Flyby News
"News Fit to Transmit in the Post Cassini Flyby Era"
Disclosure Project Update * Navy Testing Whales' Hearing Level * Lori Berenson
15 May 2001
1) Disclosure Project Update
2) Navy Testing Whales' Hearing Level
3) The Inquisition of Lori Berenson
Editor's Notes:This time on planet Earth is anything but boring. There are many priority issues
and anything you can do to help the balance of life on Earth is critical.
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1) Disclosure Project Update
http://www.disclosureproject.orgDr. Steven Greer, director of the Disclosure Project, issued this statement:
"Over 250,000 people were lined up to go online as the National Press Club event began at 9am on May 9, 2001 - the largest webcast audience in the history of the National Press Club in Washnington, D.C.
To date, approximately 1 billion people world wide have heard of the event and support is growing for Hearings..
Team [Disclosure Project] has met with over 2 dozen Senate and House members and staff with witnesses present. [It is] Urgent that all concerned write their 2 Senators and their House Representative and ask for IMMEDIATE OPEN HEARINGS ON THE UFO MATTER. Inform them that we need Legislation to Ban Space Weapons and a Release of Advanced Energy and Propulsion Systems that will Solve the Energy Crisis and end Global Warming and Pollution.."
Steven M. Greer, MD
Director, The Disclosure Project
See
http://www.disclosureproject.org/congress/congress.htm for more information
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2) Navy Testing Whales' Hearing Level
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=051101&ID=s961837Navy testing whales' hearing level
Many whales beached themselves during Navy sonar tests last year
Associated Press
TACOMA -- The Navy, criticized for the deaths of whales after sonar tests in the Bahamas, is testing the hearing of two beluga whales at Tacoma's Point Defiance Aquarium, hoping to determine what frequencies the marine mammals can hear Beethoven and his half brother Turner are being subjected to a variety of sounds at their aquarium pool, and are being trained to respond by vocalizing to the tones from an underwater machine, said trainer Traci Belting. The 1,300-pound whales swim to a "bite plate" they seize in their jaws to hold their heads in the proper position. For their trouble, the whales are rewarded with treats and praise, Belting said.
The long-term study will examine the hearing of the whales and the effects of noise in their environment, said Tom LaPuzza, spokesman for the Navy's Marine Mammals Program.The first phase, which begins as soon as Turner and Beethoven can reliably use the testing apparatus and sound off whenever they hear a tone, will determine the range of the mammals' hearing. The second phase will introduce background noise to see how it interferes with their hearing. In the third phase, the whales will be exposed to other sounds to see how their hearing is affected. LaPuzza likened it to a "rock concert effect" -- the experiment will involve sound levels that temporarily impair a whale's hearing similar to a loud concert that impairs a human's hearing for a short period.
The Navy had studied two beluga whales at a facility in the noisy environment of the San Diego Bay. Point Defiance was selected because it is quiet and controlled. Last year, animal rights advocates blamed Navy sonar transmissions for a mass beaching of whales in the Bahamas. Necropsies of the dead whales showed they all had severe trauma to their ears. LaPuzza said there was no scientific evidence linking Navy tests to whale beachings.
The National Marine Fisheries Service is currently considering the Navy's request for permission to operate an even more powerful sonar system for submarine detection that would be used in more than 80 percent of the world's oceans. Some experts compare the sound of the proposed new tests to a rocket taking off.
The project, especially the third phase, sounds questionable and possibly cruel to the sensitive ears of the whales, said Toni Frohoff, a marine biologist with the Humane Society of the United States. "I'm concerned that the welfare of these animals might be compromised for goals that have nothing to do with marine mammal conservation and protection," she said.Other animal rights advocates object to what they call an unnecessary test.
"There's enough scientific research that has been done on the hearing capability of these animals for (the Navy) to figure out the consequences of what's going on at sea from setting off those detonators," said Stephanie Boyles, spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Please Note:
The National Marine Fisheries Service is now accepting public comments through May 18, 2001, on whether to grant the Navy's LFAS permit request. Send a free fax or write them a letter and stop the Navy from deploying LFAS There is now undeniable evidence that high-power "active" sonar systems can and do kill marine animals. Analysis of the inner ears of several dead whales enabled scientists to confirm, for the first time, the dangerous role of LFAS to a level of certainty that even the Navy could not ignore. All but one of the whales suffered hemorrhages in the inner ear, almost certainly the result of a sonic blast.
http://www.DirectActions.net/LFASproposal.htm **********************************************************************
3) The Inquisition of Lori Berenson
From: Rhoda and Mark Berenson
http://www.freelori.org Thursday, May 10, 2001
To: All Friends and Supporters of Lori Berenson
THE INQUISITION
We would like to draw your attention to two articles that were just placed on the website.
The first is an English translation of an article by Peruvian novelist Eduardo Gonzalez Viana, "The Inquisition in Lima in 1736 and in April 2001: Lori Berenson." The Spanish original was published in the Peruvian newspaper Liberacion. This is the first newspaper account in Peru that has defended Lori and told the Peruvian people what this trial is really about
http://www.freelori.org/news/01apr26_liberacion.htmlThe second is a detailed account of nine courtroom sessions in Lori's current trial by human rights observer Marie J. Manrique from Rights Action. Reading this should give you some sense of the 'inquisition in Lima -- April 2001.'
http://www.freelori.org/statements/01apr_mariemanrique.htmlRhoda and Mark Berenson
Website:
http://www.freelori.orgCall the White House and ask George W. Bush to put more effort in Lori's return home.
202-456-1111, O
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