Copyright (c) 1999

Subject: Media hype surfaces at last: STOP CASSINI #175

Date: August 17th, 1999 (pre-flyby edition)

Time Frame: Cassini is scheduled to do the flyby of Earth this very EVENING!

Today's Subjects:

• (1) A conversation with F. R. Sarker
• (2) History of the STOP CASSINI web site in a few short paragraphs
• (3) Statements regarding the flyby by the Stop Cassini editor
• (4) Go News Extra web page links to many Cassini articles today
• (5) Millennium Group posts new Cassini material (and reposts authors' comments)
• (6) From the mailbag: Wants us to protest more about one thing than another
• (7) From the mailbag: Wants to know why we're so smart
• (8) From the mailbag: Did not realize it was TODAY!
• (9) What you can do today to stop the dangerous flyby of Earth
• (10) Subscription information

(1) A conversation with F. R. Sarker:

The Founder and Editor of the STOP CASSINI newsletter called F. R. Sarker late last night. Mr. Sarker is the General Secretary of the BANGLADESH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The telephone connection to Bangladesh was a very poor one but Mr. Sarker wished me to make it clear to America (and to NASA specifically) that the people of Bangladesh, many of whom oppose the Cassini mission, are NOT against space exploration at all, they are only against the plutonium! We are in complete agreement, and I very much hope to be able to visit what sounds like a magnificent country some day.

Here is what Mr. Sarker wrote me recently about Bangladesh and the anti-Cassini feeling there:

----- INCOMING EMAIL FROM F. R. SARKER: -----

Bangladesh is a country where hundreds of rivers flowing criss-crossed all over the land. For this natural uniqueness, people are imaginative and dedicated to learn the mysteries of the universe. A large number of people has developed exceptional fascination for Astronomy.

During the programme of Solar Eclipse in October ,1995, arranged by Science Museum in Dhaka, about 30,000 people converged into the observation site. The people were so restless that police had to call in to keep situation under control but ultimately ended in fiasco with scuffles and brickbatting between the Police and Eclipse Viewers .

In November 1998 ,during the time of Leonid Meteor Showers, about 15,000 people assembled in the observational site in a field in Dhaka around 2.30am and about 50,000 people spent sleepless night looking at the sky standing from their rooftops to enjoy the spectacle of shooting stars.

During our Street Demonstration in protest against Cassini Earth Flyby on June 12, 1999, hundreds of astronomy enthusiasts joined the Procession under scorching heat of sun, slanting slogans against Cassini which created disruption of traffic flow on the streets for sometimes.

There is a complete Press freedom in Bangladesh. All the leading Newspapers have covered the news of Cassini for a number of times including the Bangladesh Songbad Songstha (BSS) the government run News Agency. Bangladesh Television, the government run Television Centre has telecast a special programme on Cassini with full criticism against NASA...The Cassini issue has become a talk of the day in Bangladesh. If you ask any person about Cassini ,who reads Newspapers, will instantly reply to you " Cassini is a space craft coming towards us bearing Plutonium which might devastate our Earth."

I have been conducting Sky Observation Programmes for over 20 years and I am convinced that the people of Bangladesh are really affected by ' Astro-phobia ' and they are the right stuffs for launching Movements against Cassini Earth Flyby and other dangerous Space Missions of NASA .

Best regards.

F. R. Sarker

----- END OF INCOMING EMAIL FROM F. R. SARKER -----

Here is his contact information:

F. R. Sarker
General Secretary
BANGLADESH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Section-6, Block-A, Lane-2, House-7
Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Tel : 88-02-801335
Fax : 88-02-804310
E-mai : sarker@bdonline.com

A photo of the the June 12th demonstration in Bangladesh is available at home page of the NOFLYBY web site:

http://www.nonviolence.org/noflyby/

I wish we had complete press freedom in America as well! Instead, see the rest of this newsletter for a dozen or so of the latest news items, most of which are little more than NASA propaganda presented as news. At least they all seem to admit Cassini has been "controversial".

(2) History of the STOP CASSINI web site in a few short paragraphs:

My responses are imbedded inside of [[[ triple brackets. ]]]

----- EMAIL FROM/TO A SPACE REPORTER -----

[[[ Hi!

Thank you for your email. These are engaging questions, and I don't know when the next interruption will come today (the phone's rung half a dozen times already and it's only 7:23 am!) so I'll try to be very brief. I've interspersed some answers.

Thanks again ]]]

At 09:23 AM 8/17/99 -0400, "S" wrote:

Dear Mr. Hoffman,

Hello, my name is S...... I have been doing some research on the Cassini mission with the intent of writing an article for the website ............ In my searching, I stumbled across your site's section on the controversy involving the use of plutonium on the craft. It was good to hear an opposite point of view regarding the mission, though I am curious about your initial interest and how long you have had the page in operation.

[[[ It's been online since about 8 months before the launch of Cassini. I have produced a little more than one newsletter a week (on average) since that time. The web site has grown to approximately 250 items, including the newsletters (which each actually usually contain several items themselves.) The STOP CASSINI web site got about 17,000 "hits" last week, which means accesses to both image files and text files. Probably that is around 10,000 text documents accessed. It has averaged probably close to ten thousand "hits" a week for years now. That does not include cached copies of the documents who's "hits" we never see, and of course it doesn't include any time a newsletter is redistributed or reposted or printed.

My initial interest was sparked by a description of Cassini which Karl Grossman sent me in late 1996, because he had read something I had posted on the Internet about the problem of space debris, where I mentioned that some people want to rocket nuclear waste to outer space to get rid of it, but to do so, they would have to pass through a gauntlet of orbital debris. Karl wrote and showed me that in fact that's just what they were trying to do, but they were calling it "deep space research" instead of a nuclear waste removal program! ]]]

Also, though it appears Cassini will indeed flyby Earth this evening, do you feel that your webpage has made an impact on the awareness of international civilian communities and space agencies? Have you received responses from any governing bodies regarding your petitions and newsletters?

[[[ I hope it has made a difference. I know NASA has "pointedly ignored me" for 2 1/2 years, but yet I doubt you can find many Cassini engineers there who have not heard of our complaints (but on the other hand, I wonder how many have actually read our newsletters?) I have not received any significant responses from any governing body or person (a few form letters over the years, that's all). There is much work yet to be done to prevent future radioactive risks like Cassini from continuing to happen. ]]]

Thank you for any enlightenment you can offer. I appreciate it very much.

[[[ You're welcome. I would like to note that I have spoken to many, many engineers, scientists, doctors, and others. The statements I have made about the risks NASA is taking are easily verifiable, usually from NASA's own Environmental Impact Statements and other official documents. Space debris collisions are very serious concerns, as are the possibilities of NASA simply botching a controlling maneuver at any time, as are the concerns that this risk we are taking might be for nothing if Cassini goes dead for any reason at all in the next four years, before it accomplishes anything useful.

Like many others, I used to be a supporter of NASA and I hope to some day be one again. To put Cassini in perspective, I consider the concerns over "Y2K and nukes" to be a million times more important for the human race. ]]]

Sincerely,
S

[[[ Yours,
Russell Hoffman

Russell D. Hoffman
Peace Activist
Computer Programmer
Founder and Editor
STOP CASSINI newsletter (now in its 174th issue)
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/cassini.htm ]]]

----- END OF EMAIL FROM/TO A SPACE REPORTER -----

(3) Statements regarding the flyby by the Stop Cassini editor:

These remarks were written the morning of August 17th, 1999:

----- WRITTEN STATEMENTS REGARDING THE FLYBY TO LEONARD DAVID, UPI REPORTER: -----

Regarding the use of RTGs and RHUs in space:

"The use of RTGs (Radioactive Thermoelectric Generators) on board space craft risks the opposite of what nuclear proponents normally claim to be able to achieve -- which is to permanently isolate radioactive waste -- in this case a highly carcinogenic form of plutonium -- from humans.

"NASA's RTGs are designed to vaporize some or even all of their plutonium contents at high altitude in the event of a reentry accident, causing a worldwide dispersal of 10 micron-sized particles average size, with a range roughly from 5 to 58 microns. This is the ideal size for lodging permanently in a person's lung.

"How much will be released in such an accident is highly disputed, but no one -- not even NASA -- is saying it will be less than 3%, or even 33% or more -- of the 400,000 Curies of plutonium Cassini carries. Even 3% would be a horrendous radiological burden upon society.

"Furthermore, in the event of a reentry accident, there is absolutely ZERO chance of zero dispersal of plutonium, because NASA's RHUs (Radioactive Heater Units) are fully expected to completely ablate (vaporize) with 3/4s of a pound of plutonium released to the environment, in the event of a reentry.

"This is NOT a very good "containment" system! It is utterly inadequate,"

Regarding a successful flyby:

"If the flyby is successful, as everyone hopes and expects, that will not prove very much about NASA's abilities to prevent random collisions with space debris from damaging other probes, nor would it show that frayed wiring would not cause a future probe to become misguided. Nor would it prove that Cassini will not go dead for any reason some time in the future and impact Earth years or decades later, when NASA's much-ballyhooed containment system may have become brittle and utterly ineffective. So a successful flyby will do nothing to bolster NASA's claim that they are protective and concerned about the environment. It's a shame that NASA refuses to learn from its mistakes and at the same time gives more credence to its successes than is usually warranted."

----- END OF WRITTEN STATEMENTS TO UPI, AUGUST 17th, 1999 -----

(4) Go News Extra web page links to many Cassini articles today

----- INCOMING EMAIL TO THE STOP CASSINI WEBMASTER -----

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 23:50:19 +1000
From: David Muller davemull@alphalink.com.au

Organization: South Movement

To: "Russell D. Hoffman" rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
Subject: GO News Extra!message board

Is NASA risking your safety in the name of science? Or, are activists just waiting for the sky to fall? Check out our Web-wide coverage of today's near-miss of the Cassini spacecraft and tell us your opinion.

http://www.go.com/news/news_extra.html?qt=cassini&nh=5&tv=30037

----- END OF INCOMING EMAIL -----

----- MY RESPONSE: -----

Hi!

Thanks for your email, but frankly, please note that it's a bit early to be calling it a "near miss", since RIGHT NOW (7:15 am Tuesday morning, August 17th, 1999 PST) the probe is about half a million miles away from Earth. As far as I know it is still on course, but that could change very rapidly.

It's also too bad your article doesn't link to the oldest, biggest, and most linked-to STOP CASSINI web site on the Internet (mine!).

Sincerely,

Russell D. Hoffman
Peace Activist
Computer Programmer
Founder and Editor
STOP CASSINI newsletter (now in its 174th issue)
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/cassini.htm

----- END OF MY RESPONSE -----

Note that all the articles listed which the STOP CASSINI web site editor looked at appear to be little more than polished NASA FLUFF.

Other related items:

------ INCOMING EMAIL TO THE STOP CASSINI NEWSLETTER EDITOR TODAY: -----

Passing along some more info, in case you didn't see it:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/081799sci-nasa-cassini.html

------ INCOMING EMAIL TO THE STOP CASSINI NEWSLETTER EDITOR TODAY: -----

Dear Russell,

I found this article by Helen Caldicott via the Sydney Morning Herald. thought you'd be interested:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/9908/18/features/features3.html

------ ANOTHER INCOMING EMAIL TO THE STOP CASSINI NEWSLETTER EDITOR TODAY: -----

Dear Russell,

I just read today's CNN News article on the upcoming Cassini flyby. I have pasted a copy of it in this email. Can you believe that NASA says that even if Cassini were to enter the earth's atmosphere and burn up, that it would be no more dangerous than the amount of radiation one would get by flying roundtrip across the United States? (How in the WORLD did they arrive at this comparison?) Also, I am disgusted that CNN would print this crXX and not give "the other side" a more fair shake. If you go to the site, you will also see the results of a poll CNN has done on whether we should have "nukes in space". An overwhelming majority think it is acceptable. Well, of course, considering the lies we are being told!

http://cnn.com/TECH/space/9908/16/cassini.flyby/

------ ANOTHER INCOMING EMAIL TO THE STOP CASSINI NEWSLETTER EDITOR TODAY: -----

There is a story in Sky News about the Cassini danger.
http://www.skynews.co.uk/skynews/technology/story3.htm
I saw part of their coverage on satellite here in Europe.

They don't mention your site, which is really a shame.

I sent this to Sky News through their feedback form:

There is a site about
Cassini which you
may find interesting,
I found it at
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/cassini.htm

The risks are certainly more than NASA would admit.

I hope they mention you in subsequent news items.

------ END OF SOME INCOMING EMAILS TO THE STOP CASSINI NEWSLETTER EDITOR TODAY -----

(5) Millennium Group posts new Cassini material (and reposts authors' comments):

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 08:06:01 -0700
From: Gary Goodwin tmg_goodwin@yahoo.com
Organization: Valley Health System

To: rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
Subject: cassini and The Millennium Group

Mr. Hoffman,

Please expect a great many visitors to your Cassini page today as I have reposted your article on our site in conjunction with tommorrow's flyby.

You can see it at:
http://www.millenngroup.com/repository/repository.html

Thank you for a well written piece.

gary d. goodwin

THE MILLENNIUM GROUP

----- END OF INCOMING EMAIL TO THE STOP CASSINI EDITOR -----

We once again thank The Millennium Group for their support over the past few years.

(6) From the mailbag: Wants us to protest more about one thing than another:

----- INCOMING EMAIL TO THE STOP CASSINI EDITOR -----

From: "Kurt R"
To:
Subject: Space Probe
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 10:40:32 -0400

Why are you guys making such a big deal about 72 pounds of Plutonium in a space probe when there are hundreds of thousands of pounds of equally deadly material aboard Nuclear Submarines. Nuclear Submarines seem to be under way more mechanical and physical stress than a probe in space. If you want to complain about a machine full of radioactive material that has a chance of contaminating the planet because of mechanical failure, why don't you address the issues that are under water instead of over head

----- END OF INCOMING EMAIL TO THE STOP CASSINI EDITOR -----

----- MY RESPONSE: -----

Hi!

Thank you for your email (shown below).

Actually, if you read back a few issues into our newsletter, you'll see that we address that very topic! I especially recommend you take a look at issue #156, where I introduce the person responsible for the design of the Navy's most common nuclear power plant (the D2G reactor, and his name is Jack Shannon):
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/nltrs/nltr0156.htm

The nuclear Navy is discussed in depth in several other newsletters as well, including:

#151: (Item #4) Nuclear Aircraft Carriers: A response to our comments:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/nltrs/nltr0151.htm

#124: (Item #2) "We don't need no stinkin' nuclear aircraft carriers!":
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/nltrs/nltr0124.htm

#81: (Item #2) Comments submitted to the United States Navy regarding their nuclear aircraft carriers:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/nltrs/nltr0081.htm

We also have spoken out against the use of plutonium for listening devices on Earth and below the sea and against other uses (see newsletter #94 "Some old Bull from the '50s"):
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/nltrs/nltr0094.htm

Thank you again for writing, but I think you are wrong to support Cassini with its 400,000 Curies of plutonium, which is about 280,000,000,000 "potentially lethal doses" (which we defined in newsletter #70):
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/nltrs/nltr0070.htm

Earth is a fragile crowded planet and ALL these "Cold War" threats must be stopped.

Sincerely,

Russell Hoffman
Carlsbad, California

----- END OF MY RESPONSE -----

(7) From the mailbag: Wants to know why we're so smart:

----- INCOMING EMAIL TO THE STOP CASSINI EDITOR -----

At 08:52 AM 8/17/99 -0600, Ken A. wrote:

Subject: How come you're so smart?

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 08:52:46 -0600
From: Ken A.

To: rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
Subject: How come your so so smart?

Just curious -----

What has your organization contributed to society as compared to say ---

All those hundreds of thousands of soldiers/sailors/airman/marines/baby-killers that have been lying to you (and me of course) all these years? all those incredibly stupid scientists and technicians that designed, built, maintained, and operated various spacecraft for such evil and nefarious purposes and whose only goal in life is to destroy all human existence as we know it?

Just how did you get so damn much smarter than these idiots, and all the rest of us in general?

And why are you so unselfishly giving up your valuable time and energy to try and save us all from those low-life NASA [@#&$%-ers] and militaristic opportunists?

Just a regular guy, who is a little curious.....

Though I'm sure you'll suspect I'm a retired navy admiral working in an obscure CIA room in cahoots with NASA, NSA, FBI, IRS, pick-a-gov-acronym, to try and pull the wool over all our unsuspecting eyes.

You may be right....who knows?

Save the gay whales!
Ken

----- END OF INCOMING EMAIL TO THE STOP CASSINI EDITOR -----

----- MY RESPONSE: -----

Hi!

Thank you for your email [shown above]. I personally write educational software, my dad fought in WWII, my great great grandfather was a general or something in the Confederate Army... and so on. I haven't got anything against honest people no matter where I find them. So in case you didn't notice, some of my best friends are ex-military and proud of it, and some of my best customers have been the United States military itself for my software products.

No, I've met lots of retired Navy guys... you don't sound like an admiral to me. You just sound like you haven't been around the block much, and haven't spent all that much time investigating the issues. I suggest you start with newsletter #156, because it introduces a ex-military guy (Jack Shannon) who I think you'll appreciate more than you do my opinions, although we are saying about the same thing:

http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/nltrs/nltr0156.htm

Thank you again for writing and I hope you enjoy learning to be a better citizen through educating yourself about the questions a democratic society must answer.

Sincerely,
Russell Hoffman
U. S. Citizen
Peace Activist
Founder and Editor
STOP CASSINI newsletter now in it's 174th issue

----- END OF MY RESPONSE -----

(8) From the mailbag: Did not realize it was TODAY!:

----- INCOMING EMAIL TO THE STOP CASSINI EDITOR: -----

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 11:19:27 -0400
From: "A"
To: rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
Subject: subscribe to stop cassini

My name is A........ and I am a senior at ...... College in ...... Florida. A lot of college kids are out of the loop concerning current events, and when Cassini was first launched, we didn't know about it until 48 hs prior. My friends and I heard of Peggy McIntyre's attempts to stop the launch and were alarmed that we had heard nothing truly informative about this rocket. We actually left the state the night it was first scheduled to take off, being that we are so close to Titusville, and then when the launch was delayed to Wednesday, we came back to Florida to protest. When we reached Titusville and attempted to find fellow protesters, we were told by a guard that everyone had left and our best bet was to find a spot by the water to watch it. Time has passed, of course, and I had not realized the slingshot would be today, [August 17]. Thank you for your page and please keep me up to date.

sincerely,
A

----- END OF INCOMING EMAIL TO THE STOP CASSINI EDITOR -----

----- MY RESPONSE: -----

THANK YOU for writing!

Peggy McIntyre is my favorite protestor and I wish I could see more of her. You would have been very lucky to have had an opportunity to meet her in Florida, but the group down there is, unfortunately, very disorganized.

Anyway, thanks for subscribing to the (free, electronic) STOP CASSINI newsletter! The next one will probably be out in a few hours and I'm guessing it will be the last one before the flyby, now only about 9 hours away.

Sincerely,

Russell Hoffman

----- END OF MY RESPONSE -----

(9) What you can do today to stop the Cassini flyby of Earth:

To learn about the absurd excuses NASA used to launch Cassini and its 72.3 pounds of plutonium in 1997, ask them for the 1995 Environmental Impact Statement for the Cassini mission, and all subsequent documentation. At the same time, be sure to ask them for ANY and ALL documentation available on future uses of plutonium in space, including MILITARY, CIVILIAN, or "OTHER" (just in case they make a new category somehow!). To get this information, contact:

Cassini Public Information
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena CA 91109
(818) 354-5011 or
(818) 354-6478

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!

Here's NASA's "comments" email address: comments@www.hq.nasa.gov

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

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.

(10) Subscription information

Thanks for reading! Welcome new subscribers!

Home page of our STOP CASSINI movement:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/cassini.htm

This newsletter is free and is not distributed for profit.
To subscribe, simply email the editor at
rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com and state:
SUBSCRIBE STOP CASSINI NEWSLETTER
Please include a personal message of any
length and subject matter. Thank you!

To unsubscribe email me and say
UNSUBSCRIBE STOP CASSINI NEWSLETTER

Published by Russell D. Hoffman electronically.
Written in U.S.A.
Please distribute these newsletters EVERYWHERE!
What you do NEXT matters MOST OF ALL!

CASSINI TABLE OF CONTENTS

CANCEL CASSINI

The Animated Software Company

rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com