Thursday, December 12, 2002

America announces 'All Options' Open Mike Allen and Barton Gellman write: A Bush administration strategy announced yesterday calls for the preemptive use of military and covert force before an enemy unleashes weapons of mass destruction, and underscores the United States's willingness to retaliate with nuclear weapons for chemical or biological attacks on U.S. soil or against American troops overseas. The strategy introduces a more aggressive approach to combating weapons of mass destruction, and it comes as the nation prepares for a possible war with Iraq. A version of the strategy that was released by the White House said the United States will "respond with overwhelming force," including "all options," to the use of biological, chemical, radiological or nuclear weapons on the nation, its troops or its allies. However, a classified version of the strategy goes even further: It breaks with 50 years of U.S. counterproliferation efforts by authorizing preemptive strikes on states and terrorist groups that are close to acquiring weapons of mass destruction or the long-range missiles capable of delivering them. The policy aims to prevent the transfer of weapons components or to destroy them before they can be assembled. (12/12/02) The Ethical Model Donivan Bessinger, MD writes: The metaethical postulates (statements) are presented as concepts that are important to ethical systems theory. But they are more than a mere list of statements. As a functional description of ethical process, they may also be understood as a dynamic functional model. All of the statements apply to the whole enterprise of making correct decisions. However, some deal with general attitudes and concerns which are especially prominent at the start, or input phase, of the decision process. Others apply especially to the middle or processor phase, while the remainder characterize the result or output phase of the process. Grouping the statements in this way helps illustrate that ethical decision-making is an orderly, systems-oriented process, subject to analysis. It is a process summarized in this unlikely mnemonic, made from the key word in each statement: RND GLO DIRT, or "RouND GLObe of DIRT."  INPUT phase: Proceed in awareness of -- R - Reverence for life N - life Needs D - life Development PROCESS phase: Consider -- G - Global effects L - Local level O - Outcome, probability OUTPUT phase: Result must conserve -- D - Diversity I - Individuality R - Responsibility T - Thought, knowledge (12/12/02) WORD: A (Bucky) Fuller Universe Listen to Amy Edmondson, E. J. Applewhite, Dr. Donald Ingber, Kenneth Snelson, John Cage, and J. Baldwin talk about Buckminster Fuller and Synergetics. (11/12/02) Americans Like the New Hybrid Prius New York Times -- When drivers want to make a statement with their cars, the message typically is about status (BMW), hormones (Mustang), power (Hummer) or speed ( Porsche). But the latest car-as-statement is an unornamented Japanese subcompact driven by people who want to poke a finger in the eye of Saddam Hussein, the oil sheiks and the neighbors who jump into gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles for a drive to the grocery store. The car, the Toyota Prius, is the best seller in a small but soon-to-grow category of vehicles known as hybrids that — by running on a combination of gas and electric power — get as much as twice the mileage of conventional cars. It has attracted a bipartisan coterie of customers who say they consider it the anti-S.U.V., a car that makes both a political and environmental statement without demanding too many trade-offs. Prius owners, predictably enough, include Hollywood celebrities who wear their environmentalist sentiments on their sleeves — actors like Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ted Danson. More surprisingly, the car is being bought by county sheriffs and bank executives intent on doing their part, as tensions escalate in the Mideast, to reduce American oil imports. "We're, hopefully, setting an example for the community," said Robert Crowder, the sheriff of Martin County, Fla., who has bought 15 hybrids for his department. In Marion County, Fla., Wyatt Earp, who besides being a descendant of the Wyatt Earp is a fleet manager for the sheriff's office, has bought four Priuses. "This is a technology that will take us out of our dependence on foreign oil," he said. Ms. Diaz had her latest Prius customized, Hollywood style, with a black paint job and leather seats. "I wanted to do my part," said the actress, who bought her first Prius a couple of months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. (12/12/02) Canadian House of Commons Approves Kyoto Accord New York Times -- The House of Commons voted overwhelmingly to ratify the Kyoto climate change protocol today, but widespread disapproval by powerful provincial governments and business groups has called into question whether the agreement will ever be fully put in place in Canada. Proponents said Canada's ratification was a major step forward for the 1997 treaty. Canada, one of the world's largest producers of carbon dioxide emissions per capita, is one of only a few large polluting countries among about 100 nations to have ratified or moved toward ratification. But as the debate here heated up in recent weeks, the Liberal government compromised on previous commitments to control emissions in an effort to assuage the auto and oil industries and counter a national campaign against the accord financed by the Alberta provincial government. Under Canadian law, the 195-to-77 vote today was not necessary. It takes only a vote by the cabinet to ratify international treaties. That vote, which is expected next week, is considered a formality, because all the cabinet ministers voted in favor of the resolution in the House of Commons. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, who has made the Kyoto accord a centerpiece of his agenda, hoped that approval by the House of Commons, including the votes of the opposition Bloc Québécois and the social democratic New Democratic Party, would signify broad national support. The impact of the vote, however, was reduced by a procedural vote in the House on Monday to shut off debate. Several influential Liberal lawmakers, including former Finance Minister Paul Martin, abstained from the procedural vote. (12/12/02) 6:01:42 AM

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