From: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com (abolition-usa-digest) To: abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: abolition-usa-digest V1 #187 Reply-To: abolition-usa-digest Sender: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk abolition-usa-digest Tuesday, September 21 1999 Volume 01 : Number 187 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 20 Sep 1990 22:46:53 -0400 From: hcaldic Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Urgent! Sign-on now! Stop DOE weapons plan! marylia wrote: > > Hi. We NEED your sign-on to help stop the U.S. Dept. of Energy from > INCREASING its nuclear weapons activities and moving nuclear material and > programs around between the weapons labs and the test site. Please take a > moment to read the LETTER and initiate whatever action is required to get > your group's sign on. IT IS IMPORTANT. Then, email me your name, title, > group name and full address before Sept. 28. Thank you, Marylia Kelley, > executive director, Tri-Valley CAREs. > > PS -- If you are among the 35 groups that have already signed the letter -- > thank you! If not, please sign on today! We need about 100 groups! Please > help! Read on... > > September 28, 1999 [Prospective send date] > > US Department of Energy > 1000 Independence Avenue, SW > Washington, D.C. 20585 > > Attn: Gilbert Weigand, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Weapons Research & > Development > > Re: Department of Energy's Plans for Major Changes in Nuclear Weapons Complex > > Dear Mr. Weigand, > > We are writing on behalf of Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a > Radioactive Environment), Western States Legal Foundation and Physicians > for Social Responsibility - Greater San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. All > three organizations have a long-time interest in public health and safety > issues concerning Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and other > facilities within the nuclear weapons complex. > > Tri-Valley CAREs is a 16-year-old environmental group that "watchdogs" > LLNL. Among other things, it holds two US Environmental Protection Agency > Technical Assistance Grants to monitor environmental cleanup at LLNL. > Western States Legal Foundation has been deeply involved in monitoring > nuclear weapons programs and environmental activities at LLNL since 1982. > The San Francisco Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility has kept > watch over LLNL worker and community issues for a number of years. > > Further, this letter represents the interests and concerns of the public > interest organizations who have joined us in sending this letter, listed on > signatory pages that follow. > > We have recently obtained information concerning the Department of Energy's > (DOE) plans to reconfigure, expand, enhance and/or move certain aspects of > the nuclear weapons program carried out by the various facilities within > the nuclear weapons complex. This information is from briefing papers, > obtained from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which we > understand you used to brief high-level Clinton administration officials on > the DOE plan. > > Changes proposed by DOE include the following: > > 1. DOE will "move promptly" the W80 nuclear warhead workload from Los > Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to Lawrence Livermore National > Laboratory. This would involve more plutonium pit work at LLNL. The > briefing papers reveal what appear to be changes in the warhead that go > far, far beyond any maintenance procedures that may be necessary to > preserve the existing weapon's "safety" or "reliability" while it remains > in the arsenal. > > 2. DOE will also "move promptly" the plutonium pit surveillance mission > and workload from LANL to LLNL. DOE expressly says that one goal is to > give Livermore Lab more plutonium workload, which means that pits from > weapons, in addition to those of the W80 program discussed in #1 above, > will come to Livermore. Further, the plan suggests that some or all of the > surveillance work for each of the US weapon types will come to Livermore > Lab, which means nuclear weapons components would be taken apart and > "destructively tested" at Livermore. > > Concerning both # 1 and #2 above, Livermore Lab already has about 880 > pounds of plutonium, and also has a history of accidents, spills, leaks and > plutonium safety violations. In fact, its plutonium facility was recently > shut down on the recommendation of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety > Board, and is only now "restarting." We are worried that the DOE's > proposed changes will result in increased risks to worker and public health > and safety. > > 3. LANL's Appaloosa program would be expanded. Appaloosa is the code-name > for a hydrodynamic test program wherein high explosives and surrogate bomb > cores, called pits, (including with plutonium 242) are detonated in > above-ground tanks. > > 4. DOE will consolidate its hydrodynamic program at LANL, although the > Clinton administration has been informed that LLNL will still keep its > hydrodynamic program, including the new "Contained Firing Facility" now > under construction at Livermore. > > 5. A huge proton accelerator is to be constructed at LANL. > > 6. DOE will conduct additional underground subcritical nuclear tests for > the W80 and W88 programs. The briefing papers also indicate that > additional subcritical tests will involve "weapon relevant shapes." > > 7. DOE will move the ATLAS and Pegasus programs from LANL to Nevada. > (ATLAS is a new fusion facility under construction at LANL, and Pegasus an > older machine.) These two programs would be used to develop the technology > allowing for "explosively driven pulse power for future SNM [special > nuclear material - i.e., plutonium] experiments in U1A." U1A is the > underground complex of tunnels and rooms where subcritical nuclear > experiments are now detonated at the Nevada Test Site. > > 8. DOE will build a new "infrastructure for weapons microsystems > components ... MESA" at Sandia Lab in New Mexico, supporting "future AF&F > (arming, firing and fusing) needs." This aspect of the plan is reported to > cost $300 million. > > Although these are major moves and expansions of nuclear weapons > activities, the DOE has failed to discuss technical or policy > justifications for them. DOE also fails to discuss overall proliferation > impacts, costs or environmental impacts. Nor does DOE indicate any > intended public disclosure or process for public review and comment. > > This plan has gone forward in secret, and the public has been > inappropriately excluded from any knowledge or decision-making role. > Earlier this year, DOE and Livermore Lab held a public meeting at which > officials testified that no major changes were contemplated to Livermore > Lab's operations over the next 5 years. Based on this, DOE and Livermore > Lab decided on March 10, 1999 not to conduct a new site-wide environmental > review. In view the above proposed changes, it is difficult for us not to > think that DOE and LLNL may have acted in bad faith at that public meeting. > > We are outraged by these decisions and demand that a new Environmental > Impact Statement (EIS) for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with > full public hearings and disclosure be part of the process to decide > whether any funding should be requested/expended. Certainly, this EIS must > be done before any of these changes occur, and before anything is moved. > There should be no repeat of the situation at Paducah and Portsmouth, where > both workers and the public were misled for years, and revelations about > plutonium contamination are just now becoming public. > > Further, the DOE has completed a Stockpile Stewardship & Management > Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SSM PEIS) which is silent on > this plan. In fact, some of the SSM PEIS' siting elements actually ran > contrary to the latest DOE scheme described above. OMB is on record > stating that DOE must undertake a revision of the SSM PEIS before moving > forward. DOE, however, has already requested initial monies from Congress > to begin, according to a Senate report. It appears to us that a > Supplemental EIS, with public hearings held across the country, is > necessary as well. > > We hope to have your response in the very near future. If you should have > any questions, please do not hesitate in contacting us. > > Sincerely, > > Marylia Kelley > Executive Director, > Tri-Valley CAREs > > Robert Gould, M.D. > President, > Physicians for Social Responsibility, Greater San Francisco Bay Area > > Jacqueline Cabasso > Executive Director, > Western States Legal Foundation > > Marylia Kelley > Tri-Valley CAREs > (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) > 2582 Old First Street > Livermore, CA USA 94550 > > - is our web site, please visit us there! > > (925) 443-7148 - is our phone > (925) 443-0177 - is our fax > > Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley > CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear > Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the > international Abolition 2000 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. Marylia, Add my name - Helen Caldicott Founding President Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Founder Womens Action 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. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 01:54:10 EDT From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) McReynolds' Press Conference Speech 9/7/99 Looking over this post from my campaign manager, I realized it was an item that did fit the guidelines of Abolition 2000 USA - if nominated by the Socialist Party this October, I would be one candidate helping to push others to take similar stands. Read down to the discussion of nuclear weapons. Peace, David McReynolds From: ShaunRichman@sp-usa.org (Shaun Richman) [David McReynolds formally declared his candidacy for the Socialist Party's nomination for President of the United States on September 7, 1999. The following is the text of his speech.] Let me keep these remarks brief, so that if there are questions there will be time to ask them. Let me note that while I think the media has every right to ask questions about the personal life of a candidate, as it might relate to job performance, and while I am prepared to respond fully to questions about any past or current drug use, legal or illegal, the media missed the key point about Governor Bush and the allegations he may once have used cocaine. Anyone seeking the nomination for President on the Democratic or Republican ticket must raise so much money that the real question is not the drugs used in the past, but, to put it bluntly, which corporate forces have bought and paid for the candidate. Neither Governor Bush nor Vice President Al Gore are free agents. They represent corporate America. If anyone wants to know what interests I represent I respond simply that if I'm nominated at the Socialist Party convention in October I will represent a group of concerned citizens with little in the way of financial resources. I will represent their hopes, and the platform and beliefs of a Party, which I joined in 1951, while a student at UCLA. And I will work to limit the kind of obscenity we see today when the corporations openly bid for the candidates. Campaign financing laws must be enacted that provide a level playing field, with no special favors to large donors. It is good that a range of views be offered to the electorate. There is very little to choose between Bush and Gore, very little real debate of substance on our domestic and foreign policy. The arena of debate must be broadened, the range of issues discussed extended. That would be my job as the candidate of the Socialist Party. Having seen our government engage in wars without Congressional approval, in open violation of the UN Charter, whether in Panama under George Bush, or in Kosova under Bill Clinton. I believe this nation must not go to war without the full consent of Congress, after debate. The theory of Executive Wars must end. Watching our military with its almost hallucinatory budget, I urge the Pentagon budget be cut immediately by 50%, with radical further cuts each year. We face no military threat from our immediate neighbors, Mexico and Canada, and are protected by vast oceans from invasion. The American military now extends into every area of our lives, and I pledge to resist the militarization of this nation, this obscene continuation of a Garrison State so sharply denounced by the late President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he left office and warned of the military/industrial complex. Given the ads taken out in the New York Times by concerned business leaders worried over the misuse of our tax funds for unneeded military spending, my position only seems radical because neither major party is prepared to speak to it. Nuclear weapons remain a grave danger and we must strive for an immediate end of all further nuclear testing and take immediate steps to scale down our own arsenals of nuclear weapons even as we engage with other nuclear powers to reduce theirs until we have zero nuclear weapons, and a sense of trust and verification which will give us assurance that no new weapons are tested and the list of nuclear states diminishes to zero rather than expanding to disaster. I call for the closing of all foreign U.S. bases, including the base in Guantanamo, Cuba. I call for the end of sanctions against Iraq, Cuba and Libya. Even as we meet today, people are being killed in East Timor by the government of Indonesia, armed and supported by the United States. And even as we appeal to President Clinton to take immediate action to pressure the Indonesian government to respect the accords on self-determination, we also know that from the time of Henry Kissinger until today, the United States has been a patron of Indonesia, and has close military and economic ties to it. We pledge to oppose with our full might any further trade in arms by this government. The manufacture and sale of land mines, military air craft, guns, etc., must end immediately. The war on drugs has resulted in an explosion of our prison population so that we now have the greatest number of prisoners of any nation in the world - something in which none of us should take pride. We have seen the creation of virtual prison industrial complex in which the ultimate victims are those men and women jailed, their families and friends, and the society which pays vast sums on incarceration rather than treatment and rehabilitation. In the city of New York it is easier to be arrested for the sale of heroin than it is to gain admittance to the drug rehabilitation programs. The war on drugs is a costly, inhumane failure which has caused vast human suffering here, and resulted in exporting American problems to Latin America. Most drugs should either, as with marijuana, be decriminalized, or as with heroin, be available to addicts from a medical doctor. There is talk of raising the minimum wage - I am more inclined to suggest a maximum wage in which the lowest wage paid in any industry would be not less than one fourth the highest wage paid to any CEO in that industry. There is a gross injustice when corporate leaders pull down wages in the millions of dollars while working American families often must work two jobs to keep food on the table. It is urgent that the benefits of working Americans not be cut. They have declined sharply. We demand that the benefits of American workers be defended against every effort by the corporate structure to slice them. We need a single payer system of medical care now. We are the only industrial nation which does not have such a program, so that ordinary people are often uncovered, or only partially covered, for the most basic health needs. We have seen a spread of violent extremism and racism as well as a disturbing level of violence on the campus. The Socialist Party will continue to defend the full range of civil liberties and the Bill of Rights, as we have done over the decades. But the right to own firearms is not protected by the Bill of Rights, which refers to the right of each state to maintain a militia - not to the right of any citizen to own a loaded automatic weapon. I will work for a system of lincensed gun ownership and an end in the sale of automatic weapons which cannot meet any reasonable standard for hunting. The National Rifle Association may control Congress but it does not control the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party will speak out against racism in any form, as we move toward a new century in which before the year 2050 non-whites will constitute a majority of our people. We will also speak out against police brutality and demand independent citizen's review boards. Events in this very city have indicated the dangers of a police force out of control, commanded by a Mayor who shows signs of mental instability. While I have listed some of the immediate demands, some of the urgent issues which I hope to address, let no one think the Socialist Party has abandoned the goal of social ownership of the commanding heights of industry, combined with democratic control, and decentralization and community involvement. The corporation is an artificial creation which has no inherent rights. If we won control of Congress we would place such vast corporate structures under social ownership. Capitalism as we know it is not a vision of the future in which we can take comfort, in which all things have a price, and all things are on the market place. For us, the unit of measurement is the human being, not the rate of profit. Just as we seek an economic system which draws on our best instincts. There is much in America which is good, much that we are proud of - including the long struggle for labor's rights, civil rights, women's rights, gay and lesbian rights, etc. Some of the proudest moments in our history, moments which helped to define us as a democracy, have been when the citizens opposed their own government when it was wrong, whether that was opposition in the South by African Americans fighting segregation, or the mass peace movement which helped end the Vietnam War. We honor that history of struggle which has made our democracy fuller and freer. We will continue to take part in that struggle, viewing our society as one in which there is a conflict between workers and owners. We speak for the working class. There are many problems still facing us, as our society seems overwhelmed by raw materialism, too often devoid of any values beyond consumerism. Let me say that there is a spiritual dimension to our common life, a dimension of respect for each person, a dimension of striving to fulfill our own lives and of helping others, not in terms of cash flow but of lives well and truly lived, lives engaged in a sense of justice and community. That is what the Socialist Party stands for and, if nominated, I will seek to represent it across the nation, in the tradition of Eugene Victor Debs, Norman Thomas, Michael Harrington and Frank Zeidler. We want an America in which working people can fully and responsibly share in democratic planning and control of their own economy. The words of Eugene Victor Debs are as revolutionary today as they were when spoken to a court in Ohio during World War I - they ring with biblical force calling us to tasks not yet done: "While there is a working class I am in it, while there is a criminal element I am of it, while there is a soul in prison I am not free." -- Shaun Richman Young People's Socialist League 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012 phone/fax: 1(212)982-4586 http://sp-usa.org/ypsl McReynolds 2000 Committee "Building a Movement for Jobs, Peace and Freedom" P.O. Box 91, Floral Park, NY 10012 phone/fax: 1(212)780-9405 http://votesocialist.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. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 13:04:51 -0400 From: Norm and Karen Cohen Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Urgent! Sign-on now! Stop DOE weapons plan! Hi, marylia, sign on the Coalition for Peace and Justice, 321 Barr Ave, L= inwood NJ 08221 609-601-8583, Norm Cohen Executive Director peace norm marylia wrote: > Hi. We NEED your sign-on to help stop the U.S. Dept. of Energy from > INCREASING its nuclear weapons activities and moving nuclear material a= nd > programs around between the weapons labs and the test site. Please take= a > moment to read the LETTER and initiate whatever action is required to g= et > your group's sign on. IT IS IMPORTANT. Then, email me your name, title, > group name and full address before Sept. 28. Thank you, Marylia Kelley= , > executive director, Tri-Valley CAREs. > > PS -- If you are among the 35 groups that have already signed the lette= r -- > thank you! If not, please sign on today! We need about 100 groups! Plea= se > help! Read on... > > September 28, 1999 [Prospective send date] > > US Department of Energy > 1000 Independence Avenue, SW > Washington, D.C. 20585 > > Attn: Gilbert Weigand, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Weapons Research = & > Development > > Re: Department of Energy's Plans for Major Changes in Nuclear Weapons C= omplex > > Dear Mr. Weigand, > > We are writing on behalf of Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a > Radioactive Environment), Western States Legal Foundation and Physician= s > for Social Responsibility - Greater San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. Al= l > three organizations have a long-time interest in public health and safe= ty > issues concerning Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and oth= er > facilities within the nuclear weapons complex. > > Tri-Valley CAREs is a 16-year-old environmental group that "watchdogs" > LLNL. Among other things, it holds two US Environmental Protection Age= ncy > Technical Assistance Grants to monitor environmental cleanup at LLNL. > Western States Legal Foundation has been deeply involved in monitoring > nuclear weapons programs and environmental activities at LLNL since 198= 2. > The San Francisco Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility has k= ept > watch over LLNL worker and community issues for a number of years. > > Further, this letter represents the interests and concerns of the publi= c > interest organizations who have joined us in sending this letter, liste= d on > signatory pages that follow. > > We have recently obtained information concerning the Department of Ener= gy's > (DOE) plans to reconfigure, expand, enhance and/or move certain aspects= of > the nuclear weapons program carried out by the various facilities withi= n > the nuclear weapons complex. This information is from briefing papers, > obtained from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which we > understand you used to brief high-level Clinton administration official= s on > the DOE plan. > > Changes proposed by DOE include the following: > > 1. DOE will "move promptly" the W80 nuclear warhead workload from Los > Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to Lawrence Livermore National > Laboratory. This would involve more plutonium pit work at LLNL. The > briefing papers reveal what appear to be changes in the warhead that go > far, far beyond any maintenance procedures that may be necessary to > preserve the existing weapon's "safety" or "reliability" while it remai= ns > in the arsenal. > > 2. DOE will also "move promptly" the plutonium pit surveillance missio= n > and workload from LANL to LLNL. DOE expressly says that one goal is t= o > give Livermore Lab more plutonium workload, which means that pits from > weapons, in addition to those of the W80 program discussed in #1 above, > will come to Livermore. Further, the plan suggests that some or all of= the > surveillance work for each of the US weapon types will come to Livermor= e > Lab, which means nuclear weapons components would be taken apart and > "destructively tested" at Livermore. > > Concerning both # 1 and #2 above, Livermore Lab already has about 880 > pounds of plutonium, and also has a history of accidents, spills, leaks= and > plutonium safety violations. In fact, its plutonium facility was recen= tly > shut down on the recommendation of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safet= y > Board, and is only now "restarting." We are worried that the DOE's > proposed changes will result in increased risks to worker and public he= alth > and safety. > > 3. LANL's Appaloosa program would be expanded. Appaloosa is the code-= name > for a hydrodynamic test program wherein high explosives and surrogate = bomb > cores, called pits, (including with plutonium 242) are detonated in > above-ground tanks. > > 4. DOE will consolidate its hydrodynamic program at LANL, although the > Clinton administration has been informed that LLNL will still keep its > hydrodynamic program, including the new "Contained Firing Facility" now > under construction at Livermore. > > 5. A huge proton accelerator is to be constructed at LANL. > > 6. DOE will conduct additional underground subcritical nuclear tests f= or > the W80 and W88 programs. The briefing papers also indicate that > additional subcritical tests will involve "weapon relevant shapes." > > 7. DOE will move the ATLAS and Pegasus programs from LANL to Nevada. > (ATLAS is a new fusion facility under construction at LANL, and Pegasus= an > older machine.) These two programs would be used to develop the techno= logy > allowing for "explosively driven pulse power for future SNM [special > nuclear material - i.e., plutonium] experiments in U1A." U1A is the > underground complex of tunnels and rooms where subcritical nuclear > experiments are now detonated at the Nevada Test Site. > > 8. DOE will build a new "infrastructure for weapons microsystems > components ... MESA" at Sandia Lab in New Mexico, supporting "future AF= &F > (arming, firing and fusing) needs." This aspect of the plan is reporte= d to > cost $300 million. > > Although these are major moves and expansions of nuclear weapons > activities, the DOE has failed to discuss technical or policy > justifications for them. DOE also fails to discuss overall proliferati= on > impacts, costs or environmental impacts. Nor does DOE indicate any > intended public disclosure or process for public review and comment. > > This plan has gone forward in secret, and the public has been > inappropriately excluded from any knowledge or decision-making role. > Earlier this year, DOE and Livermore Lab held a public meeting at which > officials testified that no major changes were contemplated to Livermor= e > Lab's operations over the next 5 years. Based on this, DOE and Livermo= re > Lab decided on March 10, 1999 not to conduct a new site-wide environmen= tal > review. In view the above proposed changes, it is difficult for us not= to > think that DOE and LLNL may have acted in bad faith at that public meet= ing. > > We are outraged by these decisions and demand that a new Environmental > Impact Statement (EIS) for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory w= ith > full public hearings and disclosure be part of the process to decide > whether any funding should be requested/expended. Certainly, this EIS = must > be done before any of these changes occur, and before anything is moved. > There should be no repeat of the situation at Paducah and Portsmouth, w= here > both workers and the public were misled for years, and revelations abou= t > plutonium contamination are just now becoming public. > > Further, the DOE has completed a Stockpile Stewardship & Management > Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SSM PEIS) which is silent = on > this plan. In fact, some of the SSM PEIS' siting elements actually ran > contrary to the latest DOE scheme described above. OMB is on record > stating that DOE must undertake a revision of the SSM PEIS before movin= g > forward. DOE, however, has already requested initial monies from Congr= ess > to begin, according to a Senate report. It appears to us that a > Supplemental EIS, with public hearings held across the country, is > necessary as well. > > We hope to have your response in the very near future. If you should h= ave > any questions, please do not hesitate in contacting us. > > Sincerely, > > Marylia Kelley > Executive Director, > Tri-Valley CAREs > > Robert Gould, M.D. > President, > Physicians for Social Responsibility, Greater San Francisco Bay Area > > Jacqueline Cabasso > Executive Director, > Western States Legal Foundation > > Marylia Kelley > Tri-Valley CAREs > (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) > 2582 Old First Street > Livermore, CA USA 94550 > > - is our web site, please visit us there! > > (925) 443-7148 - is our phone > (925) 443-0177 - is our fax > > Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Va= lley > CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear > Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of t= he > international Abolition 2000 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. - -- Coalition for Peace and Justice and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321 Barr A= ve., Linwood, NJ 08221; 609-601-8537 or 609-601-8583 (8583: fax, answer machin= e) UNPLUG SALEM WEBSITE: http://members.aol.com/robvfp/page4/index.htm COAL= ITION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE WEBSITE: http://members.bellatlantic.net/~norco/ = The Coalition for Peace and Justice is a chapter of Peace Action. NEXT COALITION MEETING: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13TH, 7:30 PM, AC FRIENDS MEETINGHOUSE. PITNEY RD, ABSECON. GUEST SPEAKER: REV. BOB MOORE, COALITIO= N FOR PEACE ACTION, TOPIC: PEACE AND JUSTICE IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM =93We have two lives, the one we=92re given, and the other one we make=94= (Mary Chapin Carpenter) =93Where do we go from here - chaos or community?=94 (Martin Luther King) - - 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. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 13:52:17 -0700 From: erippy@jps.net Subject: (abolition-usa) Micheal Moore Citizens' Weapons Inspection? I ran across this on Micheal Moore's page on the Bravo TV page : MM WEAPONS INSPECTION TEAM Michael Moore enlists the help of an Iraqi cab driver from New York to inspect America's weapons of destruction. - - FRIDAY, 9/10 @ 10:00pm ET & 11:00pm PT - -- there is a page called 'clips' which purports to contain (Quicktime(r) ?) video clips including one titled 'MM WEAPONS INSPECTION TEAM' which has a film-frame icon with a caption to its right saying, '1. As usual, if you want to get something done, you have to do it yourself...' and clicking this downloads a file which I can't,run! But given Micheal Moore's satiric genius I'm glad to see it turned on our WMD. I hope he visited Los Alamos. Has anybody heard of this or seen the show? - -- Ed Rippy Only human will and action can create history and open up new horizons. - -- Daisaku Ikeda, in his peace proposal submitted to the UN in 1999 - - 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. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 14:30:37 -0700 From: Jan Harwood Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS-NATIONAL MEETING I haven't received my paper invitation yet, but consider me registered; I'm sending a check today for $50, registration and a small contribution. Thanks and peace, Jan - - 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. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 20:02:22 -0400 From: ASlater Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Urgent! Sign-on now! Stop DOE weapons plan! Hi Marylia, Please sign me on if I'm not on already. Thanks Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty 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. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 20:09:07 +0100 From: "Sally Light" Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEARWEAPONS-NATIONAL MEETING Looking forward to seeing you, Jan. Peace ... Sally - ---------- > From: Jan Harwood > To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com > Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEARWEAPONS-NATIONAL MEETING > Date: Tuesday, September 21, 1999 10:30 PM > > I haven't received my paper invitation yet, but consider me registered; I'm > sending a check today for $50, registration and a small contribution. > Thanks and peace, Jan > > > > - > 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. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 11:44:45 +1000 From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) BERLIN Y2K DECLARATION This declaration was passed unanimously at a Y2K WASH-World Atomic Safety Holiday Citizens' Y2K-Nuclear Forum in Berlin, Germany, on 20 September 1999. The Forum was attended by representatives from NGOs in Japan, Germany, USA, Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France. It was presented to the delegates at the G8 special conference on Y2K contingency planning in Berlin today, Sept. 21st. _____________________________________________________ Berlin Declaration International Citizens' Y2K-Nuclear Forum Y2K WASH - World Atomic Safety Holiday Berlin, Germany - 20 September 1999 The Occasion: The G-8 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK, US), recognizing their responsibility to the world community, are holding the G-8 Seminar on Contingency Planning for Y2K in Berlin on September 21 and 22, 1999. The title of this meeting indicates that the G-8 nations have accepted that Y2K compliance cannot be accomplished in time for the Year 2000 rollover, and that contingency plans are essential. Citizens around the world are concerned that the potential effect of Y2K-related system failures on nuclear facilities poses serious threats to the world community and to the life of the planet. Therefore, we convened an International Citizens' Y2K-Nuclear Forum the day before the G-8 meeting to give voice to our concerns about this critical issue. We, the participants in this forum, recognizing that governments derive their authority from their citizens, require that the G-8 place on the meeting agenda the Y2K threats to the nuclear infrastructure. We forward the following conclusions to the G-8 representatives, and call upon them to be implemented immediately. The Context: The nuclear age is nearly as old as the computer age. Nuclear weapons and their delivery systems, as well as nuclear power plants and other nuclear installations, rely on computers. 4,400 of the world's nuclear weapons are still held on "hair trigger alert." Early warning and communication systems are liable to be severely affected by Y2K, thereby risking a misreading of nuclear weapons data, and increasing the danger of an unauthorized or accidental use of nuclear weapons. The world's 1000+ nuclear facilities (1) depend on electrical energy to operate. As reported by regulatory agencies and independent experts, a failure in computer or embedded microchip systems may cause a breakdown in energy transmission, with consequences that could result in a nuclear accident, or even a meltdown. (2) The generators that supply back-up power for nuclear installations depend on fuel supplies that may also be interrupted by the Y2K bug. The Risk: No one knows what will happen on or after January 1, 2000 or beyond that date because of the Y2K problem. The potential for humanitarian and ecological disasters is self-evident. We cannot afford to take risks that could prove catastrophic and irreversible. While some contingency plans have been initiated, the public needs documented evidence that they will be safe from such potential catastrophes. The Solution: We therefore call upon all governments, the international nuclear industry, and all citizens to support a World Atomic Safety Holiday, and to work together to implement the following steps: 1. Take all nuclear weapons off "hair trigger alert" from 1 December 1999 onwards, and remove all nuclear warheads from their delivery systems so that they cannot be launched immediately. 2. Shut down all nuclear installations by 1 December 1999, and not bring them back online after 1 January 2000, until they are tested, transparently verified for Y2K compliance, and the electrical grid stability is re-established. 3. Provide reliable and redundant back-up systems, with adequate fuel supplies for worst case scenarios, in every nuclear installation by 1 December 1999, to ensure that critical nuclear facilities are stable and under control. 4. Ensure that contingency plans are in place in every community where a nuclear facility is located. To prepare for "worst case scenarios", we call on local governments in communities with nuclear installations to set up emergency procedures that inform and protect the public, and to assess the companies operating the nuclear facilities for the costs of these precautions. These procedures should include but not be limited to: (a) producing and distributing leaflets educating the public about the danger to the community of nuclear accidents, the long-term dangers to health of radioactive material in the environment, and recommended actions in case of meltdown or accident to minimize the danger to health. (b) supplying iodine tablets and instructions for their use to every household, with storage in central areas for rapid distribution in emergencies. (c) conducting evacuation exercises on a regular basis, and regularly testing emergency services, such as hospital emergency rooms and fire department procedures. 5. Institute a worldwide moratorium on transport of all nuclear materials from 1 December 1999. 6. To monitor, assess, and make recommendations about the unfolding global situation, provide for ongoing expert discussion and evaluation between G-8- appointed and independent Y2K-Nuclear Forum experts, to be disseminated through the internet and printed media. The Opportunity: The challenge of meeting the Y2K problem offers the opportunity for all of us to face the reality of the nuclear dangers we live with every day. Y2K shows us that our control over technology is limited and accidents can happen; governments need to be mindful of the ever-present threat of nuclear accidents in the future, as long as nuclear weapons and nuclear energy continue to exist. Together in the next days and weeks, we can take steps to create a safer world, provide for our common security and minimize the risk of nuclear catastrophe. "Probably one out of five days I wake up in a cold sweat thinking [Y2K] is much bigger than we think, and then the other four days I think maybe we really are on top of it. Everything is so interconnected, it's hard to know with any precision whether we have got it fixed." - --U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre (1) 433 commercial nuclear power plants, 591 research reactors, all nuclear fuel facilities containing significant quantities of nuclear material, and all nuclear-powered submarines. (2) The French Atomic Energy Commission reports that it will keep most of its nuclear facilities shut down through the Year 2000 rollover until 3 January 2000; in the U.S. the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported in July 1999 that 6 of the 8 major fuel cycle facilities in the U.S. will be offline at the rollover. - - 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. ------------------------------ End of abolition-usa-digest V1 #187 *********************************** - To unsubscribe to $LIST, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe $LIST" 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.