From: "Russell D. Hoffman" <rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com>
Subject: SOMETHING'S BURNING AND I THINK IT'S THE CONSTITUTION
February 21st, 2003

Dear Readers,

IMAGINE:

Imagine the plume of smoke rising above Staten Island this morning was INVISIBLE.

Imagine further that EVERY PARTICLE OF DUST EMITTED FROM THE FIRE was about ten million times more carcinogenic than what is currently drifting across the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut skies.

Now, imagine that EVERY TRAUMA UNIT IN THE AREA HAD THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN NEED OF DECONTAMINATION AND URGENT CARE.

THE FIREFIGHTERS COULD NOT KEEP UP.  THE DOCTORS COULD NOT KEEP UP.

THAT'S WHAT A MISTAKE, OR A TERRORIST ACT, OR AN "ACT OF GOD" COULD DO AT YOUR LOCAL NUCLEAR POWER PLANT.

Duct tape and plastic sheeting won't be much help.

Tom Ridge is an idiot.

(THE REST OF THIS EMAIL WAS WRITTEN PRIOR TO THE RHODE ISLAND AND STATEN ISLAND FIRES.)

The  Republican Party chose the exact moment of Senator Dick Gephardt's announcement of his candidacy for president to have TOM RIDGE make a VITAL ANNOUNCEMENT.

The airwaves cut away from Gephardt to watch: A big dog get rescued off an ice flow in New Jersey, and (with the magic of split-screen) Tom Ridge tell us that we should stock up on bottled water.  He also had an important message for the terrorists:  He told them that an alert America is not a frightened America.

Actually, Mr. Ridge, speaking as a U.S. citizen, I AM scared. Very scared. 

I'm scared of YOU and your failure to shut the nukes.

I'm scared of George Bush and his nuclear Bunker Busters.

I'm scared of John Ashcroft and his SHROUD over the CONSTITUTION.

I'm scared of Dick Cheney and his SECRET PRO-NUCLEAR ENERGY PLAN.

I'm scared of Donald Rumsfeld and his ALL-OUT WAR strategy of hundreds of "smart" bombs (a really smart bomb would, of course, refuse to be launched), which is sure to kill thousands or even tens of thousands of civilians, and also hundreds of thousands of Iraqi soldiers who don't want to be there, but have little choice in that insane society.  I'm scared this action will be a permanent scar on America's already damaged reputation.

I'm scared that the precedent being set for using excess force on a vanquished enemy will come back to haunt our children.

I'm scared of the millions of Americans who mistake mindless flag-waving for true Patriotism, which requires participating in the UNDERSTANDING of what we are doing and why we are doing it (which requires that the truth be told by those in Government, who instead are routinely making important decisions without any input from the public).

Okay, so I'm scared.  But at least my SUV is filled with gas (at nearly two bucks a gallon), I've got water (also at nearly two bucks a gallon), I've got KI, I've got Duck/Duct Tape and I've got lots and lots of plastic.  I've got a wind-up radio, a solar oven, lots of candles, a tank of propane for the BBQ in case I have to go without my precious Natural Gas Stove for a while -- I'm ready for anything Saddam might throw at me and have been since Y2K.

But I'm still scared.  I'm scared of America's Industrial Might -- which any terrorist with "a wad of cash and a credit card" can use against us by flying a RENTED JET into a NUCLEAR POWER PLANT, LPG TANKER, CHEMICAL PLANT, OR OTHER TARGET.

We learned on 9-11 not only that it COULD be done, but that it WOULD be done.

I've studied the history of nuclear power, and by doing so, I know that others KNEW AIRPLANES COULD BE FLOWN INTO NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS decades years ago.  The industry ignored them.  Now the industry is forced to LIE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE about our vulnerabilities in an IRRESPONSIBLE attempt to maintain the STATUS QUO -- to stay open.  To keep on keeping on, irradiating REACTOR CORES and turning them into TOOLS FOR TERRORISTS.

Meanwhile, the war-wheels grind on.  The Christian Broadcasting Network's 700 Club reports Iranian troops -- a few thousand -- have crossed into Iraq, adding additional tension to the situation.  They also calmly report that the Bush Administration is explaining the need for tactical nuclear weapons because they want to use them to destroy chemical and biological weapons facilities.

This is madness.  It doesn't work that way.  You're more likely to DISPERSE the hazardous materials than to DESTROY THEM.  If we know where these deadly weapons are, we should be sending the U.N. inspectors there right now!

As usual, Bush's logic isn't logical at all.

Whoever is pushing the nuclear agenda is out to destroy the Earth.  These people are reviled by HUMANITARIANS and HONEST SCIENTISTS all over the world.

Isn't the world afraid enough of us yet?  What if Bush does what he wants -- explodes perhaps dozens of "tactical" nuclear weapons, supposedly to DESTROY IRAQI BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL FACILITIES.

A teaspoon of biological weapons material is all it takes to wipe out a city.  That teaspoon could be anywhere.

Bush seems to be SURE that if terrorists had ALREADY brought such weapons INTO THE U.S., they would have used them by now.  Perhaps they already have.  I have argued that the rash of rashes amongst school children in the months following 9-11 might have been caused by plutonium poisoning, perhaps by Al Queda operatives in the United States -- in other words, we may have ALREADY been "dirty-bombed".  Unsuspecting parents of the affected children were only told that their child had a MYSTERIOUS RASH.  Radiation testing was not done, even though the symptoms were IDENTICAL to what plutonium particles would do if spread around -- kids got red spots on their hands and faces, and the individual spots generally went away after about two weeks.

If what these kids were getting was indeed caused by plutonium, then the particles actually destroy ("burn") their way INTO the body, which is the ONLY REASON the RED SPOT goes away -- because the particle is now traveling through the child's body, where it can/will cause cancer, leukemia, or birth defects in the next generation, among a wide variety of other ailments.

Adults don't play in the dirt, but we eat the foods which are grown in irradiated soils.  We breath the air.

Terrorists could get plenty of PU for this diabolical act from a US or Russian rocket with a plutonium payload, which fell to Earth and was recovered by the terrorists.  Or from one of our undersea listening devices.  Or from one of Russia's.  (These might also have Cesium 137 or a small variety of other, extremely-hazardous radioactive substances.)

All the world suffers every time nuclear materials are spread into the environment.  If Bush's nuclear war plans are carried out, Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia could all be subjected to the effects of being downwind of a radiological, biological, and chemical mess.

Not to mention, that many chemical and biological agents are ENHANCED by the effects of radioactive substances.

SO BUSH COULD BE MAKING THINGS AWFULLY BAD if he's allowed to continue his warmongering from talk to action.

Bush and his rabidly pro-nuclear administration won't face reality.  Will the American Public follow his lead, or will we start thinking for (and looking out for) ourselves?

Sincerely,

Russell Hoffman
Senior Historian
Planet Earth
HQ: Carlsbad, CA, USA

Today's newsletter contents:
1) Resumption of nuclear testing on Bush agenda
2) Dumb like a fox
3) Bush Administration planned to do unto the Iraqi people what he deplores being done to us
4) Contact information for the author of this newsletter

This newsletter will be available online here:
www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/2003/somethingsburning.htm

============================================================
1) Resumption of nuclear testing on Bush agenda:
============================================================

To: Abolition-Caucus@egroups.com, abolition-usa@yahoogroups.com,

nuke-waste@igc.topica.com, PaganWarrior@yahoogroups.com
From: Kalynda <Kalynda@Shundahai.org>
Subject: [DOEWatch] Resumption of nuclear testing on Bush agenda
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-UIDL: dRX!!>*?!!"8j"!'B["!

Friday, February 21, 2003
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Resumption of nuclear testing on Bush agenda

Conference to look at developing weapons
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- Government planners are taking a fresh look at resuming
nuclear testing in Nevada to gauge the reliability of the nation's
weapons stockpile as well as develop new nuclear devices.

The Bush administration is organizing a conference for later this
year, possibly in August, to develop recommendations on new
generations of "low-yield" nuclear weapons, earth-penetrating weapons
and enhanced radiation devices, according to documents made public
this week.

The conference also would re-examine policy on underground nuclear
testing, which was halted in 1992. "Should the U.S. adjust its policy
on nuclear weapons testing?" asks a planning document for the
gathering that would be held at U.S. Strategic Command headquarters
in Omaha, Neb.

Thirty-two managers from the national weapons laboratories, the
military, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Office
of the Secretary of Defense met at the Pentagon on Jan. 10 to discuss
an agenda, according to meeting minutes leaked to a watchdog group in
New Mexico.

"These meetings show, in a degree that is rare in publicly available
documents, the bold sweep of nuclear weapons planning in the Bush
administration," said Greg Mello, director of the Los Alamos Study
Group, which monitors weapons activities and posted the documents on
its Web site.

According to minutes of the Jan. 10 session, the conference had its
beginnings with a memo written last October by Pete Aldridge, defense
undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics.

Aldridge asked weapons lab directors to assess "technical
limitations" in their annual certification that nuclear weapons in
the U.S. stockpile are safe and reliable.

"We will need to refurbish several aging weapons systems but the
limitations of the nuclear weapons complex will not permit us to
perfectly replicate the original designs," Aldridge wrote. "We must
also be prepared to respond to new nuclear weapon requirements in the
future.

"It also would be desirable to assess the potential benefits that
could be obtained from a return to nuclear testing with regard to
weapon safety, security and reliability," Aldridge wrote.

Nuclear anti-proliferation groups said conference plans came as
little surprise since factions within the Bush administration have
been pushing for new nuclear weapons development and testing, as well
as the resumption of stockpile testing.

"What's surprising to me is that things are proceeding rather rapidly
and without any obvious requirement from the military or president
that such weapons are needed," said Stephen Schwartz, publisher of
the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. "We've got the process a little
backwards."

Asked about the notes this week, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
said, "I don't believe there is anything currently under way by way
of developing new nuclear weapons."

Rumsfeld went on to say the document "referred not to the development
of specific weapons but the analysis that would go into determining
whether or not something might or might not make sense."



Find this article at:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Feb-21-Fri-2003/news/20736593.html
--

SHUNDAHAI NETWORK--Dedicated to Breaking the Nuclear Chain

Shundahai is a Newe (Western Shoshone) word meaning  "Peace and
Harmony with all Creation"

Kalynda Tilges
Executive Director
Shundahai Network
1350 E. Flamingo  Box 255
Las Vegas, NV  89119
Office: 702.369.2730
Fax:  702.369.5717

mailto:kalynda@shundahai.org
http://www.Shundahai.org

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.   Instead of
diminishing evil, it multiplies it...   Through violence you may
murder the hater, but you do not murder hate.  In fact, violence
merely increases hate....   Returning violence for violence
multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid
of stars.  Darkness cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Magnum-Opus Project---The Mission: To do a greater good.
Righting the wrongs of the Manhattan Project's deceit and treachery national security methods using openness and accountability.
DOE Watch List--Where toxic health damage is not a mystery.
A news list combined with scientific studies to expose the problems.
Subscribe:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/doewatch
DOE Watch OR Web page:  http://members.aol.com/doewatch
Rocky Flats EIN page: http://members.aol.com/magnu96196/EINHome.html

Insoluble toxic metals and fluorides, via a pneumonia like dust in lung process, concentrate in lymph nodes and cause foreign body granuloma damage to node macrophages, leading to false cytokine stimulation, then rising viral waste damage to mitochondria, and this leading to illnesses.  See the analysis at http://members.aol.com/magnu96196/cfs.html

In the 1980's, Oak Ridge managers established a national alliance of DOE friendly supplanted activists and old DOE scientists to mislead gullible fluoride affected sick workers and communities in order to fabricate a health mystery and avoid the extreme liabilities of the fluorides health damage to uranium gas diffusion chemical plant workers and communities.  Don't let DOE and its minions stone wall known disease processes known for millennia and involved in religion icon imagery.

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/



============================================================
2) Dumb like a fox:
============================================================

Underestimating the man with his foot on our necks

By "Tom Pain"
Online Journal Contributing Writer

February 20, 2003—The new scientific truth, according to nearly everyone half-way progressive in the U.S., apparently is this: George W. Bush is, if not exactly a moron, at least not half-bright. By having swallowed that hook, line and sinker we've fallen into a trap. We're about to be "boated," soon to become trophies on W's wall, if we're big enough. We're so slow we don't even know it.

Don't believe it? Bear with me and think it through.

Daddy Bush, from the foremost family of the Eastern Establishment bloc of the Republican Party and the son of a U.S. senator, was groomed for well over 20 years by the ruling families of our country to become president, and he was forced down the throat of Ronald Reagan. In addition, he has a president on his mother's side as well—Franklin Pierce.

The process of grooming Daddy Bush began when W was in prep school. The resulting home environment provided political home schooling unavailable elsewhere. For instance, the Bushes knew way back then that, for a Republican to be elected president, he had to win Texas and Florida (hmmm, notice anything about the Bushes, Florida and Texas?).

W was educated at Yale, from which he graduated with average grades. Average grades at Yale are not obtained by average college students. There are no average students at Yale.

Are we gullible enough to believe that this man is like some ignorant high school freshman? Yes! And that's precisely what he wants us to believe.

Those old friends of his from prep school and Yale have come through in unprecedented ways. W raised far more money, even adjusted for the changing value of the dollar, than any presidential candidate in history. Are we to think he personally had nothing to do with that? That such a feat can be accomplished by a fool? Only if we're fools ourselves.

W's fund-raising accomplishments took smarts, and way more than smarts—tons of pull and knowing how to use it. Such pull can't be borrowed or even inherited. It's personal. When it comes to raising money for elections, nobody in modern American political history is even in the same league.

From the inception of his assault on the White House, the big problem W had was that it looked like he was on his way to his coronation. To market him, the corporate media machine needed to humanize him.

So, he admitted some old addiction stuff. As planned, it cut into the Democratic vote at no cost: he didn't lose any anti-drug votes to Gore, and he picked up a few votes along the way.

In addition, W obligingly stumbled over a few words: "Bushisms," as the fish whom he is boating call them. According to the ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu in his masterpiece The Art of War, being underestimated is always a huge advantage. This has always been W's favorite trick. By using it yet again, he deflated the dynasty issue and humanized himself at the same time.

W keeps saying "nu-cu-lar" instead of "nu-cle-ar" because it's the Texas way to say it, and it pisses off the pointy-headed intellectuals, who are never going to support the continuous unilateral use of military force, anyway. So, yet again, W loses nothing—and the good ole boys in Texas love him and wanna help him go kick some ass. Indeed, so do all the rednecks, and the Republican hold on the entire South is thereby solidified.

Smartass Democratic intellectuals like us can now feel superior. We look down our collective nose and see an idiot president, failing to see the dire threat he embodies, failing to notice the foot planted firmly on our necks. Such an opinion is pure folly, and a form of arrogance that amounts to political suicide.

By falling for his ploy, Democrat spinmeisters have consistently come off looking like pompous, arrogant asses, "picking on" the "president" (as if we really could) in a time of crisis, to the point where we appear unpatriotic in the process. Apparently as a group we don't even know it yet.

If W had written the script himself (and I assure you he did), he couldn't have done a better job of politically isolating his opposition from the American center, gaining millions of votes and rendering us impotent.

QED: problem solved. Disadvantage overcome. Enemy defeated. That's us!

Unfortunately, we haven't yet begun to understand what was done to us. What's coming next will be much worse. While we're still continuing to fall for the same old trick, new tricks are on the way. As for the old one, "Bushism" citings will dramatically increase about six months before the next election. Just like "Old Faithful." Count on it.

The worst is yet to come. W's next goal is to move from less than 10 percent of the black vote to a minimum of 20 percent, thereby breaking the only remaining solid Democrat voting block. First the symbolism: enter Condoleeza [Rice] and Gen. [Colin] Powell.

Then Trent Lott reminded the nation that the Dixiecrats are all Republicans now, and made everybody wonder how much they'd really changed. More symbolism was necessary. Where do you think King George chose to slay the (grand) dragon Lott had become? Why, at a meeting of preachers, of course!

In fact, he did it in front of 1,500 black preachers anxious for federal funds. They were looking for funding for "programs to help the community," and a little "building money," too, to be ladled out of the few billion federal bucks for Faith Based Programs. Clever enough arena for you?

And now the State of the Union speech reveals his next move. It wasn't in the advance copy, but appeared for the first time when W gave the speech. It is, of course, the program to cure AIDS in Africa.

These are more than mere foolish attempts to buy votes in the black community. They're extremely well conceived and sophisticated. Indeed, they appear to be foolproof ways to buy votes in the black community.

How can the scheme be foolproof? First, W wins ground in the black community by adopting the symbolism and language of inclusion, while punishing those who appear to embody the vestiges of segregation. Of course the former Dixiecrats will stay put, since they have nowhere to go. Second, W wins again by going through the churches with his funding programs. Finally, he proposes an issue of the heart—attacking AIDS in Africa. A stroke of sheer genius, it rings a bell in the black community, while at the same time softening his increasingly strident militarist posture. The Democrats in Congress are all on film giving W a standing ovation for that one.

Conquer the world and cure AIDS in Africa at the same time? Now that's glory!

And all the time we sit and wonder what stupid thing he's going to say next. Could it be maybe, "Checkmate?" We've already sat there without making a move for so long that the game's over.

You may think we'll be presented an opportunity during the economic disaster already on the way. It is obvious that the incredible expense of protracted war (in the midst of a recession) guarantees continuing huge budget deficits. Combined with the extravagant petroleum price increases sure to result from war in Iraq, rampant inflation will ensue. Huge deficits and large petroleum price increases are, after all, the most powerful generators of inflation.

The already weak economy will hurtle further into recession. Who knows? If these policies continue unchecked long enough, maybe we'll see another Depression. If it gets bad enough, surely folks will want the Democrats back eventually. Right?

Well, probably not. What used to help the pendulum swing back was the mass media: once-upon-a-time vigorous, sorta independent, in a way, back then. Now the so-called "liberal" media are wholly-owned corporate subsidiaries of Rupert Murdock, Rev. Moon, Disney Inc. and other moral luminaries. Maybe you think corporate America is suddenly going to develop a social conscience? Look at the mass media now: they stand by their man, trying to help give him his war—though they certainly know we can't afford it. They'll keep standing by him even if he does wreck the economy. Hide and watch.

So, who'll tell the people the truth? Nobody—unless we create significant media outlets ourselves. If we don't, few will hear what happens when the boot on our necks comes all the way down.

"Tom Pain" is a starving writer working underground somewhere in Central Oklahoma.

========================================================
3) Bush planning to do unto the Iraqi people what he deplores being done to us: 
========================================================

The Sunshine Project
News Release
7 February 2003
Please also see an update to this release (11 Feb):
Pentagon Perverts Pharma with New Weapons

US Plans for Use of Gas in Iraq

(Austin and Hamburg, 7 February 2003) - Top US military planners are preparing for the US to use incapacitating biochemical weapons in an invasion of Iraq. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, revealed the plans in February 5th testimony before the US House Armed Services Committee. This is the first official US acknowledgement that it may use (bio)chemical weapons in its crusade to rid other countries of such weapons. The Sunshine Project and other nonprofits have warned since late 2001 that the "War on Terrorism" may result in the United States using prohibited biological and chemical armaments, thereby violating the same treaties it purports to defend. The US announcement creates grave concerns for the future of arms control agreements, particularly the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Rumsfeld stated that plans are being made for multiple applications, including use of gas or aerosols on unarmed Iraqi civilians, in caves, and on prisoners. Rumsfeld reiterated the confusing, typical US official language about so-called "non-lethal" biochemical weapons. Rumsfeld described applications of a "riot agent" that clearly imply the complete incapacitation of victims, combatant and non-combatant, in armed conflict - a definition and usages that are at odds with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Rumsfeld acknowledged US ratification of the CWC but expressed "regret" about its restrictions, stating that the US has "tangled ourselves up so badly" on policy for use of incapacitating biochemical weapons. Rumsfeld indicated that - in his opinion - if President Bush signs a waiver of long-standing restrictions on US use of incapacitating chemicals, that the US will be able to legally field them in Iraq and elsewhere.

---------------------------------------------
TESTIMONY AUDIOChoose format:mp3 | aiff
(6 min. 41 sec.) The speakers:The first speaker, who poses the question, is Rep. Meehan of Massachusetts. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld replies (including a follow-up question from Meehan), followed by remarks from Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.A Realvideo recording of the entire hearing (3 1/3 hours) is available from CSPAN. The audio extract reproduced above begins at approximately 1 hour, 31 minutes. This requires a Real video player.Click here to view the Realvideo.
--------------------------------------------

The focal points for US development of these weapons are the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate in Quantico, Virginia, and the US Army Soldier Biological Chemical Command, located at Edgewood/Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Following their capture in Afghanistan and elsewhere, the US has used incapacitating chemicals on suspected terrorist "detainees". In October 2002, Russian Special Forces used a so-called "non-lethal" incapacitating biochemical weapon when storming the Palace of Culture Theater in Moscow. It resulted in the deaths of over 100 hostages and was used to facilitate the extrajudicial execution of as many as 50 Chechen separatists. Before the War on Terrorism began, British officials stated that they would not cooperate with the US military in missions where US troops used incapacitating chemicals.

The Sunshine Project has established an online clearinghouse of dozens of documents from the US research program on these weapons, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

========================================================
4) Contact information for the author of this newsletter:
========================================================

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Posted February 21st, 2003

URL of the next email in this series:

Letter to Matt Wald, NY Times (and response; followup)

URL of the previous email in this series:

Subject: Re: [DOEWatch] Nuclear weapons and pollution linked to 65 million MURDERS