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Sunday, August 03, 2003
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 Wendell Berry writes: THE NEW NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY published by the White House in September 2002, if carried out, would amount to a radical revision of the political character of our nation. Its central and most significant statement is this: While the United States will constantly strive to enlist the support of the international community, we will not hesitate to act alone, if necessary, to exercise our right of self defense by acting preemptively against such terrorists... (p. 6) A democratic citizen must deal here first of all with the question, Who is this "we"? It is not the "we" of the Declaration of Independence, which referred to a small group of signatories bound by the conviction that "governments [derive] their just powers from the consent of the governed." And it is not the "we" of the Constitution, which refers to "the people [my emphasis] of the United States." This "we" of the new strategy can refer only to the president. It is a royal "we". A head of state, preparing to act alone in starting a preemptive war, will need to justify his intention by secret information, and will need to plan in secret and execute his plan without forewarning. The idea of a government acting alone in preemptive war is inherently undemocratic, for it does not require or even permit the president to obtain the consent of the governed. As a policy, this new strategy depends on the acquiescence of a public kept fearful and ignorant, subject to manipulation by the executive power, and on the compliance of an intimidated and office dependent legislature. To the extent that a government is secret, it cannot be democratic or its people free. By this new doctrine, the president alone may start a war against any nation at any time, and with no more forewarning than preceded the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. (08/03/03)
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 In his new book, Frank Ryan, MD takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the history of evolutionary theory in the 19th and 20th centuries. Both hard science and human behaviour are discussed as Ryan explains his wider view of evolution. He gives a plethora of examples, from the union with bacteria that still powers our living cells to the flowering plants that depend on bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds for reproduction; and most startling of all, the retroviruses that live in the human genome and emerge to play their part in every pregnancy. In a book full of scientific wonders, he shows how the Genome of life lies at the heart of all evolutionary change - a force of symbiotic creativity that is far more powerful than conventional Darwinism assumes. This has important ramifications for our understanding of human evolution and for the forces that still underlie and drive human society. With symbiosis introduced as a creative force in the evolutionary equation, Ryan sees human society evolving to a more civilized stage as our genetic hardwiring in favour of cooperation, love and friendship increasingly influences our behaviour. (08/03/03)
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 The New Scientist -- Science and medicine students go on to live longer and healthier lives than those studying other subjects, according to a survey of men attending university between 1948 and 1968. Peter McCarron, at Queens University Belfast, Northern Ireland, and colleagues examined the medical records of nearly 10,000 male graduates of Glasgow University. The researchers found that science, engineering and medical students had a substantially lower risk of mortality than arts students. However, medical students went on to have the largest number of alcohol-related deaths and death from suicide or violent means. They were also the heaviest smokers as students, followed by lawyers. Nonetheless, arts students had greatest risk of contracting lung cancer or a cardiovascular disease. "We speculate that medics changed their social habits after leaving university," McCarron told New Scientist. "They would have had access to the studies which came out around that time and probably realised the benefits of giving up." ... The lower death rates from all causes among the scientists, engineers and medics could reflect social and economic factors, McCarron thinks: "We believe they probably found it easy to gain employment and therefore had more job stability and a better income." (08/03/03)
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 BBC Environment -- Bats, spiders and a rare moth are among the creatures expected to benefit from a UK initiative. The government is setting targets to improve the lot of wildlife living on land which it owns, the Government Estate. This covers 1% of the UK's entire land mass. ... Symbolically, the targets should have an effect in the very heart of Whitehall itself.Treasury Green, part of the Cabinet Office in central London, now has a small pond, home to tadpoles, newts and dragonflies. It boasts bird and bat boxes, and wild flowers to attract a range of insects. An even less promising site a few kilometres away in a traffic-choked part of north London is Holloway prison, a grim fortress opened in 1852. Irredeemably urban, the prison does however have gardens and enclosed courtyards, which are now designed to encourage insects and birds. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says, perhaps a little hopefully: "Staff have recently identified further areas external to the prison that have potential for encouraging more wildlife. (08/03/03)
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 BBC Science -- Scientists say they have produced the first conclusive evidence that the ozone layer is being restored to health. A team of US researchers has found that the rate at which the layer is being destroyed has markedly slowed down. However, they say it will not be completely healed for at least 50 years. They believe the recovery is due to the success of an international ban on damaging chemicals. The scientists analysed data collected over the last 20 years by three satellites and three instruments based on the ground. They found that in the upper stratosphere - where the topmost slice of the ozone layer resides - the rate at which ozone is disappearing has slowed down markedly. "It has been declining at about 8% per decade for a couple of decades, and now it's only about 4% per decade," says the scientist who led the research, Professor Michael Newchurch from the University of Alabama. "We fully expect it to stop declining entirely in the next few years." The recovery is due to the success of one of the first global environmental treaties, the Montreal Protocol. Established in 1987, it banned the chemicals responsible for ozone damage, notably CFCs, used predominantly in aerosols and refrigerators. (08/03/03)
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 CNN Health -- Jolting tumors with a low dose of electricity may make them more susceptible to chemotherapy, Israeli researchers said on Friday. They said they had cured up to 80 percent of laboratory mice of cancer using their low-voltage field, depending on the type of cancer. They hope to begin human tests later this year. "Judging by what we've seen so far, virtually no type of cancer is able to withstand the initial treatment," Yona Keisari of Tel Aviv University said in a statement. ... "What we discovered is a very efficient method to destroy the primary tumor in situ by using a combination of electrostimulation and conventional chemotherapy." He said the electrical charge stimulates the body's immune response. "This response eradicates distant metastases primarily in the lung and the liver," he said. "If one will search carefully the scientific literature, one will find that it is very difficult to cure even mice with established lung metastases." Keisari's team tested mice with a variety of tumors that had spread, including breast, colon, prostate and melanoma. They gave the mice standard chemotherapy agents such as cisplatin, taxol or 5-fluorouracil, then applied a low voltage current. (08/03/03)
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 All the time, every moment of the day, we're in the world and either making it better or making it worse. Because we're all inter-connected, our thoughts spread out and affect everything around us. When we feel bad, we might treat people in an ill-natured or thoughtless way, which can lower their mood, and they might do the same to the next person they meet, and so it carries on. Perhaps, my bad mood could travel through various other minds, fanning out, until it eventually brings one person down enough to cause a family argument, in another country! A theory of physics is called 'The Butterfly Effect". This states that a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world can begin a chain of events in the air around it that causes a hurricane somewhere else on the planet. Like the way an avalanche must begin with a single grain of snow, as just one grain had to be the first. So you see, unhappiness really isn't an option as you're making yourself ill as well as spreading that mood, affecting peoples' actions and thus events. We're like lights that never stop shining and have no limits, but our colours can change so we don't always radiate the best of ourselves. Any time we go through life, we're either spreading disease and despondency - or health and happiness. It's not possible to unattatch the way our minds and bodies are connected, or the way we are linked to other people. One thing you can do to alleviate the precarious position that we are all in is to consciously spread happiness. Once the rest of the methods in this site work, then your mood will improve anyhow. When you find your peace then you can deliberately radiate happiness outwards. Also, making other people happy is curative in itself. Even if it's hard to make yourself happy, making other people happy will distract you from your own mind. (07/31/03)
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 New York Times: Technology -- Yoshiko Takahashi is no environmental activist, but in the last year she has become an ardent fan of the solar panels that generate most of the electricity for her 1,100-square-foot home. Using solar power, which was included with the new house that she and her husband bought a little more than a year ago, has not only cut the family's electricity bill by 17 percent but also made her feel good about helping fight global warming. "We feel our roof panels are contributing to a great cause," she said, her 7-year-old daughter at her side. "And it's better to use the sunshine right above your head than depend on the electric company." Mrs. Takahashi is among 70 families who live in this compact neighborhood, the largest collection of solar-powered homes in Japan. The success of the development is part of the reason Japan has become the world's largest market for solar energy. Indeed, the builder, Hakushin, is constructing another complex, of 87 homes, nearby. Japan is almost completely dependent on imported fuel, which makes its prices for electricity among the highest in the world. In response, the Japanese have worked for a decade to build up their renewable energy resources, and the effort is starting to pay off. Japan now generates half the world's solar power, and the market here for solar technology is expected to grow fivefold, to about $4 billion by the end of the decade, according to the Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association. (07/31/03)
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 New York Times: Environment -- Most of the earth's surface is covered by oceans, and their vastness and biological bounty were long thought to be immune to human influence. But no more. Scientists and marine experts say decades of industrial-scale assaults are taking a heavy toll. More than 70 percent of commercial fish stocks are now considered fully exploited, overfished or collapsed. Sea birds and mammals are endangered. And a growing number of marine species are reaching the precariously low levels where extinction is considered a real possibility. "It's an incipient disaster," said Richard Ellis, author of "The Empty Ocean." A rush of recent studies, reports, books and conferences have described the situation as a crisis and urged governments and the industry to enact substantial changes. Behind the assault, experts say, are steady advances in technology, national subsidies to fishing fleets and booming markets for seafood. Demand is up partly because fish is considered healthier to eat than chicken and red meat. Directed by precise sonar and navigation gear, more than 23,000 fishing vessels of over 100 tons and several million small ones are scouring the sea with trawls that sweep up bottom fish and shrimp; setting miles of lines and hooks baited for tuna, swordfish and other big predators; and deploying other gear in a hunt for seafood in ever deeper, more distant waters. Flash freezers allow them to preserve their catch so they can sweep waters right to the fringes of Antarctica. The trade is so global that an 80-year-old Patagonian toothfish hooked south of Australia can end up served by its more market-friendly name, Chilean sea bass, in a San Francisco bistro. (07/31/03)
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 BBC Environment -- Europe is aflame, with little prospect of any imminent change in the weather to cool it off. Four people have died in forest fires in France, and firefighters across the continent are fully stretched. The forecast for Rome and Lisbon is 37C, for Athens 33C, and no respite is in sight. For Europe's farmers, totally dependent on the weather, the outlook is dire, and remedies are few. ... Jean-Michel Delmas works for a trades union representing French farmers. He told BBC News Online: "The situation is very serious, especially in the centre of France around the Massif Central. It's cattle country, but there's been no rain since March, and the grass is burnt brown. The farmers have nothing to give the beasts unless they bring feed in from Paris. It's bad in the north-east of the country as well. But horticulture, fruit and arable crops are not so badly off - there's water for them. The drought is completely unexpected. Every month the farmers have been hoping for more rain, but getting less." Mauro Pinelli who works for an Italian farmers' organisation told BBC News Online: "Nobody expected anything like this, even with the prospect of climate change. We've never had this kind of drought in 50 years."A cross-Europe farmers' organisation based in Brussels, Copa-Cogeca, says the drought has had "truly catastrophic consequences" for farmers in Italy, Germany, Austria, Spain, France and Portugal, and in some of the countries preparing to join the EU. (07/31/03)
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11:24:10 PM 
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© TrustMark
2003
Timothy Wilken.
Last update:
9/1/2003; 1:44:53 AM.
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