this week archive op-ed extra about contract




January 6, 2003

Almost lost in the shuffle last month was the 18th anniversary of the 1984 Union Carbide industrial accident in Bhopal, India. A cloud of toxic methyl isocyanate was released from a poorly maintained chemical plant, killing 3,800 people in their sleep while 2700 others suffered full or partial permanent injury. U.S. attorneys representing the victims sued for $50 billion; Union Carbide settled in 1989 for $470 million. Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide in 1986.

To mark the date, a group of 200 women delivered contaminated soil and water samples from Bhopal to Dow's headquarters, imploring the company to clean up the Union Carbide site. Even though a finance director who met with the women promised to consult "higher authorities," Dow later decided to sue the survivor's group for $10,000, claiming the 2-hour demonstration interfered with Dow employees' work.

In New York, activist "impostor" group The Yes Men put up a near-identical version of the Dow Chemical site, prompting Dow to pressure internet operator NTT/Verio to shut down the whole of The Yes Men's ISP, thing.net. Thing.net is also the home of the DKS Show List, RTMark, PS1/MOMA, ArtForum Magazine, the hundreds of others. Although Verio has temporarily reinstated service, in less than 50 days thing.net will be permanently evicted from the internet. If you'd like to help, take a look at https://secure.thing.net/backbone/

If you don't live in Los Angeles, chances are you haven't kept up on the Donovan Jackson brutality case, in which LA's finest beat up on a 16-year-old, slightly retarded black kid. That's understandable, because short-attention spanned Big Media has moved on to covering Gulf War II and Raelian clones. Fortunately for the Newsroom, Jan Geter has been following Jackson's case and presents this eyewitness account of the latest court drama.

I don't want to spend too much time on the Raelian Clones because I agree with Tim Rutten - these nuts don't deserve the media time they've gotten. If the networks realized that the Raelians made their swastika-ish logo look more like a Star of David to woo Israel into giving them their own state (for an alien space-embassy, no less) perhaps their news people wouldn't have tried to make the claim seem plausible in the interest of "fairness." I will say this, also: it seems everyone involved with cloning is a jerk or a freak. (http://www.damoncampagna.com/newsroom/oped/oped_8_16_02.html) The Raelians don't deserve this technology -- if these kids are real they've managed to turn them into a profitable Coney Island freakshow.

Other stuff: WTC fights back, Celebrex users aren't celebrating, can you (nicotine) patch this lung, who dropped the ball, who broke the Xbox, fat is beautiful (and healthy) and diamonds are al-Qaeda's best friend.

DAMON A. CAMPAGNA
Editor-in-chief


Dow Chemicals Accepts Brooms, Contaminated Soil and Water From Bhopal Survivors;
Will Recommend Remediation Measures
Bhopal.net
A Dow employee promises to personally consult "higher authorities" on behalf of Bhopal survivors.
http://www.bhopal.net/18thanniversaryjhadoos.html

How low can Dow go?
Greenpeace
Dow chemical sues protesting survivors of the 1984 Bhopal disaster after they deliver toxic waste from Bhopal to
Dow's headquarters in Bombay.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/news/details?news_id=95504

Cyberspace Artists Paint Themselves Into a Corner
The New York Times
In response to a spoof Dow Chemical Web site by the YesMen, Internet carrier Verio shuts down access to the
art-founded ISP Thing.net for 16 hours, cutting off hundreds of users and Web sites. Thing.net is the online home to magazine ArtForum as well as the infamous RTMark, and faces permanent disconnection.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/arts/design/23ARTS.html?pagewanted=all&position


Dow- A Chemical Company on the Global playground
YesMen
A mirror of the original YesMen Dow Chemical spoof Web site (see above.)
http://www.dowethics.com/r/Homepage/index.html

Cult 'clones' a baby! Read (and read) all about it
The Los Angeles Times
Tim Rutten criticizes the media for giving the Raelian cult claim much more attention than it deserves.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-et-rutten1jan01,0,3075587.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dtechnology

The Raelian Revolution
The international Raelian Web site.
http://www.rael.org/int/english/index.html

Networks Say Former Editor Tried to Sell Clone 'Exclusive'
The New York Times
Michael A. Guillen, the "independent" scientist who will allegedly analyze Clonaid's alleged clone babies,
tried to sell the clone story to major news outlets months ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/05/national/05CLON.html

Driver claims Martians chased him
The Scotsman
A speeding driver claims he was being chased by Martians when be blew through a French roadblock.
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=1812003


Warship to feature trade center steel
AP - Chicago Sun-Times
The Navy plans to use World Trade Center structural steel to forge the bow of a new amphibious assault warship,
the USS New York.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-ship29.html

LPD 17 (SAN ANTONIO CLASS) LANDING PLATFORM DOCK, USA
Naval-technology.com
Overview of the San Antonio program. According to this Web site, the USS New York will be complete by 2012.
http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/lpd17/


Report Says Africans Harbored Al Qaeda
The Washington Post
The Washington Post discovers that al-Qaeda operatives cornered the Sierra Leone diamond market to launder terror money.
Liberia and Burkina Faso facilitated the transaction, harbored the operatives and attempted to procure missile launchers, rocket propelled grenades and assault weapons.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48929-2002Dec28.html


Why we have a ball on New Year's Eve
Toronto Star
The Times Square ball-drop is based on a 19th century maritime method of synchronizing onboard chronometers.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=
1035776066136&call_pageid=968350072197&col=969048863851


MS Foe Backs Xbox Hack Contest
Reuters - Wired
Longtime open-source advocate Michael Robertson offers $200,000 to anyone who can hack Microsoft's Xbox game system and force it to run Linux.
http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,57052,00.html


Celebrex effectiveness called into question
AP - The Globe and Mail
Hong Kong doctors discover that patients using arthritis drug Celebrex have a higher rate of
bleeding ulcers, and don't protect the stomach as effectively as previously thought.
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20021226/wdrug/
Front/homeBN/breakingnews

Cocaine kills brain's 'pleasure' cells
BBC News
Researchers determine that cocaine disrupts the brain's dopamine system, causing permanent damage to the brain's ability to create pleasurable sensations.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2616869.stm

Nicotine the culprit in lung cancer
USA Today
New research indicates nicotine not only causes tobacco addiction but also is an active cause of cancer, suggesting nicotine patches, gum and sprays may pose health risks as well.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-01-01-tobacco-usat_x.htm

The Evil Behind the Axis?
The Los Angeles Times
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the man who gave Pakistan the "Islamic Bomb," also helped North Korea build their nuclear program and is suspected of aiding Iran as well.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-drnuke5jan05,0,7173658.story?coll=la%2Dhome%2Dheadlines

Three-Ring Circus
The New York Times
William Safire suggests the US hesitation to disarm Iraq has given North Korea confidence to come forward with their nuclear program, and that Japan, China, Russia and South Korea to have to be involved in protecting their own region.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/02/opinion/02SAFI.html

M.I.T. Studies Accusations of Lies and Cover-Up of Flaws in Antimissile System
The New York Times
After 20 months of whistle-blowing by tenured physicist Theodore A. Postol, M.I.T finally decides to look
into accusations that its antimissile research is flawed fraudulent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/02/national/02MISS.html


An Arab Israeli pushes Israel's free-speech limit
The Christian Science Monitor
Azmi Bishara, an Arab Israeli and member of the Knesset, is banned from re-election after criticizing obvious economic and social discrimination in Israeli society.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0103/p01s02-wome.html

Israel's Sharon Blasts 'Inexperienced' Rival
Reuters - The New York Times
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon attacks his dove-ish rival, Amram Mitzna, for wanting to return to former PM Ehud Barak's "irresponsible" peace plan after Mitzna pledges to resume peace-talks with the Palestians immediately if elected.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-israel-election.html


In a First, U.S. Puts Limits on California's Thirst
The New York Times
The Department of the Interior puts the brakes on California's growing water needs, highlighting the struggle of western states to wrest monopolies away from agricultural districts to cities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/05/national/05WATE.html

Weighting Game
The New Republic
Paul Campos determines from medical studies there is no evidence that being fat is bad for your health, and notes if the
body-to-mass-index (BMI) is accurate, then George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Michael Jordan are "overweight."
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030113&s=campos011303&c=1