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Negroponte-Filibuster * VoteReform * HeatDisaster


Originally posted 20 February 2005

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Stop the BUSH appointment of John Negroponte
as director of National Intelligence


Demand a Congressional Filibuster!

E-mail the Senate Intelligence Committee to do their homework on Negroponte
or call the Congressional Switchboard - the telephone number is 202-224-3121
or link for US Congress contact information

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{Resources on the concerns of the John Negroponte nomination follows:}

1) Bush Nominates 'Ambassador of Torture' for Intel Czar
- - Ray McGovern: "Hail, Hail The Gang's All Here"
- - About John Negroponte ~ from Wikipedia
- - Senator Dodd's Comments - Congressional Record
- - Stop Human Rights Obstructer John Negroponte
- - Ambassador to Death Squads: "Who is John Negroponte?
- - Democracy Now! / "Promoting the 'Ambassador of Torture'"
2) Support National Election Reform
3) Final Proof: Global Warming is a Man-Made Disaster

- - US Citizens' Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol

Editor's Notes:

The first item chronicles the fall of human intelligence and compassion. "The appointment of John Negroponte to be director of National Intelligence is the latest evidence that President Bush is strengthening his cabinet's capacity to mislead Congress and trample civil liberties." Who will stand up to resist this latest assault on freedom?

For other resources, posted after this issue was sent for email distribution, see:

"The Case Against John Negroponte"
and
"The Atrocities of a Pale Rider"
and
"Negroponte's Sins...On Film"

Item 2 is an important action in support of Vote Reform. Please take action to prevent systems of voting fraud and deception. Item 3 is an article with definitive proof that ‘Global Warming is a Man-Made Disaster,' and what you can do in response to the current refusal to participate in the Kyoto Protocol by the US government.


A free screening of the film:
THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED
will be presented at the Keene Public Library
- Auditorium - 60 Winter Street; Keene, NH -
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2005
7:00 P.M. - 9:00 P.M.

For feedback, discussions, and strategies,
regarding information posted at Flyby News, visit:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FlybyNews



"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate,
tireless minority keen to set brush fires in People's mind..."


-- Samuel Adams


1) Bush Nominates 'Ambassador of Torture' for Intel Czar

- - Ray McGovern: "Hail, Hail The Gang's All Here"
- - About John Negroponte ~ from Wikipedia
- - Senator Dodd's Comments - Congressional Record
- - Stop Human Rights Obstructer John Negroponte
- - Ambassador to Death Squads: "Who is John Negroponte?
- - Democracy Now! / "Promoting the 'Ambassador of Torture'"


- - Ray McGovern: "Hail, Hail The Gang's All Here"
Published February 18, 2005 by TomPaine.com
Hail, Hail The Gang's All Here
by Ray McGovern

The appointment of John Negroponte to be director of National Intelligence is the latest evidence that President Bush is strengthening his cabinet's capacity to mislead Congress and trample civil liberties. Ray McGovern, 27-year veteran of the CIA, examines the meaning of the Negroponte appointment and the dark trend it confirms.

The nomination of John Negroponte to the new post of director of National Intelligence (DNI) caps a remarkable parade of Bush administration senior nominees. Among the most recent:

Alberto Gonzales, confirmed as attorney general: the lawyer who advised the president he could ignore the US War Crimes Act and the Geneva Conventions on torture and create a "reasonable basis in law...which would provide a solid defense to any future prosecution."

Michael Chertoff, confirmed as Secretary of Homeland Security: the lawyer who looked the other way when 762 innocent immigrants (mostly of Arab and South Asian descent) were swept up in a post-9/11 dragnet and held as "terrorism suspects" for several months. The dictates of PR trumped habeas corpus; the detentions fostered an image of quick progress in the "war on terrorism."

John Negroponte: the congenial, consummate diplomat now welcomed back into the brotherhood. Presently our ambassador in Baghdad, Negroponte is best known to many of us as the ambassador to Honduras with the uncanny ability to ignore human rights abuses so as not to endanger congressional support for the attempt to overthrow the duly elected government of Nicaragua in the '80s. Negroponte's job was to hold up the Central American end of the Reagan administration's support for the Contra counterrevolutionaries, keeping Congress in the dark, as necessary.

For the complete article, see:
www.tompaine.com/articles/hail_hail_the_gangs_all_here.php

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- - About John Negroponte ~ from Wikipedia

[Excerpt]

THE appointment of an intelligence czar in the Bush administration is about as futile as it naming a secretary of decency. . .

MEET YOUR NEW CZAR, BUILDER OF OUR FIRST MAJOR TORTURE CENTER

WIKIPEDIA - Negroponte was born in London. His father was a Greek shipping magnate. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1956 and Yale University in 1960. He later served at eight different Foreign Service posts in Asia, Europe and Latin America; and he also held important positions at the State Department and the White House. . .

From 1981 to 1985 Negroponte was US ambassador to Honduras. During his tenure, he oversaw the growth of military aid to Honduras from $4 million to $77 million a year. At the time, Honduras was ruled by an elected but heavily militarily-influenced government. .

Negroponte supervised the construction of the El Aguacate air base where Nicaraguan Contras were trained by the US, and which critics say was used as a secret detention and torture center during the 1980s. In August 2001, excavations at the base discovered 185 corpses, including two Americans, who are thought to have been killed and buried at the site.

Records also show that a special intelligence unit (commonly referred to as a "death squad") of the Honduran armed forces, Battalion 3-16, trained by the CIA and Argentine military, kidnapped, tortured and killed hundreds of people, including US missionaries. Critics charge that Negroponte knew about these human rights violations and yet continued to collaborate with the Honduran military while lying to Congress.

In May 1982, a nun, Sister Laetitia Bordes, who had worked for ten years in El Salvador, went on a fact-finding delegation to Honduras to investigate the whereabouts of thirty Salvadoran nuns and women of faith who fled to Honduras in 1981 after Archbishop Óscar Romero's assassination. Negroponte claimed the embassy knew nothing. But in a 1996 interview with the Baltimore Sun, Negroponte's predecessor, Jack Binns, said that a group of Salvadorans, among whom were the women Bordes had been looking for, were captured on April 22, 1981, and savagely tortured by the DNI, the Honduran Secret Police, and then later thrown out of helicopters alive.

In early 1984, two American mercenaries, Thomas Posey and Dana Parker, contacted Negroponte, stating they wanted to supply arms to the Contras after the U.S. Congress had banned further military aid. Documents show that Negroponte brought the two with a contact in the Honduran armed forces The operation was exposed nine months later, at which point the Reagan administration denied any US involvement, despite Negroponte's participation in the scheme. Other documents uncovered a plan of Negroponte and then-Vice President George H. W. Bush to funnel Contra aid money through the Honduran government.

During his tenure as US ambassador to Honduras, Binns, who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, made numerous complaints about human rights abuses by the Honduran military and he claimed he fully briefed Negroponte on the situation before leaving the post. When the Reagan administration came to power, Binns was replaced by Negroponte, who has consistently denied having knowledge of any wrongdoing. Later, the Honduras Commission on Human Rights accused Negroponte himself of human rights violations.

Speaking of Negroponte and other senior US officials, an ex-Honduran congressman, Efrain Diaz, told the Baltimore Sun, which in 1995 published an extensive investigation of US activities in Honduras: "Their attitude was one of tolerance and silence. They needed Honduras to loan its territory more than they were concerned about innocent people being killed."

The Sun's investigation found that the CIA and US embassy knew of numerous abuses but continued to support Battalion 3-16 and ensured that the embassy's annual human rights report did not contain the full story.

The question of what John Negroponte knew about human rights abuses in Honduras will probably never be answered definitively, but there is a large body of circumstantial evidence supporting the view that Negroponte was aware that serious violations of human rights were carried out by the Honduran government with the support of the CIA.

For the complete article, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Negroponte#Ambassador_to_Honduras

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- - Senator Dodd's Comments - Congressional Record

September 14, 2001 (Senate)
Page S9431-S9433; see:
www.fas.org/irp/congress/2001_cr/s091401.html

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- - Stop Human Rights Obstructer John Negroponte

MARYKNOLL GLOBAL CONCERNS - In addition to his work with the Nicaraguan Contra army, Negroponte helped conceal from Congress the murder, kidnapping and torture abuses of a CIA-equipped and -trained Honduran military unit, Battalion 3-16.

No mention of these human rights violations ever appeared in State Department Human Rights reports for Honduras. The Baltimore Sun reports that Efrain Diaz Arrivillaga, then a delegate in the Honduran Congress and a voice of dissent, told the Sun that he complained to Negroponte on numerous occasions about the Honduran military's human rights abuses..

For the complete article, and for action links, see: www.maryknoll.org/GLOBAL/ALERTS/no_negroponte.htm

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- - Ambassador to Death Squads: "Who is John Negroponte?

GHALI HASSAN, COUNTERPUNCH, 2004 - At the time Mr. Negroponte was in Honduras, Honduras was a military dictatorship. Kidnapping, rape, torture and executions of dissidents was rampant. The military top and middle ranks were U.S-trained at the School of the Americas, the Harvard version of the CIA, based in Fort Benning, Georgia. According to Human Rights Watch, graduates of the SOA are responsible for the worst human rights abuses and torture of dissidents in Latin America. Some of its 60,000 graduates are notorious Manuel Noriega and Omar Torrijos of Panama. . .

For the complete article, see:
counterpunch.org/hassan06042004.html

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- - Democracy Now! / "Promoting the 'Ambassador of Torture'"
Bush Nominates Negroponte for Intel Czar
"Promoting the 'Ambassador of Torture'"

As President Bush nominates Ambassador John Negroponte, current U.S. ambassador to Iraq, as the first Director of National Intelligence, we look back at Negroponte's bloody history in Central America in the 1980s.

DemocracyNow.org - Friday, February 18th, 2005
Promoting the 'Ambassador of Torture': Bush Nominates Negroponte for Intel Czar
www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/18/157206



For other resources, posted after this issue was sent for email distribution, see:

The Case Against John Negroponte
and
"The Atrocities of a Pale Rider"


Demand a Congressional Filibuster!

US Congress Contact Information
The Congressional Switchboard telephone number is 202-224-3121



2) Support National Election Reform

Contact Congress today in support of the VOTER Act!

Put Families First, Stop Health Care Cuts
President Bush has proposed $60 billion in Medicaid cuts that will make our health care crisis even worse.

For information and to take action, visit the Progressive Democrats for America

Support National Election Reform!
Contact Congess today in support of the VOTER Act!

Read about this bill

The VOTER Act bill (H.R. 533) is fully supported by Progressive Democrats of America, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the AFL-CIO, People for the American Way, the NAACP, the NAACP National Voter Fund, the UAW, Rainbow Push, the Black Leadership Forum, and the National Voting Rights Institute.

The VOTER Act (H.R. 533) would permit all citizens to register to vote on election day; require early voting for the two weeks prior to election day; require a defined minimum number of voting machines present at each precinct; ensure that those who manufacture and service voting machines and software do not have conflicts of interest; strengthen the powers of the EAC (Election Assistance Commission) to create national standards for elections - so that every vote WILL count, regardless of what state it is cast in; require the source code of voting machines to be public; and require the option of a voter-verified paper ballot so that voters can verify their selection and results can be audited when discrepancies occur.

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The following was sent to Congressman John W. Olver
by his constituent, Jonathan Mark on February 19, 2005
Via ‘Progressive Democrats of America' online system
"Progressive Democrats of America" < info@pdamerica.org >
Subject: Support Comprehensive Voting Reform!

Dear Congressman Olver:

Due to the numerous recent well-documented cases of voter suppression, ballot fraud, conflict of interest, and antiquated voter registration procedures, many millions of Americans have come to believe our voting and elections systems are badly damaged. Ironically, this loss of confidence is occurring precisely when our nation is aggressively attempting to foster democracy in another part of the world, thus undermining that effort.

I am writing to you today to encourage you to support strong legislative action to correct these problems. Specifically, I urge you to advocate H.R. 533, "The Voter Act," introduced by Congressman John Conyers, Jr. and Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones.

I, personally, support H.R. 533 because it would permit all citizens to register to vote on election day; require early voting for the two weeks prior to election day; require a defined minimum number of voting machines present at each precinct; ensure that those who manufacture and service voting machines and software do not have conflicts of interest; strengthen the powers of the EAC (Election Assistance Commission) to create national standards for elections - so that every vote WILL count, regardless of what state it is cast in; require the source code of voting machines to be public; and require the option of a voter-verified paper ballot so that voters can verify their selection and results can be audited when discrepancies occur.

I believe that America must lead the world toward true democracy by example, not force. I hope and trust you, too, will support these urgently-needed reforms!

Please act like our democracy depends on it!

Thanks - more resources on campaigns for reclaiming a lost USA democracy, visit my web site - www.FlybyNews.com

Sincerely,

Jonathan Mark
Online Publisher - FlybyNews.com
Flyby News

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To take immediate action for Vote Reform, link to:
http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=6942056&type=CO



3) Final Proof: Global Warming is a Man-Made Disaster

- - US Citizens' Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol

Published on Saturday, February 19, 2005 by the lndependent/UK
The Final Proof: Global Warming is a Man-Made Disaster
by Steve Connor

Scientists have found the first unequivocal link between man-made greenhouse gases and a dramatic heating of the Earth's oceans. The researchers - many funded by the US government - have seen what they describe as a "stunning" correlation between a rise in ocean temperature over the past 40 years and pollution of the atmosphere.

The study destroys a central argument of global warming skeptics within the Bush administration - that climate change could be a natural phenomenon. It should convince George Bush to drop his objections to the Kyoto treaty on climate change, the scientists say.

Tim Barnett, a marine physicist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego and a leading member of the team, said: "We've got a serious problem. The debate is no longer: 'Is there a global warming signal?' The debate now is what are we going to do about it?"

The findings are crucial because much of the evidence of a warmer world has until now been from air temperatures, but it is the oceans that are the driving force behind the Earth's climate. Dr Barnett said: "Over the past 40 years there has been considerable warming of the planetary system and approximately 90 per cent of that warming has gone directly into the oceans."

He told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington: "We defined a 'fingerprint' of ocean warming. Each of the oceans warmed differently at different depths and constitutes a fingerprint which you can look for. We had several computer simulations, for instance one for natural variability: could the climate system just do this on its own? The answer was no.

"We looked at the possibility that solar changes or volcanic effects could have caused the warming - not a chance. What just absolutely nailed it was greenhouse warming."

America produces a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases, yet under President Bush it is one of the few developed nations not to have signed the Kyoto treaty to limit emissions. The President's advisers have argued that the science of global warming is full of uncertainties and change might be a natural phenomenon.

Dr Barnett said that position was untenable because it was now clear from the latest study, which is yet to be published, that man-made greenhouse gases had caused vast amounts of heat to be soaked up by the oceans. "It's a good time for nations that are not part of Kyoto to re-evaluate their positions and see if it would be to their advantage to join," he said.

The study involved scientists from the US Department of Energy, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as the Met Office's Hadley Center.

They analyzed more than 7 million recordings of ocean temperature from around the world, along with about 2 million readings of sea salinity, and compared the rise in temperatures at different depths to predictions made by two computer simulations of global warming.

"Two models, one from here and one from England, got the observed warming almost exactly. In fact we were stunned by the degree of similarity," Dr Barnett said. "The models are right. So when a politician stands up and says 'the uncertainty in all these simulations start to question whether we can believe in these models', that argument is no longer tenable." Typical ocean temperatures have increased since 1960 by between 0.5C and 1C, depending largely on depth. DR Barnett said: "The real key is the amount of energy that has gone into the oceans. If we could mine the energy that has gone in over the past 40 years we could run the state of California for 200,000 years... It's come from greenhouse warming."

Because the global climate is largely driven by the heat locked up in the oceans, a rise in sea temperatures could have devastating effects for many parts of the world.

Ruth Curry, from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said that warming could alter important warm-water currents such as the Gulf Stream, as melting glaciers poured massive volumes of fresh water into the North Atlantic. "These changes are happening and they are expected to amplify. It's a certainty that these changes will put serious strains on the ecosystems of the planet," DR Curry said.

© 2005 Independent News & Media (UK) Ltd

###
For the orignal posting of above article, see:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=612506

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- - US Citizens' Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol

The People's Ratification is a nationwide petition drive designed to give thousands of citizens a chance to respond in a way that we now cannot. We are telling our local officials, our nation's leaders and the international community that we do not go along with the Washington party line. We want to set a good example and be responsible stewards. We care deeply about the future viability of the planet. And, we are ready to commit ourselves to a clean energy future.

Sign Here to Save the Planet
www.kyotoandbeyond.org/petition.html

When faced with a grave threat to a livable future for ourselves, our children and future generations, it is our duty as Americans to respond.

To date, some 140 nations have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which enters into force in February 2005, in order to arrest the intensifying destructiveness of global climate change.

In contrast, the United States, which generates 25 percent of the world's polluting carbon emissions with only 5 percent of its population, refuses to join in this worldwide effort to keep this planet hospitable to civilization.

We recognize the current goals of the Protocol are too low – and its timetable too long -- to effectively halt the escalating instability of the global climate.

We also recognize the Kyoto Protocol is the only existing diplomatic framework through which the entire global community can address this unprecedented challenge.

We further recognize that the Constitution of the United States grants us the ultimate authority of government.

Therefore, as citizens of the United States, we hereby ratify the Kyoto Protocol and demand that our elected representatives follow suit.

Additionally, we pledge to support subsequent phases of the Kyoto Protocol to reduce worldwide greenhouse emissions by 70 percent. This global transition to clean energy would address nature's demand for a stable climate even as it generates millions of clean energy jobs.
Finally, we declare, through this act of ratification, our allegiance to the democratic process, our fundamental and mortal relationship with this Earth and our essential solidarity with every other member of the human family.

Join a people's campaign to ratify the Kyoto Protocol

http://www.kyotoandbeyond.org/petition.html

[Not all the signatures have to be gathered electronically! We encourage you to print paper copies for gathering signatures at meetings, events, and among friends and coworkers. You will need to send the sheets back to us via US mail. (The address is on each sheet.) - See above link!]

For an article on this petition by Ross Gelbspan, a former editor and reporter at the Philadelphia Bulletin, Washington Post, and Boston Globe, author of Boiling Point and The Heat Is On, see:
www.grist.org/comments/soapbox/2005/02/16/gelbspan

Ross Gelbspan maintains the website heatisonline.org



For more Flyby News resources, see:
The Mounting Evidence of Global Warming!!!.

For information on a technology to reduce CO2 pollution emissions, see:
STIRLING Solution for Onsite Power Production


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