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From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) "Bagpipe" subcrit nuclear test update Date: 01 Sep 1998 12:40:43 -0700 Hello Friends, Today is the first "Mandatory" dry run for the subcritical nuclear weapons test "Bagpipe" This puts them closer to conducting the actual test. This is the quickest I have seen them move from conducting "signal" dry runs to "mandatory" dry runs. From monitoring the situation at the test site, we believe that the "devices" containing the plutonium to be exploded were delivered two nights ago and installed on Monday. "In the hole" as they call it. This means that a "shot" date of next week (Sept 7-11) is very likely. We will keep updating you with new information as it breaks to help in your planning. Thank you to all of those around the world who have responded to the need for generating more attention around the subcritical s. All of the letters and phone calls do make a difference. There is a rough sample letter included below. Please call the Department of Energy and the White House and your Congressional representatives and demand: "DON'T BY HYPOCRITICAL! STOP THE SUBCRITICAL!" *The subcritical nuclear weapons test be canceled! *Stop all new and modified nuclear weapons development. *Close down the Nevada Test Site and all nuclear weapons development facilities except for programs based disarmament. *Begin immediate clean up and containment of the nuclear nightmare caused by the U.S. Nuclear Weapons program. President Bill Clinton, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC 20001, (202) 456-1111 Secretary of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave, Washington DC, 20585 To leave a message for Bill Richardson, new Secretary of DOE call the 202 586 6210 and the press office at 202 586 5806 (Thanks to Bob Kinsey for that information) THE HONORABLE PRESIDENT CLINTON, THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, U.S., 1-202-456-2461, 1-202-456-2883. Dear President Clinton, I am writing to demand that you "DON'T BY HYPOCRITICAL! STOP THE SUBCRITICAL!" By this, I mean that you must immediately cancel the subcritical nuclear weapons test code named "Bagpipe" which could be detonated as early as next week (Sept 7 - 11) and all future subcritical tests. These tests explode plutonium, which is the most deadly material ever created, 980 feet below the ground at the Nevada Test Site dangerously close to the largest aquifer in Southern Nevada. This precious groundwater has already been contaminated by past nuclear tests. It is time to stop the contamination and begin the clean up! These tests should really be called "hypocritical." They clearly violate the spirit of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) signed in September 1996, by you, Mr President. The CTBT commits the U.S. "not to carry out any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion..." DOE claims these experiments are permissible because the CTBT does not define "nuclear weapon" test. These tests make global adoption of the CTBT less likely by encouraging other nations to copy the U.S. decision to continue testing and update their nuclear arsenals. These tests especially contradict the condemnation expressed by the U.S. government against India and Pakistan for conducting their own series of nuclear weapons tests earlier this year. The subcritical tests are part of a massive "Stockpile Stewardship and Management" program, intended to maintain and expand U.S. nuclear weapons capabilities well into the next century. During the next decade, taxpayers will spend more than $40 billion for the program, an annual rate higher than the Cold War average. Thus, it is fair to say these tests are intended to signal to the rest of the world an unflagging U.S. commitment to nuclear weapons as the ultimate "big stick." Last year, in the U.S. 44 members of Congress, including key California Representatives, urged you not to go ahead with the tests. At the grassroots level, protesters gathered in California, Nevada, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere around the country to demand the cancelation of this testing program. There is currently a lawsuit against DOE, charging the agency failed to conduct an adequate environmental analysis of the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan, including the subcritical tests. This decision is largely in your hands. I urge you to be courageous and recognize that the U.S. needs to take the lead in halting our nuclear weapons designing, testing and production capabilities so that the rest of the world can take us seriously when we talk about non-proliferation issues and the Comprehensive Test ban Treaty. It is time, Mr President, to build that bridge to the 21st century that you always talk about. The time for nuclear disarmament is now. Do the right thing. Stop the Subcritical! Yours Sincerely, Signed: *************************************************************** SHUNDAHAI NETWORK "Peace and Harmony with all Creation" *Breaking the Nuclear Chain* 5007 Elmhurst Ln., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304 ph(702)647-3095 Fax: (702)647-9385 Email: shundahai@shundahai.org http://www.shundahai.org Shundahai Network is proud to be part of: Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a multi-cultural alliance to foster sustainable living and break the nuclear chain; and Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: NY Times 9/2/98 - Nuc Test Cancers; Sierra Blanca Date: 02 Sep 1998 08:30:39 -0400 http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/science/sci-radiation-cancer. html September 2, 1998 New York Times Cancers From Nuclear Tests are Seen as Too Hard to Trace By MATTHEW L. WALD WASHINGTON -- There is no good way to find the tens of thousands of Americans who may have received enough radiation from atmospheric nuclear tests to raise their chances of cancer significantly, an advisory panel said Tuesday. The report, by the Institute of Medicine, a panel of independent experts who are mostly from universities, is the latest contribution to an emotional and politically charged dispute over the effect of atmospheric nuclear weapons testing from 1951 to 1962. The outside experts reviewed a study that was released last year by the National Cancer Institute predicting 10,000 to 75,000 extra cancers because of the tests. The risk came from iodine-131, a radioactive product of the explosions that got into milk after cows ate contaminated grass. Iodine is concentrated in the thyroid. After the release of the report last year, some health advocates sought screening of people who grew up downwind from the nuclear tests. But the report Tuesday said that widespread screening would probably result in many "false positive" readings, and that many healthy thyroids would be removed as a result. While the cancer institute had estimated the radiation dose for every county in the nation, the report Tuesday said data were too scanty for such estimates and "probably too uncertain to be used in estimating individual exposure." The Institute of Medicine said government credibility on radiation had been hurt by misleading statements during the Cold War. More recently, the medicine institute said, the cancer institute had damaged its credibility by appearing to delay the release of its findings. The chairmen of the panel characterized the conclusions of their report as "somewhat unsettling" because they found contradictory things: "first, that some people (who cannot be easily identified) were likely exposed to sufficient iodine-131 to raise their risk of thyroid cancer and, second, there is no evidence that programs to screen for thyroid cancer are beneficial in detecting disease at a stage that would allow more effective treatment." The report also said that the number of cancers caused by the explosions was probably closer to the low end of the cancer institute's estimate, and that the type of cancer linked to radiation, papillary carcinoma, was "rarely life threatening." But Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said, "Tell that to my brother; that's exactly what he had." Harkin's brother died of thyroid cancer. "Early detection and removal obviously improves your chances immensely," Harkin said. http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/texas-nuke-waste.html September 2, 1998, New York Times For Some, Texas Town Is Too Popular as Waste Disposal Site By RICK LYMAN SIERRA BLANCA, Texas -- Lupe Bustamante cradled a gallon of milk under her arm in the dim and sparsely stocked Guerra General Store on the main street of this dusty outpost, population 600, and wondered why the whole world seems to want to dump on her tiny town. First, New York City completed a deal to ship its treated sewage to a ranch outside Sierra Blanca, where the sewage has been spread on the ground since 1992. Then, a New Jersey company announced this summer that it hoped to ship New York sludge to a ranch in the nearby town of Allamoore. And now, the state of Texas believes it is coming to the end of a decade-long effort to enter into a compact with Vermont and Maine to store their low-level nuclear waste, along with its own, at a site just outside Sierra Blanca. The waste would be sealed in concrete and buried beneath the rocky desert. "I think maybe they choose us because we are a small town, because we are so distant from everyone and because we have no political power," Ms. Bustamante said. "I think maybe they are taking advantage of us. I believe that most of the people are opposed to it." Many environmentalists and residents said that the town was picked only because it is poor and Hispanic. About two-thirds of Sierra Blanca's residents are Hispanic, and the per capita income is $8,000, according to Census Bureau figures. But for others in Sierra Blanca, the waste site would bring a much-needed economic boost. Already, the town's largest employer, with 40 workers, is Merco Joint Venture, the company that has shipped 400 tons of New York City sludge every day since 1992 to a 128,000-acre ranch outside town. A short walk down the lone commercial strip, past the ice cream parlor, a couple of auto repair shops and a boarded-up movie theater, James Schilling was putting the finishing touches on the Sierra Motel, a 67-year-old fieldstone complex that he is renovating. "As for the low-level nuclear site, I'm all for it, and most of the town is for it, too," Schilling said. "We need progress in this town, and this facility will bring money and jobs here. I feel it will be safe." On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the proposed three-state compact, which has been approved by the House. Several residents of Sierra Blanca joined Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., who has been the project's most vocal congressional opponent, for a rally on the Capitol steps Tuesday hoping to sway the vote. During Senate debate Tuesday night, Wellstone said, "It is a fight for communities all across the country who don't have political clout." If the proposal passes the Senate, as even many of its opponents believe it will, then all it will need is President Clinton's signature to become a reality. It would be the 10th such compact created since the 1980 passage of a federal law urging states to cooperate in dealing with the disposal problems of low-level nuclear waste, which includes medical waste and parts and machinery from nuclear power plants that have become contaminated. States that enter a compact have some protection from the federal government's forcing them to accept waste from other states. The passage of the compact would give Texas permission to build the site and provide much of the money for it, said Lee Mathews, general counsel for the Texas Low-level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority, which has been looking since the early 1980s for a disposal site. But the authority would still need a license from the state. Earlier this summer, two administrative law judges in Austin ruled that the authority's application for the license should be rejected because it failed to include a thorough geological survey of the site or a proper assessment of the proposal's socio-economic impact on Sierra Blanca and surrounding Hudspeth County. However, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, comprised of three officials appointed by Gov. George W. Bush, is not bound to follow the judges' ruling and can approve the license. Many environmentalists expect the commission to do so. Bush, who had supported the project, says he is "troubled" by the decision of the judges and has urged the commission to "thoroughly review this recommendation and the facts to make their decision on sound science and the health and safety of Texans." David Frederick, a lawyer for the Sierra Blanca Defense Fund, which was formed to fight the compact, said he thought there was "a real chance the commission will uphold the judges and reject the application." "The common wisdom, however," Frederick said, "is that they will not." The commission can make its ruling at any time, but it is not expected to until at least the fall. The march to a low-level waste facility has been a long one for Texas. An initial site selected in the early '80s in northern Hudspeth County was withdrawn following a storm of protest from residents. A second plan to locate the facility in South Texas, in the scrublands between Laredo and Corpus Christi, was scuttled by objections from ranchers who instigated passage of a law mandating that the site be built only on state-owned land. Since most of that land is in West Texas, it pushed the waste disposal authority back into Hudspeth County, Mathews said. A third site was selected in 1986, this time in Fort Hancock, near the El Paso County line. But the City of El Paso fought the proposal. Finally, in 1991, a judge ruled against the site and it, too, was abandoned. By this time, a new state law had been passed mandating that the facility be built within a 400-square-mile box of land in Hudspeth County. The site the authority came up with was a 16,000-acre ranch outside Sierra Blanca that the state bought from private owners. Environmentalists rose up in opposition to this new site, charging that it was geologically unsound, that it had been developed over known earthquake faults, and that it was chosen not for proper scientific reasons but because the area's residents were predominantly poor and Hispanic. "Look, you and I both know this," Frederick said. "These people are low- income, minority populations. They do not have a strong spokesperson in state government. It's obvious that this area was selected because it did not have the financial or political strength to pose serious opposition." Project leaders say that the Sierra Blanca site was the best one available and that its selection had nothing to do with the town's makeup. The project has also drawn vehement opposition from politicians across the Mexican border, particularly officials in nearby Coahuila and Chihuahua and in the Mexican Legislature. A city councilman from Juarez and several supporters staged a hunger strike on one of the international bridges in El Paso. A delegation of Mexican officials flew to Austin to protest the project, but were rebuffed in efforts to meet with Bush. Mexico's ruling party accused the United States of "economic racism." Proponents of the facility point to the improvements that have already come from tax money turned over to Hudspeth County for its decision to take the waste: a new football field, a library, a medical clinic, a new fire truck. And after the facility is built and operating, the money will continue to flow, proponents say. And there will be an estimated three dozen jobs at the facility and maybe a few more at businesses catering to these new workers. Mathews said that if the state license was granted later this year, as he expects it will be, the authority will still need to appeal to the Texas Legislature early next year for construction money. Even if all goes well, Mathews said, the first shipment of waste would not arrive in Sierra Blanca until late 2000 or early 2001. Sierra Blanca, some 90 miles southeast of El Paso, was once a ranching and railroad center. Now it is little more than a stretch of commercial buildings along a feeder road between two exits on Interstate 10, separated from the Rio Grande by the boulder-strewn Quitman Mountains that create a sawtoothed silhouette in the desert haze. There are three gas stations, three restaurants, a couple of RV parks, two motels, a general store, a grocery, a post office and a former rail depot that is now a county museum commemorating the moment in 1881 when the Southern Pacific's tracks met the Texas Pacific's right here in Sierra Blanca. The museum is open 1 to 5 p.m., Wednesdays only. Maria Mendez, a retired school aid from Allamoore, was part of the delegation that went to Washington this week to protest the compact. "I don't know," Ms. Mendez said Tuesday. "I think Sierra Blanca was chosen for all of this dumping because we don't have any political clout. I think it's a racism thing, I really do. Here we are, the hugest dump in the whole world. First sludge, now nuclear waste. Our home has been taken over as the nation's dumping ground." _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) "Bagpipe" subcrit nuclear test update Date: 02 Sep 1998 12:47:43 -0400 Hi, thought you might like to have the fax numbers for the Secretary of Energy for your letters: 202-586-4403 fax - Executive Assistant, Energy Secretary 202-586-1567 fax - Defense Programs Office c/o Robin Staffin et in dc _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) NYC Subcrit Demo, Sept 8, noon Date: 02 Sep 1998 10:45:44 -0700 For all of you activists in New York City! The Wetlands Environmental and Justice Center in New York City has announced that they will be doing a demonstration to protest the planned subcritical test "Bagpipe" on September 8th. This NOON (12pm) demonstration will take place at 26 Federal Plaza on the corner of Broadway and Duane. For more information please call the Wetlands at 212-966-4225 When you enter the voicemail system press 9 When some one answers the phone ask for the "Eco-department" Please come out in solidarity with activists in Las Vegas and San Francisco to protest these latest nuclear weapons tests. Demand that the U.S government "DON'T BY HYPOCRITICAL! STOP THE SUBCRITICAL!" *The subcritical nuclear weapons test be canceled! *Stop all new and modified nuclear weapons development. *Close down the Nevada Test Site and all nuclear weapons development facilities except for programs based disarmament. *Begin immediate clean up and containment of the nuclear nightmare caused by the U.S. Nuclear Weapons program. President Bill Clinton, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC 20001, (202) 456-1111 Secretary of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave, Washington DC, 20585 To leave a message for Bill Richardson, new Secretary of DOE call the 202 586 6210 and the press office at 202 586 5806 (Thanks to Bob Kinsey for that information) *************************************************************** SHUNDAHAI NETWORK "Peace and Harmony with all Creation" *Breaking the Nuclear Chain* 5007 Elmhurst Ln., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304 ph(702)647-3095 Fax: (702)647-9385 Email: shundahai@shundahai.org http://www.shundahai.org Shundahai Network is proud to be part of: Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a multi-cultural alliance to foster sustainable living and break the nuclear chain; and Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) DC Steering Committee - Minutes August 27 Date: 02 Sep 1998 23:34:32 EDT To: wrl@igc.apc.org, rusfunk@erols.com, peacecent@aol.com TO: WRL, DC Area Progressive Groups FROM: John Judge, DC Organizer WRL RE: October 18-19 Actions, DC Steering Committee Minutes MINUTES: DC Steering Committee, August 27 Riley Bostrum (WRL), Esther Pank (Peace Links), Bette Hoover (AFSC-DC), John Judge (WRL-DC Organizer), Mike Wheaton Sites The mobilization site for the October 19 march has been moved from the Lincoln Memorial to 9:00 am at Arlington National Cemetery, leaving from there to the Pentagon at approximately 10:00 am. The site for the Peace Concert/Disarmament Fair on October 18 has been set at Gonzaga High School Practice Field, 900 N. Capitol Street, NW (near I Street), starting at noon, ending 6 pm. The nonviolence training will be held at St. Aloysius Catholic Church, next to Gonzaga HS on N. Capitol Street at 6:00 pm. Entertainment The following groups have agreed, assuming we can pay their costs to appear (anywhere from $150 - $400 each) and the sound system and stage for their performances. They are holding their dates open waiting confirmation from us. Fugazi, Big Village, Orange Whip, MeShell, Lelo Gonzales, Jaleo, Michelle Swan, Free Style Union, Lucy Murphy, Latino Council Theatre Group, Life Pieces to Masterpieces. Budget and Fundraising The projected cost of the groups and the sound/stage equipment is approximately $5-6,000 for the event. WRL National will be approached to provide a substantial portion of that ($2,500 if possible). Other options suggested were approaching local progressive churches, asking local groups for donations, income from fee for groups tabling the event, charging a gate to the event. If the event could be run without charge to participants, it will pull out a huge youth crowd that our organizations otherwise rarely reach. Russ Funk will represent us and present a pitch for organizational funding at the August 31 event to see how feasible our plans are before finally committing to the event. Flyers and Outreach Mike Wheaton designed a draft flyer for the event, JJ was unable to open the file on his computer. BH took new disk and will work on a revised version of the flyer. Once agreed to, the flyer will be reproduced for events and distribution. A postcard mailing is planned about both events in mid-September. WRL will cover costs of this mailing. Endorsing groups are asked to provide a set of mailing labels for DC/MD/VA contacts for one time use. These should be brought to meetings of the DCSC or mailed to John Judge at WRL-DC Organizing Office, 1247 E Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. We also need volunteers to assist with the mailing of these postcards, labeling, stamping, etc. Both fax and email broadcast lists are being compiled of progressive groups and individuals who might be interested in this event. Groups are encouraged to provide additional contacts to John Judge or Jason Wallach at 544-9355 or email copa@nicom.com. A announcement of October 19 appeared on the homepage of IGC Peace Net recently, and WRL will seek to do a broadcast mailing about the event to the entire igc.apc.org listings. Grey Panthers and WRL will provide local label lists for postcard mailing - RB and JS Report on Disarmament Task Force Meeting The DTF, which includes WRL, is responsible for national organizational decisions concerning the event. The following issues were raised for clarification or decisions from the DC Steering Committee at their meeting: Will DCSC send a representative to speak at the August 31 Endorser's Meeting? Can local people provide assistance with silk screen / banners for the event? Can local people provide volunteers to be marshalls for October 19 march? WRL will also approach a media consultant to help with outreach on internet and alternative press sources, and asks endorsing groups to promote the event in their newsletters and to make their own fax or email press lists available for re-broadcasting of press releases sent to them by WRL. Scenario October 19 and CD Legal march and rally will start at Arlington National Cemetary (Metro accessible and parking available all day in paid lot, handicapped participants should plan van or car dropoffs at Pentagon rally site). March will go from Cemetary to Pentagon River Entrance via GW Parkway and Boundary Channel. Speakers and music will be arranged at the Pentagon site from 11am to 2pm. Civil disobedience will start at 2pm approximately on all five sides of the Pentagon, clearly separated from legal rally. Support people will also be present at the CD actions, but will avoid arrest. The themes for the CD actions are as follows: Memorial for Human Costs of War and Militarism A procession of coffins from Cemetary to Pentagon, memorializing veterans and dead of particular wars, and all other foreign and domestic victims of war and military operations. CD will involve setting up memorial for victims on the Helioport side of the Pentagon. Health of Ourselves and Our Planet Those concerned with health funding and alternatives, and the negative impact of the military and war on human health will set up a healthcare facility on the South side. Includes groups concerned with nuclear and chemical toxics, environmental activists, and those opposed to militarization of space. For the Welfare of Our Neighborhoods Job Centers, decent housing, alternatives to violence, homeless, prisoner, labor and welfare rights will be the theme of the site on the Mall entrance. It will emphasize the impact on our communities of increased violence and lack of funds for human needs. For Smart Students - Not Smart Bombs The River Entrance will be the site of the main rally and this separate action focused on rights of youth and education for all. Students, educators, children's advocates and youth from progressive groups will join in this CD. Shut It Down! The peace groups, war tax resisters, anarchists and others opposed to militarism will join for a CD action on the Metro side, where the workers come and depart from. This action may include leafletting to persuade the workers and enlisted people to take off work for A Day Without the Pentagon. Please consider how your organization could plug into one of these events, and also what visual props you might have that could be used as part of these actions. Let us know at 544-9455! NEXT MEETING: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 6:00 PM, 1747 CONNECTICUT AVE., NW, 2ND FLOOR, BELOW S STREET. BE THERE! NOTE: Our August 31 public meeting for endorsers and supporters was attended by folks from a range of organizations (WRL, Socialist Party, Nonviolence International, Maryland Green Party, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Baltimore Emergency Response Network, Jewish Peace Fellowship, Compassion Over Killing, Asia-Pacific Center for Justice and Peace). Suggestions for outreach to specific groups are being pursued. Linda Thurston (WRL) reported on the current status of the October 19 event. Confirmed speakers include Dan Ellsberg, Dave McReynolds, Dave Dellinger, Alan Nairn. Also invitred are Mel King, Dr. Mishio Kaiku, Kathleen Cleaver, Fred Ashanti, Ron Daniels, Howard Zinn, Mike Farrell, Ossie Davis, Sonja Sanchez, Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen, Charlie King, Odetta, Bonnie Raitt, Annie DiFranco, Sweet Honey and the Rock, Living Theatre and Bread & Puppet Theatre. The DCSC reported on our plans for the Peace Concert/Disarmament fair and what we want endorsers to provide. The Octover 19 Scenario, for legal and civil disobedient actions was discussed. Groups were asked to envision where they would fit in to the scenarios. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) nukes in space Date: 03 Sep 1998 10:15:57 -0400 Dear Global Network Friends: On October 29, 1998 U.S. Senator John Glenn (Democrat-Ohio), the first American astronaut to fly in orbit, will again take the journey into space on a nine-day shuttle Discovery mission. As you have probably already seen, this mission is attracting alot of media interest and will generate lots more between now and October. The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space is undertaking a campaign to send messages to Sen. Glenn urging him to speak out against the growing and dangerous move toward the nuclearization and weaponization of space. We need your help! We are now asking people all over the world to join us in sending Sen. Glenn letters urging him to hold a news conference upon his return from space calling on the U.S. and all other governments to refrain from weaponizing space. We will urge Sen. Glenn to call for a nuclear and weapons free space environment. This could be his legacy. You can help this campaign in the following ways: * Forward this e-mail to as many people as you can * Send a person/organizational letter to Sen. Glenn at any of the addresses listed below * Send organizational news releases to your local media announcing your participation in this global campaign * Send an open letter to Sen. Glenn via your local newspaper * Get your Congressional/local elected officials to urge Sen. Glenn to make the public statement * Hold public vigils at appropriate local sites prior to the return of the Discovery shuttle back to earth * Put articles in your local group newsletters informing people about this campaign With the two very recent rocket explosions at Cape Canaveral; the up-coming controversial Cassini plutonium fly-by in 1999; and the knowledge that the U.S. Space Command is actively promoting early deployment of anti-satellite weapons in space, the time is ripe for us to focus public attention on space issues. Please keep the Global Network informed of your organizational efforts on this "Send John Glenn a Message!" campaign. With your help we can raise some important issues and make space for peace. Senator John Glenn Phone (202) 224-3353 Fax (202) 224-7983 503 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 E-mail: Senator_glenn@senate.gov For peace in space, Bruce Gagnon Coordinator Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space PO Box 90083 Gainesville, Fl. 32607 (352) 337-9274 globenet@afn.org Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment 15 East 26 St. New York, NY 10010 212-726-9161(tel) 212-726-9160(fax) GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000: A Global Network for the Elimination of 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: smirnowb@ix.netcom.com (Robert Smirnow) Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: CALL JOHN GLENN, REQUEST STOP TO MILITARIZATION/NUCLEARIZATION OF SPACE Date: 04 Sep 1998 14:20:54 -0500 (CDT) --- Dear Global Network Friends: On October 29, 1998 U.S. Senator John Glenn (Democrat-Ohio), the first American astronaut to fly in orbit, will again take the journey into space on a nine-day shuttle Discovery mission. As you have probably already seen, this mission is attracting alot of media interest and will generate lots more between now and October. The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space is undertaking a campaign to send messages to Sen. Glenn urging him to speak out against the growing and dangerous move toward the nuclearization and weaponization of space. We need your help! We are now asking people all over the world to join us in sending Sen. Glenn letters urging him to hold a news conference upon his return from space calling on the U.S. and all other governments to refrain from weaponizing space. We will urge Sen. Glenn to call for a nuclear and weapons free space environment. This could be his legacy.YOU CAN GET THE CONGRESSIONAL SWITCHBOARD AT EITHER: 202-225-3121 OR 202-224-3121 & PLEASE ASK THAT IN ADDITION TO THE SENATOR HOLDING A NEWSCONFERENCE THAT HE CONTACT DR. MICHIO KAKU[212-650-8448] & DR. KARL GROSSMAN[516-715-2858] WHO'VE BEEN WORKING IN THIS AREA FOR MANY YEARS. ALSO, PLEASE ENCOURAGE HIM TO GET THE VIDEOS "NUKES IN SPACE:THE NUCLEARIZATION & WEAPONIZATION OF THE HEAVENS" & IT'S SEQUEL, "NUKES IN SPACE:PART II" BY CALLING:718-318-7715! You can help this campaign in the following ways: * Forward this e-mail to as many people as you can * Send a person/organizational letter to Sen. Glenn at any of the addresses listed below * Send organizational news releases to your local media announcing your participation in this global campaign * Send an open letter to Sen. Glenn via your local newspaper * Get your Congressional/local elected officials to urge Sen. Glenn to make the public statement * Hold public vigils at appropriate local sites prior to the return of the Discovery shuttle back to earth * Put articles in your local group newsletters informing people about this campaign With the two very recent rocket explosions at Cape Canaveral; the up-coming controversial Cassini plutonium fly-by in 1999; and the knowledge that the U.S. Space Command is actively promoting early deployment of anti-satellite weapons in space, the time is ripe for us to focus public attention on space issues. Please keep the Global Network informed of your organizational efforts on this "Send John Glenn a Message!" campaign. With your help we can raise some important issues and make space for peace. Senator John Glenn Phone (202) 224-3353 Fax (202) 224-7983 503 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 E-mail: Senator_glenn@senate.gov For peace in space, Bruce Gagnon Coordinator Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space PO Box 90083 Gainesville, Fl. 32607 (352) 337-9274 globenet@afn.org Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment 15 East 26 St. New York, NY 10010 212-726-9161(tel) 212-726-9160(fax) GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000: A Global Network for the Elimination of 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. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Mebane <mmebane@fourthfreedom.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) posting Date: 04 Sep 1998 14:45:42 -0500 September 3, 1998 Dear Friends: October 9th and 10th are exciting days in the emerging movement for the abolition of nuclear weapons. You are invited to participate in a meeting in Chicago on Friday, October 9th to help build a strong U.S. abolition campaign. The meeting will take place on the 8th floor of the DePaul Center, 1 East Jackson Blvd in downtown Chicago from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The proposed campaign will operate within the context of the international Abolition 2000 network. The goal is to build a grassroots movement to pressure the U.S. political system for nuclear weapons abolition. The October 9 meeting will evaluate the need for a U.S. abolition campaign and develop specific program proposals for joint opportunities, strategies, and activities in which participating groups can cooperate. We will also discuss structural questions related to the creation of a U.S. campaign. The envisioned campaign will be broadly inclusive and will attempt to bring together all those who favor rapid denuclearization and the elimination of nuclear weapons. The short term goal over the next two years will be to inject the nuclear issue into the political debates leading up to 2000. The long term objective will be to win U.S. political support for rapid nuclear weapons reduction and elimination. The October 9 meeting is planned to coincide with the Midwest Conference on Nuclear Weapons Abolition that will take place in Chicago the following day, October 10. For more information regarding this meeting please contact Debby Reelitz-Bell or Kevin Martin at the numbers listed below. We hope you will not only attend the organizing meeting but also stay to participate in the October 10 conference. A draft agenda for the October 9 meeting is attached. We encourage you to submit suggestions and proposals for campaign strategies and activities that can be discussed on October 9. Please use the Abolition 2000 U.S. list serve at abolition-usa@xmission.com If you are not on e-mail and wish to circulate a proposal in writing, please send it to the Fourth Freedom Forum for forwarding to others. A few words about logistics: the DePaul Center, the site for both days' events, is conveniently located in downtown Chicago at the corner of State St. and Jackson Blvd., and is easily accessible by public transit. To confirm your attendance, or for assistance with lodging or transportation, please call Debby Reelitz-Bell at 847/266-1525 or Kevin Martin at 312/939-3316. The invitation to the October 9 meeting is open to all groups and individuals who share our common commitment to working for nuclear weapons abolition. We encourage you to spread the word and to bring others with you to the October 9 meeting. Please join us October 9th and 10th for what we hope will be important events toward the realization of our common goal, a world without nuclear weapons. Thank you. Kevin Martin, Illinois Peace Action Debby Reelitz-Bell, Illinois Peace Action Robert K. Musil, Physicians for Social Responsibility Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation Alice Slater, Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) Pamela Meidell, Atomic Mirror David Cortright, Fourth Freedom Forum Draft Agenda October 9 Organizing Meeting on a U.S. Campaign for Nuclear Weapons Abolition 1. Opening remarks Jackie Cabasso Jonathan Schell 2. Update on process and discussions to date Alice Slater David Cortright 3. Introductions and reports on regional and local activities 4. Discussion of opportunities for joint strategies and activities * calendar of upcoming events and opportunities * proposals for specific activities and programs 5. Questions of structure, accountability, and future communications and meetings - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Nevada Sweeties celebrate 1 yr anniversary with lockdown Date: 08 Sep 1998 07:20:40 -0700 PRESS RELEASE September 8, 1998 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Julia Moonsparrow (702) 647-3095 NEVADA SWEETHEARTS CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARY LOCKED TO EACH OTHER ABOVE FEDERAL BUILDING ENTRANCE, REFUSING TO LEAVE UNTIL PLANNED SUBCRITICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTS ARE CANCELED! (Las Vegas - SN) Two Nevada activists with Shundahai Network, an international anti-nuclear and indigenous support organization, are celebrating their first year anniversary on top of an entrance overhang at the Foley Federal building on 300 S. Las Vegas Blvd. The local sweethearts climbed the building at 8:45 am, hung two huge banners off the side and then locked themselves together using a metal pipe. The couple have refused to leave until the planned upcoming subcritical nuclear weapons tests are canceled. This nonviolent direct action is the first in a series of planned protests to stop the subcritical nuclear weapons test, code named "Bagpipe", planned to be exploded at the Nevada Test Site during September. "Bagpipe" is being prepared by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories based in California. The Livermore facility producing the plutonium for this explosion was shut down several months ago for many safety violations and radioactive contamination. "We are saying to the U.S. government 'Don't be Hypocritical, Stop the subcritical!'," said Susi Snyder before climbing the Federal building. " The ongoing U.S. nuclear weapons testing and development program is in direct violation of the International Court of Justice that found in 1996, the preparation for nuclear war is basically preparation for genocide and is a crime against humanity. Our state legislators claim to be working to keep nuclear waste out of Nevada, yet deadly radioactive waste could contaminate our future water supply with each one of these tests." These tests especially contradict the condemnation expressed by the U.S. government against India and Pakistan for conducting their own series of nuclear weapons tests earlier this year. These tests are a green light for nations around the world to continue their own nuclear weapons testing programs, poisoning the land, air and water of the entire planet. "Despite signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996, the U.S. has continued to explode weapons grade plutonium below the ground on Sacred Western Shoshone land and dangerously close to Nevada's underground water source, " said Reinard Knutsen, the other locked down sweetheart. "If we really want to build a bridge to the 21st Century that our children will be proud of, we need to stop producing nuclear weapons and begin immediate negotiations on complete disarmament." The subcritical tests are part of a massive "Stockpile Stewardship and Management" program, intended to maintain and expand U.S. nuclear weapons capabilities well into the next century. During the next decade, taxpayers will spend more than $40 billion for the program, an annual rate higher than the Cold War average. Thus, it is fair to say these tests are intended to signal to the rest of the world an unflagging U.S. commitment to nuclear weapons as the ultimate "big stick." The locked down sweeties are demanding: *The subcritical nuclear weapons test be canceled! *All new and modified nuclear weapons development be stopped. *The Nevada Test Site and all nuclear weapons development facilities are closed except for programs based on disarmament. *Begin Immediate clean up of the nuclear nightmare caused by the U.S. Nuclear Weapons program. Shundahai Network, 5007 Elmhurst Ln, Las Vegas, NV 89108 (702) 647-3095 Email: shundahai@shundahai.org Web: http://www.shundahai.org *************************************************************** SHUNDAHAI NETWORK "Peace and Harmony with all Creation" *Breaking the Nuclear Chain* 5007 Elmhurst Ln., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304 ph(702)647-3095 Fax: (702)647-9385 Email: shundahai@shundahai.org http://www.shundahai.org Shundahai Network is proud to be part of: Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a multi-cultural alliance to foster sustainable living and break the nuclear chain; and Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Save Ward Valley" <swv1@ctaz.com> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Nevada Sweeties celebrate 1 yr anniversary with lockdown Date: 08 Sep 1998 14:38:38 -0700 This is fantastic!!!! I really wish I could have been there. Would you guys save me a picture? Congratulations on a job well done!!!!!! Love you all, Molly >PRESS RELEASE September 8, 1998 >FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Julia >Moonsparrow > (702) 647-3095 > >NEVADA SWEETHEARTS CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARY LOCKED TO EACH >OTHER ABOVE FEDERAL BUILDING ENTRANCE, REFUSING TO LEAVE UNTIL >PLANNED SUBCRITICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTS ARE CANCELED! - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) (no subject) Date: 08 Sep 1998 21:00:34 EDT In a message dated 8/25/98 2:02:50 PM Eastern Daylight Time, wallajas@hotmail.com writes: << Subj: Date: 8/25/98 2:02:50 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: wallajas@hotmail.com (Jason Wallach) To: DavidMCR@aol.com, FBP@igc.org, nvweb@nonviolence.org CC: wrl@igc.apc.org Hi! This is Jason Wallach, the conference coordinator for the War Resisters League's 75th Anniversary Conference, coming up from Oct.16-18. You may be able to help us promote our conference by adding the following blurb to any list-serves that you may have access to. Please do this as soon as is comfortable for you, since we would like to get our attendees to register early. Thanks. Jason Wallach wallajas@hotmail.com The War Resisters League 75th Anniversary Conference "Be Realistic, Demand the Impossible" October 16-19, 1998 Camp Letts, Edgewater, Maryland The War Resisters League hosts its 75th anniversary conference October 16-18, 1998 at Camp Letts on the scenic Rhode River near Annapolis, MD. The conference features speakers and workshops intent on furthering our exploration of nonviolent activism and alternatives to militarization. YouthPeace, the War Resisters League's teen organizing program, will hold a special gathering for youth activists. We will also host a celebration of our anniversary, highlighting 75 years of nonviolent activism in the name of peace and social justice. Speakers and guests include: Dennis Brutus, noted South African poet and activist Betty Burkes, President, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, US Section Mandy Carter, special project coordinator, Southerners On New Ground and consultant for the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum Dave Dellinger, nonviolent activist and war resister Daniel Ellsberg, antinuclear activist and Vietnam whistle-blower Abe Kaufman, WRL's first paid staff person Randy Kehler, longtime war tax resister and cofounder of the Working Group on Electoral Democracy Grace Paley, long time peace activist and WRL member Constancio Pinto, East Timor Action Network And many more! There will be two workshop sessions with more than twenty workshops to choose from, covering the current landscape of nonviolent peace activism. Each attendee will be asked to join one of twelve working groups that will meet twice during the conference to give folks a chance to connect and network around shared issues of concern. YouthPeace, the War Resisters League's youth organizing program, will sponsor a concurrent schedule for youth aged 13-19. Youth attendees will learn about mobilizing students in their schools, youth oppression, and developing youth voices for change. Youth will be able to attend all of the plenary discussions if desired. The conference will be held at Camp Letts, near Annapolis, MD. Registration costs $75. Room and board range from $50 to $75, depending on accommodations. Scholarships are available and childcare will be provided at no cost. Please contact the DC office of the War Resisters League at (202) 544-9355 for information concerning registration, transportation, housing, or any other questions you may have. We'll see you there! - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nevada Desert Experience <nde@igc.apc.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Nevada Sweeties celebrate 1 yr anniversary with lockdown Date: 08 Sep 1998 21:13:29 -0700 (PDT) Hi Molly I was at the demo of the Nevada Sweeties. It was a great action. Tied up traffic quite a while since the firetruck was brought in to get Susi and Reinhard down. I just wanted to say hello and let you know how grateful I was for our great hospitality for our HGW retreat in June. Thnaks David Buer, ofm @ NDE - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Cassini meeting - was anyone there? Date: 09 Sep 1998 20:31:30 -0400 Did anyone happen to attend this talk about Cassini Tuesday 9/8/98, in Pasadena? Ellen Thomas prop1@prop1.org http://www.latimes.com/CNS_DAYS/980908/t000081527.html Tuesday, September 8, 1998 Valley Glen - Los Angeles Times Cassini Space Probe to Be Topic of Talk By MICHAEL BAKER The Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft, the most complex and expensive unmanned space probe ever launched, will be the subject of a talk by the mission's science manager Sunday at the Valley College Planetarium. Ellis Miner of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena will give an insider's view of the Cassini mission, using slides and videotape to illustrate the probe's progress. The spacecraft was launched Oct. 15 amid controversy because it is carrying 72 pounds of plutonium as a power source. The craft is due to reach Saturn's orbit July 1, 2004. On its journey, it will receive a "gravitational assist" to pick up speed by using a planet's gravity like a slingshot. The first assist occurred April 26, when Cassini passed within 176 miles of Venus. After a second Venus fly-by June 24, the craft will pass near Earth next August and Jupiter in 2000. The pass by Earth has critics worried that an explosion or other malfunction could release the harmful effects of the radioactive plutonium and pose an unacceptable risk to human life. NASA officials and leaders of other national science institutes say the plutonium is safely encased in several layers of protective material. During its orbit of Saturn, Cassini will release the Huygens probe, which will drop through the atmosphere of the ringed-planet's moon, Titan, and collect data from its surface. Miner, who has been involved in unmanned planetary exploration for 32 years as a JPL scientist, will speak at 7:30 p.m. The lecture, sponsored by Valley College's Astronomy Club, is free and open to the public. Valley College is located at 5800 Fulton Ave. Directions to the talk and information about the astronomy club are available by calling (818) 947-2335. _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: Sen. Feingold asks for depleted uranium ammo study Date: 09 Sep 1998 21:00:50 -0400 San Francisco Examiner 9/9/98 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/examiner/hotnews/stories/0= 9/ veterans.dtl Senator asks for radioactive ammo study=20 By Kathleen Sullivan=20 OF THE EXAMINER STAFF=20 =20 Wednesday, September 9, 1998=20 Pentagon criticized for dismissing Gulf War veterans' health complaints=20 Joining a chorus of elected officials criticizing the Pentagon's treatment of ailing Gulf War veterans, U.S. Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., has called for a General Accounting Office study on the health effects of exposure to radioactive ammunition fired by U.S. tanks and aircraft during the war.=20 In a Sept. 3 letter to the GAO, which is the investigative arm of Congress, Feingold said the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs "may be inadequately handling the issue."=20 Feingold also asked the GAO to investigate why the Pentagon was not training troops about the hazards posed by the dust and debris generated by explosions of "depleted uranium" ammunition, which is made of a toxic and radioactive metal.=20 "Of great concern is the Pentagon's assertion that no Gulf War veterans could be ill from exposure to depleted uranium," Feingold wrote. "This statement contradicts numerous pre- and postwar reports, some from the U.S. Army itself."=20 In study published before the 1991 war, an Army contractor said the soldiers at highest risk for exposure to depleted uranium were ground troops returning to the battlefield after the ammunition had been fired.=20 However, the Pentagon failed to warn soldiers that inhaling, ingesting or absorbing its hazardous residue could cause cancer or respiratory, kidney and skin disorders.=20 The ammunition was used for the first time in combat in the gulf. Many nations have since added it to their arsenals.=20 Feingold said "another particularly worrisome issue" was that the Pentagon had denied medical testing and care of soldiers exposed to depleted uranium, ignoring Army regulations requiring such steps.=20 In August, the Pentagon released a 182-page report saying that exposure to depleted uranium was not a cause of the undiagnosed illnesses afflicting Gulf War veterans, although it had earlier estimated that "thousands" of soldiers might have been exposed to the substance.=20 Joe Gordon, a spokesman in the Pentagon's Gulf War Illnesses Office, noted that the agency had recently announced plans to add 300 veterans to a program assessing the health of soldiers exposed to the substance. The Department of Veterans Affairs is monitoring 33 veterans who were wounded when their tanks were accidentally hit by American soldiers firing depleted uranium rounds.=20 Gordon said the Pentagon would expand testing if the results of the new medical screenings proved worrisome. "We're trying to get to the bottom of this," Gordon said. "We don't have a link right now, but we're still looking." Feingold's call for a GAO study won applause from Chris Kornkven, president of the National Gulf War Resource Center, a Washington, D.C., coalition of veterans' groups fighting for medical care for veterans and their families.=20 Kornkven said one of the group's biggest concerns was that the VA had faulty methods for testing for depleted uranium exposure.=20 In a 1998 report, the group estimated that 400,000 soldiers might have been exposed to depleted uranium in the gulf.=20 More than 90,000 of the 700,000 soldiers who served in the Persian Gulf have reported an array of puzzling symptoms and debilitating ailments since they returned from the desert.=20 Feingold's call for a GAO report is the latest in a string of actions by elected officials challenging the Pentagon's handling of the issue.=20 *In a 1,003-page report released last week, the U.S. Senate's Veterans Affairs Committee said veterans had encountered "serious obstacles" from the Pentagon and the VA in obtaining effective medical care for their illnesses. The bipartisan report said the agencies had "failed in their responsibilities to serve Gulf War veterans."=20 *In an Aug. 14 letter to the Pentagon, Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., said the agency had picked a "preposterously small" number of veterans to test for depleted uranium exposure by limiting screenings to 333 veterans.=20 "Every veteran even remotely suspected of having come into contact with depleted uranium should be given the opportunity to be examined, and that examination should include tests to detect subtle, not just obvious, possible health effects of exposure to heavy metals and radiation," Shays wrote.=20 *In late 1997, the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight recommended taking the investigation into Gulf War illnesses away from the Pentagon and the VA, and placing it in the hands of a "more responsive agency." "We find current approaches to research, diagnosis and treatment unlikely to yield answers to veterans' life-or-death questions in the foreseeable, or even far distant, future," the committee's 150-page report concluded.=20 =A91998 San Francisco Examiner=20 _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) US Help Needed: Carriers Date: 09 Sep 1998 23:10:58 -0400 Reply-To: kristan@unm.edu, prop1@prop1.org Sender: owner-nukenet@envirolink.org Hello, I'm a grad student in New Mexico and am trying to find out how many carriers there are that are licensed/approved to carry radioactive materials or waste for DOE. Any ideas on where this info might be published?? Kristan Cockerill University of New Mexico Hello, I'm a grad student in New Mexico and am trying to find out how many carriers there are that are licensed/approved to carry radioactive materials or waste for DOE. Any ideas on where this info might be published?? Kristan Cockerill University of New Mexico _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ilpeace@igc.apc.org Subject: (abolition-usa) travel and lodging tips for Chicago abolition events Oct. 9 & Date: 10 Sep 1998 16:24:51 -0700 (PDT) >Dear Friends: Here are some travel and lodging tips for folks coming to Chicago for the October 9 organizing meeting on the new national abolition campaign and the October 10 conference on abolition featuring author Jonathan Schell and former Senator Alan Cranston entitled "Bottling the Genie: Building the Movement to Abolish Nuclear Weapons": > >If you are flying into Chicago, both O'Hare and Midway airports are linked by public transit to downtown Chicago, where our meetings will be held. If you take the train, Union Station is about a $5 taxi ride from the DePaul Center, our meeting site for both days. If you drive, there are parking lots within a few blocks of the DePaul Center. Parking lots and transit stops are marked on the map in the middle panel of the "Bottling the Genie" October 10 conference brochure. (If you didn't get a brochure but want one, call us at 312/939-3316.) > >Lodging: Hotel space in downtown Chicago for October 8,9,and 10 is tight because the Chicago Marathon is Sunday the 11th and there is a big machine industry convention that weekend. So you should make your hotel reservations ASAP. Here are some suggestions: > >Best bet: Travelodge: 312/427-8000 or 800/578-7878, 65 East Harrison St., between Michigan and Wabash Avenues, only 4 blocks from the DePaul Center. Single rooms $79 per night, doubles $89. > >Ramada Congress Hotel: 312/427-3800, 520 S. Michigan Ave., 3 blocks from our meeting site. We're negotiating with them for a group rate, which will probably be between $129 and $165/night for double rooms. > International Conference Center, 4750 N. Sheridan Rd. This is a no-frills but nice conference facility for non-profits that has cheap dormitory-type rooms for between $14 and $24 per night -- can't be beat!! It's two blocks from the elevated ("el") transit stop, and it's about a (very scenic) 25 minute train ride to downtown. The folks there are awfully nice, but they aren't a hotel per se, so they'd like us to take reservations. If you'd like to stay here, and we highly recommend it, call our conference coordinator Debby Reelitz-Bell at 847/266-1525 or Kevin Martin at the Iillinois Peace Action office: 312/939-3316. > International House at the University of Chicago: 773/753-2270, 1414 E. 59th St.-- Single, dormitory-style rooms are $36 per night. This is about a 25-minute bus or train ride from our downtown meeting site. Again, no frills but nice, highly recommended for those on a budget. Bed & Breakfast Chicago: 773/248-0005: a clearinghouse for B & B's, they have rooms close to downtown >from $135 to $185 per night (2 or 3 people per room) >> >If you absolutely cannot afford these reasonably priced (heck, some are downright cheap!) accommodations, call Debby Reelitz-Bell at 847/266-1525 or Kevin Martin at 312/939-3316 and we will arrange a home stay for you with an Illinois Peace Action member. In Peace, Kevin Martin Executive Director Illinois Peace Action Check out our website at http://www.webcom.com/ipa - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: War Resisters League <wrl@igc.apc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Nonviolence Training for Day Without the Pentagon Date: 10 Sep 1998 21:44:07 -0400 In addition to the update on A Day Without the Pentagon that you should receive in a separate post, nonviolence trainings are being scheduled across the country. For those in the New York area, there will be a training held on Sunday September 13, Noon to 6 pm at Theater for a New City, 155 First Avenue at 10th Street. For more information, to share or learn about organizing activities in your area, reply to this e-mail or call 212-228-0450. If you would like to have your local info included in an upcoming update, please let us know immediately. Peace, Chris Ney ********** War Resisters League 339 Lafayette St. New York, NY 10012 212-228-0450 212-228-6193 (fax) 1-800-975-9688 (YouthPeace and A Day Without the Pentagon) wrl@igc.apc.org web address: http://www.nonviolence.org/wrl - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: War Resisters League <wrl@igc.apc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Day Without the Pentagon Update Date: 10 Sep 1998 21:43:01 -0400 A D A Y W I T H O U T T H E P E N T A G O N 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012 800.975.9688 wrl@igc.apc.org www.nonviolence.org/wrl/nopentagon.htm LOCAL ORGANIZING UPDATE September 10, 1998 FIVE WEEKS TO GO! On October 19, 1998, thousands will travel from across the country to Washington, DC. Peace and justice activists will raise their voices to demand that the U.S. government shift funding from smart bombs to schoolbooks from stealth jets to health care from nuclear and chemical weapons to programs to heal the environment from a sexist, racist and homophobic military structure to structures that house and shelter and feed all of the people of this country Activists are now organizing in Boston, New York, Seattle, Philadelphia and over a dozen other cities to bring buses to the Pentagon on October 19. In the coming weeks, national staff for the Day Without the Pentagon Action will send the Update to local organizing committees. This issue includes contact information on local organizing committees, updates on the logistics for the action, and a list of Day Without the Pentagon publications and organizing resources. Let us know about the organizing efforts in your area, and we'll include them in an upcoming issue! -- Linda M. Thurston and Chris Ney -- National Organizers, A Day Without the Pentagon ============================== GET ON THE BUS! A bus caravan will travel from Seattle, WA to the Pentagon in the week before A Day Without the Pentagon. The bus will stop in cities and towns along the way, doing outreach and nonviolence training. For more info contact Geov Parrish at the Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia by phone at 206.547.0952 or email at cmtc@igc.apc.org. New March Route The March to the Pentagon on October 19 will assemble and proceed from the Arlington Cemetery to the Pentagon grounds. Please be sure to note the change. The march route described in early materials, including the Tactical Manual, lists the March route as starting at the Lincoln Memorial. ORGANIZING MATERIALS NEW POSTERS! Artist Lisa Fromartz has designed a new poster for A Day Without the Pentagon. Copies are available free from the national office. Call us at 212.228.0450 for more information. Other materials available: Pentagon Action Tactical Manual ($2 each/$1 for 10 or more) Handbook for Nonviolent Action ($3 each/$1.50 for 10-50) Street Leaflets ($15/100) - A Day Without the Pentagon brochure - Where Does Your Income Tax Really Go? - Five Deadly Myths About the Pentagon - Battered by the Pentagon - 15 Ways to Work for Peace - Violence in Our Communities - Abolish Corporate Welfare LOCAL ORGANIZING CONTACTS FOR A DAY WITHOUT THE PENTAGON Get involved! Contact these activists for information on local outreach and organizing, nonviolence training, and buses to Washington. Even if you are not able to go to the Pentagon on October 19, we can use your help in getting the word out through leafleting, special events, and other activities. WRL New England Regional Office Joanne Sheehan P.O. Box 1093 Norwich, CT 06360-1093 ph/fax: 860.889.5337; email: wrlne9@mail.idt.net CONNECTICUT Green Party bus from Eastern Connecticut, leaving Willimantic, CT, Monday, October 19th, at 12:01 am, arriving in Arlington at 8 am, leaving Arlington at 7 pm, returning to Willimantic at 3 am on Tuesday. $35. Call Gail at 860.455.1315. MAINE INVERT (WRL Maine-wide local) is coordinating transportation from Maine to both the WRL Conference and the Action at the Pentagon. Contact: Larry Dansiger, PO Box 776, Monroe, ME 04951-9709; ph: 207.525.7776; email: invert@acadia.net MASSACHUSETTS Boston area Sam Diener 126 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA 02176 ph: 781.646.6049; email: SAMDIENER@USA.NET NEW JERSEY Melissa Jameson and Oliver Hydon Root and Branch Collective 10 E. Ridgewood Avenue #19, Ridgewood, NJ 07450-3819 ph: 201.251.9591 NEW HAMPSHIRE Sean Donahue New Hampshire Peace Action PO Box 771, Concord, NH 03301 ph: 603.228.0559; email: nhpeaceact@igc.apc.org NEW YORK CITY Chris Ney/Linda Thurston WRL National Office 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012 ph: 212.228.0450 PHILADELPHIA, PA Mario Hardy Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors 1515 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 ph: 215.563.8787 fax: 215.567.2096 RHODE ISLAND Rhode Islanders for A Day Without the Pentagon is a coalition of Rhode Island groups organizing art exhibits and entertainment on October 16 & 17 and a parade (Bread & Puppet Theater are invited) on the 17th during WaterFire festivities in downtown Providence. Contact Greg Gerrit for info on times & places at PO Box 1151, Providence, RI 02901. ph: 401.331.0529, email: gerritt@edgnet.net. Website: www.as220.org/dwp. SYRACUSE, NY Syracuse Peace Council dedicated much of their recent Peace Newsletter to A Day Without the Pentagon, and will hold a community potluck dinner & discussion on 9/18, "From Speaking Out to Getting Locked Up: Every Citizen's Obligation". For info, contact Beth Mosley at 315.472.5478. VERMONT Joe Gainza American Friends Service Committee 73 Main Street, Montpelier, VT 05602 ph/fax: 802.229.2340 (call ahead before faxing) email: afscvt@together.net WASHINGTON, DC John Judge War Resisters League 1247 E Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003 ph: 202.544.9355 WASHINGTON STATE The Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia is organizing a cross-country bus caravan to the Pentagon (see page 1). Contact Geov Parrish at 206.547.0952 or cmtc@igc.apc.org INDIANA The Indianapolis Peace & Justice Center wrote about A Day Without the Pentagon in their newsletter and sent a mailing to 500 local activists. Contact Kent Moore at 317.955.8121 BETHLEHEM, PA The LEPOCO Disarmament Working Group is coming to the Pentagon with five banners reading A Day Without the Pentagon Saves $1.7 Billion". Contact Nancy Tate at 610.691.8730 ********** War Resisters League 339 Lafayette St. New York, NY 10012 212-228-0450 212-228-6193 (fax) 1-800-975-9688 (YouthPeace and A Day Without the Pentagon) wrl@igc.apc.org web address: http://www.nonviolence.org/wrl - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) "Bagpipe" update 9/11/98 Date: 11 Sep 1998 11:21:41 -0700 The preparations for subcritical nuclear weapons test "Bagpipe" seemed to have taken a step back. At the beginning of the week they were doing Mandatory dry runs but now have gone back to signal dry runs showing they have had some preliminary problems with the preparations. I guess the general speculation was that the test would take place on Sept 17, but now it seems the likelihood of delaying the test until the 20-24 is very possible. *************************************************************** SHUNDAHAI NETWORK "Peace and Harmony with all Creation" *Breaking the Nuclear Chain* 5007 Elmhurst Ln., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304 ph(702)647-3095 Fax: (702)647-9385 Email: shundahai@shundahai.org http://www.shundahai.org Shundahai Network is proud to be part of: Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a multi-cultural alliance to foster sustainable living and break the nuclear chain; and Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: First Citizen Inspection Rights law passed in U.S. Date: 12 Sep 1998 07:33:03 -0400 Citizen Inspection Teams, take note! This is the companion law to initiatives creating nuclear free zones. Ellen Thomas Proposition One Committee prop1@prop1.org http://ens-news.com/ens/sep98/1998-09-11-09.html FIRST LAW EMPOWERS CITIZEN INSPECTIONS FOR HAZARDS The Passaic, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders unanimously enacted the nation's first neighborhood "right to act" law to prevent environmental hazards. The law, passed September 8, allows neighbors and/or employees to petition the county Health Officer for creation of Neighborhood Hazard Prevention Advisory Committees (NHPACs) for specific facilities. NHPACs could include management and employees, neighbors, and a municipal representative. The precedent-setting law gives NHPACs authority to enter facilities for on-site surveys, discuss potential hazards and make recommendations to management. (See our website for information about initiative campaigns) _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Impeaching Clinton for the Stockpile Stewardship Program Date: 13 Sep 1998 14:06:29 EDT Timothy, I understand why you feel Clinton should be impeached on the nuclear issue. I think you weaken that position by not including other valid issues (since your motion is, at best, a "political flag" and not a position Congress would take up) such as the bombing of Sudan, Afghanistan, the Welfare issue, etc. However I would suggest it is best for the Abolition list to stay well away of joining any move to impeach Clinton at this time. It will confuse our message and blur our positions. My guess is that Clinton may have to resign and there are lots of unpleasant aspects to the current attack on him - with which I think we should not be involved. You might better have suggested Starr be indicted for trying to derail the Constitution. Peace, David McReynols In a message dated 9/13/98 2:30:19 AM Eastern Daylight Time, tsbrueni@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us writes: << Below is a draft of a letter urging that Clinton be impeached for the Stockpile Stewardship Program. I welcome suggestions on how to improve it. What information should I include in it? I favor impeaching Clinton, not for having an extra-marital affair and lying about it, but for continuing to develop nuclear weapons in violation of international law. On July 8, 1996, the World Court ruled that the use or threat to use nuclear weapons generally violates international law, and that nations have a legal obligation to negotiate a treaty to elimination nuclear weapons. The DOE's Stockpile Stewardship Program would continue to develop U.S. nuclear weapons in violation of the World Court ruling, and also in violation of Article Six of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which requires the nuclear weapons states to bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its respects. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) The Ken Starr report Date: 13 Sep 1998 17:23:18 EDT On the "Clinton Papers" This goes to several lists, (and some friends). I am disturbed over the release of papers by Ken Starr and, along with many others, need to grapple with the issues, most particularly with the profound implications of "impeachment" on the grounds Starr has given. I logged onto the net to check out the Starr report and read down as far as the encounter with the cigar and stopped. Others can read each and every encounter, I don't want to - put it down to an old fashioned Puritanism or just a revulsion against what Starr did. For the first time in all of this I feel sorry for Bill Clinton, as well as his wife and daughter. Lets go over the issues step by step. First, it is my guess that Bill Clinton will resign. He would probably win a fight on impeachment, but the country will be tied down and Clinton's authority is gone. It is one thing to look at Clinton and "imagine" vague encounters between him and Monica. It is very different to look at him and realize the endless jokes that will now follow him through every official encounter until the end of his term. (And long after). "Anyone like a cigar? Oops - sorry Bill, didn't see you". "Don't worry Madame, I'm sure that stain will come out - Oops, the President is sitting right across the table". What will it be like at any foreign dinner when the cigars and brandy are usually passed around? Bill Clinton has been made to look like a fool. How many of you are in my position, that you would not want the secrets of your sexual life, your phone conversations, your email sex encounters, your private letters, etc., made part of a PUBLIC record so that EVERYONE YOU MET would know the smallest detail? This is humiliation far greater than being impeached for stealing funds. One can live that down. One can retreat to a monastery. But how does one live down the cigar? There are lots of problems with Gore, who will replace Clinton in event of resignation. Clinton is already being urged by Rosenthal in the Times to launch a heavy attack on Iraq, to try to wipe out Saddam. If Rosenthal openly suggests this in the N.Y. Times (where an editorial policy of keeping on people who are senile provides space to Rosenthal - I don't know what folly of editorial policy continues to give space to Maureen Dowd), imagine the pressures on an incoming President to show his "toughness". (The one possible saving force for Bill Clinton is that with the economy very rocky, Wall Street, which I do not think has plotted his overthrow, might demand there be no change in a national leadership in which the rest of the world has reasonable confidence). I do not see how Clinton can recover. I am not a Clinton fan. Am I disgusted by the White House sex scandals? Do I think Monica was too young? That the White House is the wrong place? Well, sure, but the real fact is I don't want to know about those things. We didn't elect a preacher but a President. And even preachers - Martin Luther King Jr. is one of many examples - can be caught with their pants down if you put enough agents on the case. (And who among us is so old we have forgotten the sex scandals that rocked a couple of major TV evangelists off the air, and at least one to prison?). Two of the GOP right-wingers, Dan Burton, and the lady out in Colorado who is perhaps a certifiable nut case, are feeling the heat as their lives become public. And no, I don't want to know about their lives either. And I don't want you to know about mine, beyond what I choose to make public. I think it is possible Ken Starr either has no sex life or one that consists entirely of missionary position encounters. There are people in our world, and some reading this, who may be startled to learn that oral sex is possible or that it doesn't mean talking about sex. But none of this is important. What is important is that Ken Starr brought in a report which had absolutely NOTHING impeachable from the White Water, and ONLY found impeachable offenses in sex cases where almost any of us would have lied under oath, refused to give clear answers, been evasive, called on friends and co-workers to cover for us. In short, the charges against Clinton have nothing to do with what are normally thought of as "impeachable" offenses. I remain stunned that Ken Starr would put his name to a report as lurid, obscene, pornographic, and IRRELEVANT as the one he turned in. For the first time in this whole long, shoddy business I wish Clinton could made a good counterattack. But he can't. The counterattack should have come much earlier and Clinton is a gutless wonder who would never have dreamed of it: "Mr. Starr, you can cite me, and you can try to impeach me, but for the sake of this Republic I will not answer one single question about any aspects of my private sexual life - if I did so, I would open every citizen in America to the kind of State investigation of their private affairs which is contrary to things basic to this nation". Instead we have a range of apologies, increasingly desperate, pathetic, and phoney. I know from a lot of the posts I've read that many liberals have persuaded themselves that Clinton is a greater man than events have demonstrated, and must be defended at all costs. The liberals have hold of one thing which is true, and which has accounted for the support thus far from women's and black groups - within a very narrow range, Bill Clinton has done good things for women and communities of color that would not have come from George Bush. Life is not so plush out there on the outskirts, where most of Black America lives, that Clinton's sexual morality is more important than some marginal benefits. After this is over we are going to have to reevaluate much. We - the collective "politically correct left" - were wrong on the Clarence Thomas issue. Dead wrong. Anita Hill's testimony was not grounds for blocking Thomas. We should have taken on Thomas on the solid grounds his credentials were weak, that better jurists could be found. But the liberals in the Senate didn't have the hearts for that - it might seem an attack on affirmative action. They waited for Anita Hill. We were wrong to have pursued Thomas with that material. We shall, looking back on this period from ten years, wonder, as we look back on the McCarthy period, how it ever happened. Were there real live Communists in the State Department? Probably. I don't know. But McCarthy did vastly more harm to the "State" and its ability to cope with problems than a dozen Communists. Ken Starr has lifted private sexual behavior between consenting adults to the level of a crime against the State. He achieved this by pursuing the lies and evasions that followed his hounding of Clinton into areas of his life that had no relationship to the original purpose of the "White Water" inquiry.. Was Clinton responsible for his own fate? Yes - but again, that is not the issue. The issue is not anything which Clinton did sexually - it is Ken Starr's stunning report, broadcast by every possible aspect of the media, to the world at large, so that even a child can, by checking the web sites (assuming their parents burned the New York Times special section) read precisely what Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky did. There is much that I do not want to know. I don't want to know what Ken Starr's farts smell like, nor the color of his piss or the shape of his turds. I don't want to know what Clinton's crotch smells like from nose level. If I offend you, then you see my point, and why the Starr report astounds and offends me. A private life means that lots of things are really off limits unless revealed by consent. That is old-fashioned on my part, but it has been part of what America has been about. Part of what I hope it continues to be about. Ironically, while I think Bill Clinton will have to resign, Ken Starr's report is the first solid reason I've seen for hoping Clinton beats the rap. Is there no legal recourse that can be had against Ken Starr? No sense of how very far he has gone beyond any reasonable line of legal inquiry? No law which applies to him? For, and I close with this, what impeachment does is to overturn a decision of the people. An election. One which Clinton won. If Starr succeeds in driving Clinton from office on the grounds he has given to Congress, then an election will have been nullified. Starr has conspired not against Clinton, but against the Constitution, and the people as a whole, who wisely or not, elected Bill Clinton. He must not be impeached on grounds of lying about sexual encounters in the White House. I've had reports on the net of a range of other White House sexual encounters by other Presidents - I do not forward those because even if Bill Clinton's offenses were unique, they are not impeachable. I am not excited by Clinton's sexual encounters. But I am deeply, profoundly disgusted by Ken Starr's obsession with them. - 30 - - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ish <ishgooda@tdi.net> Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Response to Counsel's Rebuttal Date: 13 Sep 1998 17:46:05 -0400 Unfortunately, the magnitude of Ken Starr's report tends to draw sympathy to the man because of the exposure of his affairs..what of the other women ?? I am sure this is nothing new for either one of them..except to the degree to which his affairs are public knowledge. Hubbel was bought off and still earns 98,000 a year behind bars in the position he was given for his silence. Vern Jordan got him the position, at the same place he got Lewinski a job...hence the connection. Perjury was proven in black and white..and no bait and switch tactics by his defense counsel negates that fact. This is a 5 year felony...and if convicted precludes his tenancy as president. If your son were involved in these kinds of practices, would you not call it a sexual relationship with the woman involved? Get real..Lewinski had sex, but Clinton didn't? What is wrong with this culture when ethics become SO compartmentalized that a lie is okay as long as it is understandable? Unethical behavior is fine, as long as it doesn't rock your boat? Where is honor? Where is morality? What we accept....we teach. Ish >Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1998 23:40:53 -0400 >To: PRES >From: Ish <ishgooda@tdi.net> >Subject: Response to Counsel's Rebuttal > >To Whom it May Concern; > >Your rebuttal albeit preliminary is an example of bait and switch tactics of which you have accused Starr's in his investigation.. >The oath taken prior to testimony states "I swear to tell the Truth the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth." This standard was not met by Mr Clinton in either his testimony in the Paula Jones case nor before the Grand Jury. What he demonstrated was an attempt to deceive, mislead..in short: lie. This deception is an element of perjury. Starr has proved his point. > >The President has not demonstrated characteristics necessary for full faith and confidence in the performance of his duties as a citizen..how can he ever be trusted with the duties of the highest office in this country? I would propose that he cannot. > >History will judge him as the man who failed to address the year 2000 problem in a timely manner in 1996 when approached by Senator Moynihan. His may possibly be the last captaincy of this country as we have known it..one hell of a commentary,eh? > >For ONCE do the honorable thing and resign the office.. > Ishgooda Tewehshon'on > > &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ __ (\ .-. .-. /_") \\_//^\\_//^\\_// `"` `"` `"` - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: da710@freenet.carleton.ca (John Murray Clearwater) Subject: (abolition-usa) Heavy bombers to Asia Date: 13 Sep 1998 18:23:55 -0400 (EDT) NEW U.S. BOMBER DEPLOYMENTS TO ASIA by John M. Clearwater da710 at freenet dwot carleton dwot ca (author of "Canadian Nuclear Weapons") 09 September 1998. Ottawa. The United States Air Force (USAF), at the direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the Secretary of Defence (SoD), ordered a small but significant heavy bomber force to be sent from the USA to Anderson Air Force Base (AFB) on the island of Guam in the Pacific near South- East Asia. On Friday, 04 September 1998, two bomber detachments set out from Whiteman AFB and Barksdale AFB in the USA to Anderson AFB, Guam. Three B-52H heavy bombers from the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale AFB, Bossier City, Louisiana; and three B-2 heavy stealth bombers from the 5th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB in Missouri, have been sent for a thirty (30) day deployment to Anderson AFB, Guam. In the past, the 2nd Bomb Wing spent years at Anderson beginning in 1970, having been the USAF "super" wing during the massive bombings of Indo-China. The 509th Bomb Wing also served at Anderson, and in 1968 and 1968 participated in the aerial destruction of Indo-China. The context for the deployments is that a little more than a week ago, just after lunch on Monday 31 August 1998, the DPRK (North Korea) tested a medium range ballistic missile which overflew Japan. Parts of the missile landed in the high seas off the Sanriku coast of Japan. The Japanese Cabinet Secretary, Hiromu Nonaka, stated that it was an extremely dangerous act as the DPRK had issued no warning to the ships or aircraft operating in the target region. There is a growing awareness in the USA that DPRK missile ranges are steadily increasing, and US military and civilian officials are voicing concerns that soon Hawaii will be in range of strikes from the DPRK. It is likely that the USA is preparing to bomb deep and heavily defended targets inside the DPRK, or to engage in more strikes against anti-USA individuals in third countries. It was recently reported that the US satellite intelligence community discovered evidence of a massive underground complex. Although there is no firm evidence, the Pentagon is suggesting that it could house nuclear facilities, missile factories, or a plant for the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction. The official USAF story of the deployments is that the bombers will "demonstrate global power capabilities of U.S. forces and conduct local, Guam-based bomber training in support of global objectives." The USAF also states that the B-52 Stratofortresses and the B-2 Spirits "will carry conventional munitions and partici- pate in bomber training operations in the Pacific region." The greatest irony is that the USAF contends that the bomber force can respond anywhere in the world within 24 hours with tremendous lethality "while placing relatively few people in harm's way". It seems that only USAF crew are people, and the human beings in the drop-zone are only targets and collateral damage. The B-52H bombers are from the 20th and/or 96th Bomb Squadrons of the 2nd Operations Group of the 2nd Bomb Wing. This is one of only two B-52 bomb wings in the USA, utilizing 58 of the 95 B-62s left in service. Barksdale AFB stores some 50 B61-7 and 90 B83 nuclear gravity bombs; and about 300 AGM-86B cruise missiles and 100 AGM-129 A advanced cruise missiles. The base is home to some 540 nuclear warheads for the two bomber squadrons and one training squadron based there. The weapons of choice for the B-52 units are the AGM-86B nuclear air-launched cruise missile; the AGM-86C conventional air-launched cruise missile; and the AGM-129A advanced cruise missile. The conventional AGM-86C was secretly made from cold war-surplus nuclear AGM-86B's in June 1986, and the first 35 missiles were used against targets in Iraq in January 1991. The new missiles, called CALCM, have a high explo- sive blast/fragmentation warhead. They were fired from B-52s of the 2nd Bomb Wing. It is most likely that the B-52s, each of which can carry 12 missiles under the wings and another eight in the bomb bay, took a full war load of 20 AGM-886C CALCM missiles with them. There is no reason to suspect that the unit took nuclear munitions. Each B-52 can carry 31.5 tonnes of munitions, both conventional and nuclear. The B-2 stealth bombers are from the 393 Bomb Squadron of the famous 509th Bomb Wing. The 509th is best known as the unit which dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 06 August 1945. On 09 August 1945, another 509 Composite Group bomber dropped the second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki. The Wing was activated on 01 Sept 1991 as the USAF's new stealth bomber unit. However, the first B-2 did not arrive until 17 December 1993. There have been no combat missions flown by the B-2 to date. Each B-2 can carry 18 tonnes of munitions, both conventional and nuclear. Whiteman AFB is home to some 550 nuclear warheads. The base holds about 200 B61-7 nuclear gravity bombs; about 50 of the new B61-11 bunker-buster deep penentrator nuclear gravity bombs; and about 300 of the 1 Mt yield B83 thermonuclear gravity bombs. There are no cruise missiles at Whiteman, as the B-2s are expected to penetrate to the target and drop gravity weapons. The 509th stealth bombers have recently acquired a new nuclear weapon: the B61 Mod 11. The B61 Mod 11 was designed and tested over the past four years as a nuclear bunker-busting explosive. There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the weapon, as critics charge that US design, testing, and production of this new device violates US arms control commitments. This weapon has been earmarked for use on the supposed and actual command- control-communications-intelligence bunkers of coutries such as Iraq and the DPRK. They are also tagged for use against the National Command Authority sites meant to house the government leaders. During the Cold War, the USA had pledged that their forces would never use nuclear weapons on a country which did not themselves have nuclear weapons of their own or stored on their land. With the end of the Cold War, this policy was abandoned by the Clinton Administration and replaced with one which stated that nuclear weapons could now be used as a response to any use of weapons of mass destruction, even by non-nuclear countries. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace Action - National Office <panukes@igc.apc.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Response to Counsel's Rebuttal Date: 13 Sep 1998 15:36:37 -0700 (PDT) This is the abolition caucus! A friendly reminder to keep to the topic even as loosely defined as it is, at hand - abolition! There are plenty of internet chat rooms and web pages to discuss the Starr report and its legal aspects. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Response to Counsel's Rebuttal Date: 13 Sep 1998 18:42:44 EDT In a message dated 9/13/98 6:39:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time, panukes@igc.apc.org writes: << Subj: Re: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Response to Counsel's Rebuttal Date: 9/13/98 6:39:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: panukes@igc.apc.org (Peace Action - National Office) Sender: owner-abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com Reply-to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com This is the abolition caucus! A friendly reminder to keep to the topic even as loosely defined as it is, at hand - abolition! There are plenty of internet chat rooms and web pages to discuss the Starr report and its legal aspects. >> Sorry but the point is not well taken. Whether we like it or not, (and I am very distressed about it), the issue of foreign policy, Bill Clinton, and the Starr report are news and are linked in ways we can't dodge. Abolition 2000 doesn't live in a gilded cage - it is part of a real world in which events are occuring which do touch on things such as the Starr report. Sincerely, David McReynolds - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Janet Bloomfield <jbloomfield@gn.apc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) FAX ALERT FASLANE PEACE CAMP (fwd) Date: 14 Sep 1998 09:26:18 +0100 (BST) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- a-days@motherearth.org, induran@motherearth.org, tp2000.lst.grp@gn.apc.org Cc: janejim@gn.apc.org Cc: =09Faslane Peace Camp <janejim@gn.apc.org> =09=09=09*** URGENT ALERT *** =09=09=09MODEL LETTER ENCLOSED =09=09 PLEASE NETWORK THIS ALERT Gent, 13 September 1998 Dear friends on the networks, One more time Internet might help us win a struggle !!! Today we sollicit your help as the Faslane Peace Camp in Helensburgh, Scotland, is threatened with eviction. Faslane Peace Camp, with its 16 year history, is the oldest non-violent peace camp opposing nuclear weaponry in the world (more information about the Peace Camp is included). It is located near the British Trident nuclear submarine base. The Trident first strike Strategic Nuclear Weapon System has the destructive potential of 1074 times Hiroshima. Today you can help by faxing a letter (model letter enclosed) to -------------------------------------------------------------- =20 -> Argyll & Bute District Council=09=09=09+44-1546 604349 =20 Please fax copy to : -------------------- -> For Mother Earth=09=09=09 =09=09+32-9-233 73 02 -> Press Association, Attn. Joe Quinn=09=09+44-141-221 0283 -> Helensburgh Advertiser, Att. Kristina Kran=09+44-1436 671 241 =20 The Peace Camp is in urgent need of your support. Councillors have finally agreed to meet a delegation of the Peace Camp on 21 September 1998 at the Victoria Halls in Helensburgh. But we cannot expect anything other than that they will continue in their endeavour to evict the Peace Camp whilst leaving Trident untouched in the heart of their constituency. We are however confident that they will take a different attitude if they receive requests from around the world to support the non-violent resistence movement at the Faslane Camp. The Peace Camp needs as much national and international support as we can muster. We urge you to register your support for the Camp. Yours Sincerely, Helen Markham=09=09=09=09Pol D'Huyvetter Faslane Peace Camp=09=09=09For Mother Earth International Office Shandon,=09=09=09=09Lange Steenstraat 16/d near Helensburgh=09=09=099000 Gent Dumbartonshire=09=09=09Belgium GB8 8HT=09=09=09=09Phone +32-9-2338439 Scotland=09=09=09=09Fax +32-9-2337302 Phone +44-1436-820901=09=09E-mail: international@motherearth.org E-mail: janejim@gn.apc.org=09=09WWW: http://www.motherearth.org/ *********************************************************************** TRIDENT & FASLANE PEACE CAMP FACT-SHEET *********************************************************************** =09=09 Britain's Nuclear Weapons System The UK nuclear weapons system is based on Trident missiles bought from the USA and ready to be fired from three submarines (four from September) based at Faslane Naval Base on the Gareloch near Glasgow and stored and loaded onto the subs at Coulport on Loch Long a few miles further west. Each submarine can carry up to 96 one hundred kiloton nuclear warheads. One Trident warhead is 8 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. The Trident system is a massive escalation in Britain's nuclear capacity.=20 Trident was finally outlawed by the UN International Court of Justice, when on July 8, 1996 the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) gave its Advisory Opinion to the UN General Assembly on the illegality of nuclear weapons, stating that "methods and means of warfare which would preclude any distinction between civilians and military targets, or which would result in unnecessary suffering to combatants, are prohibited. In view of the unique characteristics of nuclear weapons, =85 the use of such weapons = is scarcely reconcilable with such requirements".=20 The Court stated clearly that "not only the use but also the treat to use nuclear weapons is generally contrary to the rules of international humanitarian law." Finally the Court also concluded unanimously that there exists a legal obligation (NPT Art. VI) to conclude a Treaty Banning all Nuclear Weapons. Though Britain, France, Russia and the USA are reluctant to participate in such multilateral negotiations, we know that the mounting pressure from NGO's and most national and local governments will soon move the the Nuclear Weapons States world to conclude such a Treaty within the framework of the United Nations. =09=09=09 Faslane Peace Camp Faslane Peace Camp is a very visible sign of hope in the struggle to abolish nuclear weapons, situated right opposite Faslane Naval Base-home of Britain=92s three nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered Trident submarines. For sixteen years now the camp has been a base for non-violent protest against the naval base. Protesters have cut through fences, negociated razor wire and swum the Gareloch to get their message accross-that the Trident system is illegal and immoral, violating international and humanitarian law (cfr. UN International Court of Justice July 8 1996). During the first two weeks of August 1998 the camp was involved in the highly successful =93Trident Ploughshares 2000=94 campaign, mounting daily actions against the base which made headlines in the UK and around the world. Seven non-violent campaigners are in Scottish prisons at this time following these protests. The Peace Camp now faces imminent eviction by Argyll and Bute District Council. The camp has planning permission and until last July had a lease for the site. And there exists a petition with 8000 signatures expressing support for the Peace Camp. But the Council has never discussed any of the problems it has with the Camp with the campers themselves or with the rest of the Argyll and Bute electorate. Neither has it explained where it intends to find the hundreds of thousands of pounds necessary to evict. The Ministry of Defence is attempting to sell woodlands adjacent to the camp at the moment-but the Peace Camp is=20 situated directly at the front of 9,5 acres of this land which has been designated for residential development. =09=09 Evict Trident, not the Peace Camp !!! end *********************************************************************** =09 =09=09MODEL LETTER FOR NGO's=20 FOR THE ATTN. OF THE ARGYLL & BUTE DISTRICT COUNCIL *********************************************************************** Place, Date For Argyll & Bute District Council Attn. John Wilson, Convenor, Argyll & Bute Council, Kilmory, Lochgilphead, PA31 8RT, Scotland Fax +44-1546 604349 Dear Mr. John Wilson, I am writing to you to express my concern about the stated intention of Argyll and Bute District Council to evict the sixteen-year-old Faslane Peace Camp. The protestors' continued peaceful protest is motivated by conscience and vindicated by international, moral and humanitarian law, as well as economic concern for billions of pounds being wasted on the military industrial complex, while millions live in destitution. I would urge the Argyll & Bute District Council to reconsider its decision, and not to stifle the voice of conscientious objection but to support the non-violent campaigners in their struggle for the abolition of these weapons of mass-destruction which are so inextricably bound up with global human misery. Together we can free the next generations from the threat of nuclear horror= =2E We look forward to your response. Yours Sincerely end=20 October 1 1998 International Day of Non-Violent Action =09 Citizens Inspect nuclear 'sites of crime' =09=09 Org: Nuclear Weapons Abolition Days =09 a working group of Abolition 2000 October 10 1998 BENEFIT FOR MOTHER EARTH - Vooruit - Gent =09=09 including: =09=09=09 =09=09 Information on disarmament actions in Faslane =09=09 (Scotland) and Kleine Brogel (Belgium) =09=09 Proclamation Winner Treasure Hunt Kleine Brogel *************************************************************** * For Mother Earth International office * *************************************************************** * Lange Steenstraat 16/D, 9000 Gent, Belgium * * Phone/fax +32-9-233 84 39 * * Mobile +32-95-28 02 59 * * Fax +32-9-233 73 02 *=20 * E-mail: international@motherearth.org *=20 *************************************************************** * WWW:http://www.motherearth.org/ * *************************************************************** * Postal account : 000-1618561-19 * ***************************************************************=20 * For Mother Earth is member of Abolition 2000 - the global * *network to eliminate nuclear weapons, the International Peace* * Bureau (IPB), World Information Service on Energy (WISE), *=20 * International Netwerk on Sustainable Energy and Eurosolar * *************************************************************** * For Mother Earth has offices in Belgium, Bulgaria, *=20 * Romania, Slovakia, Sri Lanka and USA, aswell as * * contacts/groups in Belarus, Czech Republic, France, * * Finland, Germany, Netherlands and United Kingdom * *************************************************************** WHEN SPIDERS UNITE, THEY CAN TIE DOWN A LION -Ethiopian Proverb=09=09 = =09=20 - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Carole Gallagher <clgallagher@igc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Keep this listserve professional Date: 14 Sep 1998 06:21:58 -0400 Peace Action - National Office wrote: > > This is the abolition caucus! A friendly reminder to keep to the topic > even as loosely defined as it is, at hand - abolition! There are > plenty of internet chat rooms and web pages to discuss the Starr report > and its legal aspects. > > - > Thank you for setting some limits. I've just opened a David McReynolds missive and don't think this listserve should be a forum for therapy and angst, just the facts related to abolition. Something in a professional league, y'know? And no pompous chest thumping by pseudo-Alpha males who use their "peace movement" work as a reason to live without guilt for their real-time activities. Awfully tiresome. No verbal pollution, please! Carole Gallagher American Ground Zero clgallagher@igc.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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Joseph Gerson <afsccamb@igc.apc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Discussing Clinton's Resignation is appropriate in this Date: 14 Sep 1998 07:01:07 -0700 (PDT) 9/14 The following is a personal, not organizational, statement : Friends, whether or not you completely agree with David, he is certainly right that discussing the fate of the American Caeser, the Commander in Chief of U.S. military forces - including nuclear - is right. How long ago was it that people across the globe were wondering whether or not the U.S. had attacked Afghanistan and Sudan with missiles had more to do with Monicagate than U.S. elite readings of U.S. national interests? Well before the U.S. constitutional crisis, our collective hopes of achieving negotiation of a treaty by the year 2000 to eliminate nuclear weapons were more than dim (something we're going to have to face in our name, slogan and means) because we have yet to build the popular movement needed to force politicians to inaugurate a non-nuclear order. This includes the US AND other nuclear powers. There ain't no way we're going to get a treaty with a "No-Nothing" dominated Congress, more sophisticated imperialists in Congress and elsewhere in Washington's seats of power, and with this president (wounded or otherwise.) Impeachment of Clinton is unlikely because it is not year clear that the committed "high crimes and misdemeanors" described in the U.S. constitution, and because most Congressional Republicans would prefer to have an even weaker Democratic president (which is not to say that Clinton hasn't been a Republican attempting to pass as a Democrat - whatever that is these days). Republicans certainly do not wish to give Gore the advantages of incumbency as we approach the year 2000 - even if the possibility of later impeaching him for fund raising irregularities could lead to a Gingrich presidency (Constituinally, the Speaker of the House is next in line.) Unfortunately, it is not clear that anyone has or will have the the leverage to force Clinton out of the White House (especially as there is increasing talk of censoring Clinton rather than impeaching him.) While the cigar may have come as a shocking surprise to most people in the U.S., for the most part they have read Clinton clearly since his sexual exploits became a subject of political debate during the 1992 election. Tragically, Clinton's values, foibles, and commitment to yuppie-dom economics are more American than many of us would wish, or at least that's what the initial polling in the wake of Starr's atrocity seem to indicate. Should Clinton be forced to resign, we should not expect Gore (the prime advocate of the MX missile - remember?) to be any better than Clinton in terms of moving the U.S. from a doctrine in which preparations for nuclear war remain "a cornerstone of our policy", more accurately understood as nuclear terrorism. I recall a conversation with Daniel Ellsberg a couple of years ago in which he described Gore as "the most dangerous man in Washington." At his DNC speech last Thursday he emphasized his commitment to "continuity" to the policies of these past six years. Joseph Gerson At 06:42 PM 9/13/98 EDT, DavidMcR@aol.com wrote: >In a message dated 9/13/98 6:39:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time, >panukes@igc.apc.org writes: > ><< Subj: Re: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Response to Counsel's Rebuttal > Date: 9/13/98 6:39:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time > From: panukes@igc.apc.org (Peace Action - National Office) > Sender: owner-abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com > Reply-to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com > To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com > > This is the abolition caucus! A friendly reminder to keep to the topic > even as loosely defined as it is, at hand - abolition! There are > plenty of internet chat rooms and web pages to discuss the Starr report > and its legal aspects. > > >> > Sorry but the point is not well taken. Whether we like it or not, (and I am >very distressed about it), the issue of foreign policy, Bill Clinton, and the >Starr report are news and are linked in ways we can't dodge. Abolition 2000 >doesn't live in a gilded cage - it is part of a real world in which events are >occuring which do touch on things such as the Starr report. > >Sincerely, >David McReynolds > >- > 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. > > - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Carole Gallagher <clgallagher@igc.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Discussing Clinton's Resignation is appropriate in this Date: 14 Sep 1998 11:29:44 -0400 Regarding a potential resignation, I agree tactical agendas must be discussed. Anyone who wishes to come to grips with cigar issues might do so in private or in chat rooms. Let's not stain this listserve - that's all I meant to say. Carole Gallagher American Ground Zero - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace Action - National Office <panukes@igc.apc.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Response to Counsel's Rebuttal Date: 14 Sep 1998 09:28:30 -0700 (PDT) No offense, but this is a predictable response. I even considered asking in advance not to receive responses outlining how the Star Report and various legal aspects of it relate to the President's ability to execute his office/foreign policy/and therefore abolition. Bruce > In a message dated 9/13/98 6:39:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time, > panukes@igc.apc.org writes: > > << Subj: Re: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Response to Counsel's Rebuttal > Date: 9/13/98 6:39:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time > From: panukes@igc.apc.org (Peace Action - National Office) > Sender: owner-abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com > Reply-to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com > To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com > > This is the abolition caucus! A friendly reminder to keep to the topic > even as loosely defined as it is, at hand - abolition! There are > plenty of internet chat rooms and web pages to discuss the Starr report > and its legal aspects. > > >> > Sorry but the point is not well taken. Whether we like it or not, (and I am > very distressed about it), the issue of foreign policy, Bill Clinton, and the > Starr report are news and are linked in ways we can't dodge. Abolition 2000 > doesn't live in a gilded cage - it is part of a real world in which events are > occuring which do touch on things such as the Starr report. > > Sincerely, > David McReynolds > > - > 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. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Re: Impeaching Clinton for the Stockpile Date: 14 Sep 1998 20:15:33 -0400 Starr SHOULD be indicted for trying to derail the Constitution. David McReynolds <DavidMcR@aol.com> was right about that. et in dc _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: act@web.net (ACT for Disarmament) Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Discussing Clinton's Resignation is appropriate in this conference Date: 14 Sep 1998 21:21:28 -0400 (EDT) Carole wrote: > Regarding a potential resignation, I agree tactical agendas must be > discussed. Anyone who wishes to come to grips with cigar issues might do > so in private or in chat rooms. In principle I agree with you. On the other hand, I think David's earlier remarks regarding Clinton respond to the rather sorry state of political culture. I won't say it is any healthier outside the U.S. It isn't. Ultimately, it is within this political culture that we must work to abolish nuclear weapons. I would have liked to see David's thoughts somehow linked to the abolition cause. How can we relate these so-called sexual diversions to the folly of nuclear weapons, and of war itself? How can the peace movement tie in to issues that, for whatever reason, are pre-occupying the American -- indeed the global -- mind? I sincerely believe the peace movement needs to be able to respond to seemingly unrelated front-page issues. I think if abolitionists could make the link to Zipper-gate, or whatever, in a *** concrete, mature *** fashion, we could manipulate our issues onto the front pages. In short, David is onto something. Let's build on this. Carole further wrote: > Let's not stain this listserve - that's all I meant to say. Okay, Carole, you win the "Bad Pun of the Month Award". But this is the kind of creativity that needs to happen if we are to move our issue. Saul Chernos ACT for Disarmament (and freelance journalist) Toronto Canada act@web.net - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Richard Salvador <salvador@hawaii.edu> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Discussing Clinton's Resignation is appropriate in this conference Date: 14 Sep 1998 16:48:30 -1000 Aloha from Hawai'i, I can't remember where I heard it and which reporter was making the analysis but a comparison of Clinton to Richard Nixon's weakened moral authority during the latter's troubles before his resignation allegedly had led to a crescendoing of the environmental lobby's influence on Nixon in spite of strong Conservative opposition--which led to the passage of important environmental regulations and related regulatory agencies. Supposedly the act creating the EPA was passed during Nixon's troubles. Which leads me to believe that political strategy, specifically re very well-thought out anti-nuclear or disarmament issues at this crucial moment of the presidential power vacuum is crucial. This is not say that we take advantage of Clinton's weakness at this time. But the convergence of several forces that creates political space for exerting a powerful civil society stand on influencing official disarmament policy may be at hand. One issue, e.g. subcritical testings, etc, etc, rather than a plethora of demands may be an option. Just some thoughts, from a political science student! Mahalo (thanks) and greetings from Hawai'i. Richard Salvador Univ of Hawai'i-Manoa Honolulu, HI On Mon, 14 Sep 1998, ACT for Disarmament wrote: > Carole wrote: > > > Regarding a potential resignation, I agree tactical agendas must be > > discussed. Anyone who wishes to come to grips with cigar issues might do > > so in private or in chat rooms. > > In principle I agree with you. On the other hand, I think David's earlier > remarks regarding Clinton respond to the rather sorry state of political > culture. I won't say it is any healthier outside the U.S. It isn't. > Ultimately, it is within this political culture that we must work to > abolish nuclear weapons. I would have liked to see David's thoughts > somehow linked to the abolition cause. How can we relate these so-called > sexual diversions to the folly of nuclear weapons, and of war itself? How > can the peace movement tie in to issues that, for whatever reason, are > pre-occupying the American -- indeed the global -- mind? I sincerely > believe the peace movement needs to be able to respond to seemingly > unrelated front-page issues. I think if abolitionists could make the > link to Zipper-gate, or whatever, in a *** concrete, mature *** fashion, we > could manipulate our issues onto the front pages. > > In short, David is onto something. Let's build on this. > > Carole further wrote: > > > Let's not stain this listserve - that's all I meant to say. > > Okay, Carole, you win the "Bad Pun of the Month Award". But this is the > kind of creativity that needs to happen if we are to move our issue. > > Saul Chernos > ACT for Disarmament > (and freelance journalist) > Toronto Canada > act@web.net - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) The inevitability of discussing "the issue" Date: 14 Sep 1998 23:38:07 EDT I had posted a longish letter on the Clinton affair to the Abolition-usa list (if any of you on the international list want it, let me know). There was concern expressed that the Abolition Caucus list really needed to stick to that topic, that Clinton's problems were not germane. Unhappily, they are germane and one reason for expanding this discussion to the wider list is that I think those in other countries need some sense from "here" of what is happening. I don't mean the sordid details (and they are sordid - the release of the Starr report suddenly made the U.S. Congress the largest publisher of pornography in the US), but the political implications. If my reading is correct several things need to be noted. One is that Clinton, while he might risk another bombing of Afghanistan (not, I think, Sudan, since he obviously had the wrong target there), will not take the risks of peace. This is a President who has not looked for ways to involve the US in war - but he is also notably a President who risks almost nothing, who governs by polls, and I do not believe our forces are strong enough to persuade him, given his weakened position, to take any courageous risks for peace. Clinton is many things - none of them involve courage. So I think our collective, international strategy, in dealing with the world's sole superpower, has to be some calculation of where to put pressure. And right now, I think the White House is a waste of time. If, as I suspect, Clinton will have to resign (other men would have blown their brains out after the release of the Starr report - it did the one thing a man finds it almost impossible to accept - it made Clinton look foolish), we get Gore. I have no enthusiasm for Gore and would be afraid that he might find it "wise" to take an aggressive military position early in his administration to calm the right wing. That is easy for a "great" power to do - bomb Iraq, or Afghanistan. Who is going to stop the US? I think very little can come from the Presidential office in the months ahead. I think folks in other countries have a right to that information or, at least, to my take on it. I was wrong before. Seven months ago when this first broke I thought Clinton would be forced from office. I was dead wrong. There is, in the US, an interesting "break" between what is called the "Washington world" and the rest of the US. The Washington world, and all the media experts located there, were quite baffled when the American public as a whole rode out the first revelations. That may happen again, but the details are so sordid, so humiliating, that I think it is one thing to suspect Clinton had a "relationship" with Monica Lewinsky, and very different to have our noses rubbed in the details. (There is something else running - the people as a whole are, I think, weary of this scandal and want it to go away. In a sense, the Starr report told the American public things it really didn't want to know. And, because all of us are also - I hope - sexual animals, the Starr report was very dangerous because it was a move toward treating sex itself as a criminal act.) For the American movement, I don't think we can live in a vacuum and avoid discussing the one issue which, at the moment, everyone else is discussing. My advice there is that whatever we feel about resignation, impeachment is a very different matter. We should take a long view, one that grasps the nature of American democracy with all its flaws. Impeachment is a profound act. It involves overturning an election. Unlike Great Britain, the President does not govern at the whim of the Parliament. He is elected independently. The division of powers, while sometimes designed to block any movement, is still how the country is run - there is a sharp line between the Congress and the Administration which cannot be lightly crossed. Nothing Clinton has done justifies, in my view, the overturning of an election. Nothing Clinton did with Monica should have been a surprise to the voters who elected him and re- elected him. So OUR OWN FORCES need to be careful not to be involved with any moves toward impeachment, nor to invent our own reasons for it. Sex is not a high crime. Clinton's other actions, from Welfare through NATO through the nuclear testing issue through the land mines issue are emphatically not impeachable events. They are good political issues for us to raise in an election. I'm sorry that some are nervous about having this discussion - but I not only think we can't avoid having it, but in another sense we are a small family of one or two hundred people. We care about the floods in Bangladesh and want to know about them. We exchange bits of gossip, we exchange greetings of support. If the Abolition 2000 movement is alive - and I hope we can survive even if we fail to reach our goal by 2000 - it will be because we are a kind of "set of friends and co-workers, comrades in a long march" and it is quite impossible not to discuss the events in Russia (which pose enormous dangers to us), or in this case the US. I appreciate our having a range of sub-sets of lists and their value. There will come times when issues or events leap over the lines we had drawn. Peace, David McReynolds - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Sue Broidy <a2000@silcom.com> Subject: (abolition-usa) Update from Santa Barbara Date: 15 Sep 1998 15:16:17 -0700 (PDT) Abolition 2000 - Update from Santa Barbara Grassroots News for September This has already gone out to some of you on the abolition-usa list. If this is the second time, I apologize! I have added a brief report on the meeting I attended last weekend in Livermore. Santa Barbara is hot and humid - but it is good to be home again after my trip to England and Austria. I was very pleased to meet Frances Connolly of Abolition 2000 UK and to spend some time talking to her about strategy and ideas. It is really helpful to meet colleagues face to face and I look forward to meeting more of you in the future. I am now back at my desk, full of renewed enthusiasm to keep in touch more often and with shorter messages. It is good to be receiving positive feedback so far on the big August mailing and I hope that as a result, our 1100 organizations are feeling more like partners and less isolated. Please keep in touch with ideas and strategies for us all to build on. Indian Admiral Visits Santa Barbara Admiral Ramdas, India's former Chief of the Naval Staff, visited the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation recently to talk of his decision to commit himself to the campaign for a ban on all nuclear weapons. This happened he said "after a colossal debate within myself" after almost 45 years in naval uniform. The testing in India and Pakistan convinced him of the need for him to become a peace advocate and before traveling to Hiroshima on August 6th, he led a Peace Rally in New Delhi with the Booker Prize-winning author, Arundathi Roy. Admiral Ramdas is planning a Peace Symposium in India early next year. The IFUW Conference in Graz Austria. The International Federation of University Women passed a resolution on August 25th calling for action from all associated branches and organizations, to urge their national governments to take immediate steps to put in place a process for the abolition of nuclear weapons before the end of the year 2000. The resolution was passed almost unanimously and delegates received three hundred A2000 campaign action kits from Sue Broidy, the A2000 coordinator who attended the conference. Petition Signatures The Western Pennsylvania Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons has collected close to 3000 signatures to date. This is an ongoing project of the coalition of 30 organizations with a goal of 5000. Japan has sent us 1048 more signatures, and Australia 47 signatures recently by Internet - thank you Irene Gale. Judy Stetson from Falmouth wrote recently with 46 signatures. She said, "Here are petitions signed during a one hour (12-1pm) stint in front of the main Post Office in Falmouth MA. A reporter from our local paper The Enterprise ran a piece about us ( and Abolition 2000) ahead of time and took pictures of us..." Thank you Judy, Amelie and Olive. And news reached us September 1st from New Zealand that 50,000 signatures have been obtained by Soka Gakkai International volunteers for the Abolition 2000 petition - a wonderful achievement!. Letter from Helsinki In Helsinki, Finland, about 500 people gathered to commemorate Hiroshima in the evening of the 6th of August in a park in center of the down. Two speakers, MEP Heidi Hautala and chair Kalevi Suomela, told about the dangers that nuclear weapons based security creates and promoted the Abolition 2000 campaign. We lighted about 400 lanterns on the water. We collected signatures to the international Abolition 2000 appeal. Participants and passers-by signed. We got 702 signatures. It maybe doesn't sound as a big figure but in Helsinki in two hours it is a lot. There were smaller events in other locations in Finland, too. I'm sure the Abolition 2000 campaign is more familiar for the Finnish people than it was before yesterday. We continue in collecting signatures and in inviting other Finnish NGOs to join the campaign. New Organizations in the A2000 Network Organizations joined recently in the US include the South Asian Peace and Non-violence Association (SAPNA) in Somerville, MA, the Center for Economic Conversion in Mountain View CA, the Union City Church of the Brethren and the Institute for Peace and Justice in St. Louis, MO. Also signed up recently are the Communications Coordination Committee for the United Nations in New York, the Copper Country Peace Alliance in Houghton, Michigan , the Youth for Environmental Sanity (YES!). and the Albuquerque Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in New Mexico. New international partners include The Peace Movement of Esbjerg from Denmark and the Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy. We also welcome Young Student Pugwash in Argentina and the Center for Sustainable Development Initiatives (CENSUDI) in Bolgantanga, Ghana. New Haven - a Peace Messenger City We are very pleased to receive official word that the New Haven Board of Aldermen adopted the Abolition 2000 Resolution on July 6 1998. This is the first municipality in the US to sign the Resolution for a long time - hopefully the beginning of a new awareness and a significant step in the Nuclear Free New England movement. Northern California Abolition 2000 - Meeting in Livermore September 12th It was very inspiring to meet colleagues in Livermore CA who up till now have been names on the Internet. Marylia Kelley of Tri-Valley CAREs was a wonderful welcoming host and the tour she gave us of the Livermore site was very sobering - even chilling. In spite of public opinion, the government carries on spending enormous sums of public money on developing nuclear weapons technology. The skeleton of the NIF building dominates the site, a grim reminder of how we all in Abolition 2000 must work harder to get the public to convey their concerns to their elected representatives. Letters, postcards, emails and FAXes to candidates for office as well as ongoing Representatives must be a priority from now until the election - and beyond. The Livermore meeting was also a chance to hear from Jackie Cabasso about her recent visit to Japan, John Burroughs about the ICC negotiations in Rome and Pamela Meidell on India. Marylia Kelley spoke about subcritical tests, reported on her meeting with the new Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and gave an update on the lawsuits against the Department of Energy. The meeting decided to look for a higher visibility in Universities and Colleges and a sub committee will be formed to promote this. Ideas were discussed for referral to the Abolition 2000 USA meeting in Chicago on October 9th and 10th and finally it was noted that there should be a Southern Californian Coalition of Abolition 2000 and this would be looked into immediately! Thank you Marylia and all the wonderful hard-working people in Northern California. Sincerely, Susan Broidy, Coordinator ************************************************************* Abolition 2000- A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons c/o Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road, Box 123 Santa Barbara, CA 93108 phone: +1(805) 965-3443; fax: +1(805) 568-0466 e-mail: a2000@silcom.com URL: http://www.napf.org/abolition2000/ Join the abolition-usa listserve for keeping in touch with national Abolition 2000 news. To subscribe or unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "subscribe or 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. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Henry Hyde: The Constitution and the Rule of Law Date: 16 Sep 1998 08:48:41 -0400 Is this what you wanted, Ross? Ellen Thomas prop1@prop1.org <paraindent><param>left</param>At 11:25 AM 9/11/98 -0400, Ross Wilcock <<rwilcock@execulink.com> wrote: >What a wonderful, inspiring statement by Henry Hyde, Chairman of the House Judiciary this morning - about the rule of law, and the Constitution. >Please post a link to this historic statement when it becomes available </paraindent>http://www.house.gov/judiciary/091198f.htm x September 11, 1998 Hyde Floor Statement on Referral Resolution (WASHINGTON) - Floor remarks of U.S. Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-IL), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, on pending resolution regarding referral of report from the Office of the Independent Counsel: One hundred sixty-six years ago, when our country was in its robust childhood, the great historian, Thomas Macauley, wrote that "laws exist in vain for those who do not have the courage and the means to defend them." We are here because circumstances and our constitution have thrust upon us an onerous duty-- one that requires us to summon the courage and the means to defend the rule of law. Please don't forget, when all the distractions and definitions have been pronounced, at the end of it all, we are about one mighty task-- to vindicate the rule of law. We are also met to defend the sacred bond contained in our oath of office: the bond that links the Members of Congress, the officials of the Executive Branch, and our federal judges to the people of the United States, to those who have given their lives for this country, and to the American people of the future. In taking a solemn oath to defend the Constitution, we have pledged a trust that imposes a heavy responsibility. We have pledged a trust to those patriots who sleep across the river in Arlington Cemetery and in American military cemeteries around the world: we have pledged that their defense of freedom and the rule of law will not have been in vain. Mr. Speaker and Members of the House, may I remind us all of the oath we swore when we became Members of Congress. We raised our right arms and said: "I, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God." Traditionally, an oath means a solemn calling on God to witness to the truth of what you are saying. We all know the story of Sir Thomas More, who was beheaded in the Tower of London for refusing to take the oath of Supremacy that acknowledged Henry VIII as head of the church in England. In the great drama of his life, " A Man for All Seasons," Sir Thomas tells his daughter: "When you take an oath, you hold your soul in your hands, and if you break that oath, you open up your fingers and your soul runs through them and is lost." I believe with all my heart that each of us took that oath of office seriously, and that we will so conduct ourselves that when this ordeal is over, we will have vindicated the rule of law and brought credit to this institution in which we are privileged to serve. We have also pledged a trust to the Americans of the 21st century: We have pledged to hand over to them, intact and unsullied, the rule of law in a constitutionally-ordered democracy. And we have pledged a trust to our fellow-Americans with whom we share this moment in our history: our neighbors, who have sent us to this Congress to serve the common good through the rule of law. Ninety-four years ago, in a message to the Congress, President Theodore Roosevelt defined the principle that must guide our deliberations in the days ahead: "No man is above the law and no man is below it, nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to obey it." That principle defines the solemnity of this moment. We are, sometimes, too cavalier in our attitude toward the rule of law. It is something we take for granted. Yet we live in a century which, in blood and tears, in pain and sorrow, has vindicated the contention of the Founders of this Republic and the Framers of its Constitution, that the rule of law is the only alternative to tyranny, or to the anarchy that eventually leads to tyranny. The long, hard march of humanity toward the promised land of freedom has been marked by the constant struggle to vindicate the rule of law against the tyranny of power. Whether our reference point is the Ten Commandments or the Code of Hammurabi, Justinian's Code or Magna Carta, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 or the United Nations Charter of 1945, in each case humanity has made progress on its journey through history when the rule of law has triumphed over privilege or power as the arbiter of human affairs and the method to resolve conflict. The fact that the gradual expansion of the rule of law has invariably resulted in human progress is not an accident of history; it is a reflection of human nature. For the rule of law is an expression of the spiritual nature of the human person: created with intelligence and free will, a moral agent, capable of freedom, and capable of ordering freedom to the pursuit of goodness, decency, and justice. Every Member of our committee, indeed every Member of the Congress, is a servant of the rule of law: which, in this instance, means that we are servants of the Constitution of the United States of America. To paraphrase Theodore Roosevelt: None of us is above the Constitution, none of us is below the Constitution, and none of us is required to ask permission when we require ourselves -- and all those who have also sworn a solemn oath of fidelity to the Constitution -- to obey it. Because we are servants of the Constitution, because we too are subject to the rule of law it enshrines, no partisanship in the matters before us will be worthy of us. Americans pride themselves on living under the oldest written constitution in the world, continually in force. That historic accomplishment did not simply happen. In defense of the Constitution, American men and women have sacrificed their lives in every corner of the globe. In defense of the Constitution, the American people have made enormous sacrifices in time and treasure. In defense of the Constitution, Americans have forgotten that they were black, brown, yellow, or white; that they were Catholic, Jewish Muslim, Orthodox, or Protestant; that they were Democrats or Republicans -- and they have remembered that they are Americans, inheritors of a precious tradition of the rule of law, and trustees of that tradition before the eyes of the future. The Constitution remains viable not only because the document itself is venerable and its provisions wise. The Constitution remains viable because the American people continue to affirm and defend the principle of the rule of law which animated the document and gives it its moral ballast and its moral compass. We, the servants of the people -- their elected representatives -- can do no less. Thus we, too, are under judgement in these hearings: the judgement of the people; the judgement of history; the judgement of the moral law. Let us conduct ourselves and this inquiry in such a way as to vindicate the rule of law. Let us conduct ourselves and this inquiry in such a way as to vindicate the Constitution. Let us conduct ourselves and this inquiry in such a way as to vindicate the sacrifices of blood and treasure that have been made across the centuries to create and defend this last best hope of humanity on earth, the United States of America. ##30## You might also want this: http://www.house.gov/judiciary/091098.htm September 10, 1998 Hyde Statement to House Rules Committee (WASHINGTON) - Statement of U.S. Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-IL) to the House Rules Committee regarding pending resolution to handle referral of information from the Office of the Independent Counsel: Mr. Chairman, as we all well know, this meeting begins a process of immense consequence - a process which our Constitution thrusts on the House of Representatives. The solemn duty that confronts us requires that we attain a heroic level of bipartisanship and that we conduct our deliberations in a full, fair, and impartial manner. This may prove to be a lofty challenge, but I believe the gravity of our responsibilities will overwhelm the petty partisanship that lingers in us all. Because of that requirement, let me say first that I intend to continue to work closely with my Democratic colleagues on the Committee, and in particular, the Ranking Member of the Committee, John Conyers. I want to commend all involved for pursuing this matter in such a professional and nonpartisan manner. The American people deserve a competent, independent, and bipartisan review of the independent counsel's referral. They must have confidence in this process. Politics must be checked at the door, party affiliation must become secondary, and America's future must become our only concern. I will not condone, nor participate in, a political witch hunt. If the evidence does not justify a full impeachment investigation, I will not recommend one to the House. However, if the evidence does justify an inquiry, I will fulfill my oath of office and recommend a fuller inquiry. In exercising our responsibility, the Judiciary Committee will not take at face value the assertions or conclusions of any particular party. We will undertake a fair, full, and independent review of the evidence on our own, and we will arrive at our own conclusions. In any impeachment proceeding, the House does not determine guilt or innocence. Instead, it functions much like a grand jury. We determine whether there is sufficient evidence to charge an executive branch officer with high crimes and misdemeanors. Then, the Senate must try that official on those charges. Of course, we have not reached that point, and no one should jump to conclusions nor assume the worst. At this stage, we do not know what information the Independent Counsel has sent to the House. What I do know is that we will make every effort to exercise our independent judgment in this matter. Given the gravity of the situation, we must act now, and the Rules Committee must lead. I appreciate the seriousness of the task you are about to undertake and your willingness to address it expeditiously. I ask that this Committee favorably report to the House a resolution authorizing the Judiciary Committee to take custody of the referral from the Independent Counsel. I ask that the resolution direct the Committee to review the material and report its findings and recommendations to the full House for possible further action--in particular, whether the Committee should conduct a fuller inquiry. Our first challenge is to ensure that the American people are given what is rightly theirs -- information that may constitute grounds for impeachment of their duly elected President -- while ensuring that the House's constitutional duty to conduct a fair, full and independent review is not jeopardized. Mr. Chairman, I agree with the considered judgment of Speaker Gingrich and Minority Leader Gephardt that the full House should authorize the release to the public of narrative portions of the Independent Counsel's referral and should take this action now. This initial release would not include raw evidentiary material that might contain information about individuals unrelated to this investigation. The resolution should grant to the Committee on the Judiciary the authority to release such material, if release is warranted, after the Committee has had the chance to review this material. Because of the importance of the material, the resolution should contain a presumption of release. This referral belongs to the American people, and they have a right to know its contents. The American people have patiently waited as rumors and speculation have substituted for facts and information. It is time that we move this process ahead, and the public release of the referral will help us embark on that process. Mr. Chairman, we are not yet beginning a full impeachment inquiry, but I want to take a moment to address the issue of impeachment. Constitutional scholars and reasonable people disagree as to what is an impeachable offense, but there are a few principles we should keep in mind. At this time, I am reminded of the difficult times in 1973, when Chairman Peter Rodino presided over the impeachment inquiry proceedings against President Nixon, and directed his staff to report on the constitutional grounds for impeachment. I have submitted a copy of that report as an appendix to my written statement. Let me share with you part of the report's conclusion: "While it may be argued that some articles of impeachment have charged conduct that constituted crime and thus that criminality is an essential ingredient, or that some have charged conduct that was not criminal and thus that criminality is not essential, the fact remains that in the English practice and in several of the American impeachments the criminality issue was not raised at all. The emphasis has been on the significant effects of the conduct-- undermining the integrity of the office, disregard of constitutional duties and oath of office, arrogation of power, abuse of the governmental process, [and] adverse impact on the system of government. Clearly, these effects can be brought about in ways not anticipated by the criminal law. Criminal standards and criminal courts were established to control individual conduct. Impeachment was evolved by Parliament to cope with both the inadequacy of criminal standards and the impotence of courts to deal with the conduct of great public figures. It would be anomalous if the framers, having barred criminal sanctions from the impeachment remedy and limited it to removal and possible disqualification from office, intended to restrict the grounds for impeachment to conduct that was criminal." When considering the question of impeachment, the report concluded: "It is useful to note three major presidential duties of broad scope that are explicitly recited in the Constitution: "to take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed," to "faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States" and to "preserve, protect, and defend, the Constitution of the United States" to the best of his ability. The first is directly imposed by the Constitution; the second and third are included in the constitutionally prescribed oath that the President is required to take before he enters upon the execution of his office and are, therefore, also expressly imposed by the Constitution." Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee: a word about the significance of the oath each of us swore to uphold when we became Members of Congress. We raised our right arms and said: "I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God." Traditionally, an oath means a solemn calling on God to witness to the truth of what you are saying. We all know the story of Sir Thomas More, who was beheaded in the Tower of London for refusing to take the oath of Supremacy that acknowledged Henry VIII as head of the church in England. In the drama of his life, "A Man for All Seasons," Sir Thomas tells his daughter: "When you take an oath, you hold your soul in your hands, and if you break that oath, you open up your fingers and your soul runs through them and is lost." I believe with all my heart that each of us took that oath of office seriously, and that we will so conduct ourselves that when this ordeal is over, we will have vindicated the rule of law and brought credit to this institution in which we are privileged to serve. ## 30 ## _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Compare headlines 9/15/98 Date: 17 Sep 1998 09:04:13 -0400 Compare these headlines and it makes you wonder how many Indonesian (or other) children you could feed for $4.4 million: Millions Face Famine in Indonesia vs. Starr: Lewinsky Probe Cost $4.4M et in dc prop1@prop1.org 9/15/98 New York Times AP-Online http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/indexNews.html - Millions Face Famine in Indonesia JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Millions of Indonesians face an impending famine due to dire food shortages, a newspaper has reported. Many families can only afford a single daily meal, and things could get worse before the rice harvest in January, Food Minister A.M. Saefuddin was quoted as saying in The Jakarta Post on Monday. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Indonesia-Famine-Feared.html Starr: Lewinsky Probe Cost $4.4M WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's denial in January of a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky cost more than the personal embarrassment of Kenneth Starr's report. Taxpayers will foot a bill of at least $4.4 million, The Associated Press has learned. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Starr-Lewinsky-Costs.html _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: Radioactive groundwater skyrocketing in Denver 9/16/98 Date: 17 Sep 1998 09:14:07 -0400 http://www.denverpost.com/news/news0916c.htm Denver Post Online, September 16, 1998 EPA cleanup of Shattuck not working, city claims By Mark Eddy Denver Post Environment Writer Sept. 16 - Levels of radioactivity in groundwater flowing from beneath the Shattuck Superfund site have skyrocketed in the last four years, tests conducted by the city of Denver show. "Clearly, the EPA remedy at the Shattuck site is not working,'' said Theresa Donahue, manager of Denver's Department of Environmental Health. Ten wells were tested on the Overland Golf Course, just west of the radioactive waste dump at 1805 S. Bannock. Two of the worst wells are within a half-mile of the South Platte River and "significantly'' violate standards set by the EPA, Donahue said. Standards exceeded Uranium concentrations at one well have increased by 75 times since 1994 and all 10 had contamination levels that exceeded EPA's cleanup standards for Shattuck. EPA, which along with the state health department ordered in 1992 that 50,000 cubic yards of soil - enough to cover a football field 30 feet deep - contaminated with radioactive uranium and radium and heavy metals be buried at the site at 1805 S. Bannock St., confirmed that its tests also showed increases in radioactivity. But, that doesn't mean the controversial cleanup, which should be completed by the end of the month, isn't working, said Jim Hanley, EPA's project manager for Shattuck. "I don't think that anyone expected that the remedy would be completely effective on Day One. I expect that most people thought that the contamination migration away from the waste would attenuate over time and it would take a number of years before it actually goes down,'' Hanley said. The city has jumped the gun with its claims that the cleanup is a failure, he said. "I'm sort of surprised at the city's interpretation here. I don't think there's any requirement for us to be in (compliance) immediately.'' Experts at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment haven't examined the data yet, but they are trying to figure out "if we have an issue out there,'' said Howard Roitman, director of the Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division. "We're looking seriously at the issue. But right now based just on what Denver's put out, we can't give an assessment on it - but we are working on it,'' he said. The soil was contaminated during operations at the 6-acre site from the 1920s through the 1980s when several companies processed uranium, radium and vanadium. The Shattuck Chemical Co. was the last to operate at the site and is responsible for the cleanup. The city as well as several neighborhood groups fought the EPA's decision to mix the contaminated soil with flyash and entomb it in a monolith on the site - which is 4 miles from Downtown Denver, a block from houses and just two blocks from the busy South Broadway business district. The city and neighbors wanted it moved to a remote, federally licensed facility in Utah and the EPA originally agreed, but officials at the agency reversed their decision and ordered the soil buried on-site. Soil from nine other similar sites in Denver was all moved to Utah. The test results released Tuesday are a followup to those conducted earlier this summer when the city discovered that a storm sewer pipe draining into the South Platte River was contaminated with heavy metals, just as it was before the Shattuck site was cleaned up. EPA hasn't monitored groundwater, which isn't used for drinking water, or outflow from the storm sewer pipe since 1994 and was unaware of the contamination until the city sent the agency initial findings this summer, the agency confirmed. After the city's tests showed heavy metals are still leaking into the storm sewer, Denver and the EPA took samples and tested for heavy metals and radioactivity in both the storm sewer and monitoring wells on the golf course. Although heavy metals are leaking into the river, radioactivity in the storm pipe is within federal standards, the tests show. The city hopes to force the EPA into a complete evaluation of possible groundwater contamination and to ultimately move the contaminated soil out of Denver. The latest tests show again that the EPA botched the cleanup, Donahue said. own tests, Hanley said. _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: War Resisters League <wrl@igc.apc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Organizing for A Day Without the Pentagon Date: 17 Sep 1998 11:38:00 -0400 The recently updated website for "A Day Without the Pentagon" includes a list of local organizing committees for the October 19 march and action at the Pentagon--the heart of US militarism. Local committeees are forming across the country. Find out now about efforts in your area to get on the bus and join this historic action. If you are part of a local committee that is not listed, please reply to this e-mail with contact information. We'll add you to future updates. The website can be accessed at www.nonviolence.org/wrl/nopentagon.htm See you in October, Chris Ney Disarmament Coordinator ********** War Resisters League 339 Lafayette St. New York, NY 10012 212-228-0450 212-228-6193 (fax) 1-800-975-9688 (YouthPeace and A Day Without the Pentagon) wrl@igc.apc.org web address: http://www.nonviolence.org/wrl - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Timothy Bruening <tsbrueni@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Compare headlines 9/15/98 Date: 17 Sep 1998 16:06:25 -0700 (PDT) At 09:04 AM 9/17/98 -0400, Peace Through Reason wrote: >Compare these headlines and it makes you wonder how many Indonesian (or >other) children you could feed for $4.4 million: > > Millions Face Famine in Indonesia > vs. > Starr: Lewinsky Probe Cost $4.4M > >et in dc >prop1@prop1.org > >9/15/98 New York Times AP-Online >http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/indexNews.html - > > Millions Face Famine in Indonesia > JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Millions of Indonesians face an > impending famine due to dire food shortages, a newspaper > has reported. Many families can only afford a single daily > meal, and things could get worse before the rice harvest in > January, Food Minister A.M. Saefuddin was quoted as > saying in The Jakarta Post on Monday. > http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Indonesia-Famine-Feared.html > > Starr: Lewinsky Probe Cost $4.4M > WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's denial in January of a > sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky cost more than > the personal embarrassment of Kenneth Starr's report. > Taxpayers will foot a bill of at least $4.4 million, The > Associated Press has learned. > http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Starr-Lewinsky-Costs.html Should we fine Clinton $4.4 million and send the money to Indonesia? - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: PA Nuclear Plant Must Pay $36.5 million to victims Date: 18 Sep 1998 08:05:54 -0400 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-09/18/063l-091898-idx.html Nuclear Plant Owners Ordered to Pay Pa. Cancer Victims Associated Press Friday, September 18, 1998; Page A11 Washington Post PITTSBURGH, Sept. 18=97A federal jury ordered the former owners of a nuclear processing plant today to pay at least $36.5 million in damages for a rash of cancer cases in a small town. One owner, Atlantic Richfield Co., was found negligent on nine out of 10 counts related to the now-closed Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp., which made fuel for nuclear submarines in Apollo, 30 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The other, Babcock & Wilcox Co., was found negligent on all 10 counts it faced. The jury, which deliberated for nine days before reaching its verdict, levied $36.5 million in actual damages against the companies. Punitive damages will be determined next week. "Yes!" yelled Patricia Ameno, an Apollo resident who was among the first to suggest a link between the plant and the cancers that struck her and her neighbors. The case was brought by nearly 100 residents of the river town of 1,900 people. They claimed three decades of radioactive emissions caused an unusually high incidence of cancer. In Apollo, health officials said, 351 out of 1,895 people had some type of cancer, including 10 cases of leukemia. Just a few miles away in Bell Township, 28 out of 2,353 people had some type of cancer, including one case of leukemia. The month-long federal trial dealt with eight of the cases. The damages will be divided among seven cancer patients, the parents of a woman who died from cancer and three spouses of cancer patients. The other plaintiffs, including Ameno, have filed separate lawsuits that are still pending. Atlantic Richfield and Babcock & Wilcox are the former owners of the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. plant, which processed nuclear fuel from 1957 to 1986 and was torn down in the early 1990s. It once supplied enriched uranium to power Navy missile-launching submarines. Alfred Wilcox, a lawyer for the companies, had argued that the plaintiffs failed to prove the plant exceeded allowable releases of radiation, show any increased likelihood of cancer after purported releases or provide any estimates of radiation doses that residents received. "The case isn't over yet. There's still more to the trial," said Wilcox, who is not related to the owners of Babcock & Wilcox.=20 _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Joseph Gerson <afsccamb@igc.apc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Hotel Reservation for October Conference Date: 18 Sep 1998 12:08:59 -0700 (PDT) 9/18 Dear Friends, I phoned and found that the Travelodge is full. Could you reserve a single room for me for the night of October 9 at the Ramada Congress Hotel? Thanks. Joseph Gerson American Friends Service Committee At 04:24 PM 9/10/98 -0700, ilpeace@igc.apc.org wrote: >>Dear Friends: > >Here are some travel and lodging tips for folks coming to Chicago for the >October 9 organizing meeting on the new national abolition campaign and the >October 10 conference on abolition featuring author Jonathan Schell and >former Senator Alan Cranston entitled "Bottling the Genie: Building the >Movement to Abolish Nuclear Weapons": >> >>If you are flying into Chicago, both O'Hare and Midway airports are linked >by public transit to downtown Chicago, where our meetings will be held. If >you take the train, Union Station is about a $5 taxi ride from the DePaul >Center, our meeting site for both days. If you drive, there are parking lots >within a few blocks of the DePaul Center. Parking lots and transit stops >are marked on the map in the middle panel of the "Bottling the Genie" >October 10 conference brochure. (If you didn't get a brochure but want one, >call us at 312/939-3316.) >> >>Lodging: Hotel space in downtown Chicago for October 8,9,and 10 is tight >because the Chicago Marathon is Sunday the 11th and there is a big machine >industry convention that weekend. So you should make your hotel >reservations ASAP. Here are some suggestions: >> >>Best bet: Travelodge: 312/427-8000 or 800/578-7878, 65 East Harrison St., >between Michigan and Wabash Avenues, only 4 blocks from the DePaul Center. >Single rooms $79 per night, doubles $89. >> >>Ramada Congress Hotel: 312/427-3800, 520 S. Michigan Ave., 3 blocks from >our meeting site. We're negotiating with them for a group rate, which will >probably be between $129 and $165/night for double rooms. >> >International Conference Center, 4750 N. Sheridan Rd. This is a no-frills >but nice conference facility for non-profits that has cheap dormitory-type >rooms for between $14 and $24 per night -- can't be beat!! It's two blocks >from the elevated ("el") transit stop, and it's about a (very scenic) 25 >minute train ride to downtown. The folks there are awfully nice, but they >aren't a hotel per se, so they'd like us to take reservations. If you'd >like to stay here, and we highly recommend it, call our conference >coordinator Debby Reelitz-Bell at 847/266-1525 or Kevin Martin at the >Iillinois Peace Action office: 312/939-3316. >> >International House at the University of Chicago: 773/753-2270, 1414 E. 59th >St.-- Single, dormitory-style rooms are $36 per night. This is about a >25-minute bus or train ride from our downtown meeting site. Again, no >frills but nice, highly recommended for those on a budget. > >Bed & Breakfast Chicago: 773/248-0005: a clearinghouse for B & B's, they >have rooms close to downtown >>from $135 to $185 per night (2 or 3 people per room) >>> >>If you absolutely cannot afford these reasonably priced (heck, some are >downright cheap!) accommodations, call Debby Reelitz-Bell at 847/266-1525 or >Kevin Martin at 312/939-3316 and we will arrange a home stay for you with an >Illinois Peace Action member. > >In Peace, > >Kevin Martin >Executive Director >Illinois Peace Action >Check out our website at http://www.webcom.com/ipa > > > > >- > 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. > > - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Impeaching Clinton for the Stockpile Stewardship Program Date: 18 Sep 1998 15:16:23 EDT Any effort by peace groups to interpose impeachment of Clinton on "proper grounds" (plenty exist) in the middle of the current scandal will be a mistake. We will be seen either as irrelevent to the main issue, or as foolishly siding with the GOP in what is, in fact, a shocking attack on the right of privacy. I do not care about Clinton. Let him twist in the wind of his own follies. I do care that we focus on the immediate issue - which is the Starr report on the sudden emergence of the House of Representatives as the largest publisher of pornography in the nation. However I don't think this is really an issue for the abolition list. I do worry that Clinton may try something military (or, if he resigns, that Al Gore will establish his own credentials by a military attack somewhere). But as for impeaching Clinton on the Stockpile issue, that is going to waste our energy and confuse issues. Peace, David McReynolds In a message dated 9/17/98 6:28:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time, tsbrueni@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us writes: << At 07:49 PM 9/14/98 -0400, you wrote: >Dear Timothy, > >You might add to your list of reasons to impeach Clinton the so-called >"subcritical nuclear tests," and the "burrowing" nuclear bombs, and failure >to act on depleted uranium claims by Gulf War veterans, and selling nuclear >power plants to China, and selling F-14 fighter planes throughout Latin >America and Africa last year, and being number one arms promoter in the >world, for starters. Then there's bombing Sudan and Afghanistan. How do I get all that into letter to the editor form? Anyone have a sample "Impeach President Clinton" letter? - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: nukeresister@igc.org (Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa) Subject: (abolition-usa) CIT for biological weapons in Utah 10/3 Date: 18 Sep 1998 15:41:49 -0700 (PDT) BIOILOGICAL WEAPONS IN UTAH? Civilian Inspection Team to Search Dugway Proving Ground for Weapons of Mass Destruction. An Open letter to the Commander of Dugway Proving Ground: August 27, 1998 We are citizens concerned about weapons of mass destruction being developed or stored at Dugway. We intend to arrive at your facility sometime on October 3, 1998, to inspect your base for evidence of the development and storage of weapons of mass destruction. The United States government has expressed great concern about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and demanded that Iraqi military facilities be open to international inspection. The United States government has promoted the imposition of sanctions on Iraq which have taken a heavy toll on the Iraqi people, especially the young, the ill, and the elderly. Punishing the Iraqi people is not an effective way to banish weapons of mass destruction. If the U.S. government is committed to riding the world of weapons of mass destruction, the best way would be leadership by example. Let us begin by opening our military facilities where weapons of mass destruction are developed or stored. We look forward to meeting you as we conduct our civilian inspection of the Dugway Proving Ground. Sincerely, The Committee for Peace in the Middle East. Send-off rally for Civilian Inspection Team, 10 a.m. Saturday, October 3, rally at the Federal Building in Salt Lake City, Utah. Nonviolence training: Sunday, September 27th, 1-5 p.m., First Unitarian Church, 569 South 13th East. More info: The Committee for Peace in the Middle East, 801-486-2558 posted by: _____________________________________ the Nuclear Resister "a chronicle of hope" P.O. Box 43383 Tucson AZ 85733 - information about and support for imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists - Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa, editors (520)323-8697 US$15/year/US$20 Canada/US$25 overseas - selections from current issue - updated prisoner addresses - & more can be read at: http://www.nonviolence.org/nukeresister * FREE SAMPLE ISSUE ON REQUEST * (please supply a postal address for samples) _____________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Good luck to October 9, 10 Date: 18 Sep 1998 19:51:13 EDT This is a quick email response to the good letter from the Organizing Committee for october 9th and l0th. War Resisters League will not, so far as I know, be able to get a key person to the Chicago meeting - only because of our work on the October 19th Pentagon Action. Certainly we hope a number of those meeting in Chicago will be able to join us in Washington on that later date. Meanwhile the small bits of good news that I can report is that the Peace Diary (the annual calendar that is printed in London by Housman's and sold around the world) has sort of "two forwards", one on the Hague Appeal, and one, for which I'd done the draft, on Abolition 2000. (If anyone on this list wants information on how to order the Peace Diary, get off an email to: worldpeace@gn.apc.org - I didn't start this post as a plug for the Peace Diary, but in fact while I'm at it, it has the best list of peace groups in every country of any source I'm aware of. So anyone with a Peace Diary can start their own personal contacts with peace groups in almost any country in the world). I'm sending a cc of this to the WRL list in case someone in Chicago wants to check with Chris Ney at the WRL office in NYC about representing us. Meanwhile - every possible success, and my own regrets that I can't be there. David McReynolds - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peter Weiss <petweiss@igc.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Re: Impeaching Clinton for the Stockpile Stewardship Program Date: 18 Sep 1998 21:37:35 -0400 Far be it from me to pull rank here. But as a constitutional and international lawyer who pushed for the impeachment of Nixon over the illegal bombing of Cambodia I 1) agree that all the things mentioned are illegal and 2) agree with David that it would be a mistake to try to impeach Clinton on any of those grounds. Impeachable grounds are whatever Congress decides they are and there isn't a snowball's chance in hell of getting this Congress to take its minds off the salacious stuff and focus on the real illegalities. Peter Weiss DavidMcR@aol.com wrote: > > Any effort by peace groups to interpose impeachment of Clinton on "proper > grounds" (plenty exist) in the middle of the current scandal will be a > mistake. We will be seen either as irrelevent to the main issue, or as > foolishly siding with the GOP in what is, in fact, a shocking attack on the > right of privacy. > > I do not care about Clinton. Let him twist in the wind of his own follies. I > do care that we focus on the immediate issue - which is the Starr report on > the sudden emergence of the House of Representatives as the largest publisher > of pornography in the nation. > > However I don't think this is really an issue for the abolition list. I do > worry that Clinton may try something military (or, if he resigns, that Al Gore > will establish his own credentials by a military attack somewhere). > > But as for impeaching Clinton on the Stockpile issue, that is going to waste > our energy and confuse issues. > > Peace, > David McReynolds > > In a message dated 9/17/98 6:28:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time, > tsbrueni@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us writes: > > << At 07:49 PM 9/14/98 -0400, you wrote: > >Dear Timothy, > > > >You might add to your list of reasons to impeach Clinton the so-called > >"subcritical nuclear tests," and the "burrowing" nuclear bombs, and failure > >to act on depleted uranium claims by Gulf War veterans, and selling nuclear > >power plants to China, and selling F-14 fighter planes throughout Latin > >America and Africa last year, and being number one arms promoter in the > >world, for starters. Then there's bombing Sudan and Afghanistan. > > How do I get all that into letter to the editor form? Anyone have a sample > "Impeach President Clinton" letter? > > > > > - > 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. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: Mexicans furious about Nuclear Dump at Sierra Blanca Date: 19 Sep 1998 07:07:53 -0400 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-09/19/075l-091998-idx.html Mexico Factions Unite in Fury at Texas Dump Planned Site Near Border Called 'Racism' By Molly Moore Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, September 19, 1998; Page A18=20 GUADALUPE BRAVOS, Mexico=97This bantam border town has a message for what it sees as the overbearing bullies next door: "Clinton and Bush -- Take away your nuclear garbage," screams the banner in front of city hall on Main Street. The town's hostility is aimed 50 flat desert miles to the southeast, where Texas plans to chew huge craters in the rocky earth to create a nuclear waste dump for radioactive refuse from Texas, Maine and Vermont. But what state officials in Austin and the Congress in Washington regard as a remote patch of scrubland -- a perfect spot for an unpopular dump -- is considered by critics as too close to home and water supplies for hundreds of thousands of Mexicans who populate the towns and cities south of the border. "For us it's a question of life and death," said Israel Trejo Gamez, mayor of this town of 9,600 people. "We're worried for our future generations of children. If it's not dangerous, like the U.S. government says, why not put it in New York?" Mexicans, as well as political and environmental opponents in the United States, maintain they have the answer to that question. "It's obvious environmental racism," said Clara Torres Armendariz, a state legislator in the sprawling Mexican state of Chihuahua, which adjoins Texas. "Why choose this place? The American side is 65 percent Hispanic and not politically or economically important for the United States. On the other side is Mexico." Seldom has one issue so galvanized Mexico's disparate political spectrum as the proposed nuclear waste dump outside the Texas community of Sierra Blanca, situated 18 miles north of the border and 80 miles southeast of El Paso. The Mexican Congress voted unanimously to oppose construction of the dump, and political leaders from every party have united in protest marches, petitions and visits to Texas Gov. George W. Bush's office in Austin and congressional suites in Washington. At an annual meeting of members of the U.S. and Mexican congresses this summer, the planned Sierra Blanca dump stirred far more passionate debate than the issues of drug trafficking or immigration, usually the hottest flash points between the two groups of lawmakers. "The symbolism of the issue is perceived in very clear-cut terms," said Mexican Sen. Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, who participated in the meeting. "It's an expression of bigotry. This is a trend to get as close as possible to the border with toxic waste dumps and reduce the risk of contamination in the United States." While the proposed dump has united usually warring Mexican political factions, the issue has been bitterly divisive in Texas, pitting county attorney against county manager and splitting the Texas congressional delegation. In a show of just how nasty the differences have become, Thomas W. Chellis, dump opponent and county attorney for Hudspeth County, where Sierra Blanca is located, last month allowed protest marchers access to the courthouse bathrooms through the back door of his office, provoking County Manager James A. Peace to padlock the door. Chellis then cut off the lock to gain access to his own office. The battle over Sierra Blanca has spanned nearly two decades, since Texas first began looking for a dump site to comply with federal law urging states to take responsibility for disposing low-level nuclear waste generated by power stations, hospitals and research laboratories. The alternative has been to ship it to one of two operating dumps in Richland, Wash., and Barnwell, S.C. Four other sites have been closed over the years because of various problems. In a decision shadowed by allegations of political shenanigans, the Texas state legislature ordered the dump built on a 16,000-acre ranch that the state purchased five miles east of Sierra Blanca, which has a population of 600. Environmentalists allege the site is situated over a dangerous fault line in a region that has experienced dozens of earthquakes in the last 70 years. They say potential leaks could endanger underground water aquifers. They complain that Sierra Blanca already has the nation's largest sewage sludge dump and that the trend toward situating waste dumps along the southern border of Texas violates a 1983 pact between the United States and Mexico to "prevent, reduce and eliminate sources of pollution" within 60 miles of the border. But Hudspeth County officials and Sierra Blanca business leaders argue that the site for low-level nuclear waste is safe and that in a poor county where the biggest single employer is the U.S. Border Patrol, the dump would bring a needed financial windfall. Even though the dump has not been built, the county has received service fees that have helped build a new park, library and health clinic, refurbish the high school football field and buy new school buses and ambulances. Regarding the safety question, County Manager Peace said: "There's a potential danger in anything. It won't be any worse than anything else." Meanwhile, the conflict continues. In July, two Texas administrative judges recommended, after two years of study, that the state deny the licenses sought by the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority to build the dump, citing the "failure to adequately characterize the fault directly beneath the site and . . . to adequately address potential negative socioeconomic impacts from the proposed facility." But the recommendation is only advisory, and both supporters and opponents said they expect Texas authorities to give final approval to the dump despite the warnings. In addition, the U.S. Senate recently voted to allow Texas to enter into contracts with Maine and Vermont to accept out-of-state nuclear waste at the site. And, after years of opposition, the administration of Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo -- much to the dismay of political leaders from every party -- retreated recently from its stand against the dump. Zedillo's office said that although the facility hardly fostered neighborly relations, Mexican studies indicate the proposed site is safe and poses no threat to Mexican citizens. Bill Addington, a Sierra Blanca merchant and one of the town's most vocal opponents of the proposed dump, said the citizens of the community feel "hopeless and powerless" in the face of decisions being made in distant state and national capitals: "It's not about science, it's about politics. They'd never put a dump next to a suburb of Dallas." _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Impeaching Clinton for the Stockpile Stewardship Program Date: 19 Sep 1998 08:37:46 -0400 For the record, I agree with David McR that it's a waste of time to try to get Congress to go after Clinton on substantive issues. However, letters to Congress, the press, and the White House, are seeds planted. I'm a big advocate of planting seeds. Sometimes they grow and bear fruit. Ellen Thomas Proposition One Committee | Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil PO Box 27217, Washington DC 20038 202-462-0757 -- fax 202-265-5389 prop1@prop1.org -- http://prop1.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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: Depleted Uranium and Pentagon "Smart Book" Date: 22 Sep 1998 09:22:03 -0400 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/hotnews/stories/20/ veterans.dtl By Kathleen Sullivan SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER STAFF Sunday, September 20, 1998 Pentagon to add uranium to "smart book' Inclusion in the soldier's manual is seen as a victory for veterans group ARLINGTON, Va. -- In a move applauded by Gulf War veterans, the Pentagon has announced plans to add information about the hazards of depleted uranium explosions to its "smart book," the manual issued to all soldiers during basic training. The book, formally known as the "Common Tasks Training" or CTT manual, lists about 40 duties soldiers must master -- how to dig a foxhole, read a compass, administer first aid, survive in hot and cold weather. Soldiers call it the smart book because failing to heed its directives can lead to fatal mistakes on the battlefield. When the revised manual is issued later this year, it will also tell soldiers how to protect themselves from the hazards linked to depleted uranium ammunition, which is made of a heavy metal that is radioactive, said Lt. Col. Charles Kelsey, who serves on the faculty of the Pentagon's medical school in Bethesda, Md. During an interview Saturday at the third annual Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses Conference, a three-day gathering in Arlington, Kelsey said the new manual will address the hazards of depleted uranium and other radioactive substances. Kelsey said the hazards posed by depleted uranium were "pretty minor" compared with other battlefield dangers. But Paul Sullivan, executive director of the national Gulf War Resource Center which sponsored the conference, hailed the Pentagon's move as a victory for today's soldiers. In recent years the group, a coalition of veterans-rights organizations across the country, has been pressuring the Pentagon to train soldiers about the hazards of depleted uranium exposure. The Gulf War Resource Center also advocates medical care and compensation for Gulf War veterans and their families. The Pentagon has admitted that soldiers sent to the Gulf were not told that inhaling, ingesting or absorbing the hazardous residue created by a depleted uranium explosion could cause cancer, or respiratory, kidney and skin disorders. "We want to learn from the mistakes of the past," Sullivan said. Now, many veterans are fighting for medical care and compensation for ailments they believe are linked to depleted uranium exposure. In January the Pentagon said "thousands" of soldiers may have been exposed to depleted uranium. Veterans groups have said they believe as many as 400,000 soldiers may have been exposed. The explosions, the Pentagon said, created an estimated 630,000 pounds of depleted uranium dust and debris. Anthony Hardie, a 30-year-old Gulf War veteran attending the conference, said depleted uranium was one of many toxic substances soldiers were exposed to in the Gulf. "What happened to us should never again happen," he said. "It's important that we protect our current force in the Gulf and in the service. "The manual fits in the cargo pocket of battle-dress uniform pants," said Hardie, who served in the Gulf and in Somalia, and is president of the Gulf War Veterans of Wisconsin. "You carry it with you everywhere." Hardie said he became an advocate for Gulf War veterans out of necessity when he couldn't get medical care at his local VA hospital for illnesses he said are linked to his tour of duty in the Gulf. The depleted-uranium ammunition, which was fired by U.S. tanks and aircraft, was used for the first time in combat in the Gulf. It ignites on impact and blasts holes through tanks. Many nations have since added it to their arsenals. _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: Whistleblowers lose, Westinghouse wins at Hanford Date: 22 Sep 1998 09:36:18 -0400 http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=092098&ID=s454238 Spokane Net, September 20, 1998 Judge tosses Hanford lawsuit Whistleblowers claimed retaliation by Westinghouse KENNEWICK _ A former Hanford Nuclear Reservation contractor has won dismissal of a lawsuit filed by two former employees who say they were targeted for retaliation after raising safety concerns. Benton County Superior Court Judge Craig Matheson granted a motion by Westinghouse Electric Corp. to dismiss the complaint by Casey Ruud and James Simpkin. Other than writing that he reviewed documents and oral arguments made last May, Matheson did not say why he ruled in favor of Westinghouse. Ruud's lawyer, Bob Jones of San Francisco, said he learned of the ruling Friday. He said he needed to find out more about the ruling before deciding whether to appeal. The whistleblower litigation dates to 1988 in a battle that had spread to three arenas -- Benton County Superior Court, a state court in South Carolina and the U.S. Department of Labor. Ruud, of Kennewick, and Simpkin, of Idaho, were Westinghouse Hanford Co. employees who brought their safety concerns about Hanford operations to the press and Congress in 1987. Ruud's complaints led to suspension of work at Hanford's Plutonium-Uranium Extraction Plant and at the Plutonium Finishing Plant. Ruud was laid off after he testified before Congress. He filed a wrongful termination complaint with the Labor Department. In 1990, a $125,000 settlement was reached, which Ruud's lawyers now say Westinghouse violated. Simpkin left Westinghouse Hanford, the site's former lead contractor, when he took part in a voluntary reduction in force in 1988. Ruud and Simpkin contend Westinghouse was retaliating against them. Westinghouse contends the actions were part of Hanford's cutbacks. In 1988, Ruud and Simpkin agreed to settlements that included stipulations that Westinghouse not interfere with their future employment. The men moved to the Department of Energy's Savannah River, S.C., site, where they worked for a subcontractor of Westinghouse Savannah River in 1990. Meanwhile, some Westinghouse officials they had clashed with at Hanford also ended up at Savannah River. Both men claimed Westinghouse harassed them at Savannah River, eventually leading to both losing their jobs there in early 1991. They filed a federal lawsuit in 1993, arguing Westinghouse broke the 1988 settlement. Pieces of that lawsuit were split to the state courts in South Carolina and Washington, plus to the U.S. Department of Labor. The two sides reached a confidential settlement in March 1996 in the South Carolina case. Last November, a Labor Department administrative review panel ruled in favor of Ruud and Simpkin to send that case back to an administrative judge to reassess the amount of punitive damages to which the pair were entitled. _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) DOE subcritical press release Date: 22 Sep 1998 09:39:05 -0700 Hello friends, We just recieved the DOE press release which I wanted to send out. But then, 1/2 hour later I recieved a call from Derek Scammell saying that the test had been delayed. He was not able to give any reasons for the delay or say when the new date would be. Just that he would let us know. we will keep you posted! <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> DOE NEWS For Immediate Release September 22, 1998 News Media Contacts: Derek Scammell (702) 295-3521 scammelld@nv.doe.gov David Schwoegler (925) 422-6900 newsguy@llnl.gov Mathew Donoghue (202) 586-5806 mathew.donoghue@hq.doe.gov DOE TO CONDUCT FOURTH SUBCRITICAL EXPERIMENT SCIENTIFIC DATA TO HELP ENSURE THE SAFETY AND RELIABILITY OF THE STOCKPILE WITHOUT NUCLEAR TESTING The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will conduct its fourth subcritical experiment in Nevada on Sept 24. Subcritical experiments produce essential scientific data and technical information on the effects of aging on nuclear weapons materials. The experiments are called "subcritical" because no critical mass is formed, no self sustaining nuclear chain reaction can occur and therefore no nuclear explosion can result. The experiments support DOE's stockpile Stewardship Program to maintain the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing and are fully consistent with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Subcritical experiments help ensure the safety and reliability of the stockpile without nuclear testing." said Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. "These experiments are a key part of our scientific program to provide new tools and data that assess age related complications and maintain the reliability and safety of the nation's nuclear arsenal." The primary objective of this experiment will be to obtain important physics information on plutonium samples of varying ages. Using techniques developed by the Energy Department's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the experiment will involve chemical high explosives to generate high pressures that are applied to weapons materials - in particular, plutonium. The experiment will involve the use of 7.2 ounces of chemical high explosives and about 7.2 ounces of plutonium distributed over four separate assemblies. The experiment will be conducted at the Nevada Test Site's U1a Complex. 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The U1a complex is at the base of a vertical shaft, approximately 960 feet beneath the surface, designed to contain these experiments in a safe and secure environment -30- *************************************************************** SHUNDAHAI NETWORK "Peace and Harmony with all Creation" *Breaking the Nuclear Chain* 5007 Elmhurst Ln., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304 ph(702)647-3095 Fax: (702)647-9385 Email: shundahai@shundahai.org http://www.shundahai.org Shundahai Network is proud to be part of: Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a multi-cultural alliance to foster sustainable living and break the nuclear chain; and Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) ACTION ALERT: Hypocritical nuclear weapons test Date: 22 Sep 1998 12:21:14 -0700 ACTION ALERT: HYPOCRITICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS TEST "BAGPIPE" Hello Friends The Department of Energy announced plans to conduct the subcritical nuclear weapons test "Bagpipe" on Thursday, September 24 but then almost immediately delayed the test for unknown reasons. They are not able to give us a new date and refuse to discuss reasons for the delay. Our friends monitoring the radio frequencies at the test site have said no dry runs are scheduled for today, but there are a lot of meetings going on. We will keep you posted with breaking developments. If you have not had the opportunity to call or fax a letter of protest to the White house or DOE, please do it now! We have to let the U.S. government know that there is a large international movement that oppose these nuclear weapons tests. Please review the sample letter at the bottom of this message. If any body else is holding vigils or demos please let us know so that we can include that information in our press materials. Thanks for all that you do on behalf of Mother Earth! ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< Upcoming Las Vegas events to protest the HYPOCRITICAL nuclear weapons test: (These events will build on the success we achieved with our "Nevada Sweeties" action on September 8.) For info on any of these events please call us at (702) 647-3095 Thursday, September 24th 4 - 5:30 pm, Demonstration at the Foley Federal Building (300 S. Las Vegas Blvd) Friday, September 25th All night long, RAGE AGAINST THE TEST SITE (62 miles North of Las Vegas on Hwy 95 at the Mercury exit.)Join us around the campfire for a night of prayers, discussions, and actions to stop the HYPOCRITICAL subcritical. Day of the HYPOCRITICAL Test (When they reschedule it) There will be a prayer circle and nonviolent direct action at the Nevada Test Site at the time of the detonation. (call for time or if you need rides.) A demonstration will be held at the Foley Federal Building the afternoon of the test between 4 - 5:30pm. Nevada Desert Experience might hold a vigil at the Department of Energy headquarters on Lossee Rd near Cheyenne. Please call them for more information about this Christian Faith based prayer vigil. (702) 646-4814 ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< BAY AREA EVENTS VIGIL: WHEN -- WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 23, 4 PM TO 6 PM WHERE -- LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LAB AT THE CORNER OF EAST AVE. AND VASCO ROAD. DEMO: WHEN -- THURSDAY, SEPT. 24, NOON TO 1PM WHERE -- BECHTEL CORP. HEADQUARTERS, 50 BEALE ST., SAN FRANCISCO - NEAR EMBARCADERO BART STATION. INFO: Sally Light, Tri-Valley CAREs, (925) 443-7148 or (510) 527-2057 ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< Call DOE at (202) 586-6210 or (202) 586-5806. Fax the DOE at (202) 586-4403 or (202) 586-1567. Call Bill Clinton via his comment line at (202) 456-1111. White house fax 1-202-456-2461, 1-202-456-2883. Act today. ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< THE HONORABLE PRESIDENT CLINTON, THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, U.S., Dear President Clinton, I am writing to demand that you "DON'T BY HYPOCRITICAL! STOP THE SUBCRITICAL!" By this, I mean that you must immediately cancel the subcritical nuclear weapons test code named "Bagpipe" which could be detonated as early as next week (Sept 7 - 11) and all future subcritical tests. These tests explode plutonium, which is the most deadly material ever created, 980 feet below the ground at the Nevada Test Site dangerously close to the largest aquifer in Southern Nevada. This precious groundwater has already been contaminated by past nuclear tests. It is time to stop the contamination and begin the clean up! These tests should really be called "hypocritical." They clearly violate the spirit of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) signed in September 1996, by you, Mr President. The CTBT commits the U.S. "not to carry out any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion..." DOE claims these experiments are permissible because the CTBT does not define "nuclear weapon" test. These tests make global adoption of the CTBT less likely by encouraging other nations to copy the U.S. decision to continue testing and update their nuclear arsenals. These tests especially contradict the condemnation expressed by the U.S. government against India and Pakistan for conducting their own series of nuclear weapons tests earlier this year. The subcritical tests are part of a massive "Stockpile Stewardship and Management" program, intended to maintain and expand U.S. nuclear weapons capabilities well into the next century. During the next decade, taxpayers will spend more than $40 billion for the program, an annual rate higher than the Cold War average. Thus, it is fair to say these tests are intended to signal to the rest of the world an unflagging U.S. commitment to nuclear weapons as the ultimate "big stick." Last year, in the U.S. 44 members of Congress, including key California Representatives, urged you not to go ahead with the tests. At the grassroots level, protesters gathered in California, Nevada, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere around the country to demand the cancelation of this testing program. There is currently a lawsuit against DOE, charging the agency failed to conduct an adequate environmental analysis of the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan, including the subcritical tests. This decision is largely in your hands. I urge you to be courageous and recognize that the U.S. needs to take the lead in halting our nuclear weapons designing, testing and production capabilities so that the rest of the world can take us seriously when we talk about non-proliferation issues and the Comprehensive Test ban Treaty. It is time, Mr President, to build that bridge to the 21st century that you always talk about. The time for nuclear disarmament is now. Do the right thing. Stop the Subcritical! Yours Sincerely, Signed: ************************************** This is the SHUNDAHAI ACTION ALERT list. You will recieve regular updates and action alerts about events and issues in the South West concerning nuclear weapons, waste and native land rights. To Subscribe to this list send a message to Action_Alert@shundahai.org with SUBSCRIBE in the subject heading. To unsubscribe to this list send a message to Action_Alert@shundahai.org with REMOVE in the subject heading. For more information about Shundahai Network visit our web page at http://www.shundahai.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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ilpeace@igc.apc.org Subject: (abolition-usa) October 9 & 10 meetings in Chicago Date: 22 Sep 1998 15:47:56 -0700 (PDT) September 22, 1998 Dear friends: The October 9th and 10th meetings on abolishing nuclear weapons at the DePaul Center in downtown Chicago are fast approaching. If you plan to attend but have not RSVP'ed, either for the Friday, October 9th organizing meeting or the Saturday, October 10th "Bottling the Genie" conference, we need to hear from you soon. For the 9th, all we need is a call or an email telling us you're coming. If you plan to come to the conference on the 10th, we need a registration form from you (we can mail you one if you did not get the conference brochure). We can also help arrange cheap or free housing here in Chicago, but the sooner we know you're coming the better. The meeting on the 9th is the second organizing meeting of the still-to-be-named, emerging U.S. campaign to abolish nuclear weapons. Organizers from around the country will be coming to help shape this promising new campaign. Peace Action, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Fourth Freedom Forum, Western States Legal Foundation, Global Resource Center for the Environment, American Friends Service Committee, Disarmament Clearinghouse, Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy and many other organizations will have representatives present. Saturday's conference will feature presentations by Jonathan Schell, author of The Gift of Time: The Case for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons Now and former U.S. Senator Alan Cranston, as well as experts from academia, activism, politics and the media. In addition to issue workshops, we'll hold strategy roundtable discussions, where participants will debate strategies and tactics for grassroots organizing for nuclear abolition. Registration for the event, which includes continental breakfast, lunch, and a complimentary copy of The Nation's February special edition on abolition, consisting of excerpts from Schell's book, is only $25, $10 for students or those of limited income. October 9th and 10th will be important days in shaping what will become a strong national campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and you won't want to miss it. To paraphrase Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, "Won't you please come to Chicago just to organize!" For more information, or to RSVP your attendance, contact Debby Reelitz-Bell at 847/266-1525 or Kevin Martin at 312/939-3316, or email us at ilpeace@igc.org In Peace, Kevin Martin Executive Director Illinois Peace Action Check out our website at http://www.webcom.com/ipa - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) DOE SAYS....WE SAY (help?) Date: 22 Sep 1998 17:04:48 -0700 Hello friends, I am trying to print up new material for our demos and actions around the subcrit and would like to do something along the simple lines of DOE SAYS....WE SAY.. If any one has any ideas or feedback on what I have written so far I could sure use some help. I think I have gone into overload. I was hoping to have this piece done by thursday afternoon and would love some help. Thanks in advance. DOE SAY'S: "Subcritical experiments are needed for the safety and reliability of our nuclear weapons." WE SAY: "The only safe and reliable nuclear weapon is a dismantled disarmed nuclear weapon." DOE SAY'S: "The subcritical will not go critical" WE SAY: "Accidents can happen and have happened. That is why the subcritical tests were moved from Los Alamos, NM to the Nevada Test Site U1a underground complex." DOE SAY'S: "The tests are completely safe." WE SAY: "These tests involve plutonium which is the most deadly substance known. The groundwater at the test site has already been contaminated with plutonium from past nuclear weapons tests." DOE SAY'S: "These tests will help nonproliferation efforts." WE SAY: "These tests have already helped proliferate nuclear weapons by causing India and Pakistan to conduct full nuclear weapons tests." DOE SAY'S: "These tests are fully consistent with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty" WE SAY: "These tests violate the spirit of the CTBT *************************************************************** SHUNDAHAI NETWORK "Peace and Harmony with all Creation" *Breaking the Nuclear Chain* 5007 Elmhurst Ln., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304 ph(702)647-3095 Fax: (702)647-9385 Email: shundahai@shundahai.org http://www.shundahai.org Shundahai Network is proud to be part of: Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a multi-cultural alliance to foster sustainable living and break the nuclear chain; and Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: john burroughs <jburroughs@igc.apc.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) October 9 & 10 meetings in Chicago Date: 22 Sep 1998 17:26:58 -0700 (PDT) Kevin - as you know, Jacqueline Cabasso, Andrew Lichterman, and I will be participating on the 10th as well as the 9th. Do you need a registration form - address for WSLF is in the signature box below. Did you make any decisions about placing us in workshops etc.? - John At 03:47 PM 9/22/98 -0700, you wrote: >September 22, 1998 > > >Dear friends: > > The October 9th and 10th meetings on abolishing nuclear weapons at the >DePaul Center in downtown Chicago are fast approaching. If you plan to >attend but have not RSVP'ed, either for the Friday, October 9th organizing >meeting or the Saturday, October 10th "Bottling the Genie" conference, we >need to hear from you soon. For the 9th, all we need is a call or an email >telling us you're coming. If you plan to come to the conference on the >10th, we need a registration form from you (we can mail you one if you did >not get the conference brochure). We can also help arrange cheap or free >housing here in Chicago, but the sooner we know you're coming the better. > > The meeting on the 9th is the second organizing meeting of the >still-to-be-named, emerging U.S. campaign to abolish nuclear weapons. >Organizers from around the country will be coming to help shape this >promising new campaign. Peace Action, Physicians for Social Responsibility, >Fourth Freedom Forum, Western States Legal Foundation, Global Resource >Center for the Environment, American Friends Service Committee, Disarmament >Clearinghouse, Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy and many other >organizations will have representatives present. > >Saturday's conference will feature presentations by Jonathan Schell, author >of The Gift of Time: The Case for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons Now and former >U.S. Senator Alan Cranston, as well as experts from academia, activism, >politics and the media. In addition to issue workshops, we'll hold strategy >roundtable discussions, where participants will debate strategies and >tactics for grassroots organizing for nuclear abolition. Registration for >the event, which includes continental breakfast, lunch, and a complimentary >copy of The Nation's February special edition on abolition, consisting of >excerpts from Schell's book, is only $25, $10 for students or those of >limited income. > >October 9th and 10th will be important days in shaping what will become a >strong national campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and you won't >want to miss it. To paraphrase Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, "Won't you >please come to Chicago just to organize!" > >For more information, or to RSVP your attendance, contact Debby Reelitz-Bell >at 847/266-1525 or Kevin Martin at 312/939-3316, or email us at ilpeace@igc.org > >In Peace, > > >Kevin Martin >Executive Director >Illinois Peace Action > > >Check out our website at http://www.webcom.com/ipa > > > > >- > 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. > > ********************************************* John Burroughs Western States Legal Foundation 1440 Broadway, Suite 500 Oakland, California, USA 94612 Tel: +1 510 839 5877 Fax: +1 510 839 5397 E-mail: jburroughs@igc.apc.org Western States is part of Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jan Harwood <jahn@cruzio.com> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) October 9 & 10 meetings in Chicago Date: 22 Sep 1998 21:04:26 -0800 I will be attending the Abolition 2000 meetings in Chicago on the 9th and 10th of October. I have housing arranged already. Jan Harwood, 312 Elm St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060, (831) 471-9992. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: smirnowb@ix.netcom.com (Robert Smirnow) Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) DOE SAYS....WE SAY (help?) Date: 23 Sep 1998 01:41:00 -0500 (CDT) Reinhard, WE SAY: "The Cold War is Over, We have NO Enemies" DOE Says:"Until the World is....[fill in any of numerous scenarios- rogue states, terrorism, unpredictable future political/economic events], we need such tests." WE SAY: "In effect, we will never disarm using your [DOE's] rational that the world has potential enemies because the world will always have potential enemies. The world can also potentially be at Peace. Give Peace a Chance, War has been given too many chances." DOE Says: " No." WE KEEP FIGHTING BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT INTERESTED IN REASON. IT'S STRICTLY A POWER ISSUE AND THE ONLY WAY ANYONE EVER GOT ANYWHERE IS THROUGH PROTECTED, DETERMINED, OPEN MINDED "PEACEFUL FIGHTING." Peace/No-Nukes, Bill Smirnow > >Hello friends, > >I am trying to print up new material for our demos and actions around the >subcrit and would like to do something along the simple lines of DOE >SAYS....WE SAY.. If any one has any ideas or feedback on what I have >written so far I could sure use some help. I think I have gone into >overload. I was hoping to have this piece done by thursday afternoon and >would love some help. Thanks in advance. > >DOE SAY'S: "Subcritical experiments are needed for the safety and >reliability of our nuclear weapons." > >WE SAY: "The only safe and reliable nuclear weapon is a dismantled disarmed >nuclear weapon." > >DOE SAY'S: "The subcritical will not go critical" > >WE SAY: "Accidents can happen and have happened. That is why the >subcritical tests were moved from Los Alamos, NM to the Nevada Test Site >U1a underground complex." > >DOE SAY'S: "The tests are completely safe." > >WE SAY: "These tests involve plutonium which is the most deadly substance >known. The groundwater at the test site has already been contaminated with >plutonium from past nuclear weapons tests." > >DOE SAY'S: "These tests will help nonproliferation efforts." > >WE SAY: "These tests have already helped proliferate nuclear weapons by >causing India and Pakistan to conduct full nuclear weapons tests." > >DOE SAY'S: "These tests are fully consistent with the Comprehensive Test >Ban Treaty" > >WE SAY: "These tests violate the spirit of the CTBT >*************************************************************** > SHUNDAHAI NETWORK > "Peace and Harmony with all Creation" > *Breaking the Nuclear Chain* > > 5007 Elmhurst Ln., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304 >ph(702)647-3095 Fax: (702)647-9385 Email: shundahai@shundahai.org > http://www.shundahai.org > > Shundahai Network is proud to be part of: >Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a multi-cultural alliance to >foster sustainable living and break the nuclear chain; and >Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate 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. > - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: nukeresister@igc.org (Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa) Subject: (abolition-usa) CD & October 9 & 10 meetings in Chicago Date: 23 Sep 1998 01:14:36 -0700 (PDT) I cannot attend these meetings but am curious to know [and would offer support for anyone attending] who will bring into the strategy discussion a strong advocacy of consciously, openly, incorporating "civil disobedience" into this emerging group's program. [Likewise, I would engage in e-discussion with anyone who strongly advocates avoiding association with "civil disobedience."] If there is anyone attending this conference, and then the WRL 75th conference &/or Day w/o the Pentagon action the following weekend, I'll be sharing facilitation of a working group that touches on tactical development of nonviolent direct action in our present situation. We would appreciate your input! Jack Cohen-Joppa _____________________________________ the Nuclear Resister "a chronicle of hope" P.O. Box 43383 Tucson AZ 85733 - information about and support for imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists - Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa, editors (520)323-8697 US$15/year/US$20 Canada/US$25 overseas - selections from current issue - updated prisoner addresses - & more can be read at: http://www.nonviolence.org/nukeresister * FREE SAMPLE ISSUE ON REQUEST * (please supply a postal address for samples) _____________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JTLOWE@aol.com Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) DOE SAYS....WE SAY (help?) Date: 23 Sep 1998 08:51:12 EDT In a message dated 98-09-22 20:27:04 EDT, you write: << DOE SAY'S: "The subcritical will not go critical" >> If you want wider public support i suggest that you explain what this means. Colby Lowe - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JTLOWE@aol.com Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) DOE SAYS....WE SAY (help?) Date: 23 Sep 1998 08:52:00 EDT In a message dated 98-09-22 20:27:04 EDT, you write: << DOE SAY'S: "The subcritical will not go critical" >> and on couse congratulations on this and all your efforts. CL - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: November Boston Abolition Event Date: 23 Sep 1998 12:06:08 -0400 Dear Lachlan, Are any of the organizers of the Boston event planning to be in Chicago for the US Abolition launch on October 8th and 9th? This would give us a concerted strategy to bring into future meetings such as the exciting Boston meeting you have planned. The Markey and Woolsey resolutions calling on Clinton to negotiate a nuclear weapons convention and calling for a cut-off in funding for new nuclear weapons research, design and development would be good action items for your meeting. We are still gathering signatures and if you'd like an update closer to your event, I could forward it to you. Best regards, Alice Slater At 10:35 AM 9/23/98 -0400, lforrow@igc.org wrote: >Local Event but possible opportunity to >convey Global Thinking: > >Sunday, November 22 2 - 4:30pm >John F. Kennedy Library >Boston, MA > >"Abolishing Nuclear Weapons" > >General Lee Butler (retired) >James Carroll, author/columnist >Others TBA > >Cosponsored by the Massachusetts Chapter, >Lawyers Alliance for World Security. > >The announcement includes the follow quotation: > >"Every man, woman and child lives under a >nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the >slenderest of threads, capable of being cut >at any moment by accident or miscalculation >or by madness. The weapons of war must be >abolished before they abolish us." > > --John F. Kennedy > > >Those of us who are New England partners in >Abolition 2000 would welcome suggestions from >Abolition 2000 colleagues worldwide about messages >we might try to convey at this event. > > > >Lachlan Forrow, MD > >The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship >Dedicated to Reverence for Life in Action >A co-sponsor of ABOLITION 2000 > >"Nuclear weapons are against international >law and they have to be abolished...All negotiations >regarding the abolition of atomic weapons remain >without success because no international public >opinion exists which demands this abolition." > --Dr. Albert Schweitzer > Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment 15 East 26 St. New York, NY 10010 212-726-9161(tel) 212-726-9160(fax) GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000: A Global Network for the Elimination of 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Subcrit "Bagpipe" rescheduled, ACTION ALERT Date: 23 Sep 1998 12:27:18 -0700 DOE RESCHEDULES SUBCRITICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS TEST "BAGPIPE" Saturday, September 25, 1998. WEAPONS GRADE PLUTONIUM TO BE EXPLODED ON SACRED WESTERN SHOSHONE LAND! NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION PLANNED! Continued nuclear weapons design, testing and production under costly Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program threaten our air, water and land with radioactive contamination from coast to coast! Today, the DOE, announced the new schedule for problem filled subcritical nuclear weapons test "Bagpipe" to be exploded on Saturday, September 25, 1998. They did not give any times but these tests generally take place from 9 - 11 am. If we hear of a time we will let the world know immediately. We encourage you all to hold local vigils and demonstrations on Saturday in solidarity with those hear in Nevada who will be seeking to stop these tests through non violent direct action. ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< Upcoming Las Vegas and Nevada events to protest the HYPOCRITICAL nuclear weapons test: (Please see Bay Area updated event list below) (These events will build on the success we achieved with our "Nevada Sweeties" action on September 8.) For info on any of these events please call us at (702) 647-3095 Thursday, September 24th: 4 - 5:30 pm, Demonstration at the Foley Federal Building (300 S. Las Vegas Blvd) Friday, September 25th: 6PM - All night long, RAGE AGAINST THE TEST SITE (62 miles North of Las Vegas on Hwy 95 at the Mercury exit.)Join us around the campfire for a night of prayers, discussions, and actions to stop the HYPOCRITICAL subcritical. Saturday, September 26: Day of the HYPOCRITICAL Test, There will be a prayer circle and nonviolent direct action at the Nevada Test Site at the time of the detonation. (Call for time or if you need rides. The earlier you arrive the better) 4 - 5:30pm, Demonstration at the Foley Federal Building (300 S. Las Vegas Blvd) Nevada Desert Experience might hold a vigil at the Department of Energy headquarters on Lossee Rd near Cheyenne. Please call them for more information about this Christian Faith based prayer vigil. (702) 646-4814 If you are unable to join us for any of these events please consider coming to Nevada for the Healing Global Wounds Fall Gathering, Oct 9 - 12. For more information on Healing Global Wounds you can visit the webs site at http://www.shundahai.org/HGW/fall98gathering.html ************************************** This is the SHUNDAHAI ACTION ALERT list. You will recieve regular updates and action alerts about events and issues in the South West concerning nuclear weapons, waste and native land rights. To Subscribe to this list send a message to Action_Alert@shundahai.org with SUBSCRIBE in the subject heading. To unsubscribe to this list send a message to Action_Alert@shundahai.org with REMOVE in the subject heading. For more information about Shundahai Network visit our web page at http://www.shundahai.org or email us at shundahai@shundahai.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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Sue Broidy <a2000@silcom.com> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) October 9 & 10 meetings in Chicago Date: 23 Sep 1998 14:12:19 -0700 (PDT) Dear Jan I'm delighted to see your message - I hope we can spend more time together! I got a room at the Travelodge. See you there! >I will be attending the Abolition 2000 meetings in Chicago on the 9th and >10th of October. I have housing arranged already. Jan Harwood, 312 Elm >St., >Santa Cruz, CA 95060, (831) 471-9992. > > > >- > 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. Sincerely, Susan Broidy, Coordinator ************************************************************* Abolition 2000- A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons c/o Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road, Box 123 Santa Barbara, CA 93108 phone: +1(805) 965-3443; fax: +1(805) 568-0466 e-mail: a2000@silcom.com URL: http://www.napf.org/abolition2000/ Join the abolition-usa listserve for keeping in touch with national Abolition 2000 news. To subscribe or unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "subscribe or 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. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Japanese to take part in October 19th demonstration Date: 23 Sep 1998 17:14:14 EDT In a message dated 9/23/98 5:11:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time, DavidMcR writes: Dear friends and co-workers I just got a note today from Sachiko Mitsunaga, of "Linking Peace and Life" in Japan. She wrote that Linking Peace and Life (which is in Osaka) will be sending two people, herself and her sister, to attend to Day Without the Pentagon. Given the high cost of travel and the great distance, this decision means a great deal to us. We know that the October 19th demonstration will not match the vast outpourings of event such as the famous June 12 and June 14 actions in 1982, or similar acts. But clearly it is an event which is drawing people from a great distance, and is part of an historic and fundamental challenge to militarism, not just to a single weapons system. May I urge all who are interested to check with Chris Ney and/or Linda Thurston as the War Resisters League office - wrl@igc.apc.org - (or call 212 / 228.0450). Also check the web site: www.nonviolence.org/wrl/nopentagon.htm Time grows very short. Peace, David McReynolds >> - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ilpeace@igc.apc.org Subject: (abolition-usa) the new abolition campaign Date: 23 Sep 1998 15:48:28 -0700 (PDT) A few thoughts on organizing the new national campaign to abolish nuclear weapons --Kevin Martin, Illinois Peace Action, 9/23/98 The organizers of the October 9th and 10th meetings on nuclear abolition in Chicago invited subscribers to the U.S. abolition list serve to start circulating proposals and ideas in preparation for those meetings, both to begin the discourse on important issues ahead of time, and to allow those who won't be coming to Chicago to participate in the discussion of how to build a U.S. campaign to abolish nuclear weapons. Since only one person has posted something on this (thanks Jack Cohen-Joppa!), I guess as the host for the 9th and 10th I'll throw a pebble in the pond and see if any ripples spread. Nothing brilliant, I promise, just a few thoughts to get discussion going. IMPORTANCE OF GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING For many of us on the list serve, the importance of grassroots organizing is self-evident. And so far, the talk of how this new campaign (for which we need a name, and soon) will knit together elite, "opinion leader", policy analysis work with grassroots organizing and a sustained media campaign is very promising. I recently saw a quote by one of my heroes, Cesar Chavez. He said, "The only way I know to organize is to talk to one person, then another, and then another=85" I think if we are honest about it, we don't do enough of this. We talk to ourselves endlessly (which is of course what I'm doing right now), but not to enough regular folks. I want to underscore a point made by Paul Warnke, former U.S. arms control negotiator, and by former U.S. Senator Alan Cranston, who has done fantastic work organizing at the policy elite level: we'll only get real progress toward abolition when we are able to make it a political issue, and that means organizing regular old voters to pressure the politicians. Most grassroots organizations working for abolition - the ones whose members will pass the petitions, bird-dog and lobby the politicians, organize the demonstrations, commit civil disobedience, etc. -- live on a shoestring budget (and a gnarly old fraying shoestring at that). So if this new campaign is serious about the grassroots component, there will have to be plans made to get some resources ($) to the grassroots organizations that can translate the excellent policy recommendations from the opinion leader level into real political pressure on the powers that be. There have already been discussions about this, and obviously, the more integrated and coordinated a strategy we come up with for this campaign, the more successful we'll be in raising money from individuals and foundations. THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM STRATEGY The short-term goal of forcing abolition onto the political agenda for the presidential and congressional elections in 2000 is good, as are many other projects already underway, but we also need to think about the long term. If we're really good, and a bit lucky, this campaign will take 10, 12, 15 years. Many of us have already worked for nuclear disarmament for much longer than that, so that long of a timeline shouldn't scare us, but we might not all be around to see the glorious day when the scourge of nuclear weapons is removed from the Earth. Where is the next generation of abolition organizers going to come from? This issue isn't exactly on the radar screen of activists under 30. At the upcoming meeting in Chicago, we will need to focus mostly on near-term strategy in order to build support for a coordinated U.S. abolition campaign. However, I hope we can spend at least some time on long-term strategy, or at least discussing a process to come up with one. =09 STRUCTURE To me, the structure of this abolition campaign is less important than a clear commitment to a coordinated strategy. I think the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines is a fine structural model, though from where we at Illinois Peace Action sit as a grassroots member of USCBL, I think it has not had a strong, coordinated strategy that its members are bought into. Obviously, the Abolition 2000 network, which hundreds of groups have already signed onto, needs to be built upon and strengthened, and can play a crucial role in building the national abolition campaign. If we are clear that we are not creating a new organization, and I hope we are, we need a structure that promotes identification with and commitment to the new national abolition campaign (boy, do we need a name soon - how about "Jane" for now) while also allowing member organizations to build themselves -- recruit new members, raise more money, etc. - through participation in the campaign. Check out our website at http://www.webcom.com/ipa - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) the new abolition campaign Date: 23 Sep 1998 19:29:25 -0400 Some thoughts in response to Kevin's posting: On a name: How about US Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons? On a strategy: How about getting to Senator Wellstone who is considering a run for the Presidency and asking him to make this one of his issues. Then if we win, we won't need a long-term strategy!! I understand he'll be in Chicago during our meeting. Can we urge him to join us and announce his support for nuclear abolition at our meeting? As for talking to others besides ourselves: the petition campaign would encourage that kind of outreach and conversation--but I'd like to see it tied to a postcard campaign, ie: sign the petition, send a postcard to Congressperson urging support for Marky and Woolsey resolutions, and one to President urging negotiations to begin. We also need to enroll Senators to take similar initiatives to Marky and Woolsey resolution in the Senate. Remember, Markey's resolution calls for cutting off any funding for new nuclear weapons; Woolsey's calls on Clinton to begin negotiations on a treaty to ban the bomb. As a pre-meeting activity: Contact our own Congresspeople to sign both resolutions or to thank them for having already signed. Contact our Senators and ask them to take similar initiatives. If you need a copy for your Senator, the resolutions are posted at http://www.napf.org/abolition2000/ Here's who signed so far: Markey Resolution H. Con.Res.307(no money for new nuke research, design, etc.) Lee, Tierney, Woolsey, Furse, Maloney, Nadler, Schumer Lowey, Filner, Pallone, McGovern (Ask your rep to call Jeff Duncan in Markey's office to sign on: 202-225-2836) Woolsey Resolution HR479(negotiate a treaty) Filner, Town, Furse, Kenney, J., Olver, Norton, Sanders, Frank, Miller,G., Nadler, Lee, Mink, DeFazio, Waxman, Stark, McGovern, Slaughter, Hinchley, Faleomavega, Lofgren, Owens, Hooley, Lowey, Hilliard, Kilpatrick, Markey, Rivers, Rush (Ask your rep to call Mark Dooley in Woolsey's office to sign on: 202-225-5161) Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment 15 East 26 St. New York, NY 10010 212-726-9161(tel) 212-726-9160(fax) GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000: A Global Network for the Elimination of 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) "Bagpipe" correct reschedule date Date: 23 Sep 1998 18:48:00 -0700 DOE RESCHEDULES SUBCRITICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS TEST "BAGPIPE" Sorry, I put the incorrect date on my last alert. Instead of Saturday, September 25, 1998, the test date is really Saturday, September 26, 1998 ************************************** This is the SHUNDAHAI ACTION ALERT list. You will recieve regular updates and action alerts about events and issues in the South West concerning nuclear weapons, waste and native land rights. To Subscribe to this list send a message to Action_Alert@shundahai.org with SUBSCRIBE in the subject heading. To unsubscribe to this list send a message to Action_Alert@shundahai.org with REMOVE in the subject heading. For more information about Shundahai Network visit our web page at http://www.shundahai.org or email us at shundahai@shundahai.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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Senator Wellstone contact Date: 24 Sep 1998 07:49:11 -0400 Wonderful idea, Alice! As a Minnesotan who's already written Senator Wellstone on this issue, I applaud your strategy. Ellen Thomas ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> wrote: >On a strategy: How about getting to Senator Wellstone who is considering a >run >for the Presidency and asking him to make this one of his issues. Then if we >win, we won't need a long-term strategy!! I understand he'll be in Chicago >during our meeting. Can we urge him to join us and announce his support for >nuclear abolition at our meeting? _______________________________ PROPOSITION ONE COMMITTEE P.O. Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038 USA 202-462-0757 (phone) | 202-265-5389 (fax) http://prop1.org | prop1@prop1.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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: Plowshares article, Washington Post 9/24/98 Date: 24 Sep 1998 09:59:05 -0400 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-09/24/218l-092498-idx.html Peace Activists Found Guilty in Air Show Protest Thursday, September 24, 1998; Page D04 - Washington Post A U.S. District Court judge in Greenbelt found five Catholic peace activists, including two priests and two nuns, guilty of misdemeanor charges of destroying government property yesterday. They had pounded a B-52 bomber with hammers and doused it with their own blood during an air show at Andrews Air Force Base in May as a protest against U.S. defense policy. U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. ordered the five activists jailed immediately after they said they would not return for sentencing Jan. 4. The five, who called themselves the Gods of Metal Plowshares, were convicted of destruction of government property under $1,000 in value after a two-day, nonjury trial. The crime is punishable by up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. Convicted were the Rev. Frank Cordaro, of Lacona, Iowa; Ardeth Platte, of Baltimore; Kathleen Boylan, of the District; Lawrence Morlan, of Bloomington, Ill.; and Carol Sue Gilbert, of Baltimore. _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: War Resisters League <wrl@igc.apc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Buses for the Pentagon Date: 24 Sep 1998 10:56:19 -0400 Two sets of buses will be leaving from New York City for A Day Without the Pentagon. On Sunday October 18 the first bus will leave at 9 am, arriving in Washington in time for the Peace Concert and Disarmament Fair planned by the DC Steering Committee of Day Without the Pentagon. Cost is $30. On Monday October 19, additional buses will leave at 5 am, arriving in Washington for the march from Arlington Cemetery to the Pentagon. Cost is $25. All buses will leave from Washington Square Methodist Church on Washington Square South between 6th Ave and MacDougal. Buses will leave from the Pentagon at 5 pm on October 19 to return to New York. Reserve your seat now! Space is limited. Additional buses are leaving from across the Northeast. Watch this space for additional updates. Chris Ney Disarmament Coordinator ********** War Resisters League 339 Lafayette St. New York, NY 10012 212-228-0450 212-228-6193 (fax) 1-800-975-9688 (YouthPeace and A Day Without the Pentagon) wrl@igc.apc.org web address: http://www.nonviolence.org/wrl - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: War Resisters League <wrl@igc.apc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Day Without the Pentagon--nonviolence training Date: 24 Sep 1998 15:39:30 -0400 Nonviolence Training scheduled in New York for A Day Without the Pentagon. Text of the announcement appears below: Questions about nonviolence? Ever thought about doing civil disobedience? Nonviolence Training This half-day training session will focus on A Day Without the Pentagon on October 19 in Washington. It will also offer an introduction to nonviolent action for other activists and actions. Judson Memorial Church 55 Washington Square South Saturday, October 3 2 - 7 pm A Day Without the Pentagon October 19, 1998 Washington DC Bus Tickets from New York City Available Now Departing Sunday October 18 at 9 am, price: $30 Departing Monday October 19 at 5 am, price: $25 For More Information on the Training or the Action, Contact: War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette Street, New York NY 10012, 212-228-0450, wrl@igc.apc.org, www.nonviolence.org/wrl/nopentagon.htm ********** War Resisters League 339 Lafayette St. New York, NY 10012 212-228-0450 212-228-6193 (fax) 1-800-975-9688 (YouthPeace and A Day Without the Pentagon) wrl@igc.apc.org web address: http://www.nonviolence.org/wrl - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Nevada Test Site Gathering in 2 Weeks Date: 24 Sep 1998 12:56:30 -0700 Phone/Fax: 831-661-0445 email: hgw@scruznet.com http://www.shundahai.org/HGW/ Dear Friends The seventh annual "Call to the Desert", the Fall Healing Global Wounds gathering at the Nevada Test Site is coming up in two weeeks, October 9-12. Our primary focus this fall will be getting together to update each other on our local front line activities and planning the biggest and best gathering ever for Mother's Day weekend next spring. Pople from all over the world will be coming together at the Nevada Test Site, May 7-10, 1999, to honor the unique and powerful gifts that women everywhere bring to the entire human family, and honoring our Mother Earth, that supports all life. A pre-gathering Mom's Organizing Event (October 7-8) will take place at the Goddess Temple in Cactus Springs, NV for mothers and grandmothers, to bring their specific ideas and concerns to the main planning session at the Test Site. Other women are welcome to come and support this group. Contact Susi at troy@shundhahai.org or (702) 647- 3095 for more info. FALL GATHERING SCHEDULE Friday, Oct. 9: Facilitated Planning Session for Spring Gathering Saturday, Oct. 10: AM- Meetings for Working Collectives PM- Open Mike for Updates and Announcements from participants Eve- Spoken Word Coffeehouse for stories, poems, etc. Sunday, Oct. 11: Nonviolence training, Affinity Group formation, Action planning Monday, Oct. 12: Indigenous Peoples' Day- Reclaiming Shoshone Sacred Lands at NTS SUPPORT NEEDS FOR GATHERING 1) Ride Coordination: People are calling the office from various locations wanting rides. If you can offer one, please let us know. One ride is coming from New England on route 40, and can pick up. 2) Food Transportation: A truck or van is needed to bring a load from Santa Cruz. Gas money is available. 3) Additional Food Needs: Fresh foods- vegetables for salad, soup and stir-fry, spices, bread, fruit & juices, tofu, eggs and milk and cheese. Please let us know what you are bringing to avoid spending money needlessly. Thank you for all that you do, wherever you are on our beautiful Mother Earth. Jennifer O. Viereck -- ******************************************************************** Info about Fall 'Call to the Desert' Gathering at the Nevada Test Site, Oct. 9-12, and Spring Mother's Day Gathering, May 7-10, 1999, at http://www.shundahai.org/HGW/ Healing Global Wounds: PO Box 3518, Freedom CA 95019-3518 USA Coordinator: Jennifer Olaranna Viereck Phone/Fax: 831-661-0445 email: hgw@scruznet.com ******************************************************************** HGW is a multi-cultural alliance of many organizations and individuals founded in 1991, seeking restoration of respectful sustainable living with the Earth. Working with the guidance of Corbin Harney, Western Shoshone spiritual leader, we coordinate annually an international Spring and Fall Gathering at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. These events combine education on issues, community and skills building, daily spiritual ceremony and taking personal nonviolent action to break every link in the nuclear chain. HGW is proud to be a member of the Abolition 2000 Global Network. ******************************************************************** HEALING GLOBAL WOUNDS SEVENTH ANNUAL FALL "CALL TO THE DESERT" GATHERING OCTOBER 9 - 12, 1998, Nevada Test Site - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "BobKinsey" <bkinsey@peacemission.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) October 9 & 10 meetings in Chicago Date: 24 Sep 1998 13:55:46 -0600 Dear Sue:" I am sorry I won't be able to be in Chicago. I plan to contact Howard about the religious working group since I am connected with the United Church of Christ, Rocky Mountain Conference, Peace and Justice Task Force. I will be attending the 50 Years is Enough Conference in Washington the previous weekend. I believe there is a serious connection between the international "development problems" and the nuclear ones. Bob Kinsey - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: smirnowb@ix.netcom.com (Robert Smirnow) Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: 2 jobs at NIRS Date: 24 Sep 1998 17:36:42 -0500 (CDT) --- Reply-To: nirsnet@igc.apc.org Sender: owner-nukenet@envirolink.org Dear Friends: The following two jobs are open immediately at NIRS. People who have applied previously for the Development Associate position below should indicate if they are still interested in being considered. Thanks. Michael Mariotte NIRS Nuclear Information and Resource Service 1424 16th Street NW, #404 Washington, DC 20036 202-328-0002, fax: 202-462-2183 nirsnet@igc.org www.nirs.org Please Post - September 23, 1998 JOB ANNOUNCEMENT ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR / ACTIVIST APPLY IMMEDIATELY Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) is seeking an administrative coordinator/office manager/activist. NIRS is a small, non-profit, extremely active, national information and networking clearinghouse for the grassroots environmental movement. RESPONSIBILITIES 1. Perform organization's bookkeeping on computerized accounting system (currently using One Write Plus software). This includes accounts receivable and payable, bank reconciliations, recording payroll, etc. Prepare weekly financial summaries, monthly income and expense reports. File monthly, quarterly and annual payroll tax returns. Prepare books for annual audit, be liaison to accounting firm during audit. 2. Manage, update and operate a variety of databases, including membership, subscription and activists. Record all membership renewal info; prepare and process computerized addressing for monthly newsletter and mailings. 3. Answer telephone, direct calls, assist with basic telephone information requests. 4. Maintain office supplies and oversee proper usage and maintenance of office equipment. 5. Administer volunteer and/or internship program. 6. Assist with general office work, such as filing and mailings. 7. Participate in weekly staff meetings. 8. Depending on interests and ability, opportunities exist to serve as NIRS' liaison to particular activist groups; to engage in fundraising; to stage public events; to use artistic/writing skills, etc. QUALIFICATIONS 1. Experience with computerized bookkeeping. Confidence as full-charge bookkeeper. 2. Experience and understanding of computers and databases. 3. Good verbal, organizational and writing skills. 4. Commitment to grassroots environmental movement, interest in nuclear power, radioactive waste and other energy issues. Activist background a plus. SALARY/BENEFITS NIRS' starting salary is $22,500/year, and tries to provide modest annual raises. NIRS provides three weeks paid vacation; in addition, the office is normally closed between Christmas and New Year. NIRS pays 100% of health insurance premiums. The office atmosphere is casual and congenial. Applications will remain open until the position is filled. Projected starting date is October 12, 1998. Please mail, fax, or e-mail a resume and cover letter immediately to the attention of Michael Mariotte, Executive Director, 1424 16th Street NW, #404, Washington, DC 20036. Fax: 202-462-2183; e-mail:nirsnet@igc.org NIRS strongly encourages minority candidates to apply. JOB ANNOUNCEMENT DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) is seeking a Development Associate. NIRS is a small, extremely active non-profit international information and networking clearinghouse for the grassroots environmental movement. The Development Associate is a new position. The person selected will report to the Executive Director. S/he will have considerable responsibility for fundraising, membership building and other public visibility activities. This position is ideal for someone with some fundraising experience and a lot of enthusiasm who wants to move to the next level of responsibility and accomplishment. RESPONSIBILITIES 1. Initiate and maintain contacts with foundation staff and individual donors. 2. Write fundraising proposals and follow-up reports to foundations and donors. 3. Develop and implement programs to build NIRS' membership and funding base, and NIRS' public profile. 4. Work with executive director, staff and board to develop and implement new fundraising programs (such as planned giving program, international fundraising) and seek out and take advantage of new fundraising opportunities. 5. Initiate and coordinate public events. 6. Assist with general office work, such as filing and mailings. 7. Participate in weekly staff meetings. QUALIFICATIONS 1. Excellent writing and oral communications skills; graphics ability a plus. 2. Experience with and understanding of fundraising for non-profit organizations; ability to cope with and rebound from hearing "no" a lot. 3. Ability to work with Board, staff and director, and people from many different backgrounds and countries. 4 Experience with word processing, database and internet software. 5. Enthusiastic personality and commitment to grassroots environmental movement; interest in nuclear power, radioactive waste and sustainable energy issues. SALARY/BENEFITS NIRS' starting salary is $22,500/year, and NIRS tries to provide modest annual raises. Salaries are further reviewed after 3, 5 and 7 years with NIRS. NIRS provides three weeks paid vacation; in addition, the office normally is closed between Christmas and New Years. NIRS pays 100% of health insurance premiums. The office atmosphere is casual and congenial. The process will remain open until the position is filled, estimated starting date is October 19, 1998. Please mail, fax, or e-mail a resume and cover letter to the attention of Michael Mariotte, Executive Director, 1424 16th Street NW, #404, Washington, DC 20036. Fax: 202-462-2183; e-mail: nirsnet@igc.org NIRS strongly encourages minority candidates to apply. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: smirnowb@ix.netcom.com (Robert Smirnow) Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Senator Wellstone contact Date: 24 Sep 1998 19:03:21 -0500 (CDT) Ellen,Alice, & Friends, Senator Barbara Boxer of California is running uphill for re-election. This is an issue which can both energize her campaign and ours. Why don't we ALL call her office through the Congressional Switchboard at: 202-224-3121 and ENCOURAGE her to bring Abolition to the forefront of her agenda. She needs an ace up her sleeve otherwise she will lose the election- what a great ace to offer to first her constituents & then all of us!!! Again, the congressional switchboard is: 202-224-3121.LET'S INUNDATE HER OFFICE! NUCLEAR POWER POWERS NUCLEAR WEAPONS, Bill Smirnow > >Wonderful idea, Alice! As a Minnesotan who's already written Senator >Wellstone on this issue, I applaud your strategy. > >Ellen Thomas > >ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> wrote: >>On a strategy: How about getting to Senator Wellstone who is considering a >>run >>for the Presidency and asking him to make this one of his issues. Then if we >>win, we won't need a long-term strategy!! I understand he'll be in Chicago >>during our meeting. Can we urge him to join us and announce his support for >>nuclear abolition at our meeting? > > >_______________________________ > >PROPOSITION ONE COMMITTEE >P.O. Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038 USA >202-462-0757 (phone) | 202-265-5389 (fax) >http://prop1.org | prop1@prop1.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. > - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Sue Broidy <a2000@silcom.com> Subject: (abolition-usa) Ideas for Chicago Meeting Ocotber 9th Date: 24 Sep 1998 17:36:58 -0700 (PDT) Chicago Meeting I look forward to meeting everyone and suggest the following ideas for discussion: 1. Student Campaign - a handbook for citizen action is being designed by Dennis Rivers of Plutonium Free Future and I will have a draft copy to bring with me to Chicago. This will be made available on our web site for A2000 groups all over the country to download, reformat if necessary and copy. They will then be able to contact student groups in particular and get the campaign moving on campuses. At the same time, I have applied for a grant of $7500 which I am reasonably confident of getting, which is for a student campaign in Santa Barbara. We will print as many copies of the handbook as we can, and set up contacts with student groups all over Santa Barbara County. $3000 of the grant will be for student intern stipends. 2. A2000 Leaflet . I feel there is a great need for an Abolition 2000 leaflet, like the one I have from Abolition 2000 UK. Any ideas? 3. Religious statements. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is prepared to publish a collection of religious statements - the Vatican on nuclear weapons, the Catholic Bishops statement, Buddhists leaders statements etc - in one Journal. I have asked the Religious Working Group to send me material. 4. Outreach to IFUW, League of Women Voters and Unitarians. This is progressing well and I am working to extend contacts within these three groups. 5. Speakers Tours. A centralized list of speakers, topics, addresses could be maintained and distributed by me if needed. 6. Posters. I suggest we should explore the possibilities of getting funding for the professional design and printing of a poster - for US distribution as well as having it available for the HAP. 7. I will bring copies of the USA organization member list so that everyone can see which organizations they need to contact in their areas to invite to join A2000. 8. Let us pick 2 or 3 days in 1999 for unified actions throughout the US - "Abolition Days-USA." (One of these days should be Hiroshima Day , August 6th.) Sincerely, Susan Broidy, Coordinator ************************************************************* Abolition 2000- A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons c/o Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road, Box 123 Santa Barbara, CA 93108 phone: +1(805) 965-3443; fax: +1(805) 568-0466 e-mail: a2000@silcom.com URL: http://www.napf.org/abolition2000/ Join the abolition-usa listserve for keeping in touch with national Abolition 2000 news. To subscribe or unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "subscribe or 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. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Timothy Bruening <tsbrueni@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us> Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Mandela calls for nuclear disarmament, announces UN draft Date: 24 Sep 1998 20:44:05 -0700 (PDT) At 01:58 PM 9/21/98 EDT, LCNP@aol.com wrote: >United Nations >September 21, 1998 > >President Mandela, in an impassioned speech to the United Nations General >Assembly today, called on the nuclear-weapon States to make a firm commitment >to eliminating nuclear weapons and on the global community to eradicate >poverty. Mandela, the third to speak in the Assembly's opening session after >Brazil's Foreign Minister Luiz Felipe Lampreia and U.S. President William >Clinton, received two standing ovations from the full assembly hall. However, I only saw a single sentence at the back of the Sacramento Bee's front section about Mandela's call for nuclear disarmament. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jan Harwood <jahn@cruzio.com> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Ideas for Chicago Meeting October 9th Date: 25 Sep 1998 00:12:05 -0800 Santa Cruz Ab 2000 has a couple of flyers which we wrote. I could send you copies and see what you think. I'd like to see the UK one. We're definitely excited about recruiting students, and will look forward to your brochure and any other information you have about it. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Ideas for Chicago Meeting October 9th Date: 25 Sep 1998 10:18:19 -0400 Sue Broidy, et al, Wish we could be at the Chicago meeting. Would have liked to tell you about our Campus Outreach Project, online at http://prop1.org - click "Proposition One" button, then "Campus Organizing" buttons. Each question on the following "Antinuclear Questionnaire" below, which you can access from that page, links to official information. Students like filling out the questionnaire, which is a quick education in itself; they can get in-depth information by going on-line. If you'd like to use this, please do. Ellen Thomas Proposition One Committee prop1@prop1.org - http://prop1.org ANTI-NUCLEAR QUESTIONNAIRE 1. Q. Did you know the U.S. has spent, since 1945, $5.8 trillion on nuclear weapons (roughly the amount of the National Debt)? a. Yes b. No c. Need more information 2. Q. Would you support a bill now in Congress (HR-827) promoting global nuclear disarmament and conversion of the war machines? a. Yes b. No c. Need more information 3. Q. How do you feel about $269 billion of your tax dollars going to the Pentagon in 1998 (more than either Clinton or Pentagon requested)? a. Strongly oppose b. Mildly oppose c. Need more information 4. Q. Are you aware that on July 3, 1997, the U.S. Government did the first of a series of "subcritical nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site, despite the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty? a. Yes b. No c. Need more information 5. Q. How do you feel about your tax dollars being spent to develop the new burrowing nuclear bomb (despite the nuclear non-proliferation treaty)? a. Strongly oppose b. Mildly oppose c. Need more information 6. Q. Did you know that Gulf War veterans are suffering from radiation poisoning from depleted uranium used in U.S. artillery shells? a. Yes b. No c. Need more information 7. Q. Do you feel that you and your family would be safer if there were no nuclear weapons? a. Safer without b. Safer with c. Need more information 8. Q. Do you feel that you and your family would be safer if there were no nuclear power plants? a. Safer without b. Safer with c. Need more information 9. Q. How do you feel about Department of Energy and Congressional plan to ship the nuclear waste (now at over 120 nuclear power and research plants in the U.S.) to Nevada [on Western Shoshone land] for "temporary" storage at Yucca Mountain, which had a 4.0-richter earthquake as recently as September 1997? a. Strongly disapprove b. Strongly approve c. Need more information 10. Q. How do you feel about the U.S. plans for eleven more launches of plutonium into space? (The Cassini launch to Saturn carried 72.3 lbs. in October, 1997.) a. Strongly disapprove b. Strongly approve c. Need more information 11. Q. Did you know the World Court ruled in 1996 that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is illegal? a. Yes b. No c. Need more information 12. Q. Did you know that 62 retired generals and admirals issued a statement in 1996 that nuclear weapons are "unsafe" and "unnecessary" and should be eliminated as quickly as possible? a. Yes b. No c. Need more information 13. Q. Did you know that 84% of 1,006 Americans polled in '97 wanted elimination of nuclear weapons? a. Yes b. No c. Need more information 14. Q. How do you feel about funding cuts for education, health care, housing, food, while the Pentagon receives more money than it asks for? a. Strongly oppose b. Mildly oppose c. Agree with funding cuts 15. Q. Do you as an individual feel that you have the power to change what you don't like? a. Yes b. No c. Need more information 16. Q. Would you support a United Nations convention devoted to abolishing all nuclear weapons worldwide? a. Yes b. No c. Need more information 17. Q. Do you know how to contact your Representative and Senator? Date of last contact: 1. This year 2. Last year 3. Never 18. Q. Would you be willing to donate some of your time each week to be a campus organizer for global nuclear disarmament? a. Yes (How Many? (mark one) : / / 2 hours -- / / 4 hours -- / / 8 hours -- / / more) b. No Thank you for your time. This information is for our own survey purposes only. Proposition One Committee is a non-profit organization devoted to the elimination of nuclear weapons. Please copy and send this answered questionnaire to us by mail, or by e-mail (save as ".txt" file, type in answers, copy to email, and send, subject "Questionnaire"). If you reply -- "need more information" -- be clear what information you need: copy the question from the questionnaire and write your thoughts on the subject, please, Name: ____________________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________________ E-mail: _____________________ Website: _______________________ Phone: _______________________ Fax: _________________________ For students: Name of school: ______________________________________ Campus Activities: ___________________________________ Fraternity/Sorority: __________________________________ Proposition One Committee -- prop1@prop1.org -- http://prop1.org PO Box 27217, Washington DC 20038 USA 202-462-0757 (ph) -- 202-265-5389 (fax) http://prop1.org/prop1/question.htm _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) "Antinuclear Questionnaire" Date: 25 Sep 1998 08:51:24 -0700 excellent questionaire, Ellen! We look forward to using this with our campus organizing here in Lost Wages At 10:18 AM 9/25/98 -0400, you wrote: >Sue Broidy, et al, \ *************************************************************** SHUNDAHAI NETWORK "Peace and Harmony with all Creation" *Breaking the Nuclear Chain* 5007 Elmhurst Ln., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304 ph(702)647-3095 Fax: (702)647-9385 Email: shundahai@shundahai.org http://www.shundahai.org Shundahai Network is proud to be part of: Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a multi-cultural alliance to foster sustainable living and break the nuclear chain; and Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: hcaldic <hcaldic@ibm.net> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Re: Ideas for Chicago Meeting October 9th Date: 25 Sep 1998 05:38:58 +1000 Peace through Reason wrote: > > Sue Broidy, et al, > > Wish we could be at the Chicago meeting. Would have liked to tell you > about our Campus Outreach Project, online at http://prop1.org - click > "Proposition One" button, then "Campus Organizing" buttons. > > Each question on the following "Antinuclear Questionnaire" below, which you > can access from that page, links to official information. Students like > filling out the questionnaire, which is a quick education in itself; they > can get in-depth information by going on-line. > > If you'd like to use this, please do. > > Ellen Thomas > Proposition One Committee > prop1@prop1.org - http://prop1.org > > ANTI-NUCLEAR QUESTIONNAIRE > > 1. Q. Did you know the U.S. has spent, since 1945, $5.8 trillion on nuclear > weapons (roughly the amount of the National Debt)? > > a. Yes > b. No > c. Need more information > > 2. Q. Would you support a bill now in Congress (HR-827) promoting global > nuclear > disarmament and conversion of the war machines? > > a. Yes > b. No > c. Need more information > > 3. Q. How do you feel about $269 billion of your tax dollars going to the > Pentagon in > 1998 (more than either Clinton or Pentagon requested)? > > a. Strongly oppose > b. Mildly oppose > c. Need more information > > 4. Q. Are you aware that on July 3, 1997, the U.S. Government did the first > of a > series of "subcritical nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site, despite the > Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty? > > a. Yes > b. No > c. Need more information > > 5. Q. How do you feel about your tax dollars being spent to develop the new > burrowing nuclear bomb (despite the nuclear non-proliferation treaty)? > > a. Strongly oppose > b. Mildly oppose > c. Need more information > > 6. Q. Did you know that Gulf War veterans are suffering from radiation > poisoning > from depleted uranium used in U.S. artillery shells? > > a. Yes > b. No > c. Need more information > > 7. Q. Do you feel that you and your family would be safer if there were no > nuclear > weapons? > > a. Safer without > b. Safer with > c. Need more information > > 8. Q. Do you feel that you and your family would be safer if there were no > nuclear > power plants? > > a. Safer without > b. Safer with > c. Need more information > > 9. Q. How do you feel about Department of Energy and Congressional plan to > ship > the nuclear waste (now at over 120 nuclear power and research plants in the > U.S.) to > Nevada [on Western Shoshone land] for "temporary" storage at Yucca Mountain, > which had a 4.0-richter earthquake as recently as September 1997? > > a. Strongly disapprove > b. Strongly approve > c. Need more information > > 10. Q. How do you feel about the U.S. plans for eleven more launches of > plutonium > into space? (The Cassini launch to Saturn carried 72.3 lbs. in October, 1997.) > > a. Strongly disapprove > b. Strongly approve > c. Need more information > > 11. Q. Did you know the World Court ruled in 1996 that the threat or use of > nuclear > weapons is illegal? > > a. Yes > b. No > c. Need more information > > 12. Q. Did you know that 62 retired generals and admirals issued a > statement in > 1996 that nuclear weapons are "unsafe" and "unnecessary" and should be > eliminated > as quickly as possible? > > a. Yes > b. No > c. Need more information > > 13. Q. Did you know that 84% of 1,006 Americans polled in '97 wanted > elimination > of nuclear weapons? > > a. Yes > b. No > c. Need more information > > 14. Q. How do you feel about funding cuts for education, health care, housing, > food, while the Pentagon receives more money than it asks for? > > a. Strongly oppose > b. Mildly oppose > c. Agree with funding cuts > > 15. Q. Do you as an individual feel that you have the power to change what you > don't like? > > a. Yes > b. No > c. Need more information > > 16. Q. Would you support a United Nations convention devoted to abolishing all > nuclear weapons worldwide? > > a. Yes > b. No > c. Need more information > > 17. Q. Do you know how to contact your Representative and Senator? Date of > last > contact: > > 1. This year > 2. Last year > 3. Never > > 18. Q. Would you be willing to donate some of your time each week to be a > campus > organizer for global nuclear disarmament? > > a. Yes (How Many? (mark one) : > / / 2 hours -- / / 4 hours -- / / 8 hours -- / / more) > b. No > > Thank you for your time. This information is for our own survey purposes only. > Proposition One Committee is a non-profit organization devoted to the > elimination > of nuclear weapons. > > Please copy and send this answered questionnaire to us by mail, or by > e-mail (save > as ".txt" file, type in answers, copy to email, and send, subject > "Questionnaire"). > > If you reply -- "need more information" -- be clear what information you > need: copy > the question from the questionnaire and write your thoughts on the subject, > please, > > Name: ____________________________________________________ > > Address: ____________________________________________________ > > E-mail: _____________________ Website: _______________________ > Phone: _______________________ Fax: _________________________ > > For students: > Name of school: ______________________________________ > Campus Activities: ___________________________________ > Fraternity/Sorority: __________________________________ > > Proposition One Committee -- prop1@prop1.org -- http://prop1.org > PO Box 27217, Washington DC 20038 USA > 202-462-0757 (ph) -- 202-265-5389 (fax) > > http://prop1.org/prop1/question.htm > _______________________________________________________________________ > > * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * > _______________________________________________________________________ > > - > 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. This is excellent!!!! Helen Caldicott - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Mandela's UN speech Date: 25 Sep 1998 15:35:15 -0400 Dear Friends, Below is a press release we issued from GRACE to publicize Mandela's UN talk on nuclear abolition which got swamped in the media by THE VIDEO of Clinton and you know what. Thanks for all the copies I received of letters our Network wrote to Nelson Mandela. A journalist recommended that we do this to see if we can get some news of Mandela's remarks published. Please feel free to borrow or adapat, if you think it's a good idea, to use with your local media. The material in quotes is the part of Mandela's speech referring to nuclear abolition. I have written the full text of his remarks on nuclear weapons below the press release. MEDIA ADVISORY Contact: Alice Slater September 24, 1998 (212) 726-9161 PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA CALLS FOR ELIMINATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS AT THE U.N.GENERAL ASSEMBLY New York, NY - The Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) praised Nelson Mandela's stirring wakeup call for the elimination of nuclear weapons at the United Nations this week. Speaking at the opening day of the General Assembly, Mandela noted that "The very first resolution of the General Assembly, adopted in January 1946, sought to address the challenge of 'the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and all other major weapons adapatable to mass destruction." He called on all nations to support the efforts of South Africa and seven other nations, Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Slovenia, and Sweden who are submitting a resolution to the UN titled "Towards a Nuclear Weapons Free World: The Need for New Agenda". They are calling on all nuclear weapons states to take immediate steps for nuclear disarmament and to demonstrate by actions taken now that the world will not enter the next millenium without a firm commitment to total nuclear disarmament in place. Mandela said, "We must ask the question which might sound na=EFve to those who have elaborated sophisticated arguments to justify their refusal to eliminate these terrible and terrifying weapons of mass destruction--why do they need them anyway!" He added, "In reality, no rational answer can be advanced to explain in a satisfactory manner what in the end, is the consequence of Cold War inertia and an attachment to the use of the threat of brute force, to assert the primacy of some States over others." GRACE President, Alice Slater, said that, "At a time of growing nuclear break-out, with India and Pakistan joining the nuclear club and North Korea rattling its nuclear sabers, Mandela's words are an inspiration to our efforts to rid the world of the nuclear scourge." GRACE is a founder of Abolition 2000, a burgeoning network of over 1100 organizations on every continent working for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Slater added, "The US Abolition Campaign will be launched in Chicago in October and we welcome the leadership and moral support of South Africa and the New Agenda Coalition to help us reverse the nuclear insanity and secure the future of the planet for our children and grandchildren."=20 MANDELA TEXT: RE NUCLEAR WEAPONS (Excerpt of 9/21/98 remarks to UNGA) The very first resolution of the General Assembly, adopted in January 1946, sought to address the challenge of "the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and all other major weapons adapatable to mass destruction."=20 We must face the fact that after countless initiatives and resolutions, we still do not have concrete and generally accepted proposals supported by a clear commitment by the nuclear-weapons States to the speedy, final and total elimination of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons capabilities. We take this opportunity to salute our sister Republic of Brazil for its decision=20 to accede to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and urge all others that have not done so to follow this excellent example. In an honest attempt to contribute to the definition of the systematic and progressive steps required to eliminate these weapons and the threat of annihilation which they pose, South Africa together with Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zeland, Slovenia and Sweden will be submitting a draft resolution to the First Committee for consideration by this Assembly. This is appropriately titled: "Towards a Nuclear Weapon Free World: The Need for a New Agenda." I call on all members of the United Nations seriously to consdier this important resolution and give it their support. We must ask the question, which might sound naive to those who have eleaborated sophisicticated arguments to justify their refusal to eliminate these terrible and terrifying weapons of mass destrcti9on--why do they need them anyway! In reality, no rational answer can be advanced to explain in a satisfactory manner what in the end, is the consequence of Cold War inertia and an attachment to the use of the threat of brute force, to assert the primacy of some States over others. Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment 15 East 26 St. New York, NY 10010 212-726-9161(tel) 212-726-9160(fax) GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000: A Global Network for the Elimination of 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ASlater <aslater@gracelinks.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) ACTION ALERT-CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTIONS Date: 25 Sep 1998 17:08:22 -0400 Dear Friends, Here's an updated list on the two Congressional Resolutions we are supporting. Here's who signed so far: Markey Resolution H. Con.Res.307(eliminate Stockpile Stewardship funding for new nuclear weapons research, design and development) Lee, Tierney, Woolsey, Furse, Maloney, Nadler, Schumer Lowey, Filner, Pallone, McGovern, Owens (Ask your rep to call Jeff Duncan in Markey's office to sign on: 202-225-2836) Woolsey Resolution HR479(calling on Clinton to negotiate a treaty) Filner, Town, Furse, Kenney, J., Olver, Norton, Sanders, Frank, Miller,G., Nadler, Lee, Mink, DeFazio, Waxman, Stark, McGovern, Slaughter, Hinchley, Faleomavega, Lofgren, Owens, Hooley, Lowey, Hilliard, Kilpatrick, Markey, Rivers, Rush, Maloney (Ask your rep to call Mark Dooley in Woolsey's office to sign on: 202-225-5161) Key people to contact would be those who signed the Woolsey Resolution and have not yet signed the Markey Resolution as they address similar issues. Please make your calls right away. The Markey resolution to eliminate stockpile stewardship funding for new nukes NEEDS LOTS OF HELP!!! Many thanks. Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment 15 East 26 St. New York, NY 10010 212-726-9161(tel) 212-726-9160(fax) GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000: A Global Network for the Elimination of 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jrussow@coastnet.com (Joan Russow) Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Re: Ideas for Chicago Meeting October 9th Date: 25 Sep 1998 16:42:01 -0600 Dear Helen and Sue Great letter . Perhaps a few questions could be added Did you know that the US has developed technical means i.e. laser induced micro thermal nuclear explosions to test weapons and thus as able to bypass the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Did you know that every member state of the United Nations made a commitment in Stockholm in 1972 to eliminate the production of weapons of mass destruction Did you know that the five permanent members of the Security Council are nuclear armed states Did you know that the US voted against an INternational Criminal Court and the banning of Land Mines Did you know that the US has a first strike/first use nuclear weapons policy Did you know that the US targetting plan "the integrated data base" includes the targeting of Canada, Israel and its NATO allies (Other sites not yet confirmed) 450,000 nuclear targets and since Canada is highly targetted it is likely that all NATO allies are also targetted Did you know that in terms social statistics including health, crime, disease, rape, etc the US has the worst indicators of all highly industrialized nations Did you know that much of the nuclear waste has been dumped on the land of indigenous peoples or of disadvantaged peoples Did you know that world heritage sites are being sacrificed for the mining of uranium Did you know that the US plans to dump nuclear waste at a site in Sierra Blanco upstream from the Mexican Border Did you know that the sale of civil nuclear technology has resulted in acquisition of nuclear weapons (India and Pakistan) Did you know that the US government has spent ??? on promoting civil nuclear technology at the expense of alternative socially equitable and environmentally sound technologies Did you know that the US is the largest debtor nation in the world Did you know that the US has the highest arrears in its payment to the United Nations Suggested by Joan Russow and Fred Knelman >Peace through Reason wrote: >> >> Sue Broidy, et al, >> >> Wish we could be at the Chicago meeting. Would have liked to tell you >> about our Campus Outreach Project, online at http://prop1.org - click >> "Proposition One" button, then "Campus Organizing" buttons. >> >> Each question on the following "Antinuclear Questionnaire" below, which you >> can access from that page, links to official information. Students like >> filling out the questionnaire, which is a quick education in itself; they >> can get in-depth information by going on-line. >> >> If you'd like to use this, please do. >> >> Ellen Thomas >> Proposition One Committee >> prop1@prop1.org - http://prop1.org >> >> ANTI-NUCLEAR QUESTIONNAIRE >> >> 1. Q. Did you know the U.S. has spent, since 1945, $5.8 trillion on nuclear >> weapons (roughly the amount of the National Debt)? >> >> a. Yes >> b. No >> c. Need more information >> >> 2. Q. Would you support a bill now in Congress (HR-827) promoting global >> nuclear >> disarmament and conversion of the war machines? >> >> a. Yes >> b. No >> c. Need more information >> >> 3. Q. How do you feel about $269 billion of your tax dollars going to the >> Pentagon in >> 1998 (more than either Clinton or Pentagon requested)? >> >> a. Strongly oppose >> b. Mildly oppose >> c. Need more information >> >> 4. Q. Are you aware that on July 3, 1997, the U.S. Government did the first >> of a >> series of "subcritical nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site, despite the >> Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty? >> >> a. Yes >> b. No >> c. Need more information >> >> 5. Q. How do you feel about your tax dollars being spent to develop the new >> burrowing nuclear bomb (despite the nuclear non-proliferation treaty)? >> >> a. Strongly oppose >> b. Mildly oppose >> c. Need more information >> >> 6. Q. Did you know that Gulf War veterans are suffering from radiation >> poisoning >> from depleted uranium used in U.S. artillery shells? >> >> a. Yes >> b. No >> c. Need more information >> >> 7. Q. Do you feel that you and your family would be safer if there were no >> nuclear >> weapons? >> >> a. Safer without >> b. Safer with >> c. Need more information >> >> 8. Q. Do you feel that you and your family would be safer if there were no >> nuclear >> power plants? >> >> a. Safer without >> b. Safer with >> c. Need more information >> >> 9. Q. How do you feel about Department of Energy and Congressional plan to >> ship >> the nuclear waste (now at over 120 nuclear power and research plants in the >> U.S.) to >> Nevada [on Western Shoshone land] for "temporary" storage at Yucca Mountain, >> which had a 4.0-richter earthquake as recently as September 1997? >> >> a. Strongly disapprove >> b. Strongly approve >> c. Need more information >> >> 10. Q. How do you feel about the U.S. plans for eleven more launches of >> plutonium >> into space? (The Cassini launch to Saturn carried 72.3 lbs. in October, >>1997.) >> >> a. Strongly disapprove >> b. Strongly approve >> c. Need more information >> >> 11. Q. Did you know the World Court ruled in 1996 that the threat or use of >> nuclear >> weapons is illegal? >> >> a. Yes >> b. No >> c. Need more information >> >> 12. Q. Did you know that 62 retired generals and admirals issued a >> statement in >> 1996 that nuclear weapons are "unsafe" and "unnecessary" and should be >> eliminated >> as quickly as possible? >> >> a. Yes >> b. No >> c. Need more information >> >> 13. Q. Did you know that 84% of 1,006 Americans polled in '97 wanted >> elimination >> of nuclear weapons? >> >> a. Yes >> b. No >> c. Need more information >> >> 14. Q. How do you feel about funding cuts for education, health care, >>housing, >> food, while the Pentagon receives more money than it asks for? >> >> a. Strongly oppose >> b. Mildly oppose >> c. Agree with funding cuts >> >> 15. Q. Do you as an individual feel that you have the power to change >>what you >> don't like? >> >> a. Yes >> b. No >> c. Need more information >> >> 16. Q. Would you support a United Nations convention devoted to >>abolishing all >> nuclear weapons worldwide? >> >> a. Yes >> b. No >> c. Need more information >> >> 17. Q. Do you know how to contact your Representative and Senator? Date of >> last >> contact: >> >> 1. This year >> 2. Last year >> 3. Never >> >> 18. Q. Would you be willing to donate some of your time each week to be a >> campus >> organizer for global nuclear disarmament? >> >> a. Yes (How Many? (mark one) : >> / / 2 hours -- / / 4 hours -- / / 8 hours -- / / more) >> b. No >> >> Thank you for your time. This information is for our own survey purposes >>only. >> Proposition One Committee is a non-profit organization devoted to the >> elimination >> of nuclear weapons. >> >> Please copy and send this answered questionnaire to us by mail, or by >> e-mail (save >> as ".txt" file, type in answers, copy to email, and send, subject >> "Questionnaire"). >> >> If you reply -- "need more information" -- be clear what information you >> need: copy >> the question from the questionnaire and write your thoughts on the subject, >> please, >> >> Name: ____________________________________________________ >> >> Address: ____________________________________________________ >> >> E-mail: _____________________ Website: _______________________ >> Phone: _______________________ Fax: _________________________ >> >> For students: >> Name of school: ______________________________________ >> Campus Activities: ___________________________________ >> Fraternity/Sorority: __________________________________ >> >> Proposition One Committee -- prop1@prop1.org -- http://prop1.org >> PO Box 27217, Washington DC 20038 USA >> 202-462-0757 (ph) -- 202-265-5389 (fax) >> >> http://prop1.org/prop1/question.htm >> _______________________________________________________________________ >> >> * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * >> _______________________________________________________________________ >> >> - >> 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. > > This is excellent!!!! Helen Caldicott > > > >- > 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. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Shundahai Network <shundahai@shundahai.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) BAGPIPE Exploded 9/26 3:07pm pst Date: 27 Sep 1998 05:55:57 -0700 Dear Friends, We are sad to announce that "Bagpipe", the second U.S.subcritical nuclear weapons test of 1998 was exploded at 3:07 pm Pacific Standard Time on Saturday, September 26. This test had been plagued with technical and safety problems since the beginning of it's preparation. Even on the "shot" day, it was postponed over an hour while corrections were made. Members of the Western Shoshone Nation, Shundahai Network, Alliance of Atomic Veterans, Nevada Desert Experience, Citizens for Alternatives to Nuclear Dumping (CARD), CHAOS, and PARANOIDS camped out at the Nevada Test Site the night before and nonviolent direct actions to oppose the test took place. Four staff members of Shundahai Network and a CARD representative were arrested inside the Nevada Test Site at approximately 10:30am in an attempt to blockade the main road leading to the "Control Point" (where the button is pushed). Following the test, a vigil was held at the Foley Federal Building to protest this "Hypocritical" test. There was strong public support from people passing by. We will continue to organize and educate the American Public about these tests. DOE says that they are prepared to conduct at least one more subcritical test before the end of the year. We will keep you posted. Thank you to all of the activists around the world that sent in letters to the U.S. government demanding that these tests be canceled. As well we thank our friends in San Francisco, Idaho, and New York City that held demonstrations and vigils. In Peace, Reinard *************************************************************** SHUNDAHAI NETWORK "Peace and Harmony with all Creation" *Breaking the Nuclear Chain* 5007 Elmhurst Ln., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304 ph(702)647-3095 Fax: (702)647-9385 Email: shundahai@shundahai.org http://www.shundahai.org Shundahai Network is proud to be part of: Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a multi-cultural alliance to foster sustainable living and break the nuclear chain; and Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Timothy Bruening <tsbrueni@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us> Subject: (abolition-usa) Draft of Bagpipe letter Date: 27 Sep 1998 20:33:18 -0700 (PDT) Below is a draft of a letter on the Bagpipe test. What do you think of this letter? How can I improve it? U.S. Violates Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty For The Fourth Time! On Saturday, Sept. 26, 1998 at 3:07 PM (A day that will live in infamy), the US Department of Energy conducted the subcritical nuclear test code-named Bagpipe. A subcritical test involves an amount of plutonium too small to produce a nuclear explosion, but will still provide information about nuclear weapons explosions. I believe that subcritical nuclear tests clearly violate the spirit of the historic Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) signed in September 1996 by President Clinton. The CTBT commits the U.S. "not to carry out any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion..." The DOE claims these experiments are permissible because the CTBT does not define "nuclear weapon" test. These tests make global adoption of the CTBT less likely by encouraging other nations to copy the U.S. decision to continue testing and update their nuclear arsenals. In fact, Russia plans to conduct a subcritical test soon. These tests especially contradict the condemnation expressed by the U.S. government against India and Pakistan for conducting their own series of nuclear weapons tests earlier this year. Thus, I believe that its hypocritical for the U.S. to conduct subcritical tests while condemning nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan. The subcritical tests are part of a massive "Stockpile Stewardship and Management" program, intended to maintain and expand U.S. nuclear weapons capabilities well into the next century. During the next decade, taxpayers will spend more than $40 billion for the program, an annual rate higher than the Cold War average. Thus, it is fair to say these tests are intended to signal to the rest of the world an unflagging U.S. commitment to nuclear weapons as the ultimate "big stick." Please call the Department of Energy and the White House and your Congressional representatives to protest the latest subcritical test and demand that the U.S. cancel all future subcritical tests, stop all new and modified nuclear weapons development, close down the Nevada Test Site and all nuclear weapons development facilities except for disarmament programs, and begin immediate clean up and containment of the nuclear nightmare caused by the U.S. Nuclear Weapons program. Below are phone numbers and addresses to call and write: President Bill Clinton, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC 20500, (202) 456-1111. Secretary of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave, Washington DC, 20585 To leave a message for Bill Richardson, new Secretary of DOE call the 202 586 6210 and the press office at 202 586 5806. Members of Congress (202)224-3121. Senators Boxer and Feinstein (U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C., 20510). Representatives (U.S. House, Washington, D.C., 20515). Sincerely, Timothy Bruening 1439 Brown Drive Davis, CA 95616 530-753-2102 - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Tara Thornton <mtpdu@ime.net> Subject: (abolition-usa) New Study finds depleted uranium in veterans urine! Date: 28 Sep 1998 10:34:13 -0400 For Immediate Release: Contact: September 25, 1998 Tara Thornton, Military Toxics Project (207) 783-5091 Chris Kornkven, President, National Gulf War Resource Center (920) 699-2376 Dr. Hari Sharma, University of Waterloo (519) 885-1211 ext. 2609 INDEPENDENT PILOT MEDICAL STUDY ON PERSIAN GULF VETERANS CONFIRMS EXPOSURE TO DEPLETED URANIUM Lewiston, Maine- Today the Military Toxics Project released preliminary test results of Persian Gulf Veterans, confirming depleted uranium in veteran's urine. They also confirm these veterans ingested or inhaled depleted uranium during their service in the Gulf. By calculating from rate of excretion formulas based on what is showing in the urine now, almost 8 years after exposure, it was determined that veterans were exposed to anywhere from 1-10 grams of depleted uranium in the Gulf. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission notes that an intake of .01 gram in one week can cause health problems, and that a known or suspected inhalation of this amount of depleted uranium requires automatic medical testing. The Pentagon admitted in January 1998 that thousands of soldiers might have been exposed in the Gulf. The Veterans Administration admitted in November 1997 and again on September 18, 1998 they are finding neurocognitive disorders and depleted uranium in the semen of Gulf War Veterans. MTP along with Swords to Plowshares and the National Gulf War Resource Center released the Depleted Uranium Case Narrative in March saying that that number could be as high as 400,000 veterans exposed to depleted uranium. Yet, even though the NRC states that exposure to an intake of .01 grams requires automatic medical testing, the DoD has only tested a few dozen veterans for depleted uranium. The Military Toxics Project held an International Forum on Depleted Uranium in November 1997. Strategy and next steps were discussed at that time including the loud call for an independent medical study. Veterans were tired of tests not being done, test results that were mysteriously lost, and tests that came back negative because they didn't exceed the threshold limits for all isotopes of uranium. "We knew depleted uranium was used, we knew there were health risks, we knew no training was done and no protection was given to the vets. We needed to know and the veterans deserve to know if they were exposed and if DU is present in their bodies. Therefore, we conducted the tests independent of the Pentagon and the Veterans Administration", said Tara Thornton, organizer for the Military Toxics Project. One veteran that tested positive for DU, Michael Stacy said, " I'm really angry, I begged and pleaded with the VA and the DoD for help and was denied, they told me I have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, if I hadn't of met the folks at MTP, I wouldn't have been included in this pilot study and I still wouldn't know about my exposure to depleted uranium. Its pretty sad that instead of the VA and DoD testing us vets, we had to go to an independent organization for the truth." Many sick Gulf War Veterans are angry at how they've been treated. Stacy summed up their sentiments best when he said, "80% of the people who join the military, do it to better their lives and their families lives. This has ruined our lives, I'm sick and my wife is sick. If I lived in Iraq or elsewhere I might expect to be treated this way by my government but I never would have thought the United States Government would have left the vets to hang out to dry like this." Tara Thornton states these test results are preliminary and were conducted for the pilot study. The pilot study was a biased study in which a limited number of veterans known to have been exposed to DU were tested in order to develop the protocol for a much broader test in the future. The pilot study was done using the proper 24-hour urine bottles sterilized with a nitric acid wash. Veterans were instructed on proper collection and shipping requirements and shipped the samples directly to Dr. Hari Sharma of the University of Waterloo in Canada who conducted the urine analysis. Dr. Sharma describes the methodology used to determine if DU is present in the urine, "Uranium 235 is determined by the delayed- neutron counting method. Uranium-238 was determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). If the ratio between U-238 and U-235 is higher than 137.8, which is what you would find for naturally occurring uranium, then DU is present". Dr. Sharma confirms what MTP has suspected all along, that veterans might have been exposed to depleted uranium in the Gulf. Sharma said, "if it had been simply exposure to natural uranium as the DoD continues to claim, the levels of U238 content found in urine would have resulted in higher levels U234 and U235. In depleted uranium the levels of U234 and U235 are much lower. Uranium in the urine must have come from inhalation or ingestion during the Gulf War, you can't get depleted uranium from any natural sources in the environment". Chris Kornkven, a Persian Gulf Veteran involved in the pilot study and President of the National Gulf War Resource Center participated on an MTP teleconference call this morning with Dr. Sharma and other veterans tested. He said this confirms previous testing done by the VA in 1995. He has mixed emotions about the results considering the fact that he was refused for testing, treatment and follow-up care. He said, "my test results in 1995 were higher than some veterans currently being monitored by the VA. These test results show the need for a much faster and more thorough independent investigation into inhalation and ingestion of depleted uranium". Veterans have many questions regarding the health impact of inhaled or ingested DU and whether or not the depleted uranium will ever be gone from their bodies. Dr. Sharma stated, "there is so much we don't know about exposure to depleted uranium, the need for much more in-depth studies has never been clearer". -30- - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: President's statement about CTBT 9/24/98 White House Date: 29 Sep 1998 09:52:20 -0400 http://library.whitehouse.gov/ThisWeek.cgi?type=p&date=5&briefing=11 THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release September 24, 1998 STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT CTBT and LTBT Anniversaries Two years ago today, I was proud to be the first world leader to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty -- first proposed by President Eisenhower over forty years ago. Since then, 150 states have signed this historic treaty, including all of our NATO allies, Russia, China, Israel, Japan and South Korea. Twenty states already have ratified the CTBT, including Britain, France, Germany, Australia and Brazil. It is my strong hope that India and Pakistan will join the list, and thereby reduce nuclear tensions in South Asia. I discussed this with Prime Minister Sharif on Monday and I welcome his commitment yesterday to adhere to the treaty by next fall. I look forward to further discussion with the leaders of Pakistan and India as we emphasize our common obligation to build peace and stability. Today also marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Senate bipartisan vote, 80-19, to approve the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which President Kennedy considered his greatest accomplishment as President. In 1963, Senate approval of the LTBT took place less than two months after it was signed and within seven weeks of its submission to the Senate. Contrast that with the CTBT. A year after it was submitted, the Senate has yet to take any action toward ratification. The CTBT will ban all nuclear weapons explosions. As a result, it will constrain the development of more sophisticated and powerful nuclear weapons and give us a powerful new tool in the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The American people understand that Senate approval of the CTBT is the right thing to do. I strongly urge the Senate to give its advice and consent as early as possible next year. _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: India/Pakistan Trip Cancellation - Clinton Lies Again? Date: 30 Sep 1998 08:54:28 -0400 This strikes me as another lie. I think Clinton doesn't want to talk to India/Pakistan about global abolition of nuclear weapons. If you decide to write a letter to the editor of the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/front.htm#letters), or to the president <president@whitehouse.gov>, I'd sure appreciate a copy! Ellen Thomas prop1@prop1.org http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-09/30/025l-093098-idx.html Clinton Set to Cancel Scheduled Trip to India, Pakistan By Peter Baker Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 30, 1998; Page A18 President Clinton has decided to cancel his November trip to India and Pakistan after concluding that the two nations have not done enough to rein in the nuclear arms race they started with a series of atomic tests in the spring, administration sources said yesterday. Clinton scrubbed the long-planned visit even though prime ministers of both countries last week said they were prepared to sign a worldwide treaty banning nuclear testing. U.S. officials described the move as a positive step, but insufficient to undo the damage caused by the exchange of underground nuclear explosions. "You don't want to look like you're doing anything that rewards them for breaking out of the international [arms control] regime," said a senior administration official. "But at the same time you want to use a presidential visit to coax the nonproliferation agenda ahead." The decision, while widely expected, is the latest setback in attempts to forge closer relations with the subcontinent, which has long felt neglected by the United States. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright both have traveled to the region, but this is the second time plans have been put off for the first presidential visit in two decades. Aides said Clinton will try to reschedule next year after more work on regional tensions such as the dispute over Kashmir and on nonproliferation issues such as controlling missile deployment, technology exports and the production of fissile materials used for nuclear weapons. "This isn't cancellation as punishment; this is postponement because of progress," said an administration official. "We have to have more time to lower tensions significantly. We just don't have that between now and November." The White House has not formally announced the decision and the governments in New Delhi and Islamabad were being notified this week. But sources confirmed the decision after White House press secretary Michael McCurry all but said so during a briefing yesterday. "It's been widely reported that there's not likely going to be a trip," he said. "I don't have any reason to dispute that." The Pakistanis expressed measured disappointment. "Pakistan was eagerly awaiting President Clinton's visit," said embassy spokesman Malik Zahoor Ahmad. "We hope that he would be able to visit us at the first available opportunity." The Indian Embassy did not return a telephone call, but during a speech in New York this week Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee lashed out at the United States for its "reluctance to accept us as a responsible member of the international community." Both Vajpayee and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif indicated at the United Nations that they would sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty if the other does. But Sharif conditioned his approval on the lifting of U.S. sanctions imposed after the nuclear tests. A provision attached to an appropriations bill and approved by a congressional conference committee this week would grant Clinton the ability to waive most of those sanctions. The trip had been scheduled to coincide with Clinton's Nov. 17-18 visit to Malaysia for the annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. In scrapping India and Pakistan, the White House also put off a visit to Bangladesh. _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peter Weiss <petweiss@igc.org> Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) the new abolition campaign Date: 30 Sep 1998 14:36:46 -0400 Dear Kevin et all: Sorry Cora and I can't be in Chicago for the big meeting. Previous family engagement. I agree with everything you say and offer a few additional thoughts: 1. It's going to be difficult to organize around nuclear weapons abolition as a single issue, particularly for the under 30 crowd. Conncections need to be made to the folly of nuclearism in a comprehensive way, including the unsolved problem of nuclear waste disposal (See the feature article, "Nuclear Spoons", in the current Progressive). 2. Another necessary connection, which could greatly enlarge the circle, is with militarism; not just because of bloated defense budgets, which many people are against, but because the time has come to oppose war as an institution. But as long as people believe that war is in human nature and that the world is crawling with enemies, seen and unseen (thanks a lot, Colin Powell), they'll believe that those who have the most powerful weapons must hold on to them. 3. Organize around specific projects: The Markey and Woolsey resolutions, opposition to subcritical tests, Sierra Blanca, citizen inspections of nuclear weapon sites, support for Plowshares defendants. 4. Make Arundhati Roy's piece required reading. Get somebody to write as powerful a piece from the U.S. viewpoint. 5. As she says: "We have to reach within ourselves to find the strength to think. To fight." Let me take this opportunity to call attention to two very important and useful recent publications: One, which I'm sure will be on hand in Chicago, is the MPI Briefing Book, "Fast Track to Zero Nuclear Weapons". It's to be launched officially in New York October 27, but is already available. The other is a pamphlet by the Institute for Policy Studies and Transnational Institute, "Testing the Limits: The India-Pakistan Nuclear Gambit." It contains the full text of Roy's essay, as well as articles by Phyllis Bennis, Praful Bidway & Achin Vannik, Eqbal Ahmad, Marcus Raskin and myself. Contact Susan Pearce at MPI, ph 617 492 9189, fx 617 868 2560, =20 mpi@igc.org about the briefing book and Phyllis Bennis at IPS,=20 ph 202 234 9382, fx 202 387 7915, ipsps@igc.org about the pamphlet. Have a great meeting. Peter =09 =09 ilpeace@igc.apc.org wrote: >=20 > A few thoughts on organizing the new national campaign to abolish nucle= ar > weapons > --Kevin Martin, Illinois Peace Action, 9/23/98 >=20 > The organizers of the October 9th and 10th meetings on nuclear abolitio= n in > Chicago invited subscribers to the U.S. abolition list serve to start > circulating proposals and ideas in preparation for those meetings, both= to > begin the discourse on important issues ahead of time, and to allow tho= se > who won't be coming to Chicago to participate in the discussion of how = to > build a U.S. campaign to abolish nuclear weapons. Since only one perso= n has > posted something on this (thanks Jack Cohen-Joppa!), I guess as the hos= t for > the 9th and 10th I'll throw a pebble in the pond and see if any ripples > spread. Nothing brilliant, I promise, just a few thoughts to get discus= sion > going. >=20 > IMPORTANCE OF GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING >=20 > For many of us on the list serve, the importance of grassroots = organizing > is self-evident. And so far, the talk of how this new campaign (for wh= ich > we need a name, and soon) will knit together elite, "opinion leader", p= olicy > analysis work with grassroots organizing and a sustained media campaign= is > very promising. >=20 > I recently saw a quote by one of my heroes, Cesar Chavez. He said, "The= only > way I know to organize is to talk to one person, then another, and then > another=85" I think if we are honest about it, we don't do enough of t= his. > We talk to ourselves endlessly (which is of course what I'm doing right > now), but not to enough regular folks. >=20 > I want to underscore a point made by Paul Warnke, former U.S. a= rms control > negotiator, and by former U.S. Senator Alan Cranston, who has done fant= astic > work organizing at the policy elite level: we'll only get real progress > toward abolition when we are able to make it a political issue, and tha= t > means organizing regular old voters to pressure the politicians. >=20 > Most grassroots organizations working for abolition - the ones = whose > members will pass the petitions, bird-dog and lobby the politicians, > organize the demonstrations, commit civil disobedience, etc. -- live on= a > shoestring budget (and a gnarly old fraying shoestring at that). So if= this > new campaign is serious about the grassroots component, there will have= to > be plans made to get some resources ($) to the grassroots organizations= that > can translate the excellent policy recommendations from the opinion lea= der > level into real political pressure on the powers that be. There have > already been discussions about this, and obviously, the more integrated= and > coordinated a strategy we come up with for this campaign, the more > successful we'll be in raising money from individuals and foundations. >=20 > THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM STRATEGY >=20 > The short-term goal of forcing abolition onto the political agenda for = the > presidential and congressional elections in 2000 is good, as are many o= ther > projects already underway, but we also need to think about the long ter= m. > If we're really good, and a bit lucky, this campaign will take 10, 12, = 15 > years. Many of us have already worked for nuclear disarmament for much > longer than that, so that long of a timeline shouldn't scare us, but we > might not all be around to see the glorious day when the scourge of nuc= lear > weapons is removed from the Earth. Where is the next generation of > abolition organizers going to come from? This issue isn't exactly on t= he > radar screen of activists under 30. >=20 > At the upcoming meeting in Chicago, we will need to focus mostly on > near-term strategy in order to build support for a coordinated U.S. > abolition campaign. However, I hope we can spend at least some time on > long-term strategy, or at least discussing a process to come up with on= e. >=20 > STRUCTURE >=20 > To me, the structure of this abolition campaign is less importa= nt than a > clear commitment to a coordinated strategy. I think the U.S. Campaign = to > Ban Landmines is a fine structural model, though from where we at Illin= ois > Peace Action sit as a grassroots member of USCBL, I think it has not ha= d a > strong, coordinated strategy that its members are bought into. Obvious= ly, > the Abolition 2000 network, which hundreds of groups have already signe= d > onto, needs to be built upon and strengthened, and can play a crucial r= ole > in building the national abolition campaign. >=20 > If we are clear that we are not creating a new organization, an= d I hope we > are, we need a structure that promotes identification with and commitme= nt to > the new national abolition campaign (boy, do we need a name soon - how = about > "Jane" for now) while also allowing member organizations to build thems= elves > -- recruit new members, raise more money, etc. - through participation = in > the campaign. > Check out our website at http://www.webcom.com/ipa >=20 > - > 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. - 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) the new abolition campaign Date: 30 Sep 1998 23:32:14 EDT A very good (and brief) post from Peter Weiss. Excellent points. Peace, David McReynolds - 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.