Sorry it took so long to finish my reply - I've really been trying to catch up on my backlog of articles to read! :P
--- Deborah Harrell wrote: > --- Kevin Tarr wrote: > [I wrote] > > <serious mode> > > ...the scare tactics being employed by the current > > administration to erode civil liberties (re: the > > Patriot Act), change health policy, and weaken > > environmental protections concern me. > [Kevin:] > > Okay, we all know about the 'worries' over the > > Patriot act, but what are these scare tacticts to > > "change health policy, and weaken > > environmental protections " ? > > Clarification: The post I was responding to noted > 'the > government and their allies,' which is what I should > have repeated, instead of just saying 'the current > administration.' Sorry about that. > > Health: I posted a response (Mon, Oct 7) to > an article about a fundamentalist doctor who is to > be on the panel in charge of the FDA's policy on > women's health: Hager assisted the Christian Medical > Association last > August in a "citizens' petition" calling upon the > FDA to reverse itself > on RU-486, saying it has endangered the lives and > health of women. [Birth control pills are also > under fire from conservative groups, as 'dangerous.'] > > Birth control pills and legal abortion have killed > far fewer women than pregnancy (I posted CDC and > other data substantiating this in a previous post). > > Environment: http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/erarchive/2001/June/erJune.11/6_11_01firstperson.html >From former President Jimmy Carter (June 2001): "...Some officials are using misinformation and scare tactics to justify such environmental atrocities as drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which I signed in December 1980, approved 100 percent of the offshore areas and 95 percent of the potentially productive oil and mineral areas for exploration or for drilling. We excluded the wildlife refuge, confirming a decision first made by President Dwight Eisenhower, when Alaska became a state in 1959, to set aside this area as a precious natural heritage. "Those who advocate drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to meet current needs are careful to conceal the facts that almost none of the electricity in energy-troubled California is generated from oil." More recently (March 2002), a push for more fuel efficiency was called, which the auto industry opposed: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/07/business/07FUEL.html (login: brinlist/brinlist - thanks, Jeroen!) "Democrats and environmental groups have said that the auto industry made a similar argument when fuel standards were first proposed in the 1970's. ""This is a job creator," Senator Kerry said during a recent news conference, arguing that the standards could push the Big Three to be more competitive with foreign automakers. Toyota and Honda have been more aggressive in pushing innovations like hybrid electric-gasoline engines... But: "The Bush administration has said that the Senate energy bill's fuel economy proposals are one of its flaws. The proposal "would contribute to many thousands of additional passenger fatalities and injuries," according to a statement released by the Office of Management and Budget earlier this week. "A study by the N.H.T.S.A. showed that reducing the weight of vehicles to increase fuel economy could also lead to hundreds of additional fatalities. But a more recent study, sponsored by Honda indicated that such reductions would not increase traffic fatalities and might even lower them." Commentary from GristMagazine (left of center): http://www.gristmagazine.com/daily/daily030702.asp "In a message to congressional leaders, the White House said the fuel-efficiency proposal "would contribute to many thousands of additional passenger fatalities and injuries" by requiring smaller and lighter cars. Supporters of stricter fuel-efficiency standards dismissed the White House statement as fear-mongering, saying that improvements could be made without shrinking vehicle size or imperiling lives." While a number of conservative groups accuse environmental groups of using scare tactics (and of course some of them certainly do!) about global warming, ancient Antarctic ice sheets collapse (March 2002): http://www.agrnews.org/issues/166/environment.html "On its website (www.nsidc.org) the University of Colorado-based center said a major part of the Larsen B ice shelf, believed to have been there for up to 12,000 years, had collapsed over a 35-day period. "On the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula, due south of South America�s Cape Horn, Larsen has been a center of concern for several years and is believed to be suffering the effects of global warming. "The area that collapsed totaled 3,250 square kilometers (1,300 square miles)." Original article: http://www.colorado.edu/PublicRelations/NewsReleases/2002/1683.html In Russia, meanwhile, a glacier collapsed (Sept 2002): http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=1478080 "VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia, Sept 21 (Reuters) - A huge glacier slid down a mountain side in southern Russia, tearing 20 km (12 miles) through rural communities and leaving possibly as many as 100 people dead, emergency officials said on Saturday. An Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman said a massive chunk of ice broke away from the Maili glacier in the Caucasus mountain range on Friday night, sending a towering wall of ice, mud and rocks thundering into the region of North Ossetia..." For those interested in all things cold, this site has news and pix links: http://nsidc.org/index.html Here is a site that attributes global warming to "junk science" (but I don't know if this is a legitimate conservative site or a crackpot one): http://www.humaneventsonline.com/articles/06-10-02/ebell.htm "Climate Action Report 2002 is a disastrous concession to global warming alarmism. All the worst parts are based on junk science concocted by the Clinton-Gore Administration and now recycled by the Bush Administration with qualifying statements added here and there." On a better note, the hole in the ozone is apparently smaller - at least for now: http://pubs.acs.org/cen/today/oct3a.html I Waded Through Rhetoric From Both Ends Maru __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More http://faith.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
