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DemDebate * RegimeChange * ImpeachBush * Rems&Cancer


08 May 2003

1) The Democrats Debate
- - Closing Statement of Congressman Kucinich
- - As Cleveland Mayor, Kucinich's Fight to Save Public Power
2) Scott Ritter Calling for Regime Change in Washington
- - Court Assumes Role of Saddam in 9/11 Lawsuit
- - White House Refuses to Release Sept. 11 Info
3) Ramsey Clark: Removing an Imperial President Committing High Crimes
- - National Press Club Invites Ramsey Clark on May 12
4) Plutonium Dangers - Who's Watching?
- - Rems and Cancer - A Personal Story - the Hanford Project

Editor's Notes:

Item 1 begins with a follow-up on our last issue, on the first debate for Democratic candidates for US President since 2000. While Candidate Dean's campaign has 20,000 people signed up for meet-ups around the Country, the Kucinich grassroots campaign seems still stuck in the mud. Where is the grass roots? But we still got a little time to make a big difference. Please get involved, register as a Democrat to vote in the primary, and encourage others. Encourage organizations to endorse an independent person to represent the people. Item 2 is on Scott Ritter calling for a regime change in the US - what makes him so important is his background as a US Marine willing to risk his life to defend the US Constitution, which is in sharp contrast to the oil-fed gluttony of the Bush administration and Haliburton stealing from the US Treasury for a corrupt deceitful campaign to bleed America dry from its fundamental freedoms. Yet people are still buying the facade of the Bush rhetoric and top gun innuendos. In a recent 9/11 lawsuit case, a federal court ruled nearly $104 million with flimsy evidence for Saddam/Iraq's connection to Al-Qaida and the supposed terrorist attacks. Meanwhile, another story states that the White House is refusing to release 9/11 information. So the manipulation of the truth continues. Meanwhile, Ramsey Clark is doing his best to help remove an Imperial President committing high crimes by impeachment. Listening to the Democrats debate, one realizes how far away from the US government is from this. So, we encourage impeachment, but more practical is regime change ... and the candidate with a record to be most trusted is Dennis Kucinich. However, the impeachment campaign and regime change are inter-related, part of an educational campaign to take actions to save democracy in the US. Ramsey Clark will be speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on May 12. Item 4 is another obvious and profound article by John Gofman, who was an early pioneer discovering radioactive plutonium in the 1940's. Since then he has detailed ample evidence describing that there is ‘no safe dose' with certain alpha emitting radiation inside a human body. To back up this point, I am including Richard Fash's personal account about his life and family's devastation from radiation exposure from his dad's work at the Hanford Project.

"I'm very much in favor of the space program, but I think the use of plutonium in space is a manifestation of organized insanity," said John Gofman, a physicist on the team that developed the atomic bomb for the United States during World War II. "All I can say is that I'll be praying for the success of the flyby."

http://www.flybynews.com/archives/alerts/21nl.htm
-- The above excerpt and URL link was posted as NoFlyby's quote of the day on August 18, 1999 - just after NASA's Cassini flyby of Earth


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Reminder – Check FlybyNews.com for Actions/Campaigns/Events

Please note: Flyby News will be presenting the film, "What I've Learned About US Foreign Policy: The War Against the Third World" at the Greenfield Public Library (Gfld. MA) on June 19, 2003 (5:00 to 8:00 pm). Included in this program will be a discussion on responsibilities for a US democracy and safeguarding our planet by electing an independent-green-democrat for President in 2004, Dennis J. Kucinich.



1) The Democrats Debate
- - Closing Statement of Congressman Kucinich
- - As Cleveland Mayor, Kucinich's Fight to Save Public Power

"Only Dennis Kucinich, the anti-war Ohio congressman -- noticeably ignored by his competitors -- managed to squeeze sharply defined programmatic alternatives into his few allotted minutes. He called for flatout "cancellation" of NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, for repeal of the civil-liberties-shredding Patriot Act, and painted himself as the anti-monopoly, anti-corporate candidate. But the press paid little attention -- for example, The New York Times' Adam Nagourney didn't even mention Kucinich in his post-debate report for "the paper of record."

Where's the Vision?
By Doug Ireland – (a New York-based media critic and commentator)

Take nine presidential candidates, stick them in a 90 minute format, subtract time for the moderators' intros and questions, for the commercials and station-breaks -- and you're left with a forum in which no one could have time to make a serious intellectual argument. Under such conditions, a "debate" becomes a sound-bite contest and the political equivalent of a beauty pageant - which is exactly what happened at Saturday night's ABC-sponsored cattle-call for the Democratic presidential field.

George Stephanopoulos, the master of ceremonies, deployed his toothy grin while he tried to goad the candidates into attacking each other. If one didn't know that John Kerry was leading in the New Hampshire polls with Howard Dean close on his heels, the meaning of the hostile body language they exchanged was probably incomprehensible to the average viewer. Only the most ardent political junkies could possibly have understood what the squabbling was all about. But who else would have bothered to watch? With the exception of that opening moment, with Dean and Kerry hissing at each other like fighting cats, there were few sparks flying in the University of South Carolina's auditorium.

So, what can be ascertained from the event?

Kerry, tanned but audibly hoarse, was predictably prolix and vague, and kept falling over his words. At one point, in an exchange over civil rights for gay people, Kerry referred to the "non-employment discrimination legislation" -- a mangled reference to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of which, he boasted, he's the chief sponsor. Too bad he couldn't get the name right.

Gephardt -- who winced when Stephanopoulos told him he's considered by many Democrats to be "this year's Bob Dole" -- looked tired and baggy-eyed, and lapsed into obscure Congress-speak acronyms when discussing China trade and fuel emission standards. When his health care plan, financed by tax breaks to corporations, came under attack from some of his competitors, Gephardt kept insisting "I can pass it!" Since he couldn't do so when the Dems still had a House majority, it's hard to see how he could do so in a Republican Congress -- especially since early forecasts suggest the Democrats will lose still more seats in both chambers next year.

Dr. Dean's predominantly grim expression -- his usual facial mode -- made him look like he was telling a patient of the need for a costly operation when he proclaimed that he represents "the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party" (a line he swiped from the late Paul Wellstone). Dean's reiteration of his opposition to the war in Iraq, which has motored his campaign thus far, was noteworthy for his newly minted opposition to the Bush doctrine of "preventive war" -- given that he'd endorsed the concept in a speech just a few months ago. He scored points against Kerry and Senator John Edwards when he chided them for helping block Senator Fritz Holling's attempt to annul a huge chunk of Bush's pro-corporate tax cuts. Dean also pumped hard for single-payer, universal health insurance.

Edwards -- informed by Stephanopolous that he was viewed by Dems as having "plenty of charisma but no policy depth or experience" -- kept returning to his poor-boy rap as "someone who understands people." Now that he's a multimillionaire, though, his sympathetic- sounding generalities did little to dispel the notion that he was policy-lite.

Joe Lieberman, still hanging on to front-runner status in polls from South Carolina to California (the fruits of name recognition from his 2000 VP race), reiterated his ardent support for Bush's war, claiming it made him the electable candidate. When Stephanopoulos told Lieberman many saw him as "too nice to take on Bush," the former head of the center-right Democratic Leadership Council said he'd showed he was tough "by taking on Hollywood for peddling sex and violence to our kids." His comment could backfire among civil-liberties-minded primary voters and will likely do Holy Joe (who -- how can we forget? -- once partnered with the moralizing gambling degenerate Bill Bennett) little good outside the South.

Florida's Senator Bob Graham -- visibly thinned by the heart surgery -- tried to out-hawk Lieberman by restating his desire to extend the war beyond Iraq to take on Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. None of the other eight challenged Graham's incendiary proposal for this bloodbath.

Of the left-positioned Democrats, Al Sharpton was on his best behavior, saying nothing outrageous but also little of substance. And the vapid niceties from the mouth of Carol Mosely Braun seemed to confirm Stephanopolous's diagnosis that "you're running [just] to take votes from Al Sharpton." Only Dennis Kucinich, the anti-war Ohio congressman -- noticeably ignored by his competitors -- managed to squeeze sharply defined programmatic alternatives into his few allotted minutes. He called for flatout "cancellation" of NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, for repeal of the civil-liberties-shredding Patriot Act, and painted himself as the anti-monopoly, anti-corporate candidate. But the press paid little attention -- for example, The New York Times' Adam Nagourney didn't even mention Kucinich in his post-debate report for "the paper of record."

It was, in sum, a fairly unenlightening 90 minutes -- just as the forum predetermined it to be. But the prevailing mediocrity can only partly be ascribed to the "lite" format. George Bush came under little fire. The Dems have been cowed for so long by Bush's war-driven poll-numbers that they seem to have gotten out of the habit of directly attacking him. Doris Kearns Goodwin got it right the next morning in a post-debate analysis segment on "Meet the Press." What was missing among the nine, she pointed out, was "the larger argument" -- the construction of a coherent alternative vision to the single-minded one of the Bush conservatives. Opposition to the tax cuts is all very well, she said, but for what purpose, to do what? The Democrats need to project an alternative vision of the purpose and meaning of government against those who would dismantle it, she proclaimed, invoking Lincoln's injunction that government exists to do what individuals cannot do for themselves. In a nation awash in blind nationalism, it's hard to imagine how any of the nine contenders can knock Bush out without projecting such a vision.

http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/7733

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- - Closing Statement of Congressman Kucinich

Following is the closing statement of Congressman Kucinich at the first presidential debate of the campaign:

I began my career in public life in 1967. I've been a councilman, a mayor, a state senator and now a congressman. As a candidate for President, I offer a different vision for America, one which separates me from the other candidates.

I am the only candidate for President who will take this country away from fear and war and tax giveaways, and use America's peace dividend for guaranteed health care for all, ending health care for profit. I am the only candidate who will stop the privatization of social security and bring the retirement age back to 65.

As President, I will cancel NAFTA and the WTO, restore our manufacturing jobs, save our family farms, create full employment programs, create new jobs by rebuilding our cities and schools. As President, I will repeal the Patriot Act to regain for all Americans the sacred right of privacy in our homes, our libraries, our schools.

This is a grassroots campaign to take back America. Join me from your cities, your towns, your farms and your campuses. Join me at Kucinich.US and let's take back America for the people.

***

Want to cast an early vote for Kucinich? Click on http://democrats.com/primary and cast your ballot. To vote, you'll need to register with Democrats.com, the largest independent community of Democratic activists, where you can meet and mobilize with other progressive Democrats to build a principled party standing for peace and justice.

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As Cleveland Mayor, Kucinich's Fight to Save Public Power

From: Kucinich Campaign < info@kucinich.us >
Subject: KUCINICH STOOD UP TO THE ENRON OF HIS DAY

Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has recently faced attacks from George Will and other conservative pundits over his tenure as Mayor of Cleveland. The truth is that the stand Kucinich took was a profile in political courage, and his stand has been fully vindicated by events and even by those who opposed him at the time. As is typical, George Will and those who dominate American punditry haven't gotten the news.

Please CIRCULATE THIS WIDELY, and help set the record straight when you see misinformation in the media.

AS CLEVELAND MAYOR, KUCINICH'S FIGHT TO SAVE PUBLIC POWER

Dennis Kucinich was elected Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1977 at age 31, the youngest person to lead a major U.S. city. He was elected on a promise that he would not sell off or privatize the beloved and trusted city-owned power system, though Cleveland was deeply in debt.

Cleveland Magazine offered this summary: "Kucinich refused to yield to bankers who gave him a choice -- Sell the Municipal Light System to the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. or the city will go into default. The mayor said no."

When Kucinich refused to sell Muny Light, the banks took the unprecedented step of refusing to roll over the city's debt, as is customary. Instead, they pushed the city into default. It turned out the banks were thoroughly interlocked with the private utility, CEI, which would have acquired monopoly status by taking over Muny Light. Five of the six banks held almost 1.8 million shares of CEI stock; of the 11 directors of CEI, eight were also directors of four of the six banks involved.

By holding to his campaign promise and putting principle above politics, he lost his re-election bid and his political career was derailed. But today Kucinich stands vindicated for having confronted the Enron of his day, and for saving the municipal power company. "There is little debate," wrote Cleveland Magazine in May 1996, "over the value of Muny Light today. Now Cleveland Public Power, it is a proven asset to the city that between 1985 and 1995 saved its customers $195,148,520 over what they would have paid CEI."

When Kucinich re-launched his political career in the mid-1990s, it was on the strength of having saved public power. His campaign symbol was a light bulb. "Because he was right!" was his campaign slogan when he won his seat in the state senate in 1994. The slogan that sent him to Washington two years later was "Light Up Congress."

In 1998, the Cleveland City Council issued a commendation to Dennis Kucinich for "having the courage and foresight to refuse to sell the city's municipal electric system."

* * *

Our country needs a President who will stand up against -- and not with -- today's Enrons. A President who puts the public interest before private profit. Such a candidate is Dennis Kucinich, a rare elected official whose political career has been devoted to winning victories against corporate power on behalf of workers, consumers, the poor and the environment. He battles for the people, and he wins.

Help spread the word about the Kucinich for President Campaign. Consider making a donation
https://www.kucinich.us/contribute.php

For background on the campaign, see: http://www.kucinich.us/

To learn more visit the Flyby News' updated Kucinich for US President under breaking news, and you can link, too, from "actions, campaigns, and events" at http://www.flybynews.com




2) Scott Ritter Calling for Regime Change in Washington
- - Court Assumes Role of Saddam in 9/11 Lawsuit
- - White House Refuses to Release Sept. 11 Info

Ex-weapons inspector and former Marine Scott Ritter is calling for regime change in Washington.
By Jan Barry 05/05/03: (VIAW)

[Excerpt]

Scott Ritter may be the Bush reelection team's worse nightmare.

The former UN chief weapons inspector in Iraq and card-carrying Republican is barnstorming America with a blunt message: George W. Bush's war on Iraq was waged on a "bodyguard of lies."

"We need regime change, and we need it quick," Ritter told a gathering of peace activists in New Jersey on Sunday. "George W. Bush does not have the right…to represent the American people, if he told a lie. And he told a whopper."

That whopper, said Ritter, was claiming that the US government had evidence that Saddam Hussein was hiding massive amounts of weapons of mass destruction and that was why Iraq must be invaded. The facts, he said, are that "the inspections worked. The United Nations did disarm Iraq."

"I want the president impeached because he lied to the Congress of the United States," Ritter said. "He may well go out and tell another lie about weapons of mass destruction" being found amid the rubble in Iraq. But, Ritter said, any scheme to plant evidence would run afoul of professional soldiers like those he served with in Gulf War I. "I can tell you, my fellow officers won't sustain that lie."

"What happened in Baghdad last month was not in accordance with international law. What happened in Baghdad last month was a west Texas lynching," Ritter said at New Jersey Peace Action's annual dinner, where he was the guest of honor. "President Bush is implementing a policy of imperialism."

"If you give up now, you are giving up on American democracy," he said. Ritter urged the assembled peace activists to reach out to Republicans like himself and raise the constitutional issues and uncomfortable facts that Bush has run roughshod over. Among those facts, he said, is this glaring one: "Bush was a deserter from his unit during the Vietnam War. He doesn't know what it means to support the troops."

For the complete article, see:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3233.htm

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- - Court Assumes Role of Saddam in 9/11 Lawsuit
Nearly $104 Million Awarded in 9/11 Case

>From the article below [received from: MassMuzik@aol.com ]

<< The judge noted that the experts provided few actual facts that Iraq provided support to the terrorists.

But he said the experts "provide a sufficient basis for a reasonable jury to draw inferences which could lead to the conclusion that Iraq provided material support to al-Qaida and that it did so with knowledge and intent to further al-Qaida's criminal acts." >>

So the gov't/media brainwash of the American public has now been formally institutionalized in Court!. This now sets a whole new precedent: "Hearsay" - as well as Powell's PROVEN phony presentation to the UN - is now accepted in federal court as evidence of Saddam/Iraq's supposed connection to Al-Qaida!!!

How much more outrageous can outrage possibly get??? We HAVE to stop this nightmare!!!
N
--------------------------------------------------
Nearly $104 Million Awarded in 9/11 Case
By Larry Neumeister, AP
05/07/03 13:34 EDT

NEW YORK (May 7) - A federal judge Wednesday awarded nearly $104 million in damages to the families of at least two victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, saying they had shown that Iraq provided material support to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida.

Judge Harold Baer outlined the damages against bin Laden, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi government in a written decision in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Baer said he had concluded that lawyers for the two victims "have shown, albeit barely ... that Iraq provided material support to bin Laden and al-Qaida."

The case was being closely watched by lawyers for plaintiffs in other lawsuits filed after the Sept. 11 attacks against Iraq, al-Qaida and others because it was the first to reach the damages phase.

The judge heard evidence for two days in March to help him determine damages. In January, he issued a default order against the Taliban, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and the Republic of Iraq.

The default judgment was granted by Baer after public announcements of the lawsuits failed to attract a response from any of the defendants.

He said lawyers relied heavily on classic hearsay, including reports of a Sept. 11 hijacker meeting an Iraqi consul to Prague, Secretary of State Colin Powell's remarks to the United Nations about connections between Iraq and terrorism and defectors' descriptions of the use of an Iraq camp to train terrorists.

Baer said the opinions of the lawyers' experts was sufficient to show that Iraq collaborated in or support bin Laden's terrorist acts on Sept. 11.

The judge noted that the experts provided few actual facts that Iraq provided support to the terrorists.

But he said the experts "provide a sufficient basis for a reasonable jury to draw inferences which could lead to the conclusion that Iraq provided material support to al-Qaida and that it did so with knowledge and intent to further al-Qaida's criminal acts."

The ruling stemmed from cases brought on behalf of the estate of George Eric Smith, 38, a senior business analyst for SunGard Asset Management and Timothy Soulas, a senior managing director and partner at Cantor Fitzgerald Securities.

Smith was single and without children. Soulas was married with five children and his wife was 3-months pregnant when he was killed.

The lawsuits relied in part on legal principles contained in a 1996 law that permitted lawsuits against countries identified by the State Department as sponsors of international terrorism.

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
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- - White House Refuses to Release Sept. 11 Info

For a related story, "White House Refuses to Release Sept. 11 Info", see: http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/050703A.shtml



3) Ramsey Clark: Removing an Imperial President Committing High Crimes
- - National Press Club Invites Ramsey Clark on May 12

From Ramsey Clark:

Your vote to impeach is important. It reminds Americans that the Constitution provides the means for removing an Imperial President and officials who commit high crimes. It informs the rest of the world that Americans recognize that the U.S. war of aggression against Iraq violated the Nuremberg Charter which ranks war of aggression first among Crimes Against Peace.

Impeachment is more important now than ever. The most serious crimes against peace and humanity and crimes of war have been committed in plain view on TV, worldwide. Iraq lies bleeding and angry with uncounted, unmentioned tens of thousands dead, slaughtered, cities in rubble, hospitals overflowing with critically injured men, women and children, but few emergency medical supplies.

President Bush, the Vice President, Secretaries Powell and Rumsfeld, Attorney General Ashcroft are celebrating as their friends in American corporations plan to reap vast profits and control oil resources, the prize for international crimes. They must be held accountable.

Nearly two hundred thousand people have already voted to impeach online. Many tens of thousands of paper ballots are being counted. Votes are pouring in. Full page ads in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and smaller papers have informed millions of the campaign.

We need your help now to press on. We need a million votes and more.

Impeachment is the nonviolent means the American people have to take back the Constitution in time to restore honor to our government and find peace with the rest of the world. Get out to vote. Contribute to the campaign.

Sincerely,

Ramsey Clark

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For more on the impeachment campaign, visit

http://www.votetoimpeach.org

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- - National Press Club Invites Ramsey Clark on May 12

National Press Club Invites Ramsey Clark to be Featured Speaker at Upcoming May 12 Luncheon in Washington, D.C.

As the country prepares to enter the next election cycle, Ramsey Clark will make a national address on how "U.S. Militarism Threatens the Destiny of Humanity," at the National Press Club on May 12. Mr. Clark will also charge George W. Bush and his administration with committing high crimes and misdemeanors warranting impeachment. For those in the D.C. metropolitan area who would like to attend in person, advance reservations can be made by telephoning the Press Club at (202) 662-7501. For additional information on the luncheon event go to:

http://npc.press.org/calendar/calendarday.cfm?whatday=12&&whatyear=2003&&whatmonth=5



4) Plutonium Dangers - Who's Watching?
- - Rems and Cancer - A Personal Story - the Hanford Project

"The current situation in radiation research is a bit like relying on the tobacco industry to conduct all the research on the health effects of smoking."

– Dr. John Gofman

Beware the Data Diddlers
By John W. Gofman

Permit me to put the question starkly. Although there is ample evidence that nuclear pollution presents health risks, how can we properly assess the degree of risk when the governments that have unleashed the poisons also sponsor virtually all the health research concerning nuclear radiation?

That conflict-of-interest problem has a common-sense solution. We-and "we" refers mainly to individuals and nongovernmental organizations- must insist that independent "watchdog authorities" be established to monitor the work of those who may have a vested interest in underestimating the health risks that may be attributed to nuclear radiation.

These watchdog authorities will not be responsible for conducting the actual health-risk studies. Rather, they will be charged with insuring that the raw data used in health-risk studies are obtained and maintained as objectively as possible.

It's a common-sense idea. But like many simple ideas, it will be a tough sell.

For the complete article, see:
http://www.thebulletin.org/issues/1993/may93/may93Gofman.html

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- - Rems and Cancer - A Personal Story - the Hanford Project

This following information was sent to Flyby News on 13 February 2003 by Richard Fash

Dear Sir,

I'm contacting you today about my father, and my family.

My father worked at the Hanford Project from 1951 to 1973.

Sixteen years in Reactor Operations.

Job titles as follows.(Radiation Monitoring, Supervisior, Radiation Monitoring, Supervisior,
Supplemental Crews, Reactor Specialist, and Supervisor, 105-109, 100 N Area.)

After which he worked as Office Equipment Manager, and Manager of Printing and Duplicating.

He was in charge of classified files for the Atomic Energy Commission.

My father also worked for Bendix, and U.N.C. geotech in Grand Junction, Colorado.

With almost thirty years employment for the government. He died of Multiple Myeloma at age 62, in 1988. Multiple Myeloma is linked to reactor workers.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Operated by Battelle. Radiological exposure records state he received 22 rems of whole body effective dose equivalent.

My father had no cancer in his family.

My mother died of acute Myeloid Leukemia.

My brother died of Colon Cancer at age 44. He was a health food nut and lived a clean life.

I have Thyroid and Liver disease.

I have no doubt that low dose radiation from Hanford has affected my family!

Thank you
Richard Fash < richardfash@yahoo.com >


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