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Nuclear Weapons in Space * The Ugly Face of Racism * Policy Agenda Letter to Senator John McCain
February 9, 2000
Subject: Nuclear Weapons - Racism - Letter to Senator McCain
Post Cassini Flyby News
Editor - Jonathan Mark
P.O. Box 1999
Wendell Depot, MA 01380 USA
Re: http://www.nonviolence.org/noflyby
* Nuclear Weapons in Space
* The Ugly Face of Racism
* Policy Agenda Letter to Senator John McCain
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* Nuclear Weapons in Space
Some of the following information was received from Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. To subscribe for their email updates and news releases, send your email address to
Ballistic Misile Defense is ineffective and dangerous, too!
I hope many of you saw the excellent CBS Sixty Minutes 2 (2/8/00) segment of the hair trigger dangers for destruction of life as we know it. It is incredulous and the stakes of this game keeps getting bigger. Currently there is not one major candidate talking about disarmament and the honoring of ABM treaties and the Peaceful use of Outer Space Treaties. Perhaps people's innerspace is cut off from the reality of the nightmare we may be creating.
WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (AFP) -
The Pentagon unveiled a 291.1 billion dollar budget proposal for fiscal 2001 Monday that would fully fund deployment of a controversial national missile defense system.
The proposal also seeks to boost flagging morale with pay raises and bigger housing allowances for military personnel.
If approved by Congress, the proposal would add 4.8 billion dollars to the defense budget -- the second consecutive year of increased US military spending since the end of the Cold War.
Rising oil prices and the cost of maintaining US troops in the Balkans accounted for much of the increase, senior Pentagon officials said.
The proposal would raise spending on national missile defense to 10.4 billion dollars over the next five years, a 2.3 billion dollar increase and enough to fund the deployment of the system by 2005 should President Bill Clinton give the go ahead later this year, the Pentagon said.
"Basically what you have here is a fully funded program awaiting a presidential decision on deployment," a senior defense official told reporters last week.
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KEEP SPACE FOR PEACE
No BMD -- No Star Wars
April 14-17, 2000 Washington DC
SPEAKERS/PERFORMERS TO INCLUDE:
· Abdul Aziz Said (Center for Global Peace, American University)
· Andy Lichterman (Western States Legal Foundation, CA)
· Aurel Duta (Mama Terra/For Mother Earth, Romania)
· Bill Sulzman (Citizens for Peace in Space, Colorado)
· Bruce Gagnon (Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space)
· Carol Miller (Association of State Green Parties, New Mexico)
· Carol Moore (Washington DC Area War Tax Resistance)
· Dave Webb (Yorkshire CND, England)
· David McReynolds (Socialist Party candidate for President)
· Dennis Brutus (South African poet)
· Dr. Carol Rosin (Founder, ISCOS)
· Dr. Gregori Khozin (Russia space/peace activist)
· Dr. Helen Caldicott (Founding President PSR)
· Dr. Michio Kaku (Prof. of Physics, CUNY)
· Dr. Rashmi Mayur (Int'l Institute for Sustainable Future, India)
· F.R. Sarker (Bangladesh Astronomical Society)
· Gordon Clark (Peace Action)
· Helen John (Menwith Hill Women's Peace Camp, England)
· Holly Gwinn Graham (Siner/Songwriter, Olympia, WA)
· Karl Grossman (Prof. of Journalism, SUNY)
· Loring Wirbel (Managing Editor for Communications, Electronic Engineering Times)
· Lynda Williams (Prof. of Physics/Astronomy, San Francisco State Univ.)
· Patricia Mische (Pax Christi USA)
· Regina Hagen (Darmstadter Friedensforum, Germany)
· Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio)
· Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
· Victor Rodriguez (Comite Contra las Experimentaciones Ambientales, Puerto Rico)
Join with people from around the world as we gather in Washington DC during these four days of protest events to call upon President Clinton and Congress to cancel plans to revitalize Star Wars. In order to prevent the weaponization of space we must develop an international constituency that can build the movement to keep space for peace.
For the schedule of events and more information contact:
Global Network
PO Box 90083
Gainesville, Fl. 32607
(352) 337-9274
globalnet@mindspring.com
http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk
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The Ugly Face of Racism
The following was received by email from
ASSOCIATION ON AMERICAN INDIAN AFFAIRS
Winter 1999/00
Senator Campbell Calls For Federal Investigation of "Indian Hunting Season" Flier
NEWSLETTER
ASSOCIATION ON AMERICAN INDIAN AFFAIRS
Winter 1999/00
CAMPBELL CALLS FOR FEDERAL INVESTIGATION OF
" INDIAN HUNTING SEASON" FLIER
Washington, DC--- U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell called on the Department of Justice to launch a hate-crimes investigation into a newspaper ad announcing the start of " Indian Hunting Season."
Campbell received a copy of the ad, which ran in a South Dakota newspaper, that is intended to look like a real hunting season announcement. The ad declares open season on the Sioux reservations, sets a limit of ten kills per day and other regulations for where and in what manner Indians may be killed.
Campbell, Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, wrote Attorney General Janet Reno that "when such an ad authorizes hunting season on human beings and places a limit on how many can be killed, surely it is reason for law enforcement to take action. Such a solicitation to commit mass homicide must run afoul of federal law. I am requesting that you direct an investigation by the appropriate hate crimes office within the department."
He also pointed out that in the 1800's, some Coloradans expressed support for the Sand Creek Massacre. "For those that think anti-Indian sentiment and feelings are a relic of the past, I urge them to read this product of a twisted and hateful mind,"
Campbell said in a Congressional Record Statement last week. "At the turn of the millennium here in the greatest nation on earth, there are pockets of hate that continue to thrive. After my tenure here in Congress, I know full well the limits of government. I know we can pass no law forcing people to respect each other, or forcing them to be tolerant. But this ad goes beyond mere hurtful worlds and actually advocates murder and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms."
The following is a copy from the newsletter of the actual "Indian Hunting Season" flier.
(you need a strong stomach for this one)
STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA
Game, Fish and Parks Department
Pierre,SD
(605)224-0000
PROCLAMATION
RE: Indian Hunting Season hunting fees: Free to first 7,683 hunters/
$1.00 thereon.
Dear South Dakota Hunters:
The 1999 Big Game hunting season in the state of South Dakota has been canceled due to shortages of Deer, Turkey, Elk and Antelope.
However, this does not mean there will be no hunting. In the place of the big game animals this year we will have open season on the Sioux Reservations. This will entail the hunting of Americans Worthless Slounis Pyutus, commonly known as "Worthless Red Bastards," Dog Eaters, " Gut Eaters, "Prairie Niggers" and F......Indians." This year from 1999-2000 will be an open season, as the f.......indians must be thinned out every two to three years.
It Will be Unlawful to:
* Hunt in a party of more than 150 persons
* Use more than 35 bloodthirsty, rabid hunting dogs
* Shoot in a public tavern ( Bullet may ricochet and hit civilized white people)
* Shoot an Indian sleeping on the sidewalk
Trapping Regulations
* Traps may not be set within 15 feet of a liquor store
* Traps may not be baited with Muscatel, Lysol, rubbing alcohol or food stamps
* All traps must have at least 120 lb. spring strength and have a jaw spread of
at least 5'3"
Other rules and Regulations
* Shooting length-wide in a welfare line is prohibited
* It will be unlawful to possess a road-kill-Indian, however, special road-kill
permits shall be issued to people with semi-tractor trailers and one-ton pick-up
trucks.
* With such a permit you may bait the highway with muscatel, Lysol, rubbing alcohol or food stamps
How to Know When An Indian is in you Area
* disposable diapers litter the street
* Large lines in front of the welfare office and for free cheese
* Trails of empty wine bottles leading from the city parks to all city alleys
* Empty books of food stamps thrown all over
* Car-loads of Indian children waiting outside liquor stores
Rememer limit is ten (10) per day
Possession of limit: Forty (40)
Good Hunting!!
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Policy Agenda in a letter sent to John McCain
>Date: Fri, 09 Feb 1990 13:15:16
>To: mccain2000@mccain2000.com
>From: Jonathan Mark
>Subject: Policy Issues of Concern
From:
Jonathan Mark Haber
P.O. Box 1999, Wendell Depot, MA 01380 USA
Tel: 978-544-7862 E-mail
To:
Senator James McCain
National Campaign Headquarters
735 N. St. Asaph Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
703/837-2000
703/837-2001 FAX
877/905-7700 (Toll Free)
mccain2000@mccain2000.com
February 9, 2000
Dear Senator McCain:
I am writing with the particular concerns of the well-being of our environment and social justice issues. In particular I am involved with the executive clemency issue of Leonard Peltier and supporting efforts of the traditional Dineh (Navajo) Indians, who want to continue living at Big Mountain, Arizona. I am concerned that if Peabody Coal Company successfully mines this land, we will increase gain global warming and harm our deep-rooted connection with the harmony of our Earth.
During the Presidential campaign of 1992, President Clinton promised he would give Leonard Peltier's case "a fair and impartial review." What would you do if you were president? I applaud your efforts for campaign financing reform. This is a positive step. However, your political stance regarding the Cuban child concerned me. I feel we should return him to his father, because his mother died while putting this young person in a situation of great potential harm.
Another key concern of mine is the arms race extending into space. Following the press release on the 24th year of Leonard Peltier's imprisonment, I will send you a copy of my letter to the Department of Energy in response to their plans to expand plutonium-238 production. To maintain U.S. leadership in the world's best interest, we need to make strides toward disarmament of weapons and technologies capable of the mass destruction to life. Can you be a leader for an everlasting peace with national strength and unity, not just our species, but for all life?
My day job is with MicroPhotonics, Inc., a start-up company developing an improved Stirling engine. These engines can convert heat to electricity very efficiently with excellent cogen applications, i.e. exhaust heat for heating, cooling or water purification. We are building a 200kW prototype for commercial and industrial power applications. Please let me know if interested in more information on any of my projects.
I hope you will have the opportunity to consider the following information. Please advise if interested in further information or support on such campaigns.
Best regards,
Jonathan Mark
post script: I am also adding to the following a 1995 letter I wrote to President Clinton on a plan to beneficially transform the U.S. criminal-justice system.
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Jonathan Mark - Editor
Post Cassini Earth Flyby News
P.O. Box 1999, Wendell Depot, MA 01380
(978)544-7862 noflyby@nonviolence.org
Office of Nuclear Energy,
Science and Technology (NE-50),
U.S. Department of Energy, Attn: Ms. Colette Brown
19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, Maryland 20874,
Re: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) intent to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) for accomplishing expanded civilian nuclear energy research and development and isotope production missions in the United States, including the role of the Fast Flux Test Facility http://www.ne.doe.gov/
October 4, 1999
Dear Ms. Brown:
Thank you for your reply to my telephone call last week. This letter is my written statement regarding the DOE's consideration in preparing the Nuclear Infrastructure PEIS.
To be very simple and straightforward I want to be on the record for opposing any consideration of expanding the development of production of Plutonium-238. Recently the Earth flyby of the Cassini space probe threatened life on Earth with the possibility of dispersing 400,000 curies of radioactive Plutonium into our atmosphere. Fortunately the mission went by Earth without a catastrophic incident, but if we keep taking chances with isotopes that are toxic and known to cause mutations and cancers in living cells (remaining harmful for many generations), we will continue threatening life in an unprecedented way by our shortsightedness and disregard for the health of life on Earth.
Please use the information on the website from the Action Site to Stop Cassini Earth Flyby. It is posted at http://www.nonviolence.org/noflyby . You are invited to download the NoFlyby website as part of my statement. At the end of this letter I will list a few critical references from this website, in case you cannot review the whole site.
One of the most significant findings in the last few years about the potential harm by dangerous radioactive isotopes is by the work of Hei, et all. In a letter by Dr. John Gofman's May 11, 1999 letter, he wrote, "..By any reasonable standard of biomedical proof, there is no safe dose, which means that just one decaying radioactive atom can produce permanent mutation in a cell's genetic molecules. My own work showed this in 1990 for xrays, gamma rays, and beta particles (Gofman 1990: Radiation-Induced Cancer from Low-Dose Exposure). For alpha particles, the logic of no safe dose was confirmed experimentally in 1997 by Tom K. Hei and co-workers at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) Vol.94, pp.3765-3770, April 1997, 'Mutagenic Effects of a Single and an Exact Number of Alpha Particles in Mammalian Cells')."
This information and new findings by many scientist studying the disproportionate harm of low level radiation show that the currently accepted internal dosimetry models presented in the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 30 and the radiation health effects' estimator for the induction of fatal cancers as outlined in ICRP Publication 60, both of which are accepted by the national and international radiation protection communities, are inaccurate, limited and misleading. Based on the findings of Hei, et all, and other analyses, such as the "Baby Tooth Project" [see www.radiation.org ] I urge you to conduct new investigations on the disproportionate harm that could come from low level radiation, and until those investigations are complete, to stop the use and development of plutonium in space programs.
Plutonium radioactive isotopes are relatively new. They have only been developed in the last sixty years, initiated by the fear that Germany would produce the first atomic bomb during World War II. This is very little time compared to these substances long-term toxicity to generations of human beings and our environment. The scientific standards that you are using today in measuring the possible harm of low level plutonium radioactive isotopes are most likely inaccurate. Yet, knowing that the U.S. military has strong interests in using plutonium for space-based weaponry, knowing that NASA and DOE operates with the military on the development of nuclear space programs, it is practical to assume the close involvement with these agencies in the development of plutonium for the nuclear space program. This is why I am not only suggesting a "No Action" alternative to where no domestic capability to produce Plutonium-238 for future space missions would be established by the DOE, but I am also strongly encouraging that the DOE supports the stopping of all development and use of dangerous Plutonium isotopes.
Your support of a "No Action" alternative would be a step in the correct direction in the consideration for life and the future of life on Earth. By stopping these programs, I am confident that the DOE, NASA and the U.S. military could find other ways to explore our heavens, benefit humanity and protect life. Please contact me, if I can assist you further in such beneficial transformative directions. We can either change the direction, which was initiated by the threatening past, by intelligence and concern for life, or we may learn by the way of the dinosaurs and shortsightedness. Please help stop the nuclear space program for the regard of human life and the children not yet born.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Mark
Radiation and Public Health Project, Inc.'s status report of the Baby Teeth Project
http://www.radiation.org/whatsnew.html
"No Safe Dose "- a Letter of Concern by Dr. John W. Gofman
http://www.ratical.org/radiation/CNR/LetterOfConcern.html
Landmines at the cellular level
http://www.pgs.ca/pages/nl/lmcells.htm
Bart Jordan Commentary on ancient civilizations and development of dangerous isotopes
http://www.nonviolence.org/noflyby/ref/bart.htm
NoFlyby Newsletter No. 19
http://www.nonviolence.org/noflyby/alerts/19nl.htm
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President Bill Clinton
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
November 27, 1995
Dear Mr. President:
Newt Gingrich is right. We need a revolution. However, most Americans do not agree with his direction, but I appreciate his interest for making big changes. I have an idea that will both reduce the deficit, and more importantly, reduce the violence in our streets. The plan is nothing less than revamping our criminal justice system. My proposal is that by 1997 we develop legislation that would make most nonviolent offenses misdemeanors. This could transfer resources now used in locking these individuals in prisons to provide for their civil service employment. This would help stop the cycle of recurring crime and help rebuild America from the bottom up. We need a revolution of the mind and spirit. This could help to ignite such a movement.
This idea focuses on nonviolent offenders, the majority of which are probably drug users. However, the results of this proposal would ease the overcrowding of prisons and help everyone but the current jail building industry. It would also separate nonviolent from violent offenders. Your stand as President is correct, society cannot tolerate one person hurting another. However, for those who just happen to be raised in difficult situations, who are depressed, lost, and hurting no one but themselves, society would benefit greatly by beginning such a plan, with the addition of coordinating religious and community groups to volunteer counseling services, helping individuals deal with his or her problems.
The best plans are win/win. This plan reduces the budget deficit, helps to rebuild our neighborhoods and reduces crime. I hope you fervently support this plan. You could play it safe and win the coming election anyway. Your agenda is obviously more favorable than the Republican's contract on America. However, the mandate of change by the people in electing you as President in 1992 has not yet been fulfilled. America requires bold new programs for its rebuilding. I hope you use this election to help educate and lead the people and Congress. A little more than a hundred years ago black people were slaves and the Native American people were forced unto reservations. Now there is a disproportionate amount of minorities locked up in prisons. Our justice system is not fair or effective. We have the opportunity to make the change and improve conditions for all.
On a related subject, please provide clemency to Leonard Peltier. I'm sure you are aware of his case. His innocence is obvious to me and many Americans. The deceitful manner by which the FBI gained his extradition from Canada, should be ground alone for Clemency. Twenty years is enough time.
Also, I wish you to know of my appreciation of your leadership in dealing with the assault on humanity in Bosnia. You have stood up for what is right, demonstrating leadership and patience in the midst of opposition from European leaders, helping to end a present day holocaust. Thank you.
I hope you read and consider my ideas for transforming the criminal justice system. Right now it is a part of a created hell on earth. Please make the big changes that you know in your heart are correct. I appreciate all the service you, your family and team have provided for our nation and world.
Best regards for a wonderful holiday season.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Mark
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