Mercury Lawsuits.
10 states suing over mercury regulations
Tuesday, April 12, 2005 Posted: 1:34 PM EDT (1734 GMT)
Mercury information:
Forms of mercury: Mercury is a naturally occurring element that is found in air, water and soil.
Sources of mercury: Mercury is an element in the earth's crust. Humans cannot create or destroy mercury. Pure mercury is a liquid metal, sometimes referred to as quicksilver. It has traditionally been used to make products like thermometers, switches, and some light bulbs.
Exposure to mercury: Mercury in the air eventually settles into water or onto land where it can be washed into water. Once deposited, certain microorganisms can change it into methylmercury, a highly toxic form that builds up in fish, shellfish and animals that eat fish. Fish and shellfish are the main sources of methylmercury exposure to humans.
Health effects of mercury: Exposure at high levels can harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, and immune system of people of all ages. Research shows that most people's fish consumption does not cause a health concern. However, it has been demonstrated that high levels of methylmercury in the bloodstream of unborn babies and young children may harm the developing nervous system, making the child less able to think and learn.
Source: EPA
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) -- Wisconsin has joined a list of states suing the federal government's environmental policies, challenging new regulations they say fail to protect children and expectant mothers from dangers posed by mercury emissions.
In announcing his approval of the lawsuit, Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday the Bush administration has cowed to big business with new guidelines for power plant emissions that could allow 19 states to increase mercury emissions in the next five years by setting caps that are higher than current levels.
The New Jersey attorney general's office is taking the lead on the lawsuit. The eight other states involved are California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.
The Sierra Club applauded Wisconsin for being the first Midwest state to sue. "We hope Governor Doyle takes this opportunity to help call on other Great Lakes and Midwest states to join Wisconsin," said Eric Uram, the club's regional representative.
Mercury settles in waterways and accumulates in fish. In people who eat those fish, the toxic metal can cause neurological and developmental problems, particularly in fetuses and children.
The suit criticizes the EPA for exempting power plants from having to install the strictest emissions control technology available. That technology would cut mercury pollution by 90 percent, according to the New Jersey attorney general's office.
The EPA issued a brief statement saying it "is confident in the legal foundation of the rule-making and plans to vigorously defend the rule." When the bulk of the states sued last month EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said the government has already taken steps to control mercury emissions from other sources and that the rules represent a new set of controls on "our last significant source of mercury."
Wisconsin has some of the toughest mercury laws in the country, requiring all power plants to cut emissions by 40 percent by 2010 and by 75 percent by 2015. The Environmental Protection Agency rules aim to cut mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants by nearly half within 15 years.
"We're showing that we can have high environmental standards while using progressive, economically viable technology," Doyle, a Democrat, said at a news conference along the shore of Lake Michigan.
He was flanked by several environmentalists holding signs, including one that said "No more mercury in my lake."
In Wisconsin, 90 percent of the lakes and streams have high levels of the toxin and every lake and stream in the state is under a fish consumption advisory. Still, people eat more fish than the national average.
The governor said mercury pollution seriously threatens Wisconsin's sport fishing industry, which employs 30,000 people, as well as women of childbearing age, pregnant women and young children. (A CNN Report.)
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Applause. Mike, Junior. Where is the truth?
High School Student's Sting Operation Busts Two Army Recruiters;
David McSwane "wanted to see how far the Army would go during a war to get one more solider"
How Far Will The Army Go?
How far will U.S. Army recruiters go to bring young men and women into their ranks? An Arvada West High School senior recently decided to find out. The following is CBS4 Investigator Rick Sallinger's report.
ARVADA, Colo. (CBS4) -- Last month the U.S. Army failed to meet its goal of 6,800 new troops.
Aware of this trend, David McSwane, a local high school student, decided he wanted to find out to what extent some recruiters would go to sign up soldiers who were not up to grade.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2440
Click Here for Video
Full Interview With Lt. Col. Jeffrey Brodeur
(8 Minute Video)
(click here to download quicktime)
Saudi in Oil-Food Scandal
By Niles Lathem / New York Post
April 29, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — A Saudi prince has been linked to shady financial dealings in the United Nations' oil-for-food program, according to new evidence disclosed yesterday by a congressional committee.
Documents, including a Pentagon audit, found $8 million in overpricing in the sale of agricultural products to Saddam Hussein by a company tied to Prince Bandar bin Mohammed bin Abdulrahm al-Saud.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2445
Cuomo Warns Against Filibuster Changes
NEW YORK (AP) - If Republicans rewrite Senate rules to more easily end filibusters, the country will experience "exactly the kind of 'tyranny of the majority' that James Madison had in mind," former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo said Saturday.
Cuomo, in the Democratic Party's weekly radio address, said Senate Republicans "are threatening to claim ownership of the Supreme Court and other federal courts, hoping to achieve political results on subjects like abortion, stem cells, the environment and civil rights that they cannot get from the proper political bodies."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2447
Bolton's Nomination Is Questioned by Another Powell Aide
By Douglas Jehl / New York Times
WASHINGTON, April 29 - A fourth senior member of Colin L. Powell's team at the State Department expressed strong reservations on Friday about the nomination of John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2448
A Democrat on Bush's Social Security Team
By Eduardo Porter / New York Times
The intellectual force behind President Bush's plan to overhaul Social Security, the man the president calls his favorite "Democrat economist," is not an economist. He is Robert C. Pozen, a lawyer and mutual fund executive who serves as chairman of MFS Investment Management in Boston.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2449
It sounds right. It is just another way of selling the right to go into debt by another $2 trillion. After all Wolfowitz waits in the wings with the moolah.
Social Security and 'Progressive Indexing'
All Things Considered, April 29, 2005 · Robert Siegel talks about President Bush's proposed changes to Social Security with Robert Pozen, chairman of MFS Investment Management. Pozen has pitched the idea of progressive indexing to the White House. The proposal calls for cutting benefits for upper-income earners.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4625302
Lawyer Who Told of U.S. Abuses at Afghan Bases Loses U.N. Post
By Warren Hoge / New York Times
UNITED NATIONS, April 29 - A United Nations human rights monitor who accused American military forces and civilian contractors last week of abusing and torturing prisoners in Afghanistan has been told his job is over.
M. Cherif Bassiouni, a professor of law at DePaul University in Chicago who was the human rights commission's independent expert for Afghanistan, said Friday that he had received an e-mail message from a commission official in Geneva a week ago telling him his mandate had expired.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2450
The Price Egypt pays for friendship to Israel.
Two Israelis hurt as wave of terror strikes Cairo
By Yoav Stern and Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondents, and News Agencies
Nine people, including two Israelis, were injured Saturday in Cairo during a double terror attack carried out by a suicide bomber, his fiancee, and his sister.
Ihab Yousri Yassin, who was linked by security forces to the last terror attack in Cairo three weeks ago, blew himself up near the Egyptian Museum in the city center, wounding seven people. In another section of Cairo, the two women shot at a tour bus, within two hours of the first attack.
The second strike on tourists in less than a month appears to signal the revival of violence aimed at Egypt's most vital industry.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/570569.html
Analysis : Cairo fears an organized hand
By Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz Correspondent
Cairo's streets are crowded with policemen, soldiers and intelligence agents just now. They are charged with blocking the spread of opposition demonstrations and forming chains to confine protests to restricted areas.
But on Saturday, terrorists managed to carry out two attacks in broad daylight in the very heart of Cairo, near the museum and hotels, where security forces abound and guests are examined.
Interior Minister Habib Ibrahim el-Adli, who is also in charge of public security, promised that the attack three weeks ago in the Khan al-Khalili bazaar, Cairo's major tourist attraction, was an isolated incident, carried out by a lone terrorist or an isolated cell. There are no terrorist networks in Egypt, he said soothingly.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/570635.html
Patriarch allegedly sold J'lem land to win state's approval
By Danny Rubinstein
The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem sold properties inside the Jaffa Gate to a Jewish company to prove to Israel that he does not sympathize with Palestinians and the PLO, Nikos Papadimas, the former financial manager of the patriarchate, told Haaretz on Saturday. Papadimas, who signed the deal in the name of the Patriarch Irineos I, has fled Israel to an unknown destination. Irineos has accused him of embezzling patriarchy funds.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/570636.html
The Miami Herald
Beachings put focus on sonar
A Keys dolphin stranding has yet to be linked to a submarine's sonar use, but has raised fresh questions about the potential impact of the technology on marine mammals.
BY JENNIFER BABSON
jbabson@herald.com
KEY WEST - When more than 70 dolphins beached themselves in the Middle Keys last month, leaving well over half of them dead, there was one immediate suspect: a U.S. Navy submarine conducting exercises off the Keys in the days before the marine mammals came to shore.
...Nearly two months later, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration investigators are still conducting tests that may show whether submarine sonar was responsible. And a few biologists who necropsied some of the animals observed heart and lung problems in the dead dolphins that may not be indicative of harm from sonar.
...''I think many scientists are becoming increasingly concerned with this coincidence of stranding in time and space with the use of naval sonars,'' said Andrew J. Read, a Duke University professor considered a leading expert on the subject of sonar and dolphins. ``This is one of those human activities that is rising to the top of our concerns.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11533032.htm
Official says Bolton flouted travel rules
BARRY SCHWEID
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - John R. Bolton, the embattled nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, regularly tried to set up meetings abroad with Russian, British and French officials without notifying the U.S. Embassy or the State Department, the outgoing head of the department's European bureau said.
On each occasion, Bolton ultimately received permission to hold the meetings before they actually were conducted because State Department officials found out about his plans, A. Elizabeth Jones, assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11527521.htm
Rice seals deal naming new head of the OAS
After his sole rival bowed out, the way is cleared for Chile's socialist interior minister to become the new head of the OAS.
BY PABLO BACHELET
pbachelet@herald.com
SANTIAGO - The Chilean candidate to head the Organization of American States all but won Friday after his U.S.-backed rival withdrew in a deal that saw the Chilean echo Washington calls for support of democracy throughout Latin America, including Cuba and Venezuela.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11528595.htm
Rice courts leaders in bid to boost OAS
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is seeking to give the OAS a higher profile and greater influence, and is building ties with South American leaders in a bid for support.
BY PABLO BACHELET
pbachelet@herald.com
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is hoping to forge a new alliance with leftist Latin American governments that would strengthen the Organization of American States ability to support democracy in the region, U.S. officials say.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11534992.htm
Withdraw U.S. troops
BY MEDEA BENJAMIN
www.globalexchange.org
Two years have passed since President Bush stood atop an aircraft carrier (May 1, 2003) and announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq. Since that ''mission accomplished'' photo-op, more than 1,400 U.S. troops and thousands of Iraqi civilians have died. And just recently, the Pentagon acknowledged that insurgent attacks have again increased to last year's levels of some 400 attacks per week.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11528636.htm
Slave descendants link freedom to S. Florida
The people of a tiny Bahamian village have a surprising tie to Florida and a little-known branch of the Underground Railroad that served as a gateway to freedom.
BY AMY DRISCOLL
adriscoll@herald.com
ANDROS ISLAND, Bahamas - The fugitives gathered in secret on Key Biscayne, lured by word of freedom beyond the horizon. Some had traveled for months, hiding in swamps and glades until they reached the meeting place: Cape Florida, gateway to freedom.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11533046.htm
Hope for a vanishing bird and ecosystem
Below are excerpts from http://birds.cornell.edu/ ivory -- a Cornell Lab of Ornithology website. The lab led a successful effort to confirm sighting of the ivory-billed woodpecker, which was announced Thursday.
''It's impossible to describe the emotional sense that one gets when one imagines that the ivory-billed woodpecker is actually still here,'' said John Fitzpatrick, director of Cornell Lab of Ornithology. ``We've all dreamed and fantasized about it. I have actually played the game of looking in the forests for months at a time, but I never had a sense that there was really that much hope, I've just had this fantasy.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11528629.htm
The threat of the far right
The executive branch is using Senate President Bill Frist and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to lead the charge of partisanship disagreements with the other side in reference to judicial appointments. At the same time, they themselves claim a line in the sand about their own right to do whatever they want without check and balance in the case of John Bolton's nomination to be U.N. ambassador.
These Washington old hands who have made a living pretending to be outsiders in the Beltway are now telling us something we have known for a long time: They are doing their best to make this a country ruled by men and not by law. Hypocrisy rules the day.
Morality has never been more endangered than during these times, and the deepest danger it has ever encountered is now coming from extremists on the right.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11528631.htm
Filibuster a hedge against majority stampede
OUR OPINION: COMPROMISE IS THE BEST WAY TO GET THINGS DONE IN CONGRESS
For a brief moment last week it seemed that a compromise might be possible in the U.S. Senate to avert a nasty fight over the use of filibusters to block a vote on judicial candidates. It's been a custom in the Senate for nearly 200 years for the minority party to invoke filibusters and other anti-majority tactics, particularly when the other party controlled both the Senate and the presidency, which is the situation today. Although these practices commonly frustrate the majority, they have generally served the nation well as part of the system of checks and balances designed to protect the minority and promote compromise and consultation.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11524652.htm
COURT APPOINTMENTS BY THE NUMBERS
• SENATE ACTION: 208 of 218 of President Bush's trial and appellate court judicial nominees confirmed. Of the total, 48 were appeals-court nominees, of which 10 were blocked by Democrats.
• APPELLATE JUDGES: 94 of 162 active court of appeals judges, 58 percent, appointed by Republican presidents.
• CIRCUITS: 10 of 13 federal appeals courts have a majority of GOP appointees.
• SUPREME COURT: Seven of nine justices appointed by Republican presidents.
• TENURE: Average tenure of a federal court judge is approximately 24 years.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11524649.htm
The New Zealand Herald
The United Nations Inspectors didn't have a chance.
UK document leak shows early plan to topple Saddam
02.05.05
US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were determined to topple Saddam Hussein at least nine months before they launched the war in Iraq, British documents leaked in a UK Sunday newspaper say.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10123308
Tabloids endorse Blair
Tony Blair on the campaign trail in Shipley, northern England. Picture / Reuters
01.05.05 1.00pm
LONDON - Britain's biggest selling weekly, the tabloid News of the World, has joined its sister paper the Sun in backing Labour to win Thursday's election.
Like the Sun, the down-market but influential News of the World gave a lukewarm endorsement to the Government, saying it was backing Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour party "not without some apprehension".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10123206
Blair's 10-day rush to war with Iraq haunts him still
Tony Blair
01.05.05
The document bore a single-word heading above the lion and unicorn crest of the British crown: "Secret".
War on Iraq was imminent. The United States and Britain had set a deadline 10 days away - March 17, 2003 - by which time the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had to comply on six key demands. If he did not, then the US would let slip the dogs of war, with Britain at its side.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10123160
Suicide bomber kills 25 in northern Iraq
02.05.05 7.50am
DUBAI - A suicide bomber attacked the headquarters of a Kurdish party in northern Iraq on Sunday, killing around 25 people, satellite television Al Arabiya reported.
The Arabic-language news channel, citing its correspondent, said the attack took place in the town of Tal Afar near Mosul, about 390km north of Baghdad.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10123341
Raids seize men linked to British woman’s death in Iraq
02.05.05
US and Iraqi forces raided a suspected insurgent hideout near Baghdad on Sunday and arrested several people believed linked to the killing of British aid worker Margaret Hassan, police and British officials said.
Iraqi police said the raids happened near the town of Madaen, about 40 km southeast of Baghdad and scene of frequent insurgent violence in recent weeks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10123311
Locusts plague Bangladesh highway, blinding drivers
02.05.05 7.20am
Swarms of locusts blinded drivers, halting traffic along a 40km stretch of a highway linking Dhaka to the southern port of Chittagong, police said on Sunday.
Masses of insects started hitting windscreens around midnight on Saturday, forcing dozens of trucks and buses to stop on the highway for up to four hours, a Chittagong police officer said.
"They came flying by millions, all on a sudden, apparently from nowhere, causing panic among passengers," the officer said.
The motorists resumed their journey around dawn when the swarm cleared.
- REUTERS
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10123304
Japan's princess Masako makes rare public appearance
Crown Princess Masako and husband Naruhito at the Unicef ceremony in Tokyo yesterday. Picture / Reuters
02.05.05
TOKYO - Japan’s Crown Princess Masako appeared in public yesterday for the first time in months to attend a United Nations Children Fund’s event in Tokyo with her husband.
Masako, who spent more than a year in seclusion with a stress-related illness, was last seen on January 2 briefly greeting New Year well-wishers from a palace balcony.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10123285
The children who have never been to school
01.05.05
by David Fisher
A group of 19 children cut off from civilisation have not been to school for more than a decade - and education authorities seem powerless to do anything about the situation.
Education Minister David Benson Pope yesterday described the case as "extraordinary" and "remarkable", saying he knew of no other like it.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10123179
Radiation levels in Auckland suburb shock expert
01.05.05
by Kirsty Wynn
An independent medical expert has found radiation readings taken near power lines in an Auckland suburb at the centre of a cancer cluster scare are 10 times higher than the levels accepted elsewhere in the world.
Dr Robin Smart has studied the relationship between high voltage lines and health and found evidence of exceedingly high radiation levels in the West Auckland suburb of Massey.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10123176
HIV claim heads to High Court
01.05.05
by Leah Haines
A woman is appealing to the High Court to get ACC compensation for mental injuries she suffered when she found out her lover had HIV.
Her ex-partner was sentenced to nine months in jail for criminal nuisance in 1999 after he kept from her, for nine months, the fact he was HIV positive.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10123173
Death toll rises as Iraq insurgents strike at will
01.05.05 11.30am
By Patrick Cockburn
A wave of violence has engulfed Iraq with bombs killing at least 60 Iraqis and six US soldiers in a wave of attacks following the formation of a new government after three months of wrangling.
The streets of Baghdad were largely empty yesterday morning after 17 bombs had exploded across Iraq the previous day. The attacks show there is apparently no end to the number of suicide bombers willing to die in Iraq.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10123205
UN gives go-ahead for Cambodian Khmer Rouge trials
30.04.05 1.00pm
UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations announced today that legal requirements had been met for trials of surviving Khmer Rouge leaders, nearly three decades after Cambodia’s genocide began.
An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians - around a third of the country’s population - died of starvation, forced labour, disease or execution during the Khmer Rouge "killing fields," from 1975 to 1979.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10123122
US, Italy at odds over killing of Italian in Iraq
30.04.05 1.00pm
WASHINGTON - The United States and Italy have disagreed on the conclusions of a joint investigation into the killing of an Italian agent by US troops in Iraq, further straining ties between the two allies.
US soldiers killed Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari on March 4 when they opened fire on a car heading for Baghdad airport in which he was escorting Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who had just been released by kidnappers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10123121
Pair guilty of throwing black worker to lions
30.04.05
Investigators found little more than a skull, a few bones and a finger last year in the enclosure for rare white lions in the northern Limpopo province, where the murder took place.
The case had sparked outrage in South Africa, where some white farmers are still accused of abusing black farm workers more than a decade after the end of apartheid.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10123047
Taiwan media praise, blast Lien-Hu meeting
Taiwan opposition leader Lien Chan (L) shakes hands with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing yesterday. Picture / Reuters
30.04.05 3.20pm
TAIPEI - Taiwan newspapers were polarised today over opposition leader Lien Chan’s meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, with some praising Lien for improving ties and others accusing him of selling out Taiwan.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=1012313
Yacht rescue has stormy sequel
30.04.05
A legal storm could be brewing in the southern seas after a rescue mission off Stewart Island turned sour this week.
American yachtie Bill Kimball, 71, lost all power on his 18m boat Shady Lady during a storm on Sunday near Muttonbird Island.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10123104
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Some cloud
-22.0
Updated Monday 02 May 8:59AM
Scott Base
Snow
-24.0°
Updated Sunday 01 May 2:59PM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
May 1, 2005
59 °F / 15 °C
Overcast
Humidity:
29%
Dew Point:
27 °F / -3 °C
Wind:
6 mph / 9 km/h from the ESE
Pressure:
30.25 in / 1024 hPa (Steady)
Visibility:
-
UV:
1 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Mostly Cloudy 7000 ft / 2133 m
Overcast 9500 ft / 2895 m
April 30, 2005
57 °F / 14 °C
Partly Cloudy
Humidity:
21%
Dew Point:
18 °F / -8 °C
Wind:
6 mph / 9 km/h from the NNE
Pressure:
30.17 in / 1022 hPa
Visibility:
-
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Few 9500 ft / 2895 m
end
