Copyright (c) 1999

Subject: Down there are people just like us -- STOP CASSINI #114

Date: April 15th, 1999 There are just 70 days before the flyby of Venus, June 24th, 1999.

Hi!

Long-time readers of this newsletter know that we have done several reports on the use of Depleted Uranium. (#74, #51, and several other mentions.) Here is a report on its deplorable current use in Yugoslavia.

Sincerely, Russell Hoffman, Founder and Editor, STOP CASSINI newsletter

Today's Subjects:

• The use of Depleted Uranium in Yugoslavia
• Yeltsin is right to worry about this ecological disaster
• Cassini takes a hit
• Suggested contact list from LOVEARTH
• Two words that can stop Cassini
• What you can do today to help stop the flyby
• Subscription information

The use of Depleted Uranium in Yugoslavia

*** INCOMING EMAIL ***

email: FAIR-L@AMERICAN.EDU

FAIR-L Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting Media analysis critiques and news reports

ACTION ALERT: NATO'S "ASTONISHING" RADIOACTIVE WEAPONS

On April 1st ABC's Nightline did a segment that criticized the one-sided coverage of the war--on Serbian TV. Reviewing supposedly absurd claims ABC aired what it described as "this astonishing claim" from a Belgrade news account:

They even use radioactive weapons...which are forbidden by the Geneva Convention.

Astonishing perhaps--but is it true? The fact is the United States is using radioactive weapons against Yugoslavia--and this threatens to have health consequences in Kosovo for decades to come.

The weapons in question are anti-tank shells and bullets made of depleted uranium (DU) a toxic radioactive byproduct of nuclear fission. Favored for their ability to destroy tanks this ammunition is carried by such U.S. forces as A-10 Warthogs and Apache helicopters both of which received substantial media attention when introduced into the war.

Ironically only the day before Nightline's broadcast (3/30/99) ABC World News Tonight had reported the same "astonishing" news that Serbian TV had: Describing the A-10 ABC's John Martin noted that "it could pierce any armor by firing depleted uranium bullets at 3 900 rounds a minute."

But depleted uranium has received almost no sustained media attention. One of the few reporters to discuss the substance Kathleen Sullivan of the San Francisco Examiner (4/1/99) reported that Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon refused to answer questions about its use by A-10s saying operational details were "verboten from this podium."

Nonetheless the health risks posed by inhaling the dust from depleted uranium as well as the contamination of the physical environment have raised the concerns of numerous public health and veterans rights groups.

The World Health Organization is still studying the high cancer rates that plague southern Iraq where much of the fighting during the Gulf War took place. Likewise DU's possible role in causing or exacerbating Gulf War Syndrome is still a topic of fierce debate.

CBS's Mark Phillips recently presented in-depth reporting on the possible health effects of DU in Iraq (12/1/98 12/10/98). Since the U.S. began using DU in Yugoslavia however no network has returned to the subject.

*** ACTION: Please contact national and local media aNd urge them to investigate the use of depleted uranium as a weapon in Yugoslavia. During the Gulf War activists raised questions about the potential consequences of DU but these issues were not explored until inexplicable illnesses began showing up in U.S. veterans and Iraqi children. This pattern should not be repeated in Kosovo.

ABC-- Nightline mailto: Niteline@abc.com

CBS News mailto: audsvcs@cbs.com

For more media contacts go to http://www.fair.org/media-contact-list.html

For more on the current war in Yugoslavia go to http://www.fair.org/international/yugoslavia.html

END OF INCOMING EMAIL

Like a sign someone was holding up in Belgrade said (in English, and as shown on Serbian News service, translated and shown on CSPAN) "Down here are people just like you."

Serbian people are just like us. Their children will not know why we bombed their parents when they have statistically significant outbreaks of infant deformities from the use of D.U. bullets, as is happening right now in Iraq.

The health effects won't happen just because we bombed their infrastructure back to the 15th Century. That is causing health problems to be sure, but those can be rebuilt, with time and money. But poisoning the Earth -- that can never be undone.

Where once the Serbs would have only a memory of a war (or two) to hate people with, now they will have the constant reminder of localized birth defects, cancers, and leukemias for generations to come. This is what we are inflicting on the Serbian people right now. And they may be wrong right now, their troops may be committing atrocities RIGHT NOW to refugees leaving Kosovo (and so might we, have bombed them once or twice by accident), but the average Serb is no monster, any more than you or I or anyone else is. So we should not use weapons, if war is justified at all (I cannot tell), which would destroy the land for centuries to come, and that is what D. U. weapons do!

America, THIS will be what OUR children will face if we do not stop the use of these weapons! They will face not a faint and diminishing anger, but a growing and permanent hatred of those who poisoned their beautiful countryside, for whatever reason.

We must stop automatically bombing the entire infrastructures of every nation we decide we want to fight. Sewage plants, hydroelectric dams -- Serbia has two "research" nuclear reactors -- will we bomb those too? Who are we fighting? People yet to be born?

We must stop using D.U. weapons. Their temporary advantage in battle leaves an open wound which will fester long after the wars are over.

Contact your congresspeople TODAY and tell them you do not want D. U. weapons used in Yugoslavia -- or anywhere! And you do not want evidence of violations of the Geneva Convention to be "Verboten" in America EVER!

-rdh

Yeltsin is right to worry about this ecological disaster

Yeltsin is the man whose country has dozens of orbiting nuclear reactors which need to be properly handled. Yeltsin is the man whose country has dozens of rusting hulks of nuclear subs in a number of northern bays, which should be hauled up on land and properly decommissioned. Yeltsin is the man whose country is the proud owner of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and the ghost cities and villages that surround it.

But Yeltsin is right to worry about this ecological disaster. If only he would worry about the other ones as well!

INCOMING EMAIL

Reply-To: CarolMoore@kreative.net

Sender: owner-Y2K-nukes@envirolink.org
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.2.07 -- ListProc(tm) by CREN

http://news.stocksmartpro.com/ss-news/CX1640756.html

Wednesday April 14, 8:14 AM (EST)

Yeltsin worried at possible ecological disaster in Balkans.

MOSCOW, April 14 (Itar-Tass) - President Boris Yeltsin worried over a possibility of an ecological disaster in the Balkans as a result of NATO air raids on Yugoslavia, Itar-Tass learned on Wednesday from presidential press secretary Dmitry Yakushkin.

He explained Yeltsin's anxiety by the fact that two research nuclear reactors are located close to Belgrade, while several nuclear power plants operate around Yugoslavia.

"Assessments by experts are very disquieting: air raids can entail a fallout not only for Balkan but also for other European countries bordering on the conflict zone," the press secretary said.

He noted that this problem was discussed by the president as well as secretary of the Russian Security Council and director of the Federal Security Service Vladimir Putin at their meeting on Tuesday.

"The president is now very concerned over a possibility of an ecological disaster in the Balkans in connection with the NATO strikes," Yakushkin continued. He noted that the threat of an ecological disaster in the Balkans under the influence of the NATO strikes is "one of new [sic] aspects of the situation in the Balkans which is now studied by the Russian president".

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Cassini takes a hit.

I thought about just calling this "Cassini gets dusted" but some people might take that the wrong way since "dusted" is slang for murder in some places.

INCOMING UNCUT EMAIL (FROM JPL)

Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 13:05:51 -0700
To: "Cassini Spacecraft Updates"
From: cassini@jpl.nasa.gov
Subject: Cassini Weekly Status - April 9, 1999
List-Unsubscribe:
Reply-To: cassini@jpl.nasa.gov

This status is late. Sorry for the delay

Cassini Significant Events for 04/02/99 - 04/08/99

Spacecraft Status:

The most recent spacecraft status is from the DSN tracking pass on Wednesday, 04/07, over the Goldstone tracking station. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. The speed of the spacecraft can be viewed on the "Where is Cassini Now?" web page (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/today/).

On Wednesday, 04/07, CDA reported the first dust impact measurement in the Cosmic Dust Analyzer since the instrument was turned on on 3/24.

Cassini Outreach
Cassini Mission to Saturn and Titan
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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To unsubscribe from Cassini Spacecraft Updates, send a message to leave-cassini-112992K@list.jpl.nasa.gov
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Visit the JPL Cassini home page for more information about the Cassini Project:

END OF JPL CASSINI EMAIL FOR APRIL 9th, 1999 (received April 14th, 1999)

Suggested contact list from LOVEARTH

We received this address list from Mark Elsis at LOVEARTH (www.lovearth.org) some time ago, back when we thought other people were organizing letter-writing campaigns to famous people and such. It is a thoughtfully put-together list of names and I think we should all use it. If the media won't listen, if the government won't listen, perhaps these people will listen.

Forwarded email from LOVEARTH

The #1 Thing To Do To Stop The Cassini Mission Write To These 33 People Today

Please send the following people a letter asking them to step up to the plate and join us in our struggle to postpone Cassini for the inherent safety of a solar fuel cell redesign. Please spend the 3 hours and 12 dollars and do this ASAP. Do your best to get others involved in also writing to all 33. Send LOVEARTH a copy of your letter. [SARASOTA: 5683 Midnight Pass Road Suite 106 Siesta Key FL 34242 NEW YORK CITY: 84-10 53rd Avenue Elmhurst NY 11373]

[addrs. removed as being dated, 2001]
Paul Newman
Bruce Springsteen
Oprah Winfrey
Don Henley
Robert Redford
Yoko Ono
Tom Petty
Elton John
John Reid
Susan Sarandon & Tim Robbins
REM
Woody Harrelson
Bob Dylan
Sir Paul McCartney
Oliver Stone
Stevie Nicks
Billy Joel
Paul Simon
Jackson Browne
Brian Wilson
Graham Nash
Sting
Charlie Rose
Jewel
Neil Young
Jerry Brown
Stevie Wonder
Ralph Nader

Tom Snyder
Mick Jagger
James Taylor
U2
Jane Fonda
Andy Rooney

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Two words that can stop Cassni:

Hans Karow (core@vip.net) was the main coordinator of the petition which he is asking us each to sign. That is not much to ask, if 33 letters to celebrities seems too daunting.

INCOMING EMAIL (CLIP)

If people tell me over and over again:"There is nothing you can do about," I tell them " Yes, you are absolutely right, if you say so. Nothing happens from doing nothing. A thousand mile journey starts with the first step!" "...and there is really not much you have to do..." I continue, "because most the work has been done (by a few), and you only need to read carefully about some Cassini articles (letters to the Editors) and believe it or not, Cassini can (can!) be redirected with only two words!"...." What do you mean, two words?"....With your signature on a petition very soon available in some local store or at your finger tips to be downloaded from the internet.....yes, two words only, is that too much work to save your children and generations still to come from a global disaster? Just put a few seconds or minutes aside and do it!"

*** END OF INCOMING EMAIL FROM HANS KAROW ***

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WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY TO STOP THE CASSINI EARTH FLYBY:

SIGN THE PETITION!
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/petition/cass1999.htm

CANCEL CASSINI by JUNE 24th, 1999!!!!

To Cancel Cassini start by asking NASA for the 1995 Environmental Impact Statement for the Cassini Mission and all subsequent related documents (on paper, please!). Tell them you need it IMMEDIATELY (members of the world press should do this too). All citizens of the world are ENTITLED to these documents because of the global threat Cassini poses. Here's where to get information:

Cassini Public Information
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena CA 91109
(818) 354-5011

Tell them Russell Hoffman, founder and editor of the STOP CASSINI newsletter, sent you. I bet they love to hear that!

NASA states that they do not have the resources anymore to answer most emails they receive. Liars! They have $13 billion dollars to play with. They can answer the public's questions. At least, ask them one specific question: How many letters did they get opposing Cassini today? (And tell them you oppose it too!) If each reader asks them that...

Here's NASA's email address:

comments@www.hq.nasa.gov

Daniel Goldin is the head of NASA. Here's his email address: daniel.goldin@hq.nasa.gov

Here's the NASA URL to find additional addresses to submit written questions to:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/facts/HTML/FS-002-HQ.html

(Note that it looks like possibly a temporary URL assignment, but you can always start at http://www.nasa.gov.)

They imply at the web site that written comments are more likely to get answered -- quicker than emailed comments! Someone should welcome them to the 1990's before it's too late.

Long time readers know lots of questions to ask them! Ask them why they don't link to our web site. Ask them why they haven't got rid of Daniel Goldin, the glassy-eyed fool. Ask them why they haven't sent you YOUR copy of the 1995 EIS for the Cassini mission! Ask them anything, but demand an answer! YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT NASA IS DOING TO YOUR HEALTH.

Be sure to "cc" the president and VP and your senators and congresspeople, too.

president@whitehouse.gov vice-president@whitehouse.gov

Always include your full name and postal address in all correspondence to any Government official of any country.

AND IN CONCLUSION...

Please send any news directly to the editor at the email address given below.

Please post these newsletters EVERYWHERE! You can -- and should -- send them to news media too! Please tell your friends and neighbors and Internet buddies to subscribe! These words can have power, but only if they are passed on to many others!

Thanks for reading,

Sincerely,
Russell D. Hoffman
rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com

Founder & Editor
STOP CASSINI Newsletter -- over 100 issues of mirth, merriment, and mind-numbingly depressing facts about NASA and other horrors

Webmaster
STOP CASSINI Web Site
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/cassini.htm

I don't know how it is in your country, but in our country, at least we have this:

Amendment One... "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble..."

Written in U.S.A.

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