KC GlobeNews FEBRUARY 2003 Special Vol.4, No.2

Current events, trends, travel, politics, eco and tech topics.

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CONTENTS
2002 YEAR OF EXTREME NATURAL DISASTERS
JESUS AND THE FDA
REUSING GREETING CARDS
MARINE MAMMAL MASH
THIRD WORLD TRAVELER
FUELING TERRORISM
GREEN PARTY = EVIL
BANANAS FACE EXTINCTION
ONLINE TRAVEL ADVICE

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!!GLOBALERT!!
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2002 YEAR OF EXTREME NATURAL DISASTERS
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2002 was a year of extremes, from record windstorms to severe rain and floods. A result of nature's rage is not only the loss of life but an economic toll adding up to billions of dollars:

* 11,000 people throughout the world were killed;
* The number of natural catastrophes recorded was around 700, above the average for the 1990s, which is 650;
* There were 70 loss-producing earthquakes, generating losses of around $1 billion. The most severe occurred in Afghanistan;
* Windstorms and floods top the list for most costly natural catastrophes, dominating insurance industry claims.

The outstanding natural hazard of 2002 was major flooding on the Danube, Elbe, Moldova, and tributaries. The worst flooding in Europe for centuries.

What's in store for the future?

Buildings and infrastructure are usually not designed to cope with extreme weather. Extreme wind speeds and precipitation are being exceeded with increasing frequency.

2002 was, along with 1998, the warmest year since temperature readings began - evidence of the unbroken trend of global warming.

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JESUS AND THE FDA
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A battle is raging over the US government plan to appoint a scantily credentialed doctor to head an influential Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel on women's health policy.

Dr. W. David Hager is an OB/GYN who describes himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women.

Dr Hager's writings include "Stress and the Woman's Body," which puts "an emphasis on the restorative power of Jesus Christ in one's life" and recommends specific Scripture readings and prayers for such ailments as headaches and PMS. He also wrote a book titled "As Jesus Cared for Women: Restoring Women Then and Now".

FDA senior associate commissioner Linda Arey Skladany, a former drug-industry lobbyist with longstanding ties to the Bush family, chose him for the post.

Read the article in TIME Magazine:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,361521,00.html

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THE GOOD NEWS
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REUSING GREETING CARDS
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Do you still have your Christmas cards hanging on the wall? I know I do!

Would you like to do something useful with your holiday greeting cards?

Don't throw them away! They can be recycled and re-used through:

Saint Jude's Ranch for Children
100 Saint Jude St.
Boulder City, Nevada
89005

Details at their website:
http://stjudesranch.org/

MARINE MAMMAL MASH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nestled in the lush hills of the Marin Headlands only minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge is a hospital for ocean mammals. It's a kind of volunteer MASH unit for sea lions, seals, whales and dolphins.

Injured and stranded animals found along the central California coastline are captured and brought to the center for rehabilitation. Specifically the Center cares for local pinnipeds (sea lions, elephant seals and harbor seals) and cetaceans (dolphins, porpoises and whales).

The animals are treated and housed in large outdoor cages with fiberglass pools containing unheated freshwater (they would be too hot in warm water or indoors). Half of the animals brought to the Center are healed and released back into the wild.

The Center has 800 active volunteers and 40 paid staff members. Funding is provided by memberships and contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations.

Bay Area residents who volunteer will meet plenty of other folks who are concerned for wildlife and our ocean environment.

If you're a San Francisco tourist plan on a visit. Public visitation is from 10 am to 4 pm daily and it's FREE! Group tours can also be arranged.

The Marine Mammal Center
http://www.tmmc.org/

 

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GLOBESITES
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THIRD WORLD TRAVELER
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Although the name is not entirely fitting, and the layout is functional at best, the THIRD WORLD TRAVELER site has a fascinating wealth of unusual eye opening political information... and it even has third world travel tips. Prepare to be challenged!

Third World Traveler
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/

 

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GlobeNews
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FUELING TERRORISM
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Americans are the architects of their own "tar baby" embroilment with Islamic terrorists over its growing need for oil.

The more the United States reaches for import oil and fight for it, the more the U.S. is fostering growing terrorism.

Over the past 30 years the U.S. has ignored the call to achieve energy efficiency and ignored the call to move in a big way to renewable energy sources that are domestic and diverse. The U.S. refuses to lower it energy transportation consumption, characterized by lack of controls over the growing use of gas-guzzling vehicles.

The U.S. has built poor energy policies, including Cheney's latest irresponsible "National Energy Policy." These policies, built on oil, have resulted in resource wars and deaths that weren't necessary.

The U.S. appetite for imported oil has grown from two per cent in 1940 in 1950 to 53 percent in 2001. The U.S. accounts for about 25 per cent of global oil consumption but has only 3 per cent of the proven global oil reserves. The United States consumes about 19.4 million barrels of oil per day, of which it imports 10 million barrels per day.

In the 1970's, the American environmentalist Amory Lovins, and Canadian environmentalist Dr. David Brooks provided advice and wrote reports for governments on the need to get off of imported oil - for energy security reasons. Their advice, based on taking "a soft energy path," was to:

* stop energy wastage and redirect the saved energy to other users
* develop alternative energy and fuel sources to take the pressure off the need for oil
* develop multiple North American-based energy sources that would provide a
diverse, resilient and secure energy supply
* reduce U.S. oil dependency on outside sources to less than 10 per cent

See the Amory and Hunter Lovins' Rocky Mountain Institute website:
http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid306.php .

GREEN PARTY = EVIL
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Art dealer Doug Stuber ran Ralph Nader's Green Party presidential campaign in North Carolina in 2000. In a recent no-fly nightmare he was pulled out of a boarding line and grounded. About to make an important trip to Prague he was told (with ticket in hand) that he was not allowed to fly that day.

Asking "why not?" he was told at Raleigh-Durham airport that because of the sniper attacks, no GREENS were allowed to fly overseas on that day.

The next morning he returned, and instead of paying $670 he was forced into a $2,600 "same day" air fare.

But it's what happened to Stuber during the next 24 hours that is even more disturbing.

Stuber arrived at the airport at 6 AM. His flight wasn't until six hours later. Just before boarding he was approached by police officer Stanley (same policeman who ushered him out of the airport the day before), who said that he "wanted to talk" to him.

Officer Stanley took Stuber into a room and questioned him for an hour. Stanley introduced him to two Secret Service agents. The agents took full eye-open pictures of Stuber with a digital camera. They asked him details about his family, where he lived, who he ever knew, what the Greens are up to...

At one point Stuber asked if they believed Greens were equal to al Qaeda. They showed him a Justice Department document that actually shows the Greens as likely terrorists -- just as likely as al Qaeda members.

Did Doug ever make it on his plane? To find out read the full article here:
http://www.alternet.org/print.html?StoryID=14884

 

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FUTURE IS NOW
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BANANAS FACE EXTINCTION
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The banana hasn't had sex in years and its days may be numbered.

Without scientific help the sterile, seedless fruit could disappear within 10 years.

The fruit lacks the genetic diversity to fight off diseases and pests that are plaguing banana plantations and only biotechnology and genetic manipulation may be able to save it.

Without assistance banana production could drop and mark the beginning of the end of the fruit.

We may even see the extinction of the banana as both a lifesaver for hungry and impoverished Africans and as the most popular product on the world's supermarket shelves.

Source; New Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com

 

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NetTips
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ONLINE TRAVEL ADVICE
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Ready to get out of town but not sure you're properly prepared for your trip?

Try these sites for travel advice!

Travel-Library
http://www.Travel-Library.com
Personal travelogues, trip reports, and worldwide tourist information, including a "Round-The-World Travel Guide"

Airline information on-line on the Internet FAQ
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/travel/air/online-info/
All you need to know about schedules, fares, reservations, and tickets for commercial airlines, and on-line travel agents

Tips4Trips
http://www.tips4trips.com
Over a thousand tips, dozens of categories (e.g. PACKING, LAPTOP COMPUTERS, JUST FOR MEN/WOMEN)

Thanks to all who wrote in! And to everyone else, speak up!

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THE PUNCH LINE
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"The nuclear bomb is the most anti-democratic, anti-national, anti-human, outright evil thing that man has ever made. If you are religious, then remember that this bomb is Man's challenge to god. It's worded quite simply: We have the power to destroy everything that You have created."
Arundhati Roy

"The people of the world genuinely want peace. Some day the leaders of the world are going to have to give in and give it to them."
Dwight Eisenhower