
In distant Washington, D.C., the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission doesn't get it. At its last meeting on Dec. 15, it failed to enact the ``hard'' price caps on wholesale electricity that might have brought some stability to the West's chaotic power markets.
Instead, the commission passed a ``soft'' cap of $150 per megawatt hour, which electricity brokers and producers can easily evade -- just as they have evaded a $250 cap that had already been in effect.
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson does understand there's a crisis, but he seems to think it chiefly affects California. He recently ordered the Bonneville Power Administration and major Northwest utilities -- Tacoma Power among them -- to send their ``surplus'' electricity to California. If Northwest utilities are enjoying a surplus of hydropower in the current drought, it has escaped our attention.
Closer to home, there's been no marked surge of conservation among Northwesterners -- a sign that power-consuming companies and ordinary citizens don't see the connection between their consumption and the high-priced electricity their utilities are being forced to buy.
Dec. 19
The Independent, London, on George W. Bush and global warming: In Brussels today, the environment ministers from the 15 nations of the EU (European Union) meet to try to salvage the Kyoto protocol on climate change ...
The impetus behind this accelerated schedule comes from the fear that under George W. Bush, the U.S. will be even less likely to agree to substantial cuts in its emissions of greenhouse gases than it was at The Hague. After all, Al Gore was widely credited with selling the deal at Kyoto to a skeptical American public; Mr. Bush, by contrast, has called the concerns about global warming ``junk science.'' ...
Nonetheless, global warming is too serious a concern to take a chance on the science being ``junk,'' and the U.S. must give a lead.
The future President Bush might well bear in mind one further consideration. As President Clinton said at Warwick University last week, Florida ``could be wiped out'' by rising tides due to climate change. Mr. Bush owes his election to the citizens of that state; the least he could do in return is preserve them from destruction.
---
New Regulations for Federal Contractors Will Put an Emphasis on 'Business Ethics'
New York Times
December 20, 2000
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/national/20LABO.html?pagewanted=all
The Clinton administration today will issue new regulations that aim to bar federal agencies from awarding contracts to a company with a record of breaking labor, environmental or other laws, in what business groups called a parting gift to organized labor.
Under the new rules, federal officials could disqualify companies from receiving any of the $200 billion in federal contracts awarded each year if officials conclude that a company has failed to comply with such laws.
Voicing outrage that President Clinton was issuing these hotly debated regulations in its final days, business groups vowed to try to get President-elect George W. Bush or Congress to overturn them.
The Clinton administration first announced plans to issue these rules in early 1997, but it did not propose draft rules until last year. Business lobbyists contended that the administration had rushed the new rules into effect without obtaining sufficient comment, and insisted that the only reason the administration was issuing them now was to repay labor for the vigorous support they gave Vice President Al Gore in the presidential campaign.
"The vice president promised this to the unions back in February 1997, and this is basically a departing gift to the unions," said Randy Johnson, vice president for labor policy at the United States Chamber of Commerce. "This is going to be a big issue for all government contractors because it puts $200 billion in contracts at risk."
Administration officials denied that the White House had rushed through the rules. Rather, they insisted that the government was issuing these regulations only after a lengthy comment period in which regulators reviewed criticisms and recommendations from many companies and business groups.
"We view this fundamentally as empowering the government to do what every business in the world does, which is not be forced to do business with people it doesn't trust," said Joshua Gotbaum, one of the principal drafters of the new rules and controller of the Office of Management and Budget.
"We would hope that federal contractors would see this as an attempt to get them to play by the same rules with the government that they do outside the government," Mr. Gotbaum continued. "I would hope that there would be, as a result, some greater attention to compliance with the law."
Business executives said they hoped that the Bush administration or Congress could succeed in repealing or rescinding the new contracting rules, which they contend would create a blacklist. With the Senate tied at 50-50, the Democrats might be able to prevent the Republicans from enacting a law that vacates the new rules. Businesses could still appeal any time they were disqualified from receiving a contract.
A Bush administration could of course seek to rescind the new rules by issuing its own set of rules. But, several business lobbyists acknowledged that a federal court might overturn such an effort because the Supreme Court has ruled that an administration can not simply erase a previous set of regulations unless it provides solid, nonarbitrary reasons.
Some Congressional Republicans criticized the new regulations, accusing the administration of trying to sneak through rules after Congress had adjourned.
"It is preposterous that an administration that has tried to exude the image of being pro-business and pro- tech would in its waning days, following an electoral defeat, would promulgate such new antibusiness regulations," said Representative David Dreier, Republican of California and chairman of the House Rules Committee.Mr. Dreier said he would urge President-elect Bush to try to overturn the rule when he takes office.
The new rules, the government says, aim to insure integrity among government contractors and to save money by reducing the risk of contractor fraud and abuse.
In a recent study, the General Accounting Office found that federal agencies continued to award contracts to military contractors that had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and penalties for violating procurement laws.
Under the new rules, federal contracting officials are to award contracts only to businesses with "a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics."
The new rules state that contract officials are to look at whether potential contractors were found to have broken the law in convictions, court judgments or administrative judgments over the past three years.
A White House statement describing the rules said, "It's usually not a single violation, but a pattern of repeated, pervasive or significant violations, that should raise concerns about a contractor's trustworthiness and ability to perform."
The new, final rules contain significant changes from draft rules proposed in July 1999 and June 2000. Business groups criticized those drafts, saying they would allow companies to be disqualified based on mere unproved charges or on a single violation that occurred decades ago.
Administration officials said the new rules were revised to take many of these criticisms into account. Nonetheless, business groups continued to attack the rules.
"We don't feel warmly about this at all," said Michael E. Baroody, senior vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers. "There is an unfortunate pattern in this administration of issuing midnight regulations."
Last month business lobbyists accused the Clinton administration of belatedly issuing another sweeping set of regulations, ones that seeks to force employers to reduce the likelihood that workers would be injured from repetitive motions on the job.
Mr. Baroody said new contracting rules give far too much discretion to contracting officers.
"These rules still leave an awful lot of discretion to the individual contracting officer to separate the sheep from the goats," Mr. Baroody said.
Labor leaders, who have long lobbied for the regulations, applauded the administration's move, asserting that it was wrong for the government to award contracts to corporations that repeatedly violate labor, environmental or other laws.
"It is hard to believe that responsible business would oppose a common-sense regulation that simply says the government should look at a company's track record of complying with the law before entrusting it with a valuable government contract" said John J. Sweeney, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.
---
POLLUTION CASE SETTLED
New York Times
December 20, 2000
Metro Business Briefs
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/nyregion/20BBRF.html
Phelps Dodge Corporation, which operates a copper-rod manufacturing plant in Norwich, Conn., has agreed to pay a $500,000 civil penalty to settle charges that it violated state air pollution laws, the state attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, announced yesterday. As part of the settlement, the company has also agreed to spend an additional $500,000 on environmental projects in Connecticut. Clayton D. Allen, a spokesman for Phelps Dodge, said the company disagreed with the state over what the emissions permits required, but decided to settle the suit. He said major improvements were also made to the environmental controls at the copper plant, including a new waste-water treatment system. David M. Herszenhorn (NYT)
---
USA Today
12/20/00
States
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm
Alaska
Anchorage - Alaska crab fishermen are hoping a $100 million boat buyback program steered through Congress by Sen. Ted Stevens will save them from bankruptcy. It's estimated that a fourth of the owners of the 260 boats might take the buyout. That would leave more crab for the remaining vessels. A sudden collapse in the crab population in the Bering Sea caused an 85% reduction in the catch this year.
Nevada
Carson City - Nevada regulators approved a request by a southern California utility to temporarily exceed emission standards at its Mohave Generating Station to meet emergency power needs in California. The state Environmental Commission said the variance sought by Southern California Edison runs until Feb. 15.
Ohio
Columbus - American Electric Power won't use anhydrous ammonia to help control pollution at a power plant following neighbors' complaints about possible hazards. The gas can cause blindness and lung damage. Instead, AEP will use a dry nitrogen fertilizer considered safe in storage. The company is installing the equipment at the Gen. James M. Gavin plant in southern Ohio.
Rhode Island
Providence - One in six drivers failed to get a required vehicle emissions test in the first year of the new state program, officials say. According to the Department of Motor Vehicles, 100,000 vehicles that should have been inspected were not. Next year, officials plan to compare registration and inspection records and fine scofflaws.
Tennessee
LaFollette - The first 50 elk of a planned release of 400 were released in eastern Tennessee. The reintroduction comes more than a century after elk disappeared from the Appalachian Mountains because of overhunting and disappearing habitat. Federal officials plan to release 25 elk next spring in the Smoky Mountains.
Vermont
Montpelier - Vermont's electric system is putting a big new demand on winter heating fuel supplies. Changes in the power grid and growing power demands in the northwest part of the state have utilities continuously running oil-fired generators that normally would run only during peak periods. The generators use about 2,500 gallons of oil per hour.
Wyoming
Cheyenne - The State Forestry Division will launch a search Feb. 1 for a champion tree of each species growing in Wyoming. Mark Hughes, director of the program, said the objective is to create a registry of the state's largest trees. Size is determined by height, diameter and crown spread; the public will be invited to submit entries. Wyoming is one of only six states that doesn't have a tree registry, Hughes said.
---
Congress passes pet projects along with budget
Washington Times
December 20, 2000
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.washtimes.com/national/nobyline-20001220224143.htm
Members of Congress have a lot to brag about to their constituents this holiday season, from helping the University of Idaho put its jazz history archive on the Internet to creating a regional agency to spur the Mississippi Delta's economy.
The massive spending bill Congress sent President Clinton last week before adjourning, which allowed final approval of more than $450 billion in spending, was best known for its money for hiring teachers, biomedical research and other high-profile programs.
But sprinkled liberally throughout are funds for hundreds of projects for the folks back home, plus entire bills that failed to make it through Congress on their own for lack of support or time.
That includes $750,000 to refurbish the Turner Joy, the destroyer that reported being attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964. The incident helped persuade Congress to grant President Johnson broad authority to wage war against North Vietnam. The ship now serves as a museum in Bremerton, Wash.
Also included is $213,000 for Marin County, Calif., to study high breast cancer rates in the San Francisco Bay area; $6 million to help the University of Tennessee establish a school of government named after former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, Tennessee Republican; and language that will let the Colorado Ute Indian tribes divert water from the Animas and La Plata rivers, a smaller version of a project that has provoked objections from environmentalists.
There are so many projects, in fact, that it is hard to imagine that many members of Congress didn't get something for somebody back in the district.
"Does that surprise you?" asked Carol Cox Wait, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which advocates a balanced budget. "We ought to be more frugal, period."
Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, agreed. Mr. McCain opposed the measure, in part, because he says he counted at least $1.9 billion in "pork" that was not properly weighed against competing needs.
"We paved our way home by spending billions of taxpayers' dollars on budget items that never went through a merit-based review process," he said in a written statement.
That's not how the projects' sponsors see them.
The University of Idaho, for example, won $700,000 to help it make available on the Internet its collection of musical scores, recordings, instruments, clothing and papers of many of the country's top jazz musicians. These include Lionel Hampton - for whom the university's music school and annual jazz festival are named - and other jazz legends Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Kenton.
To get the money, school officials worked closely with Idaho's congressional delegation, especially Republican Sen. Larry E. Craig, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and one of Congress' most conservative members. They are adamant that "pork" does not apply to the expenditure.
"We think even though it's located in Idaho, it is a national treasure," said Marty Peterson, assistant to Bob Hoover, the university's president.
"One man's pork is another man's awesome educational tool, and that's what Sen. Craig believes this program will provide," said Craig spokesman Will Hart.
Among the masters of the process are Sen. Ted Stevens, Alaska Republican, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which writes the measures. Mr. Stevens' office released a list of several dozen items in the bill worth more than $200 million to Alaska, including $500,000 to train Alaskans who have lost timber industry jobs and $1 million for Bering Sea crab research.
The bill also sets up the Delta Regional Authority, an agency that will help poor communities in the Mississippi Delta get federal aid and take other steps to boost economic growth.
-------- imf / world bank
AN END TO PUBLIC EDUCATION AS WE KNOW IT?
20 Dec 2000 08:07:41 -0000
[starcgrassroots] Digest Number 259
Bob Olsen <bobolsen@interlog.com> 12/14/00 03:35PM
Negotiations are underway that could dramatically transform the Higher Education sector, yet few people are aware of them. These crucial decisions are being made through the World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which has an agenda of sweeping deregulation and privatisation of services. The implications for Higher Education are enormous.
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 08:28:20 +0000 From: "Janet M Eaton" <jeaton@fox.nstn.ca> Subject: [MAI-NOT] [GATSCrit] Briefing on GATS and Education
To: GATSCrit@egroups.com From: "Jess Worth" <jess@peopleandplanet.org> Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2000 16:10:03 -0000 Subject: [GATSCrit] Briefing on GATS and education
THE THREAT TO HIGHER EDUCATION A BRIEFING ON CURRENT WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION NEGOTIATIONS
This GATS briefing has been produced by People & Planet, the UK student campaign network. It can be found at:
http://www.peopleandplanet.org/tradejustice/GATS.rtf
SUMMARY
AN END TO PUBLIC EDUCATION AS WE KNOW IT?
Negotiations are underway that could dramatically transform the Higher Education sector, yet few people in the UK are aware of them. These crucial decisions are being made through the World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which has an agenda of sweeping deregulation and privatisation of services. The implications for Higher Education are enormous.
The GATS agreement, according to the European Commission, is "first and foremost an instrument for the benefit of business". Trade in services is a huge growth area in today's economy. It is therefore understandable that the World Trade Organisation (WTO), heavily influenced by the business lobby, is keen to further open up the global market in services. `Services' covers everything from telecommunications to space travel, and includes sectors such as education and health, which are increasingly seen as highly profitable markets. European business lobbyists argue that opening up the education sector to private competition can only be beneficial: "Schools will respond better to paying customers, just like any other business." Negotiations are now underway, and look set to be completed by the end of 2002.
The small print of the GATS agreement makes it clear that public education will not be exempt from this ambitious liberalisation agenda. This involves the removal of barriers to `free trade' for foreign competitors, guaranteeing them equal access to the UK educational market. Many would argue that public education should be protected from the rigours of WTO rules. However, only public services supplied by governments "neither on a commercial basis nor in competition with one or more service suppliers" are exempt. As the UK Higher Education sector comprises a mix of public and private institutions, with increasing amounts of funding coming from fees and other private sources, it is clear that HE in this country is not protected by this exemption.
Education is one of the key areas that the European Commission (EC) has explicitly highlighted as being "ripe for liberalisation". The EC conducts WTO negotiations on behalf of the United Kingdom, and appears ready to use education as a bargaining tool in order to gain access to other countries' markets. As the majority of EU services are already liberalised it will need to offer up education in trade-offs in order to get a "big deal".
The removal of "barriers" to trade in education services could severely restrict the current regulatory framework governing Higher Education. The GATS negotiations aim to remove barriers to free trade in order to give foreign competitors equal access to the UK education `market'. Barriers cited by the WTO include measures restricting the mobility of students, restrictions on the translation of foreign degrees and qualifications, nationality requirements and, most significantly for public education, "the existence of government monopolies and high subsidisation of local institutions".
There is a real risk that GATS will result in an end to state financial assistance for UK Higher Education students. The new area of GATS rules and restrictions on state subsidies could identify government payment of student tuition fees as discriminatory. This could force the government to either subsidise students at private institutions equally, or end state financial support to students altogether.
The GATS agreement could mark a dramatic step in the direction of a wholly privatised HE sector. Surely such significant decisions should not be made behind the closed doors of the controversial WTO, but should be placed in the public domain, subject to vigorous public debate? This paper therefore calls for extensive research into the implications of GATS, and awareness-raising within the government and the wider Higher Education sector.
People & Planet (previously Third World First)
Email : jess@peopleandplanet.org On-line : www.peopleandplanet.org Address : 51 Union Street, Oxford OX4 1JP Telephone : UK 01865 245678
Jessica Roach Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch 215 Pennsylvania Ave SE Washington, DC 20003 ph: 202-454-5111 fx: 202-547-7392 www.tradewatch.org
-------- police
Policeman Gunned Down in Barcelona
Associated Press
December 20, 2000 Filed at 11:31 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Spain-Policeman-Killed.html
BARCELONA, Spain -- A policeman who approached two men pushing a car in downtown Barcelona on Wednesday was shot to death by one of them in the latest attack blamed on armed Basque separatists. The car was later found to hold explosives.
The shooting Wednesday morning raised to 23 the number of killings that the armed Basque separatist group ETA has claimed or been blamed for this year after calling off a 14-month old cease-fire last December.
The officer, Juan Miguel Gervilla Valladolid, 38, saw two men pushing a red Fiat compact car on Avenida Diagonal, a major thoroughfare in a bustling area of Spain's second largest city. He approached them to ask for identity papers and was shot in the head and chest, Barcelona city police said. The assailants fled on foot.
Bomb disposal experts searched the car and found a pressure cooker containing about 13 pounds of explosives, police said. Such pots are sometimes used by ETA to pack explosives.
The car also had fake license plates, a technique often used by ETA when it uses a stolen vehicle, the Interior Ministry said.
``ETA wants to attack democracy and freedom in the Basque country and undermine the spirit of democracy and freedom that Spain has these days,'' Deputy Prime Minister Rodrigo Rato said in Madrid.
The last two attacks attributed to ETA this year also occurred in or near Barcelona. A week ago, a bomb planted under the seat of a van killed Francisco Cano, a plumber who also served as councilor for the ruling Popular Party in Viladecavalls, a small town about 12 miles northwest of Barcelona.
ETA has been fighting since 1968 to create an independent Basque homeland in an area straddling northern Spain and southwest France. Its campaign of violence has left around 800 people dead.
After Wednesday's shooting in Barcelona, a crowd of several hundred people gathered in a square outside the Catalan regional government headquarters and observed five minutes of silence.
Ana Corron, a police officer who had worked with Gervilla Valladolid for the past two years, wept as she described him as down-to-earth and easy to get along with. ``He was wonderful,'' she said. ``He was the kind of person you'd enjoy having coffee and a cigarette with.''
---
U.N. Police Station Attacked in Northern Kosovo
New York Times
December 20, 2000 Filed at 12:53 p.m. ET
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/world/yugoslavia-kosovo-att.html
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Dec 20 - Gunmen blasted a United Nations police station with gunfire and hand grenades overnight in northern Kosovo, an area populated mostly by local Serbs, a U.N. police spokesman said on Wednesday.
No one was injured in the attack in the village of Zubin Potok, but four police cars were damaged and one van was blown up, said spokesman Dmitry Kaportsev.
Reuters Television pictures of the multi-storey police station showed shattered windows and debris littering the street outside.
It was the second attack on a police station in the area since the weekend, reflecting growing tension there ahead of a parliamentary election in Serbia proper on Saturday.
A Zubin Potok municipal assembly member who supports new Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica blamed his opponents.
``Some forces don't want to support the efforts of the new Yugoslav government for a peaceful solution for the whole of the province,'' said Radisa Kostic. ``Because of that, we now have an explosion in Zubin Potok.''
Bernard Kouchner, the U.N.'s chief administrator in Kosovo, said in a statement he would not tolerate violence against the international peacekeepers.
Kouchner's spokeswoman also blamed intra-ethnic strife for the attack. ``There seems to be some kind of inter-Serb rivalry going on,'' said Susan Manuel.
``Suddenly U.N. police are targeted and we don't know what's going on. There's no message with the madness.''
In a separate incident, British peacekeepers detained 13 ethnic Albanians trying to smuggle arms from Kosovo into a buffer zone in Serbia proper southeast of the regional capital Pristina on Tuesday night.
Peacekeepers found an arsenal of weapons, including machineguns, automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenade warheads and anti-tank mines, in four cars near the town of Zegra, said Major Tim Pearce, a spokesman for the British peacekeeping operation in Kosovo.
---
Officers in New Jersey Guilty in Beating Case
New York Times
December 20, 2000
By RONALD SMOTHERS
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/nyregion/20ORAN.html?pagewanted=all
NEWARK, - Five Orange police officers were convicted in federal court here today of beating and pepper-spraying an innocent man who died in police custody during a mistake-riddled investigation into the shooting death of a policewoman.
Prosecutors said that the man, Earl Faison, 27, an aspiring rap musician who suffered from asthma, was beaten and pepper-sprayed by vengeful officers convinced that three days earlier, he had shot to death the policewoman, Officer Joyce Carnegie.
The jury of six men and six women found that the four officers and their commander conspired to violate Mr. Faison's civil rights. Mr. Faison fled when the cab he was riding in was stopped by a police officer who said Mr. Faison fit the description of Officer Carnegie's killer.
The verdict followed a tumultuous series of events that began with the shooting of Officer Carnegie, included allegations that two innocent men were beaten by the police and contributed to Gov. Christie Whitman's decision to remove Essex County's first black female prosecutor, Patricia A. Hurt, who had directed the investigation.
After deliberating for a day and half, the jury convicted all five officers of conspiring to violate Mr. Faison's rights and subsequently hiding their actions through lying and filing false reports. State officials had concluded earlier that there was not enough evidence to support a homicide indictment.
Convicted on the conspiracy charges were Thomas Smith, 38, of Caldwell, a former lieutenant who was tour commander that night; his brother, Brian Smith, 31, of Orange; Tyrone Payton, 34, of Orange; Paul Carpinteri Jr. of Orange; and Andrew Garth, 31, of Bloomfield.
Thomas Smith was also found guilty of punching Mr. Faison, which demonstrated he had the mind-set to violate Mr. Faison's rights. But jurors apparently believed that he failed to cause any pain or injury with the blow, a separate aspect of the charge. Officer Garth, however, was convicted of punching Mr. Faison and causing injury.
Similarly, Brian Smith was convicted of spraying pepper spray into the face of Mr. Faison while he was handcuffed and unresisting. The jury acquitted Mr. Payton on charges that he kicked Mr. Faison.
Each officer faces a maximum of 10 years in prison when sentenced on April 18. But prosecutors speculated that each officer would probably receive no more than five years without parole, based on federal sentencing guidelines that all federal judges must follow.
As the verdict was read by Judge John C. Lifland, relatives of the five officers, who filled one side of the courtroom, were silent and stone- faced. Mr. Faison's fiancée and stepmother openly and loudly sobbed as they embraced each other, surrounded by friends and relatives.
Earl Williams, Mr. Faison's father, praised the jury for "doing the right thing." He said he understood the anger on the part of the officers' families, who now faced the prospect of their loved ones' going to jail. But, he added, at least they would be able to visit and see them.
"But my son is dead," he said. "They may wear blue, these men, but they made a bad mistake."
Lawyers for the five men said they would appeal and expressed disappointment that the jurors had reached a verdict after just a day and a half. It was, said Peter Willis, the lawyer for Brian Smith, "a very complicated case."
"It means that police are not only in trouble in the streets, in the newspapers, on television," said Robert Galantucci, the lawyer for Officer Carpinteri. "It means that they are now targets in the courtroom also."
But Stuart J. Rabner, the first assistant United States attorney for New Jersey, insisted that the verdict condemned particular police misconduct by particular officers.
"This sends a message to police officers that this type of conduct will not be tolerated," he said. "And it relates to the conduct of five officers and should not besmirch the reputation of police generally."
The case had attracted considerable attention and protest from groups who charged police brutality and racial insensitivity, and it roiled political waters statewide.
Officer Carnegie was a popular policewoman whose funeral at an East Orange church attracted thousands of police officers representing departments from as far away as Washington, D.C.
Mr. Faison was one of three men picked up by officers who turned out to have no connection to the shooting of Officer Carnegie. At least one other man among those picked up has alleged in a civil suit that he was beaten by arresting officers. Eventually, a fourth man, Condell Woodson, 27, pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to life in prison.
The ripple effects of the case attracted the attention of federal authorities and the state attorney general's office. Eventually the case played a role in the forced resignation of Ms. Hurt, the Essex County prosecutor, who had led the investigation into Officer Carnegie's death and presided over the arrests of the three innocent men. Ms. Hurt had been only the second black woman in the state to be named as prosecutor, in a move heralded as a sign of the state Republican Party's racial inclusiveness. Governor Whitman found herself in the position of forcing the resignation of her own appointee barely two years after naming her.
Federal rights charges were filed in June, after state officials said they had found insuffient evidence for homicide charges. State officials said that they had worked with federal agents in the investigation and that it was highly unlikely any state charges would follow.
Nearly 50 witnesses testified during the officers' trial, many of them fellow members of the Orange Police Department who testified reluctantly against their colleagues. Some had initially lied to investigators and the grand jury looking into the case, only to recant later and implicate the five officers. The two key prosecution witnesses were Officers Keith Jackson and his partner, Anthony Tortorella, who told of what they had seen at Mr. Faison's arrest on the street and in a deserted stairwell at police headquarters, where Mr. Faison was pepper-sprayed.
Prosecutors charged that at the arrest scene, Officers Payton and Carpinteri kicked and punched Mr. Faison for no reason while he was handcuffed and unresisting.
Officer Jackson told of seeing Thomas Smith, the lieutenant, at the arrest scene leaning into the backseat of the patrol car, in which Mr. Faison lay supine and handcuffed. He said that he saw Lieutenant Smith deliver several punches and that he immediately conjured up visions of "a Rodney King incident." He testified that he repeatedly suggested to Lieutenant Smith that they leave immediately and that he eventually had to pull the lieutenant off Mr. Faison. As he did this, he said, he saw Officer Garth delivering punches of his own to Mr. Faison's head.
While his partner, Officer Tortorella, did not corroborate this testimony, both officers gave nearly identical accounts of what happened in the stairwell once Mr. Faison arrived at headquarters. There, with five to six officers surrounding him as he lay handcuffed on the floor, Officer Smith reached down and sprayed pepper spray directly into Mr. Faison's nose and mouth, they said.
The absence of chemical traces of the pepper spray in Mr. Faison's body and on his clothing proved a hurdle for the prosecution. Because the medical examiner found no traces of the spray, his ruling on the cause of death did not connect the two or even suggest that Mr. Faison faced pain and injury from the alleged use of the spray.
Consequently, Robert J. Cleary, a United States attorney, said in June that the prosecution was not alleging that the men's actions resulted in Mr. Faison's death.
Prosecutors tried to counter this problem with their own experts who testified that the absence of traces of pepper spray could mean simply that the amounts were too small or had been wiped away. A forensic pathologist also testified that the way in which Mr. Faison's lungs reacted at the time of his death was consistent with the use of an irritant like pepper spray.
---
USA Today
12/20/00
States
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm
Kentucky
Lexington - City officials are fighting a 1998 law that requires that guns confiscated by police be sold at auction. Lexington police were ordered by a judge to destroy two illegal handguns taken from a driver stopped on a drunken-driving charge. In the lawsuit, the city asked Judge Laurance VanMeter whether police should destroy the guns in violation of the gun-auction law or sell the weapons and risk contempt-of-court charges.
Montana
Browning - A Bureau of Indian Affairs report says the Blackfeet Indian Reservation's tribal police department is plagued by mismanagement and policy violations. The report also accuses tribal officials of using political influence to prevent investigations of their friends and relatives. The Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services director acknowledges problems but says the tribe is correcting them.
-------- spying
Those Who Spy
New York Times
December 20, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/opinion/L20ROS.html
To the Editor:
A Dec. 18 letter urging clemency for the convicted spy Jonathan J. Pollard repeats the overused and underexamined argument that Mr. Pollard was spying for an ally and that his life sentence is "almost unheard of."
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed after being convicted of spying for the Soviet Union during World War II, when Moscow was our ally. Thus, the Pollard lobby does not seem to realize the comparative leniency of his sentence, as well as another salient difference: Mr. Pollard spied more for money than for principle.
MICHAEL DAVIS Cleveland, Dec. 18, 2000
The writer is a professor at Cleveland State University College of Law.
---
A Prediction Gap
New York Times
December 20, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/20/opinion/L20INT.html
To the Editor:
It is interesting that the "intelligence community" has issued a report about how the world will look in 15 years (news article, Dec. 18). It deals with major issues: food, water, political alliances and world economics.
This intelligence community is the same one that missed predicting the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, and overestimated Soviet military strength.
On the basis of their published past performance, a prudent person would view intelligence officials' predictions about the world 15 years from now with a great deal of skepticism.
WALTER J. KENT Glen Rock, N.J., Dec. 18, 2000
-------- activists
The Message and Media
Our Message
www.inaugurauction.com
"We are protesting the inauguration of a president elected through an exclusionary political system that is more beholden to corporate interests than the people. The Justice Action Movement (JAM) is a unified multi-issue coalition advocating a political system that gives each person full representation and justice. This historic election exposes the fundamental problems of the US electoral process. We call on all people to join the global movement for political, social, and economic justice."
Non-Violence Statement of Policy
1) No physical or verbal violence 2) We will carry no weapons 3) No property destruction 4) No Drugs and Booze
-messages from the past
Press Conference Thursday Contact: Adam Eidinger (202) 986-6186 DECEMBER 20, 2000
Organizers Announce Plans to Protest at the Presidential Inauguration
WASHINGTON, DC -- A large, unified, multi-issue coalition will converge in Washington, DC one month from today to march and protest the inauguration of President-elect George W. Bush.
At a press conference tomorrow at the Stewart Mott House 122 Maryland Avenue, NE at 11:00 am representatives from the groups will give brief statements about the purposes and nature of their action plans and answer questions from the media.
WHAT: The Justice Action Movement (JAM) will host a joint press conference with other groups that plan to protest the inauguration. WHEN: Thursday, December 21 at 11 am WHERE:The Stewart Mott House 122 Maryland Ave. NE, Ph: 202-546-3732 (The Mott House is immediately north of the Supreme Court) WHO: - Adam Eidinger -- Coordinator, Justice Action Movement (JAM) - Brian Becker -- Co-Director of the International Action Center (IAC) - Mike Stark -- Coordinator, Campaign to End the Death Penalty - Arturo Griffiths -- D.C. Statehood Green Party - Walda Katz-Fishman -- Independent Progressive Politics Network (IPPN) - Invited guests include the National Organization for Women, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the Institute for Policy Studies, Jobs with Justice, the Alliance for Democracy, the Center for Voting and Democracy and the National Action Network.
Next group meeting
When: 7PM Where: Mt Pleasant 3356 18th Street NW. (202) 745-0847
Ideas
The following is a list of the brainstormed ideas from individuals who have attended the meetings so far which are all captured within the message.
"Have a presence at the inauguration" --Removing barriers to 3rd parties --People denied ability to vote at the polls --same day voter registration --campaign finance --Taxation without Representation -D.C. --National Health Insurance --Proportional representation --((IAC is doing a stop the death machine)) --Drug war --National Daycare --Campaign finance reform --Mobilization for global justice --Corporate Media Blackout --Corporate Feudalism --Indigenous rights --Speakers --Candle-light vigile --Pro-Active --Solidarity --Positive Headlines --Inclusive of all causes --Public expression of diverse backgrounds --Commemorate a movement outside of two party system --Land-mine treaty --Celebration of American Ideals --Environment --Police Brutality --IMF Globalization --people wrongfully imprisoned --against the death penalty --Diversity in "Race/ reason for being there" --DC Statehood --Living Wage --expose the lie of electoral process in the US --nobody inaugurated to no office at all --ridiculous election/presidency --Consumer Genocide --Social Justice --Star Wars --A16 -Seattle
Contact:
-Chris Strohm chris.strohm@iwpnews.com
The Justice Action Movement nor anyone at www.inaugurauction.org necessarily supports or endorses any of the events or causes mentioned on these pages.
---
Letter sent to Chief Ramsey Today
Wed, 20 Dec 2000 09:44:30 -0800 (PST)
J-A-M JUSTICE-ACTION-MOVEMENT
December 20, 2000
Chief Charles Ramsey Metropolitan Police Department 300 Indiana Avenue, NW Room 5080 Washington, DC 20001
VIA FAX# 202-727-9524
Dear Chief Ramsey:
We send this letter to request a meeting with you to inform the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) of our developing plans to peacefully participate in the Presidential Inaugural on January 19-20, 2001.
The Justice Action Movement, or JAM for short, is a multi-issue coalition consisting of people of every age, race, gender, and background imaginable from Washington, DC, and around the country. At the Inauguration we will be exercising our constitutionally protected right to express our displeasure with a broken political system that has become beholden to and even dependent on corporate interests.
Our viewpoints, however, are not why we are writing you. In the past, the MPD has engaged in preemptive arrest and detention, disseminated false information to the public and the press that mischaracterized peaceful demonstrators as violent, confiscated political literature, and shut down our meeting spaces. We want assurances this conduct will not occur again.
We feel that by involving the MPD in our planning, we will be able to provide clarity for the thousands we expect to come to Washington as to what forms of protest are legal. We believe all law enforcement agencies should be non-partisan and completely respectful of all political views.
We hope to avoid a tragic repeat of the unconstitutional police tactics used against demonstrators in Seattle, Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Boston, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. It's clear that many law enforcement agencies have followed the example set by the MPD during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings last April. During these civil and non-violent protests, over one thousand were arrested, and yet there were no convictions. Many people were held in jail for a week or in buses for many hours without being able to communicate to those on the outside that their rights were being violated. People were beaten without justification on the streets and behind bars.
We are resolved to protest despite this blatant repression. In these trying times, we feel that it is necessary to make you aware that our intentions are 100% peaceful. To achieve this goal we have adopted guidelines for our organizing which include: No weapons; No physical or verbal violence; No illegal drugs; and No property destruction.
Please contact Daniel Holstein at 202-270-8387 as soon as possible to schedule the meeting. Four representatives of the Justice Action Movement, will be available to meet with you and/or your senior staff, on Thursday December 21 or soon thereafter. We kindly request that before you make any new public statements about security and protests during the Inauguration, you first consider meeting with us and become informed as to our plans. We hope that Metro Police Department will uphold the rights of Americans to express their views peacefully.
Sincerely,
Adam Eidinger, Daniel Holstein, Bill Andrews Justice Action Movmement
---
20 Dec 2000 08:07:41 -0000
[starcgrassroots] Digest Number 259
Tue, 19 Dec 2000 10:47:27 -0500 (EST) From: Rebecca Cameron Crooker <crooker@udel.edu> Subject: Minutes from Sunday's Call 12.17.00
12.17.00 Call On Board: Becky, Eric, John, Robert, Terra
1) National Organizer Budget Proposal-Amend and adopt final budget today! (See below for most recent version of budget. Presenter: Terra/Eric) 2/1/01-7/1/01 Salary: $10,500.00 Health Insurance: ($150 x 6 months): $900.00 Long distance phone charges: ($170 x 6 months): $1020.00 Other Phone and Internet Charges: $500.00 Photocopying: ($80 x 6 months): $480.00 Postage, mailing, and faxing: ($80 x 6 months): $480.00 Travel: ($250 x 6 months): $1500.00 Miscellaneous/Discretionary: $600.00 Total: $15,980.00
-Does organizer have discretion to rearrange the budget? Have to check in with NSC??
Terra: these expenses will be dealt with by getting the money for getting the money that is purchased looking at this like a guideline. final decision by th
-who has the say of reallocating?? NSC or the organizer
Robert: depends on how much money we have in general in STARC
Eric: organizer allowed to reallocate within the bound of the budget
Terra: this is a guideline for the organizer and they can reorganize if they chose to do so. but they need to come to the NSC if want to use the $600
Proposal: This budget is a guidline for the organizer, she/he can reallocate within this budget as long as she/he does not go over budget or use the $600. To use the discretionary $600, she/he has to come to ask the NSC.
Fundraising Bonus: The National Organizer will receive a bonus of 15% of total fundraising revenue above a designated fundraising minimum goal. That minimum fundraising goal has yet to be determined by the finance working group. If the goal is $20,000, then the fundraiser is entitled to keep 15% of all the money she raises after she reaches $20,000. This is a standard incentive for fundraisers.
CONSENSUS!!
Staffer must have:
-Location from which to work (home can act as a temporary office)
-A phone and phone line that can be used as a STARC OFFICE PHONE at all times (staffer can always be reached there)
-An answering machine
-Permanent access to computer in location from which staffer will work (e.g. at home)
2) STARC and National Endorsements (See below for proposal. Presenter: John R)
ADD-ENDORSEMENT FOR RAN CITIGROUP CAMP!!!
John: Regions still be able to endorse and that regions vote over list serves. Becky: NE listserve won't work with that right now Since we are not doing national endorsements it is frustrating other groups who want to work with us
Robert: with this proposal, would we be able to pull together national endorsements
Terra: Endorsed by the national support committee of STARC (good thing to do in the interim!)
Becky: long term goal
Robert: good thing to post on the web How are we going to deal with them until the regions are up and running
Proposal: For the time being, the NSC will endorse things as the natinoal support committee of STARC and that we will revisit it at the end of January. John will remind us about this!!
CONSENSUS!!
PROPOSAL: RAN came to STARC to see if we are interested in endorsing it $250-$1000
Terra and becky-this rocks!!
-build the project cluster and chose the three people that they want to go to the training.
-Becky, do you think that you can make this happen (ie build up
PROPOSAL:
Eric, concerned about finances. Consider three people doing fundraising on their own, about $80-$100 for the camp
-Find out about the deadline for this and then make a decision about it. Tell them that we are interested in doing this and find out more info about it!
Terra: table it until the next call and make it a high agenda item, about 15-20 minutes
2) Update on Application for National Organizer. Is it finished yet (Becky/Jocelyn/Dan)
-application out by wed. over email and on the website
3) Creating a Workplan for the National Organizer. What's the process? What's the timeline? (See below. Proposal: Eric)
4) Creating Criteria for Choosing the Core 15. What's the outreach strategy? Preliminary discussion. We need to set a date to discuss this again and finalize it. (Presenter: Becky/Eric)
John: I have a least 3 or 4 schools that are interested that are being on the short list OK State, Hendrix, Tampa Bay guy, OU
Eric: -working on an outreach email
Terra: What about the database? For outreach, we have already used the databases.
-Are we going to do blitzes to all different lists??
Eric: we should ciriculate the outerach email as widely as possible with the exception of lists that might get pissed off at us. the outreach email itself will be a better reflection of who we are looking for than the groups that we send it to. the real work is through phone calls, it will be a self selecting process Don't want to hit- 180(dtidiscuss), usas
Outreach strategy and hwo outreach to: delegate it to the outreach committee and then discuss the actual criteria at a later date??
Proposal: A basic principle of our outreach strategy is that we are looking at student and youth groups. this excludes community groups and other existing networks for the 10-15 groups.
CONSENSUS!
Calendar:
week of dec. 17:
-committees will outreach for the 10-15 core groups and for the organizerschools and organizer
-Becky will find out about Ruckus camp
-dec.20th the application should be posted on starcgrassroots
week of dec. 24:
BREAK!! relax, sleep, and plan for the revolution of 2001!!
week of dec. 31:
Jan. 2nd Applications for the STARC National Organizer position due.
For more information or for an application, contact the Hiring Committee:
Jocelyn Furbush (enchina@gofairtrade.net), Becky Crooker (redcrook@wildmail.com), Dan Rosan (drosan@publicinvestment.org).
Jan. 3rd 2 Hour Conference Call to discuss applicants for Organizer position. We will narrow the field to 3 candidates by the end of this call. This will be a two-hour call.
week of Jan.7:
Jan 7- 2 Hour Conference call to interview 3 candidates and a make a final decision about National Organizer. 1st hour will be 3 20-minute interviews. Second hour will be discussion and decision. contact the candidates after the call
week of Jan. 14:
Jan 14: 1 hour Conference Call. Announce and introduce National Organizer. Discussion of criteria for choosing the Core 15 Groups. This conversation is as important as the choice of schools since it will set definite guidelines and goals for the mix of groups we want. For more information on the 15 Core Groups, contact John Rushton (rushtoj@okstate.edu), Becky Crooker (redcrook@wildmail.com) or Eric Romann (coachric1@yahoo.com). Also, discussion on proposal to endorse Ruckus Spring Break Camp focused on the Citigroup campaign.
week of Jan. 21:
Jan 21: 2 hour conference to discuss and decide on the 15 core groups.
week of Jan. 28:
January 28: 1 hour call to finalize list of 15 core groups. Also, discussion and confirmation of the workplan for the National Organizer.
February 1: National Organizer officially begins working.
A note on the workplan for the National Organizer: In the period starting when the Organizer accepts the job (sometime after January 7, when a decision is made) and ending on January 28th, the Organizer will be responsible for talking with each of the Working Group bottomliners and developing two workplans: 1) A weekly and/or monthly workplan outlining the tasks the National Organizer must regularly perform vis-a-vis each working group. 2) A 6-month workplan outlining the long-term goals and expectations of the organizer vis-a-vis each working group. These will be merged into one large workplan for the organizer that will be discussed and finalized on the January 28th conference call.
END NOTES: we did not get to Robert's Proposal For PCs Resources and training. Also I had to leave early and so I do not know if there was a facilitator chosen for the next call, which according to our calendar will be on January 3rd. can someone who was on the call help me out here??? Also, is someone going to talk to Jocelyn about making sure that we have time for these calls?? Or Jocelyn can you just email me about this-thanks!!
From Robert (12/17)
[Whoever is facilitating the call Sunday (5-6 p.m. PST/8-9 p.m. EST #530-642-5373), please add this to the agenda for discussion...since people will need time on the listserve to digest & respond, I suggest we talk about it a little, then try to make a decision on this on a second call.]
After reading Faith's suggestions for STARC (from the CTA debrief), I have an idea of how to better establish STARC not only as a resource generally for local activists, but also as a source for trainings, and to build STARC better as a network of activists.
I think for each major issue STARC is working on (any national campaigns and the strongest project clusters), we should try to find someone in each "region" (defined as the 3-5 group regional clusters under the newest STARC structure) that is willing to serve as a resource for project clustsers (SRI, Fair Trade Coffee, etc.)...someone that people can call or e-mail for assistance, especially people and groups that are fairly new to activism or a particular type of campaign or tactic. It should be someone that is very knowledgable in the areas a particular project cluster covers...
That brings me to the other part. We should also try to get volunteer(s) to be trainer(s) for each region that are willing to train on tactics needed for activism as well as other practical matters as group dynamics, facilitation, etc. I realize with STARC's limited budget that it wouldn't be realistic to expect these people to travel much for trainings, which is why I suggest several per region. (Once STARC gets better funded, I believe we should eventually pay part-time stipends to people to do regional trainings, maybe travel within their region some similiar to the summer program this year, but during the school year like Jonah did last fall before STARC's "founding" conference).
I know we don't quite have the infrastructure to pull this off at the moment, but this is something to build towards between now and the beginning of next fall. The new staffer, the bottomliners for each project cluster, and the NSC should try to find people to fill these roles over time.
This is just a general sketch of things to get discussion started, so I don't really have more specifics than that...I wanted to toss it out there and see what people think.
L8r.
--Robert
---
TODAY'S SIGN THE WORLD IS ENDING
DayTips' Strange News: 12/20/00
info@daytips.com http://www.daytips.com
Thousands of people in Nanjing, China, staged a vigil Tuesday to protest the opening of a restaurant at the site of a wartime monument. The South China Morning Post reported the demonstration came five days after crowds smashed through the restaurant to protest the removal of a monument to the 1937 Nanjing massacre. The builders had taken down the monument to make way for the restaurant. The monument honored 18 monks and nuns killed by Japanese troops during a massacre in which up to 300,000 people died. The newspaper said the protesters were upset by reports that one of the investors in the restaurant was a Japanese businessman and that some of the banquet rooms were decorated in Japanese style and had Japanese names.
---
Associated Press
December 20, 2000 Filed at 3:29 p.m. ET
Editorial Roundup By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Editorial-Rdp.html?pagewanted=all
Excerpts from editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:
Dec. 19
The Tulsa (Okla.) World, on the possibility of clemency for Leonard Peltier:
The hundreds of FBI agents, employees and family members who demonstrated last week at the White House in Washington, D.C., and in El Paso, Texas, are exactly right: Cop-killer Leonard Peltier should remain in prison. President Clinton should dismiss any thought of granting end-of-term executive clemency to Peltier.
Peltier is serving two consecutive life sentences at Leavenworth for his part in the cold-blooded assassinations of FBI agents Ron Williams and Jack Coler at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota on June 26, 1975. The agents were searching for robbery suspects when they were first wounded and then shot in the head and left on a dirt road.
His supporters claim that Peltier is a political prisoner and that evidence against him in his federal trial was fabricated, although there is no credible evidence that either claim is true. Peltier himself has written a couple of books while in prison that attempt to add to the myth.
The fact is that Peltier is a criminal and a murderer who attempts to wrap himself in a mantle of political activism. His victims were decent young men who were doing their jobs as upholders of the law.
To grant clemency -- Clinton has said he will review Peltier's case -- would show an absolute lack of respect for the murdered FBI agents.
---
Turkish protesters halt London Ferris wheel
USA Today
12/20/00- Updated 06:14 PM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/nphoto.htm
LONDON (AP) - Turks protesting their government's bloody raid on prisons brought the world's largest Ferris wheel to a standstill Wednesday by occupying two passenger pods on the landmark London Eye for several hours. At least two of the protesters aboard the Eye had doused themselves with gasoline and threatened to immolate themselves to call attention to the prison raids, which were in their second day Wednesday, a protester told reporters. Police gave various reports of the number of protesters, ranging from 22 to 45.
''This is a protest against the Turkish government which has allowed the military to enter more than 20 prisons across Turkey armed with smoke and fire bombs,'' said protester Sinan Unal, speaking from the Eye by mobile phone. At least 19 people have died in the prison violence, most of them prisoners who set themselves on fire.
Police evacuated the Eye of its other passengers as the drama unfolded. The demonstrators, who occupied pods at opposite sides of the wheel, began peacefully leaving the ride after about four hours and were escorted away by police.
After one pod of protesters was emptied, the other was rotated to the ground and police started removing the other demonstrators, who could be heard chanting slogans.
The Eye, on the south bank of the Thames near the Houses of Parliament, is one of London's tallest structures at 446 feet. It is a popular tourist attraction.
Another group of Turkish demonstrators entered the London offices of the European Commission, and 12 people were arrested. A third group shouted from the visitors' gallery during prime minister's questions in the House of Commons, but Prime Minister Tony Blair and other lawmakers ignored them.
The three incidents all appeared to support radical leftist inmates fighting army raids on Turkish prisons.
Some prisoners used guns and makeshift flame-throwers to fight the soldiers, who are attempting to force them into more stringent living arrangements.
Turkish prisoners often live in overcrowded wards of up to 100 prisoners. Prisoners from political groups often run their wards like indoctrination centers decorated with rebel flags and slogans painted on the walls.
---
Bush meets with Clinton and Gore
Washington Times
December 20, 2000
By Andrew Cain
http://www.washtimes.com/national/default-20001220224958.htm
President-elect George W. Bush yesterday spent two hours with the president he will soon succeed, then met for 15 minutes with his defeated rival, Vice President Al Gore.
The day of conciliatory photo-ops - a show of unity following five weeks of partisan rancor - capped Mr. Bush's whirlwind three-day trip to Washington.
Meeting with President Clinton two years to the day since he was impeached by the House, the candidate who campaigned on a promise to "restore honor and dignity" to the White House struck a deferential pose.
"I'm here to listen," said the Texas governor. "It's such a huge honor to come as the president-elect. I don't think I'll really, fully realize the impact until I swear in."
During the Oval Office meeting, the president-elect sat erect in a wing-backed chair, his hands clasped in his lap. Afterward, Mr. Bush thanked the president for his hospitality, shook hands with Mr. Clinton and called it "a high-energy moment."
Mr. Clinton was all smiles, but turned didactic after Mr. Bush deflected a reporter's question about whether he will inherit a recession.
"Well, a recession is two quarters in a row of negative growth," Mr. Clinton told reporters. "I don't think we're going to have that."
Mr. Clinton's frank private conversation with Mr. Bush dealt almost entirely with foreign policy, with neither broaching White House scandals.
The meeting "was very much focused on policy and not on the past," White House spokesman Jake Siewert said.
Mr. Gore returned from a vacation in the Virgin Islands to greet Mr. Bush yesterday afternoon at the vice president's official residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory.
Mr. Gore shook hands with Mr. Bush as a light snow fell, then patted him on the back and led him inside for the brief session.
"We're going to have a private discussion," Mr. Gore told reporters.
Inside the residence, Mr. Bush and Mr. Gore sat in armchairs before a fire and had a cordial conversation about healing the discord caused by the 36 days of legal wrangling following the Nov. 7 election, Gore spokesman Jim Kennedy said.
"The vice president was very gracious and they both talked about working together to heal the nation," Bush spokesman Gordon Johndroe added.
Mr. Bush's trip to the White House was a symbolic tableau, meant to convey continuity amid the change of power.
Eight years ago, it was Mr. Bush's father who greeted Mr. Clinton for a private talk about foreign policy.
Mr. Clinton met Mr. Bush's motorcade in the driveway at the South Portico at 11:23 a.m. Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush walked side by side past the Rose Garden and along the colonnade to the Oval Office.
The nation's 42nd and 43rd presidents first talked in the Oval Office, then adjourned to the family dining room in the upstairs residence, where they lunched on curried squash soup, filet mignon, Greek salad and an upside-down apple dessert with maple ice cream.
In the Oval Office, Mr. Clinton, his right leg swung over his left knee, dismissed worries about a possible recession and briefly expounded on the economy.
"We couldn't keep up 5 percent growth a year, you know, forever," Mr. Clinton told reporters.
"I think 49 of the 50 blue-chip forecasters think that growth will be 2.5 percent next year, and that'll keep unemployment low," said Mr. Clinton.
"But I think there will be things to be managed. He'll have economic challenges, and you ought to give him a chance to meet them, not try to figure it all out in advance."
In private, said Mr. Siewert, Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush likely talked about the Middle East, North Korea and the Balkans, among other international hot spots.
Mr. Clinton told reporters he has not yet decided whether to visit North Korea before he leaves office. Mr. Siewert said Mr. Clinton will make that decision, but he conferred with Mr. Bush on the topic.
The day's cordial visits masked months of harsh rhetoric.
Last summer, Mr. Clinton mocked Mr. Bush during the Republican National Convention, prompting an angry retort by the GOP's candidate.
Mr. Clinton said at a Democratic fund-raiser in Massachusetts that Mr. Bush's campaign boiled down to a simple message: "How bad can I be? I've been governor of Texas. My daddy was president. I own a baseball team. They like me down there."
Mr. Bush responded by telling reporters that Mr. Clinton was "so desperate to have his legacy intact by getting Al Gore elected, he'll say anything, just like Al Gore will."
Mr. Gore had not met with Mr. Bush since their third and final debate, Oct. 17 in St. Louis.
Mr. Gore called Mr. Bush to concede last Wednesday. That was their first conversation since early morning Nov. 8, when Mr. Gore retracted his initial concession and told the Texas governor not to get "snippy."
As Mr. Bush met with Mr. Clinton, workers in hard hats continued to work in front of the White House, erecting reviewing stands along Pennsylvania Avenue for Mr. Bush's inaugural parade.
An anti-Bush protester outside the White House refused to forget the monthlong saga of chads and dimples.
He wore a Bush mask and held a sign that said: "Hail to the Thief."
------- Onelist (submissions from subscribers)