KC GlobeNews SEPTEMBER 2002 Government Special Vol.3, No.9 Current events, trends, travel, politics, eco and tech topics. Add global citizens to our mailing list - send email to: globenews-@-kahl.net CONTENTS US GOVERNMENT HIRES TABLOID TV SHOW SHEA NOT GUILTY LANDMARK AUTO EMISSIONS LAW HOW MANY STAMPS DO I NEED... TRUST THE PRESIDIO TRUST? TELEPORT ME UP SCOTTY GLOBAL STATISTICS CLONING AND THE RAELIAN REVOLUTION ============ !!GLOBALERT!! ============ US GOVERNMENT HIRES TABLOID TV SHOW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Is the merger of tabloid TV with the federal snooping operation funny or scary or both? Ever hear of Operation TIPS? This is US Attorney General John Ashcroft's new citizen spy army. Ever hear of "America's Most Wanted" features reenactments of unsolved crimes and asks the public to phone in leads and tips. The Department of Justice is forwarding incoming Operation TIPS calls to the Fox-owned "America's Most Wanted" television series. "This is like retaining Arthur Andersen to do all of the SEC's accounting," said Rachel King, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "It's a completely inappropriate and frightening intermingling of government power and the private sector. What's next - the government hires Candid Camera to do its video surveillance?" Read the article in Salon: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/08/06/tips/index_np.html Operation TIPS: http://www.citizencorps.gov/tips.html America's Most Wanted: http://www2.amw.com/amw.html SHEA NOT GUILTY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The arrest of author Michael Allen Shea for attempted kidnapping of a boy has generated a great deal of press. Michael is a family member and a client of mine. I have known and respected him for many years. His arrest has come as a serious shock to his family and people that know him. In fact this arrest of an innocent man is such a story of gross injustice that it will leave you in utter disbelief. Michael Shea is not guilty of this crime. If you read about his ordeal you too will quickly be convinced. The sad fact is that such a thing could happen to anyone. It all started when Michael was out jogging near a park where a crime was committed. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Please visit Michael's website for more details. Fighting to prove his innocence has become an immensely expensive task for Michael's family. Anyone interested in helping Michael Shea with his legal defense may contact him at: Shea P. O. Box 1058 Healdsburg, CA 95448 Donations via credit card and check are also accepted at his website. http://www.michaelsheaauthor.com ============== THE GOOD NEWS ============== LANDMARK AUTO EMISSIONS LAW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ California Gov. Gray Davis signed a landmark bill making the state the first in the USA to regulate vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. The legislation has been opposed by the auto industry. It requires the California Air Resources Board to adopt regulations to achieve "the maximum feasible reduction" of greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide. These are emitted by cars and light-duty trucks, the category that includes SUVs. The regulations would take effect in 2006. The law gives automakers until 2009 to come up with modifications to comply with the standards. The bill, AB 1493, makes no mention of fuel economy. It doesn't even contain the word ``gasoline.'' Yet the only way to significantly reduce gases such as CO2 from vehicles is to burn less gasoline per mile. With 35 million residents (more than Canada), California buys 10 percent of all new cars in America. Since the 60s the state has set national trends in regulating pollution. California was the first to require catalytic converters, unleaded gasoline, smog checks and hybrid-electric cars. All were eventually copied by other states, Congress or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, usually after battles with the auto industry. If other states copy California's law, as expected, that could set off a domino reaction forcing the entire U.S. car fleet to achieve greater gas mileage in the next decade. HOW TO KEEP IN TOUCH ------------------------------- Get great LONG DISTANCE RATES with GLOBALCOM great calling services. Look at these sample RATES from ANY phone in the USA: * 5.5¢ per minute USA, Canada, UK, Hong Kong * 6¢ per minute Belgium, Germany, China * 14.5¢ per minute Philippines * Works worldwide (via web enabled CALLBACK)! * No Monthly Fees! No Hidden Fees! Go ahead, talk for hours...we know you'll love Click4Prepaid from GLOBALCOM: http://www.kahl.net/global/ ========== GLOBESITES ========== HOW MANY STAMPS DO I NEED... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Never utter these words again! Never stop by the post office just to find out what your letter will cost! OK, but how? First buy yourself a little scale. Then BOOKMARK the proper website! In the USA you can store these USPS websites in your browser for further reference: INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE CALCULATOR: http://ircalc.usps.gov/ DOMESTIC POSTAGE CALCULATOR: http://postcalc.usps.gov/ Look for similar sites in other countries! In Germany click on http://www.deutschepost.de/ and select the "Portokalkulator" ========= GlobeNews ========= TRUST THE PRESIDIO TRUST? Q: What's the difference between a national park and an industrial park? A: Not much, if the US Government has any say about it. There is a growing threat of commercialization to the US national park system. The San Francisco Presidio is a quiet, woody refuge on the edge of the busy city. It was a U.S. military showcase that was decommissioned in 1989. By prior legislation Presidio was to become a national park. But what of the 1000 buildings there, half of them historically or architecturally significant? Who would pay for cleanup of military waste? The Park Service asked for federal help. What emerged was a new quasi-public government corporation, disingenuously named the "Presidio Trust," which was required to be PROFITABLE by the year 2013. If not, the park will be sold off to real estate developers. The Presidio Trust named James Meadows executive director. Meadows' laurels rested on transforming Denver's decommissioned Lowry Air Force Base into an expensive subdivision. Meadows concentrated on converting the old veterans' hospital complex into multi-million dollar commercial use. In 1999, the Trust awarded 63 acres of prime San Francisco real estate to "Star Wars" filmmaker George Lucas for an office park. Meadows resigned in 2001 under a cloud of scandal. Friends and relatives of Meadows had an inside track on renting the best homes in the Presidio, often at bargain rates. He was blamed for mismanaging projects that caused millions of dollars in cost overruns and wasting the $50 million federal loan that was the seed money to get the ball rolling. But the fatal blow may have been an article in San Francisco Magazine that appeared just before his departure. "Trouble in the Presidio" rakes over Meadows' mucky past (lets see, there was bankruptcy, wheeling and dealing with a large Savings and Loans that collapsed, and a partnership with a developer who was convicted in a stock swindle involving Mafia crime families). Care for some more? See below for links to the SF Magazine article. The article in San Francisco Magazine may well have helped push Meadows out the door. Author Tremain, a former editor at Mother Jones, found shocking closet skeletons that no one had found before. He deserves praise for good investigative work -- but at the same time, he deserves criticism for cranking out some really deplorable journalism. There's no question that Meadows has a long list of well-deserved enemies, and that it was critical for their views to be prominent. But this article turns Meadows the Monster into the central story, pumping up his sins. Yes, Meadows borrowed too much money from a failed S&L -- but so did lots of other people that went bankrupt like he did. Yes, a business partner was convicted of a Mafia scheme -- years after his association with Meadows, and no connection was ever made. In their reporting the SF Magazine and the SF Chronicle both ignore the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the lone alternative weekly that dogged the Presidio Trust and Meadows since the beginning. In features like " Anatomy of a Sellout," the Bay Guardian provided excellent breaking news coverage of Presidio Trust developments. But all this aside, what happened in the Presidio after the mainstream exposed Meadows? A month after Meadows' departure -- with a $280,000 golden parachute and contract that prohibits the Trust from holding him responsible for any problems -- the draft version of the Trust's long-term Plan was released. The document was classic Meadows: - It proposed demolishing 565 residential units - It proposed building about the same number of new apartments elsewhere in the park, including tourist housing. - It relied heavily on $6 million annual income from star tenant Lucas. - It proposed $10 million annual funding for undefined "cultural programs" to draw visitors. Nearly 3,000 groups and individuals responded to the draft Plan, with few supporting Meadows' vision and many objecting to the "grandiose scale" of the blueprint. Meanwhile, the Chronicle discovered that Lucas' company wasn't required to submit any of the financial documents that were demanded from other groups competing for Presidio space. Lucas was also the only competitor allowed to remain anonymous until the final bid. No one suggested that Lucas or his company did anything improper, but it certainly adds to the appearance that Meadows played fast and loose with the rules, treating the Presidio as if it were his own private empire. (March 5, 2002). Stay tunes as the Presidio saga continues! San Francisco Magazine articles about the Presidio: http://www.sanfran.com/features/Troubleinthepresidio.html http://www.sanfran.com/archives/Febuary_2002/SF0202insider.html KC WEB SERVICES ----------------------- Kahl Consultants offers WEB SERVICES and HOSTING for small business. * World Class hosting with personal service: * Online Marketing Plans * Website Traffic Analysis Only $60 per quarter or $220 per year (get one month free!) All this and more can be found here: http://www.kahl.net/hosting ============= FUTURE IS NOW ============= TELEPORT ME UP SCOTTY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Look like another small step toward a Star Trek-inspired technology, Australian scientists have successfully "teleported" a laser beam of light from one spot to another in a split second. Australian National University (ANU) physicists successfully disembodied an encoded laser beam in one location and rebuilt it in a different spot about one meter away in the blink of an eye. The laser beam was destroyed during teleporting which is achieved using a process known as quantum entanglement. The idea is if quantum particles like electrons, ions, and atoms have the same properties, they are essentially the same. So if the properties of quantum particles making up an object are reproduced in another particle group, there would be a precise duplication of the object, so only information about the particles' properties need be transmitted, not the particles. There is a close resemblance between what was achieved here and the technology of "bio-transport" which the Star Trek series postulates will be nearly commonplace in 150 years. Although the process perfected Down Under can only teleport photons, the process, called "quantum teleportation," will soon be used on solid matter. "My prediction is...it will probably be done by someone in the next three to five years, that is the teleportation of a single atom," said the project leader. The hitch is, humans are made up of zillions of atoms -- a number quantified by a one with 27 zeros --1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms. The most immediate application of this breakthrough will be a new generation of super-fast "quantum computers" and other methods of encrypting information. Physicists think quantum computers could outperform classical computers with enormous memory and the ability to solve problems millions of times faster. ====== NetTips ====== GLOBAL STATISTICS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Question: What's the metropolis with the largest population? Answer: Tokyo! Followed by Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Mumbai, and New York. Question: What company has the highest market value? Answer: GE! Followed by Microsoft, Exxon and Wal-Mart How do I know all this stuff? Easy, I researched some global statistics at the GEO HIVE website! Geo Hive: http://www.geohive.com/ Thanks to all who wrote in their comments. Send us your questions for the next edition of GlobeNews. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GlobeNews by Kahl Consultants Visit us: http://www.kahl.net Email GlobeNews: globenews-@-kahl.net SUBSCRIBE: subglobenews-@-kahl.net Unsubscribe: unsubglobenews-@-kahl.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PLUG ======== How has your small business or organization been performing lately? Are you happy with your work? Let Kahl Consultants help you. Technology. Use it appropriately. Put it in our hands. If you got this far you obviously enjoyed GlobeNews. Pass it on! Please forward it to a handful of your friends. Remember, the best things in life are free. THE PUNCH LINE ============== CLONING AND THE RAELIAN REVOLUTION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cloning machines go on sale on the web! Read all about it: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/26356.html Or go straight to the source: CLONAID http://www.clonaid.com/ Better yet visit the guy behind this amazing product! Rael leads the Raelian Movement, an international religious organization. They claim life on Earth was created through genetic engineering by extraterrestrials. Check out their flash animations! THE RAELIAN REVOLUTION http://www.rael.org