From: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com (abolition-usa-digest) To: abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: abolition-usa-digest V1 #395 Reply-To: abolition-usa-digest Sender: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk abolition-usa-digest Wednesday, October 25 2000 Volume 01 : Number 395 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 13:29:09 -0400 From: ASlater Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Canadian Election Peace Issues ood luck Joan!! Alice At 06:51 PM 10/22/2000 -0400, you wrote: >Dear Peace Groups > >A Canadian election was called today and will take place November 27th. > >As the federal leader of the Green Party of Canada, I will be advocating >the following issues: > >1. Nato - Canada's withdrawal > >2. Nato - Disbanding > >3. Ending the circulation and berthing of nuclear powered and enabled >vessels > >4. the closing of Nanoose Test Range on Vancouver Island > >5. the phasing out of civil nuclear energy, coupled with a fair and just >time-bound transition plan for affected workers and communities > >6. the prohibition of the transfer of plutonium in the form of MOX from the >US and Russia for use in Candu reactors, > >7. to ban the sale of Candu reactors > >8. to link civil nuclear energy with the development of nuclear arms > >9. to support the abolition 2000 initiative > >10. to work to recognize the Security Council as an affirmative action >program for nuclear powers and to transfer its powers to the General >Assembly > >11. to reduce the Canadian Defence budget by 50% and transfer the savings >to health and the environment > >12. to work towards a culture of peace and away from the "cult of war" > >13. the banning of uranium mining > >Incidentally, we are still looking for candidates for the Green Party in >some ridings. > >Joan Russow. > > >- > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" > with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. > For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send > "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. > Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network for the elimination nuclear weapons. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 23:16:18 -0400 From: "Ellen.Thomas" Subject: (abolition-usa) Please re-send message sent to us between October 21 and 23, 2000 Hi, our server was down Saturday through Monday, October 21 through 23rd. If you sent us a message we should receive at Prop1, please re-send it? Thanks! (This applies to NucNews as well as Proposition One messages.) Ellen Thomas ___________________________________________________ Today's News and Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm Submit URL/Article: mailto:NucNews@onelist.com OneList Archives: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews (subscribe online) Other Excellent News-Collecting Sites - DOE Watch - http://www.egroups.com/group/doewatch Downwinders - http://www.egroups.com/group/downwinders Quick Route to U.S. Congress: http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm (Senators' Websites) http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html (Representatives' Websites) http://thomas.loc.gov/ (Pending Legislation - Search) Online Petition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons - http://www.PetitionOnline.com/prop1/petition.html Subscribe to NucNews Briefs: mailto:prop1@prop1.org Distributed without payment for research and educational purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 06:30:52 -0400 From: "Ellen.Thomas" Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews 00/10/24 - Daybook; Presidential Candidates; Activist Announcements Washington Times Daybook, October 24, 2000, Agence France Presse=20 http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-20001024213624.htm 8:30 a.m. =97 Environmental Protection Agency holds a meeting of the= national advisory committee for acute-exposure guideline levels for hazardous substances. Location: Rooms 6332-6336, Nassif Building, Transportation Department headquarters, 400 Seventh St. SW. Contact: 202/554-1404. Coalition for Safe Minds news conference =97 9 a.m. =97The Coalition for= Safe Minds holds a news conference to announce that a brief will be filed in= Federal District Court to obtain an immediate recall of all pediatric vaccines containing thimerosal or other toxic mercury compounds. Location: Murrow= Room, National Press Club, 14th and F streets NW. Contact: 716/271-0212. Debate =97 noon =97 American University's Washington College of Law holds= a debate on whether Congress is giving too much law-making power to federal agencies. Location: Room 603, Washington College of Law, 4801 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Contact: 202/274-4279. - -- PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES - - George W. Bush -=20 http://www.GeorgeWBush.com - http://64.92.133.170/Calendar.asp Tuesday: Illinois, Tennessee, and Florida. Wednesday: Florida. Thursday: Pennsylvania and Michigan. Friday: he visits several Michigan cities via= bus. [Here's an interesting allegation: THE BUSH-CHENEY DRUG EMPIRE, by Michael= C. Ruppert - http://www.copvcia.com/bush-cheney-drugs.htm - et] - - Al Gore -=20 http://www.algore2000.com/ Travels to Shreveport, La., and Nashville, Tenn. - - Ralph Nader -=20 http://www.votenader.org/campaignevents.html Thursday, October 26 - Cleveland, OH Speech - Time:TBA University Center Auditorium, Cleveland State University - -- ANNOUNCEMENTS -- - - CHERNOBYLS TO FALL FROM SKY? Magnetic rail systems and N-reactors among options for propulsion http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/Oct2000/22-e13344.html Former ISCOS [Institute For International Security & Cooperation In Outer Space] Director, Connie Van Pratt, now with NASA, described the very real potential for "Chernobyls falling from the sky" if reactors are ever= deployed in outer space. For people wanting to become active in this area see the web site for "The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power In Space" at: http://www.space4peace.org and/or call in Gainesville, Florida: 352-337-9274= =20 Marshall scientists look for cheaper way of going into space. [From: "Bill Smirnow" ] - - PLUTONIUM & NUCLEAR WEAPON STORAGE A Simple and Practical Plan should be installed NOW to implement the= retirement of RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS. Low Cost Climate Controlled Pre-Engineered= Buildings that are SAFE SECURE and ON-SITE In-the- Ground are available with OFF-SITE MONITORING will at least take care of SOME CURRENT PROBLEMS. It can start= with the Russian Submarine project and other similair problems as Nuclear Weapons are retired. Visit www.plutoniumstorage.com & http://www.nukewaste.com for information.=20 Will be gad to discuss further on e-mail address. [From: Joel Stahl ] - - Ralph Nader's Statement on Nuclear Power=20 It is time to end the use of nuclear power in the United States.=20 uclear energy is too dangerous, too inefficient, too costly, and= poses too many long-term hazards.=20 ather than learning from Chernobyl, the U.S. nuclear industry argues that this kind of accident could not happen here. In fact, a nuclear= accident could occur at a U.S. power plant that would release radiation comparable to that released in Chernobyl. U.S. reactors are much more dangerous than the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the nuclear industry suggest. At= least five reactors in this country have experienced partial core-melt accidents. Aside from catastrophic accidents, reactors are prone to numerous small accidents, as well as "routine" releases of small amounts of radioactivity.= =20 eactors also produce high-level radioactive wastes with intractable storage problems. High-level nuclear waste will be hazardous for more than 200,000 years-longer than our ability to isolate it from the biosphere. It= is technologically impossible and scientifically irresponsible to `dispose' of nuclear waste. Even attempts to dispose of low-level radioactive waste have failed. Every low-level radioactive waste dump in this country leaks.=20 he Department of Energy is considering Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a site for "permanent disposal." A leak could contaminate the groundwater= beneath the Mountain and jeopardize the health of nearby residents. An earthquake in the area (and since 1976 there have been hundreds of serious seismic events within a 50-mile radius) could cause a rise in groundwater levels that would flood the repository.=20 If the Yucca Mountain site is approved, waste will be transported= there through 43 states, past the homes, workplaces and schools of 50 million Americans. The Department of Energy estimates that at least 50 and as many= as 310 accidents would occur. An Energy Department study found that a severe accident in a rural area could contaminate a 42-square-mile area, require= over a year to "clean up", and cost $620 million.=20 oth Democratic and Republican administrations have treated nuclear power as an official, government-sponsored technology. The NRC has functioned as= an industry promoter rather than regulator, imperiling public health. This must stop.=20 We should:=20 =B7 Phase out commercial nuclear reactors within five years, and set a= timetable for phasing out other dangerous nuclear technologies, nuclear-waste incinerators, food irradiation and all military and commercial uses of= depleted uranium.=20 =B7 Ban long-distance transport of high-level nuclear waste.=20 =B7 Assure that stored nuclear waste is continuously monitored, with public access to monitoring data, unless and until a method can be found to assure= its isolation from the biosphere for the duration of its hazardous life. The government should not relieve companies that generate nuclear waste from= their responsibility for its=20 dangers.=20 =B7 Redirect federal funding from nuclear energy research to renewable= energy technology.=20 =B7 Stop federal government promotion of nuclear energy, and U.S. companies selling nuclear technology, internationally.=20 - - A Canadian election was called today and will take place November 27th. As the federal leader of the Green Party of Canada, I will be advocating the following issues: 1. Nato - Canada's withdrawal 2. Nato - Disbanding 3. Ending the circulation and berthing of nuclear powered and enabled= vessels 4. the closing of Nanoose Test Range on Vancouver Island 5. the phasing out of civil nuclear energy, coupled with a fair and just time-bound transition plan for affected workers and communities 6. the prohibition of the transfer of plutonium in the form of MOX from the= US and Russia for use in Candu reactors, 7. to ban the sale of Candu reactors 8. to link civil nuclear energy with the development of nuclear arms9. to support the abolition 2000 initiative 10. to work to recognize the Security Council as an affirmative action=20 program for nuclear powers and to transfer its powers to the General Assembly11. to reduce the Canadian Defence budget by 50% and transfer the savings to health and the environment 12. to work towards a culture of peace and away from the "cult of war" 13. the banning of uranium mining Incidentally, we are still looking for candidates for the Green Party in some ridings. Joan Russow. =20 - - Got 20 more seconds? Send this along to your friends!=20 The Presidential Campaign is about the future, right? Then why isn't anyone talking about the 36,000 nuclear weapons that exist today - and that= thousands of them are ready to be launched in minutes? The U.S. arsenal alone has the equivalent of 150,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs, costing taxpayers $30 billion a year!=20 Enough is enough! We can do something to reduce nuclear weapons and create a safer future.=20 Play the DontBlowIt flash game! And if you haven't yet - send your= free postcard telling the presidential candidates "Don't Blow It!" http://www.DontBlowIt.org=20 Please pass this on to your friends, and encourage them to pass it on as well. It's a fun way to learn more about nuclear dangers and to make your= voice heard.=20 For our kids' future, help make nuclear weapons a thing of the past!= If you don't have web access, just email laura@emediacy.org for email instructions. [Laura Kriv, WWW.DontBlowIt.org. mailto:laura@emediacy.org] ______________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * Online Petition - http://www.PetitionOnline.com/prop1/petition.html NucNews - Today and Archives - http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm ______________________________________________________________ - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 23:34:44 -0700 (PDT) From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) new on tri-valley cares' web site dear colleagues: !!NEW!! On the Tri-Valley CAREs website at: www.igc.org/tvc, please find the October Citizen's Watch Newsletter. The lead article this month is entitled, "Senate Restrains NIF, Conference Committee Lets it Loose." It discusses the National Ignition Facility surviving the budget ax, but just barely. This article is an overview of the progression of the debate. Excerpted quotes from the Senate floor debate and other statements are included. While disappointment was expressed regarding the $199 million Congress gave to NIF, Tri-Valley CAREs acknowledged that public education efforts had raised the visibility of NIF, especially in the Senate and also noted that DOE and LLNL got a little less than what they had wanted for NIF. Twenty-five million is coming out of non-NIF programs at LLNL. Other programs will be hurt. Tri-Valley CAREs speculates this will foster discontent among scientists with worthy programs. Make your voice heard for 20 cents, 80 cents in total, with postcards. Four postcards, to be exact. They point out the pattern of deception, lies, fraud and abuse, detailed in the General Accounting Office's August 2000 report on the NIF and call for a criminal investigation now. (These will be posted on the website soon.) 3) Also, already available on the site, is an article entitled, "Secret Sites Poisoned in Atomic Quest",which summarizes a USA Today investigative report where 100,000 pages of declassified documents show that the U.S. hired around 300 private companies in its early bomb production enterprise, and that nearly one-third of them handled large amounts of radioactive and toxic materials even though basic protective equipment and information on hazards was often lacking. These secret sites were largely abandoned as the major government-owned, contractor-operated facilities of the nuclear weapons complex came on line--Hanford, Savannah River, Rocky Flats, Livermore Lab and so on. 4) An article entitled; "Sick Workers Wait" provides an update on whether workers, made ill by exposure to toxic and radioactive materials in the nation's bomb factories and labs, will get compensation from the U.S. government. Citizen's Alerts briefly explain upcoming events, including a study group to be held Nov. 2, 2000 @ 7 PM, at the Tri-Valley CAREs office entitled "Nuclear Weapons and Your Health" -- everything you ever wanted to know about nuclear weapons and possible health effects but were afraid to ask. enjoy Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the Abolition 2000 global network for the elimination of nuclear weapons, the U.S. Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and the Back From the Brink campaign to get nuclear weapons taken off hair-trigger alert. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 07:06:27 -0400 From: Ellen Thomas Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews 00/10/25 - Daybook; Presidential Candidates; Activist Announcements Washington Times Daybook, October 25, 2000, Agence France Presse=20 http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-20001025212012.htm Secret Russian deal =97 10:30 a.m. =97 The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's European affairs and Near Eastern and South Asian affairs subcommittees hold a joint hearing focusing on recent revelations that Vice President Al Gore signed secret agreements with then-Russian Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin, in which he promised not to implement U.S. laws= requiring sanctions for Russian weapons proliferation to Iran, and then withheld the information from Congress. Location: 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Contact: 202/224-4651. =20 USS Cole hearing =97 2 p.m. =97 House Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen. Location: 2118 Rayburn House Office Building. Contact: 202/225-4151. 9 a.m. =97 Senate Armed Services Committee holds a hearing to receive testimony on issues related to the attack on the USS Cole. Location: 216= Hart Senate Office Building. Contact: 202/224-3871. U.S.-Cuba trade conference =97 all day =97 The Center for= International Policy holds a conference on "The Potential for U.S.-Cuba Trade in= Agricultural Commodities." Location: National Press Club, 14th and F streets NW. Contact: 202/232-3317. Russia briefing =97 8:30 a.m. =97 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty= holds a briefing on "Old Problems, A New Agenda? Russia Under Putin." The speaker is Donald Jensen, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty associate broadcasting= director. Location: Fourth Floor Conference Room, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW. Contact: 202/457-6949. Pakistan discussion =97 5 p.m. =97 The Johns Hopkins University Paul= H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) presents a program titled "Pakistan: Friend or Foreign Policy Problem?" Stephen Cohen, Brookings Institution, and Zalmay Khalizad, Rand Corp., participate. Location: Auditorium, Rome Building, SAIS, 1619 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Contact: 202/663-5626. Awards dinner =97 7 p.m. =97 The Hudson Institute holds its 11th= annual James H. Doolittle Award Dinner. The honoree is former Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger. Location: Pavilion, Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania= Ave. NW. Contact: 315/549-4150. [Anyone know why Weinberger is receiving an award at this late date? et - mailto:prop1@prop1.org] - -- PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES - - George W. Bush -=20 http://www.GeorgeWBush.com - http://64.92.133.170/Calendar.asp Wednesday: Florida. Thursday: Pennsylvania and Michigan. Friday: he visits several Michigan cities via bus. - - Al Gore -=20 http://www.algore2000.com/ - - Ralph Nader -=20 http://www.votenader.org/campaignevents.html Thursday, October 26 - Cleveland, OH Speech - Time:TBA University Center Auditorium, Cleveland State University - -- ANNOUNCEMENTS -- - - Next Tuesday (Oct. 31) at 9pm EST (check local listings to confirm time),= 60=20 Minutes II on CBS will air a special two-part program on Star Wars, focusing= =20 on Nira Schwartz, the whistleblower at TRW, and Dr. Ted Postol, the MIT=20 physicist whose letter to the White House detailing inherent weaknesses in= =20 the Star Wars program was classified as secret. [From: "Jim Bridgman" ] - - 'Blue glow' reported at Paducah plant 10.25.00 - A "blue glow" reported by workers at the Paducah Gaseous= Diffusion Plant could indicate nuclear reactions occurred underground in a top-secret burial pit for atomic-weapons parts, according to an internal memo obtained= by The Paducah Courier-Journal. http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2000/0010/25/001025blue.html Workers were unprotected in contaminated buildings 10.25.00 - Security guards and firefighters at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant during the 1980s and possibly the early 1990s conducted anti-terrorist training inside heavily contaminated buildings without protective clothing= or equipment, a plant memo obtained by The Courier-Journal shows. http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2000/0010/25/001025risk.html - - Update on Plowshares Activists - SAM HOCHSTETLER - 30 DAYS, KRISTEN BETTS= - 60 DAYS, GREG BOERTJE-OBED - 6 MONTHS, ALL ARE IN THE CUSTODY OF THE BUREAU= OF PRISONS BECAUSE THEY THREATENED MILITARY MORALE=20 Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 21:43:56 +0100=20 From: disarmnow =20 On May 20, 2000, 3 fine, loving human beings, recognizing the= reality that our country is under siege by a force more lethal than Hitler's= Germany, went to Andrews Air Force Base open house air show. Sam Hochstetler and Greg Boertje-Obed stood in front of a B52 holding a banner with the simple but prophetic message "swords into plowshares." Kristin Betts handed out= leaflets with only 6 words: "Weapons of destruction. Nothing to celebrate." Within moments they were arrested for trespassing....=20 On October 23, 2000, Kristin, Sam and Greg appeared before= Magistrate Day at the district court on base. In more than 3 hours of testimony by 6 witnesses, the prosecutor built his case around the accusations that the 3= were participating in a political protest with a message intended to deteriorate= the military's morale thereby hindering them from carrying out their mission of defending the US in the event of war. The defendants cross examined the government witnesses by asking them to define a political protest. Their response - what you people were doing. The defendants asked if chaplains= were allowed on base and were they allowed to read from the Bible. They asked if= the messages of the Bible were considered threatening to the morale of the military. They asked the government witnesses if they recognized the source= of the message on the banner. They did not, so Sam read from Isaiah 2:4..... During the sentencing phase, the prosecutor argued that extreme consequences needed to be imposed because of the severity of the crime. He argued that this was not a simple trespass but represented a serious threat= to this country's abilities to participate in war making activities. He warned= of the government's need to deter domestic terrorism and suggested that unless severe consequences were imposed, the government would lose the ability to maintain law, order and control over its people.... The Supreme Court ruled that freedom of speech is not protected on military installations when such expressions of speech pose a danger to military loyalty, discipline or morale. Expressions of speech affirming the military and its missions are, however, welcomed on base at any time. We= also learned that if those 6 simple words on the leaflets and 3 prophetic words= on the banner constitute such a threat, then the pen really is mightier than= the sword. For those that place their faith in the might of armaments, I would= say are in deep trouble. You can write to them at: Montgomery Co. Detention Center.=20 1307 Seven Locks Rd. Rockville MD 20854=20 They were sentenced by: Magistrate Charles Day U.S.Courthouse=20 6500 Cherrywood Lane Greenbelt MD 20770 -if you want to drop him a line. ALSO Prison for 2 more good folks=20 PETER DE MOTT AND FELTON DAVIS IN PRISON ... IS IT THEY - OR THE PENTAGON - THAT IS ABOVE & BEYOND THE LAW?=20 Today Peter Demott of Ithaca, NY and Felton Davis of New York City were sentenced in the Federal court in Alexandria, Va. for their participation in= an Hiroshima commemoration vigil at the Pentagon in August of 1999. The two= were charged with refusing to obey a police officer who ordered them to leave the steps of the Pentagon. They were not blocking or impeding traffic in any= way. They were simply holding banners and praying. Peter and Felton both received= 60 day sentences; Felton received an additional 30 days for probation violation= - consecutive to the 60 days otherwise imposed. The prosecution asked that= they be given time in prison because it's clear that they feel that they are= somehow above the law and that limits that others accept don't apply to them.=20 Felton had no prepared text for sentencing and was able to respond= to the condemning spirit that the prosecution expressed. He pointed out that= both he and Peter were there for sentencing; they were ready to take the= conseqences for their actions; they always have. Further, he said, it is the Pentagon= that feels above the the law; it is the Pentagon that accepts no limits. This is manifest by their actions around the world. It's unclear, as of now, as to where Felton and Peter will be serving.... - - New York - Lazio and Clinton Find Foreign Policy Differences Only on the Prickly Margins By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS, October 24, 2000 New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/24/politics/24FORE.html ... On close analysis, differences emerge in the way Mr. Lazio and= Mrs. Clinton view America's role in the world.=20 She is a proponent of internationalism, contending that Americans should not limit their notion of the national interest to the traditional areas of military conflict, terrorism and trade. The United States' foreign policy objectives, she says, should include the fight for women's rights, as well= as the struggles against deadly diseases, extreme poverty, forced migration and environmental degradation. Mrs. Clinton did not respond to questions submitted by The Times, but in a speech last week before the Council on Foreign Relations, she said her expansive view was where realpolitik met "real-life politics."=20 "There is a refrain that runs through some of those arguments," Mrs. Clinton said, "that we should intervene with force only when we face= splendid little wars that we surely can win, preferably by overwhelming force in a relatively short period of time. To those who believe we should become= involved only if it is easy to do, I think we have to say, `America has never and= should not ever shy away from the hard task if it is the right one.' " The debate over when America should become involved in foreign= strife surfaced again last week as a presidential campaign issue when George W.= Bush's top national security aide, Condoleezza Rice, declared that a Bush administration would withdraw United States peacekeeping troops from the Balkans. Vice President Al Gore denounced such a move, saying it would deal= a "damaging blow" to NATO. Mr. Lazio supports what he calls "global engagement," but on a more limited level. He stops short of backing Mr. Bush's call for a withdrawal from= Bosnia and Kosovo, but warns that Mrs. Clinton's attempt to broaden American objectives overseas is too costly and could distract the military from its principal mission. "I would take exception with her if she is trying to suggest that we ought to commit troops any time somebody asks," he said. "We've got to make some very tough decisions, and those decisions include having to say no sometimes."=20 Mr. Lazio said the United States should commit troops overseas only when= there is a clear military objective and an exit strategy.=20 In 1994, he joined House leaders in calling for a withdrawal of American troops from Haiti. Two years later, he supported a ban on sending ground= troops to Bosnia, and this year he voted to withhold payment for American= operations in Kosovo until the president certified that Europeans were meeting specific burden-sharing targets by April 2001. Mr. Lazio did support airstrikes= against Yugoslavia last year in defense of Kosovo Albanians.=20 Both candidates are proponents of free trade. Mr. Lazio voted in support of enforcing trade rules through the World Trade Organization, backed the= North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, and sought to extend= some Nafta benefits to Central America and the Caribbean.=20 Mrs. Clinton qualifies her support for trade expansion, asserting= that it is ultimately self-defeating for the United States to try to remain an "island of prosperity" that ignores depressed living standards abroad. "Ensuring fair labor standards, environmental protection and transparency in international organizations should go hand in hand with free trade," she= said to the Council on Foreign Relations. Mrs. Clinton, who said she had visited every continent except Antarctica since moving to the White House, discusses foreign affairs with confidence= and polish, whether examining nuclear tensions on the Indian subcontinent or sympathizing with Colombia's president in the battle against= narcoguerrillas. Mr. Lazio's work in Congress has been concentrated in the House= Banking and Commerce Committees. Although he has not yet appeared before the Council= on Foreign Relations, the elite East Side forum for foreign policy devotees, he burnished his credentials last week by winning the endorsement of Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state.=20 Both candidates have flipped on important positions in recent years. Mr. Lazio, for instance, voted in July against forgiving hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign debt held by developing nations. Three months later, he= came out in support of debt relief. The congressman's stance on national missile defense has also changed. He voted against a bill last year that called on= the president to deploy the missile shield as soon as technologically feasible.= He now supports deployment of the shield..... Hispanic leaders complain that they have largely been ignored by the candidates, written off by Mr. Lazio and taken for granted by Mrs. Clinton. One exception has been Puerto Ricans in New York, who saw Mrs.= Clinton twice clash with her husband over policy. She initially opposed his offer of clemency last year to 16 members of the Puerto Rican independence group= known as F.A.L.N. who had been imprisoned, provided that they renounced violence. Then, facing the anger of many Puerto Ricans in New York, she backtracked, saying she had spoken too soon. She then called for an end to military= target practice on the island of Vieques off eastern Puerto Rico. Mr. Lazio has opposed clemency for activists he considers to be "terrorists," aides said, but he supports ending target practice on Vieques. ______________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * Online Petition - http://www.PetitionOnline.com/prop1/petition.html NucNews - Today and Archives - http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm ______________________________________________________________ - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 09:19:29 -0500 From: "Boyle, Francis" Subject: (abolition-usa) RE: Update on Greg, Kristin and Sam Dear Liz: We already live in a police state under the guise of the "wars" on "drugs" and "terrorism". We are now moving toward outright fascism. My love to you all. Francis. Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954(voice) 217-244-1478(fax) fboyle@law.uiuc.edu - -----Original Message----- From: disarmnow [mailto:disarmnow@erols.com] Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2000 3:35 PM To: Abolition-USA Subject: Update on Greg, Kristin and Sam Here the update promised last night. GREG, KRISTIN, AND SAM IN PRISON BECAUSE THEY THREATENED MILITARY MORALE! We sometimes ask ourselves what would we do if we were living in Nazi Germany. What would we do if we were living in a country where the occupying regime was committing unspeakable atrocities in which we were forced to be complicit either directly or indirectly? If it were obvious that we were living under such an occupying force, would we be more compelled to resist? Would we be more willing to turn to our God for strength and wisdom and would we be able to turn to each other for community and support? On May 20, 2000, 3 fine, loving human beings, recognizing the reality that our country is under siege by a force more lethal than Hitler's Germany, went to Andrews Air Force Base open house air show. Sam Hochstetler and Greg Boertje-Obed stood in front of a B52 holding a banner with the simple but prophetic message "swords into plowshares." Kristin Betts handed out leaflets with only 6 words: "Weapons of destruction. Nothing to celebrate." Within moments they were arrested for trespassing. On October 23, 2000, Kristin, Sam and Greg appeared before Magistrate Day at the district court on base. In more than 3 hours of testimony by 6 witnesses, the prosecutor built his case around the accusations that the 3 were participating in a political protest with a message intended to deteriorate the military's morale thereby hindering them from carrying out their mission of defending the US in the event of war. The defendants cross examined the government witnesses by asking them to define a political protest. Their response - what you people were doing. The defendants asked if chaplains were allowed on base and were they allowed to read from the Bible. They asked if the messages of the Bible were considered threatening to the morale of the military. They asked the government witnesses if they recognized the source of the message on the banner. They did not, so Sam read from Isaiah 2:4. They each took their turn in testifying. They spoke about hoping to warn people of our country's course of destruction, of hoping to raise questions and dialogue, of following conscience and answering to a higher authority. They spoke of being human beings trying to bring a human message to a portion of humanity that allows inhuman acts to proceed forward blindly. Needless to say, the 3 were convicted. During the sentencing phase, the prosecutor argued that extreme consequences needed to be imposed because of the severity of the crime. He argued that this was not a simple trespass but represented a serious threat to this country's abilities to participate in war making activities. He warned of the government's need to deter domestic terrorism and suggested that unless severe consequences were imposed, the government would lose the ability to maintain law, order and control over its people. SO - SAM HOCHSTETLER - 30 DAYS, KRISTEN BETTS - 60 DAYS, GREG BOERTJE-OBED - 6 MONTHS, ALL ARE IN THE CUSTODY OF THE BUREAU OF PRISONS. We learned a few things as a result of this ordeal. The Supreme Court ruled that freedom of speech is not protected on military installations when such expressions of speech pose a danger to military loyalty, discipline or morale. Expressions of speech affirming the military and its missions are, however, welcomed on base at any time. We also learned that if those 6 simple words on the leaflets and 3 prophetic words on the banner constitute such a threat, then the pen really is mightier than the sword. For those that place their faith in the might of armaments, I would say are in deep trouble. You can write to them at: Montgomery Co. Detention Center. 1307 Seven Locks Rd. Rockville MD 20854 They were sentenced by: Magistrate Charles Day U.S.Courthouse 6500 Cherrywood Lane Greenbelt MD 20770 -if you want to drop him a line. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 13:13:23 -0800 From: Abolition 2000 Subject: (abolition-usa) New on the Abolition 2000 website! Visit the Abolition 2000 website and see what's new! Http://www.abolition2000.org Grassroots Newsletter October 2000 http://www.abolition2000.org/news/0010.html Abolition 2000 Report Card 2000 by Janet Bloomfield and Pamela Meidell http://www.abolition2000.org/reports/reportcard2000.html Take action on the ICJ Follow-up Resolution http://www.abolition2000.org/action/ICJfollowupresolution.html Reviewing Clinton Remarks on NMD From Theater Missile Defense (TMD) to National Missile Defense (NMD) A Looming Danger NGOs Must Resist By Bahig Nassar http://www.abolition2000.org/issues/BahigarticleBMD.html - -- Carah Lynn Ong Coordinator, Abolition 2000 "He aha te nui mea o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata" (A Maori saying) Translation: "What is the most important thing in the world? It is the people, the people, the people." PMB 121, 1187 Coast Village Rd, Suite 121 Santa Barbara, California 93108 Tel: (805) 965-3443 Fax: (805) 568-0466 email: admin@abolition2000.org URL: http://www.abolition2000.org - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 19:21:31 -0700 (PDT) From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) Reveal a secret, face prison/Sac. Bee this new law could have a huge, negative impact on all our organizations' work to monitor the nuclear weapons complex and other government activities. read on ... mk Reveal a secret, face prison: Leaking any classified data will be illegal for first time By Michael Doyle Bee Washington Bureau Published Oct. 24, 2000 WASHINGTON -- A sweeping new law about to be signed by President Clinton, drafted without public hearings, for the first time makes it illegal to leak any classified information. "Because of the seriousness of the leaks and the releasing of classified information, we needed to take some additional steps," said Rep. Gary Condit, a Ceres Democrat who serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. "We hope it helps." Condit said he and other Democrats attempted to modify the measure to account for some concerns. But the full implications of what critics are calling America's first Official Secrets Act remain unclear -- for whistle-blowers, for journalists, and for security officials themselves. Consider, for one, just how many secrets America keeps. The number is literally inestimable, Steven Garfinkle of the federal Information Security Oversight Office said Friday. But among documents more than 25 years old, there are well over 1 billion classified pages -- enough, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York said earlier this year, to fill 441 Washington Monuments. Some still-secret documents date back decades, such as World War I-era documents concerning secret ink. The old documents are being declassified, but new secrets also are being created. Last year, 169,735 new documents -- each potentially spanning many pages -- were given their first classification. An additional 8 million documents got a fresh classification stamp last year when they included a previously classified secret. Release of any one of these, regardless of the topic, would subject the leaker to imprisonment for up to three years under the new law. "This is like a sea change," said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies. "Congress has never even gone half this far." Until now, criminal sanctions have targeted "information relating to the national defense" that the leaker "has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States." It is also already illegal to leak information about codes and ciphers, and to make public the names of U.S. spies. Prosecutions are rare. A Nixon administration effort to prosecute leakers of the Pentagon Papers, historical documents describing origins of the Vietnam War, collapsed because of prosecutorial misconduct. A notable 1980s conviction involved U.S. naval analyst Samuel Loring Morison, who leaked "top secret" photographs of a Soviet aircraft carrier to Jane's Defense Weekly. Morison was not a spy; he wanted to impress a potential employer. But in upholding Morison's conviction, an appellate court in 1988 cited an argument equally relevant to the stricter new law. "We do not think the First Amendment offers asylum ... merely because the transmittal was to a representative of the press," the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote. The judges, as is common, studied the legislative history of the law used to convict Morison. Such an examination, though, might prove difficult with the new law. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held a hearing on the anti-leak proposal, but it was classified. The testimony of CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General Janet Reno remains secret. "We think the CIA has been pushing this for years, but we don't really know," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Until now, civil penalties have applied for those leaking classified documents outside the category that includes national defense concerns, spy naming and code breaking. A leaker might be fired, or lose a security clearance. Hugh DeWitt, for instance, is a theoretical physicist who's worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Berkeley for 43 years. Now on emeritus status at the nuclear weapons lab, he recalled Friday his periodic run-ins with security officials who threatened to yank his top-rated Q clearance. Once, he was slapped with a security infraction -- and potential loss of his clearance -- for writing a story lab officials claimed relied on classified information. In reality, it was based on newspaper articles. "So often, the classification stamp is used to suppress information about policy, and not technical things," DeWitt said. Once, in a separate court case, "they called classified some of my citations to information that's in basic textbooks," he added. Under the new law, instead of losing clearances, such workers could be prosecuted. "I think the trend is alarming," said Marylia Kelley, executive director of the Livermore-based activist group Tri-Valley CAREs. "When you have blanket rules like this, it has a chilling effect on the information that people need." In the 1980s, Kelley recalled, the Energy Department classified two environmental assessments examining the consequences of building a controversial Lawrence Livermore uranium-vaporizing facility. Energy Department accident records, too, have been regularly classified. Prosecutors would not have to show potential national security damage for leaks of such accident reports or environmental assessment, but only that they were "properly classified" according to criteria set by executive order. "The executive branch," CIA Director Tenet testified two years ago, "leaks like a sieve." Within the past week, for instance, the Washington Times ran a front-page story based on a still-classified letter sent to Vice President Al Gore from Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. The Washington Post offered a front-page story based on a CIA review of Chinese military documents. Earlier this year, Reuters used classified documents to report on an American hydrogen bomb lost off Greenland in 1968. The New York Times in April used a still-classified CIA history to report on the agency's 1953 role in toppling the Iranian government. As with Samuel Morison, the fact that these secrets ended up in the press wouldn't be a strong defense against prosecution under the new law. All of this has reporters, among others, wondering what the new law will mean for them. "I'm not sure what impact it will have," Washington Times national security reporter Bill Gertz said Friday, "but I don't think it's a good thing." Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the Abolition 2000 global network for the elimination of nuclear weapons, the U.S. Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and the Back From the Brink campaign to get nuclear weapons taken off hair-trigger alert. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ End of abolition-usa-digest V1 #395 *********************************** - To unsubscribe to $LIST, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe $LIST" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.