Mind Vomit by the ikss ~ a journal
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Thursday, Aug. 19, 2004living in the past or on another planet?
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�Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead�
-Lucille Ball
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
--Theodore Roosevelt, 1918
REGISTER TO VOTE
"The time is always right to do what is right"
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The "seven social sins": Knowledge without character,
Science without humanity,
Wealth without work,
Commerce without morality,
Politics without principles,
Pleasure without conscience,
Worship without self-sacrifice."
--Gandhi
"We have not inherited the world from our forfathers -
We have borrowed it from our children."
--Kashmiri, proverb
~~~
BUSH "LIVING IN THE PAST" ON MISSILE DEFENSE
President Bush this week said that "those who oppose ballistic missile system[s] really don't understand the threats of the 21st century. They're living in the past." He then claimed, "We're going to do what's necessary to protect this country."[1] But a look at the President's push for an unproven defense system aimed at preventing a Cold War-style attack while he underfunds counterterrorism/homeland security shows that he is the one whose policies are wholly outdated. It also shows that, in fact, he is not doing everything necessary to protect America.
The missile defense system the President is pushing is designed to shoot down Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) - a weapon experts agree posed a far greater threat to America during the Cold War. By contrast, today the threat of 9/11-style terrorism is far greater than that of an ICBM. A missile defense system does nothing to address that kind of terrorism. Additionally, nonpartisan congressional auditors this year found that the missile defense system was wholly unproven.[2]
Despite these facts, the President is pushing to spend billions on the system, while cutting funding for more pressing national security programs. Specifically, he is pushing a massive 9% cut to the Nunn-Lugar program[3] - the government's central effort to protect loose nuclear material and prevent that material from getting into the hands of terrorists on the international black market. He has also drastically underfunded basic homeland security programs, including grants to first responders.[4]
To illustrate just how out of touch the President has been on national security issues, consider the summer before 9/11: As the White House received warnings of an imminent terrorist (not ICBM) attack, the Bush administration threatened to veto an urgent request to shift $800 million from missile defense into critical counter-terrorism programs.[5]
Sources:
1. "President's Remarks in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania" The White House, 8/17/04
2. "Missile defense called unproven" San Francisco Chronicle, 4/24/04
3. "Fact Sheet: GOP Budget and Homeland Security" HouseDemocrats.gov, 03/25/04
4. "The Bush Record: Homeland Insecurity" Democrats.org
5. What Went Wrong" Newsweek, 05/27/02
Visit www.Misleader.org for more about Bush Administration distortion
~~~
You will also find [the following] alerts in NRDC'S Earth Action Center, which includes tools for taking action easily online, at http://www.nrdc.org/action/
=============
Action Alerts
=============
1. Tell the Bush administration not to eliminate protections for national forest roadless areas
For the last three years, the Bush administration has repeatedly attempted to dismantle the landmark Roadless Area Conservation Rule adopted by the Clinton administration in January 2001. The rule bans virtually all logging and roadbuilding in almost 60 million acres of wild roadless areas in our national forests and represents the largest nationwide public land conservation decision in America's history.
But the Bush administration has already "temporarily" exempted Alaska's Tongass National Forest from roadless rule protections, and is using the exemption to move forward with close to 50 timber sales in roadless areas of the Tongass. Other administration efforts to indirectly kill the rule for the lower 48 states have been unsuccessful, however, so it has now proposed eliminating the rule completely.
Adopting the Bush administration's proposal would revert to prior practices that could result in unbridled development, including logging, roadbuilding and oil and gas drilling, on many of the millions of pristine acres the roadless rule protects in national forests across the country. Areas at risk include the Tongass, California's Sierra Nevada and Los Padres regions and some of the last best habitat for grizzly bears in the Rocky Mountains.
The Bush administration is accepting public comments on its proposal to reverse the roadless rule through September 14th.
== What to do ==
Send a message, before the September 14th comment deadline, insisting that the Bush administration retain and defend the roadless rule.
== Contact information ==
You can send an official comment directly from NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action or use the contact information and sample letter [provided at the NRDC the web site] to send your own message, and please include your own reasons why protecting these last wild forest lands is important to you.
Content Analysis Team - Roadless State Petitions
USDA Forest Service
P.O. Box 221090
Salt Lake City, UT 84122
Fax: 801-517-1014
Email: [email protected]
*
2. Speak out to clean up diesel pollution from ships and trains
The EPA has taken notice of the toxic effects of diesel pollution, including asthma, cancer and premature death, and has been taking steps to address the problem. In 2000, the agency adopted strict emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks that will reduce pollution from new vehicles by 95 percent. In May 2004 the EPA adopted similarly strict standards for "non-road" diesel equipment, such as bulldozers and earthmovers, known for their characteristic sooty plumes. Now the EPA is proposing to develop similar clean emissions standards for commercial diesel ships and locomotives.
Until now diesel ships and trains have been very lightly regulated. But new locomotives emit up to five times more pollution than trucks, and a new tugboat can contribute twice as much smog-forming pollution as a tractor. Many communities live near large rail yards or port terminals and suffer the effects of pollution from these sources.
The EPA projects major public health benefits, including the prevention of thousands of premature deaths, from its rules to reduce diesel pollution from trucks and non-road equipment, and the upcoming rule concerning ships and trains is expected to continue this trend.
The EPA is accepting comments from the public on this phase of the rulemaking process through August 30th.
== What to do ==
Send a message, before the August 30th comment deadline, urging the EPA to develop and adopt strong diesel pollution standards for ships and trains.
== Contact information ==
You can send an official comment directly from NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action. Or use the contact information and sample letter [provided at the NRDC the web site] to send your own message.
Air Docket # OAR-2003-0190
Environmental Protection Agency
Mailcode 6102T
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20460
Fax: 202-260-4400
Email: [email protected]
*
3. Tell the Bush administration not to drill in Colorado's fragile HD Mountains
The HD Mountains span 40,000 acres of the wildest lowland habitat left in Colorado's San Juan Mountains. The HDs (named for two men who operated a cattle ranch in the area during the 19th century) are home to old-growth ponderosa pine forests, with trees up to 500 years old, and sit astride a vital wildlife migration corridor that provides key habitat for black bear, elk, wild turkeys, northern goshawk and mule deer. The area contains thousand-year-old archeological sites, and the currently pristine condition of the Ignacio Creek watershed ranks it among the most significant potential ecological research sites in the San Juan Mountains. For all these reasons, the HDs have been proposed for wilderness protection by a broad coalition of citizen conservation groups.
More than 40,000 wells have already been drilled throughout the San Juan Basin region, and the HD Mountains are the only area in the basin not already criss-crossed by roads and drill pads. But now the Bush administration has proposed drilling 79 well pads and building compressor plants and roads throughout the HDs. The project would destroy the area and eliminate its wilderness characteristics, ravaging 87 percent of the old-growth stands, dumping sediment into clear mountain streams, and disrupting a critical wildlife migration corridor. The project also would dry up drinking water wells in the area.
Despite these facts, the Forest Service did not consider any alternatives that responded to or reflected citizens' concerns about environmental damage and public safety. And for all the damage and destruction it would cause, the project would produce only a trivial amount of gas.
The Forest Service is accepting public comments on the proposed project through September 13th.
== What to do ==
Send a message, before the September 13th comment deadline, urging the Forest Service not to drill in the HD Mountains.
== Contact information ==
You can send an official comment directly from NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action. Or use the contact information and sample letter [provided at the NRDC the web site] to send your own message, and please include your own reasons why protecting the HD Mountains from gas drilling is important to you.
Northern San Juan Basin CBM EIS
USDA FS Content Analysis Team
P. O. Box 221150
Salt Lake City, UT 84122
Email: [email protected]
NRDC distributes three bulletins by email: the CALIFORNIA ACTIVIST NETWORK ACTION ALERT, EARTH ACTION, and LEGISLATIVE WATCH. To subscribe to any or all of them, go to: http://www.nrdcaction.org/join/subscribe.asp
==========
About NRDC
==========
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a nonprofit environmental organization with more than 550,000 members nationwide and a staff of scientists, attorneys and environmental experts. Our mission is to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things.
For more information about NRDC or how to become a member of NRDC, please contact us at:
Natural Resources Defense Council
40 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011
212-727-4511 (voice) / 212-727-1773 (fax)
Email: [email protected]
http://www.nrdc.org
Also visit:
BioGems -- Saving Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org
~~~
Word of the Day for Thursday August 19, 2004
imprimatur im-prih-MAH-tur; -MAY-, noun:
1. Official license or approval to print or publish a book, paper, etc.; especially, such a license issued by the Roman Catholic episcopal authority.
2. Approval; sanction.
3. A mark of approval or distinction.
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