UPDATES ARCHIVE FOR NOVEMBER 2004
HOME PAGE	Kleiner's Korner Special Edition, November 28, 2004 Dear Readers, Although this website is devoted mostly to "list sites of happenings in the world that do not make the front pages, along with new works from the frontiers of science, humanity's shining star," this writer does include topics of local importance from time to time. Many, many KK readers have written urging me to continue this practice while a few others have written asking me to eliminate these. Although the following news may be of local origin, the issues facing this community are not dissimilar to those you might face in your hometown, hence their inclusion here. If you wish not to read this, please delete. The regular Kleiner's Korner will continue tomorrow filled with the latest knowledge of the week. Thank you. WASHINGTON STATE COUNTY SAYS “NO!” TO ISC’S NASCAR "Negotiations halted yesterday [Nov 22] between local-government officials and a racetrack developer that had planned to build a NASCAR track in Snohomish County. With project costs rising and time running out to propose a financing deal in the next legislative session, Snohomish County executive Aaron Reardon said he and Marysville officials withdrew from the talks yesterday because of concerns that the track would be too big a risk for taxpayers....In addition, he said he asked ISC for a guarantee that the track could attract a coveted Nextel Cup race, and ISC wouldn't give him one,” quoting The Seattle Times. [YES! Some elected official finally stands up for the taxpayers of Washington State and says NO to NASCAR.] link here Here is what the Tacoma (WA.) News Tribune said about the NASCAR situation, including the Yelm site, in their article titled appropriately, "Officials red-flag NASCAR track deal": link here Yelm Finish Line Committee chairwoman Margaret Clapp now says "the ratio of public and private money to bring the project to fruition also doesn't make sense to Thurston County proponents," quoting the Nov. 26th issue of the Nisqually Valley News. [Ed. Note: Oh sure, NOW she says that after Snohomish County officials had strength of character to say NO to ISC on behalf of their fellow citizens. Ms. Clapp received all of the ratio of public/private funding information in her quest to lure a NASCAR track to Yelm earlier this year before her proposal to ISC, and local officials and citizens were provided this information in a public forum by protectyelm.org last summer. Of course, the Nisqually Valley News chose NOT to place this front page, top headline in their online edition, "EDC (Thurston County Economic Development Council) is 'not interested' in NASCAR." HUMMM!] link here "Clapp says she is no longer the ISC supporter she once was. 'Financially, it just doesn't make sense,'" quoting the same NVN article. Lady, you owe your fellow citizens an explanation for your about face! . Reported by the Olympian: "Talk of a speedway brought out hundreds of opponents in Yelm and a group of opponents concerned about noise and traffic congestion was forming in Hawks Prairie before ISC chose Marysville as its preferred site. The proposal generated considerable opposition in Snohomish County from nearby homeowners...If ISC officials approached him with a better financial deal, Yelm Mayor Adam Rivas said he would reconsider proposing a track. But he wasn't expecting that to happen. 'I can't imagine it would be any different for us than it was in Snohomish County,' Rivas said. 'I just don't see too much happening on it.'" link here . This writer wrote a letter to both the Nisqually Valley News and The Olympian and posts same here for the public to view: Dear Editor, NASCAR Postscript: In reading the NVN Thanksgiving Weekend edition, your front page headline "EDC is 'not interested' in NASCAR" should catch the attention of all Yelm area citizens. It certainly caught mine, and my intent in writing is not to reopen old wounds, rather than to highlight your article of city and county leaders who now say a NASCAR track doesn't make sense to Thurston County track proponents, in view of the fact that ISC has stated all Western Washington sites are back on the table, since Snohomish County rejected a track there. This after our lovely little community went through a Summer with its citizens being fractured and divided; one side standing as proponents for the economic benefits to the area, and the other side standing opposed to the tremendous costs, not just in dollars, yet in the environmental toll on this tranquil place. Now clearly all can see that the citizens of this town were ill-served by city and county officials and Finish Line Committee members, who went full steam ahead submitting a proposal for a NASCAR track to be located here. Your November 26th story by Cindy Teizeira quotes Finish Line chairwoman Margaret Clapp saying "Financially, it [NASCAR here] just doesn't make sense." This should serve as a wake-up call to this community about the manner in which this town has been led. Ms. Clapp, Yelm Mayor Adam Rivas, and several business owners were the driving forces behind getting a Yelm site presented to ISC for a NASCAR track, saying they represented the town when indeed they did not because there was no community opportunity for input on their private plans. Unfortunately, most of the debate centered on Letters to the Editor of your newspaper with the proponents of a track outlining the economic benefits to the area coupled with Yelm road improvements. Revealed later was the fact that Yelm road improvement monies for the first phase of work were already earmarked by the State. So the community was divided along lines supporting the economics of such a track and those who saw these suggested benefits coming at a price too high. Now, after Snohomish County officials had the will, strength of character, and moral fiber to say NO to ISC last week about building a track there, one costing taxpayers too much money with no ISC guarantees, Ms. Clapp and the Thurston County Economic Development Council's (EDC) Mike Edwards change their tune and say a track is financially unwise here, since ISC has opened up all possible sites again to review after withdrawing Yelm from consideration previously. Last summer, several members of this community, including this writer, decided to take our dollars elsewhere and not do business with Finish Line Committee members' businesses in an effort to get their attention about these very issues, since the public was omitted from their work. Additionally, students of the Ramtha School of Enlightenment (I am a student of Ramtha's for 19 years) who suggested the costs of a track were too high were made the scapegoat by Mayor Rivas and others for wanting to limit growth here. All we were saying is the costs to the residents/taxpayers was way too high in terms of dollars and the environmental impact. Now Ms. Clapp and the Thurston County EDC agree with the financial part of that stand! All of the information about the minimal ISC investment vs taxpayer funding of this venture was available to the public and presented in an open forum last summer at Yelm High School by the ProtectYelm.org people (a public forum presenting the views of the Finish Line Committee was never permitted). Many writers to your newspaper who supported this track did so chiefly for the economic benefits it would bring. Now the Committee Chair and EDC President-Elect say a track here "financially just doesn't make sense." I say Ms. Clapp and her Finish Line Committee, including the Thurston County EDC, owe the citizens of this area an explanation as to their about face, in view of the fact that they should have had all of this information. If they did not have this knowledge, then they ignored it or steamrolled this community with their proposal without proper "due diligence." ProtectYelm.org did their research and discovered the small ISC investment potential by investigating ISC tracks in Illinois and Kansas, presenting that information to the public and on its website. If Finish Line Committee officials did not get that information prior to their proposal, then they ill-served this town in their lack of preparation, with subsequent support by track proponents of this Committee's views in that case being misguided, at best. Many townsfolk who were proponents of a track, changed their minds after hearing all of the financial details that would burden the public at the ProtectYelm public forum, as reported by your paper. I say to change one's mind is a wonderful thing, however, after dividing this wonderful town all Summer, Ms. Clapp, Mayor Rivas and Mike Edwards now owe us, their fellow citizens, an explanation and an apology. Stephen R. Klein . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2004. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on “Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives” at www.kleinerskorner.com . Kleiner's Korner For Week of November 29, 2004 Follow-up: ""What are the words used by indigenous peoples in the Arctic for "hornet," "robin," "elk," "barn owl" or "salmon?" If you don't know, you’re not alone. Many indigenous languages have no words for legions of new animals, insects and plants advancing north as global warming thaws the polar ice and lets forests creep over tundra...An eight-nation report released earlier this month says the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet and that the North Pole could be ice-free in northern hemisphere summer by 2100, threatening indigenous cultures and perhaps wiping out creatures like polar bears. The report, by 250 scientists and funded by the United States, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, puts most of the blame on a build-up of heat-trapping gases from human use of fossil fuels like coal and oil. Ministers from the eight Arctic countries met in Reykjavik on Wednesday, but were divided on what to do and agreed to a toned down strategy," quoting Reuters. link here "In August and September of this year, three powerful icebreakers transited to the North Pole in search of a climate record stored in sediments below the Arctic Ocean floor. During the spectacular Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX), conducted by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), 340 meters of sediment core were retrieved from the bottom of the Arctic Ocean -- a true “first.” With these sediments in hand, earth scientists for the first time can move away from pure speculation about the climatic evolution of the Arctic over the past ~55 million years," quoting newswise.com. link here 1. YOUR PRIVACY UNDER FULL FRONTAL ASSAULT LAST WEEK "Plenty of retailers collect data about their stores and their shoppers and many use the information to try to improve sales, but Wal-Mart amasses more data about the products it sells and its shoppers' buying habits than any other company, so much so that some privacy advocates worry about potential for abuse." link here Follow-up: "The Transportation Security Administration Monday set a hard deadline of Nov. 23 for U.S. airlines to provide passenger name record data so TSA can test its Secure Flight passenger pre-screening application. Once each of the 72 domestic airlines submits data, including passenger name, reservation date, travel itinerary, and form of payment for domestic flights between June 1 and June 30 of this year, testing is expected to last through the end of January." link here ”New U.S. passports will soon be read remotely at borders around the world, thanks to embedded chips that will broadcast on command an individual's name, address, and digital photo to a computerized reader. The State Department hopes the addition of the chips, which employ radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology, will make passports more secure and harder to forge, according to spokeswoman Kelly Shannon. The reason we are doing this is that it simply makes passports more secure,’ Shannon said. ‘It's yet another layer beyond the security features we currently use to ensure the bearer is the person who was issued the passport originally,’” quoting Wired.com. [Ed. Note: Everything in the name of MORE security? Right – and I am the Easter Bunny!] link here "The Bush administration opposed security measures for new microchip-equipped passports that privacy advocates contended were needed to prevent identity theft, government snooping or a terror attack, according to State Department documents released Friday [Nov. 26]...Frank Moss, deputy assistant secretary of state for passport services, said the United States wants to ensure the safety and security of Americans traveling abroad...He said, however, encrypting the data might make it more difficult for other countries to read the passports," quoting My Way News. link here Clever title of this story says it all “A Chip in Your Shoulder -- Should I get an RFID implant?” link here “It's a project first dreamed up by the military to get information from the battlefield. They call it "Smart Dust" and it may soon make it possible to keep track of anything, anywhere, including you. At Crossbow Technology in Santa Clara, Calif, the next big thing is actually quite small. They are the world's smallest wireless sensors, and at about the size of a wristwatch, they contain a battery powered microphone, an accelerometer, as well as temperature and humidity sensors, according to Sam Godwin, Vice President of Crossbow. Scatter them 250 feet apart and they will form their own wireless network similar to a spider's web. Smart Dust was first designed for the military, enabling troops to crop dust enemy lines with millions of networked wireless sensors too small to see and too numerous to destroy. link here "Hoping to prevent the loss of a child through kidnapping or more innocent circumstances, a few schools have begun monitoring student arrivals and departures using technology similar to that used to track livestock and pallets of retail shipments. Here in a growing middle- and working-class suburb just north of Houston, the effort is undergoing its most ambitious test. The Spring Independent School District is equipping 28,000 students with ID badges containing computer chips that are read when the students get on and off school buses. The information is fed automatically by wireless phone to the police and school administrators," quoting this New York Times story. [Ed. Note: this writer lived in the Spring area in 1984 and finds this disgusting. Next will be childrens' chip implantations!] link here . 2. GRAND CANYON FLOODED TO RESTORE RIVER BEACHES This writer was flying over the Grand Canyon on November 21 as this story was reported, “Scientists flooded the Grand Canyon on Sunday [Nov. 21] to restore beaches and save fish and plants that have been disappearing since sediment-free water began flowing from a man-made dam 40 years ago," quoting the NRDC website. link here . 3. ALZHEIMER'S EPIDEMIC LOOMING ? "In a Gallup poll commissioned by the Alzheimer’s Association, one in three Americans said they knew someone with Alzheimer's and one in 10 said they had a family member with the disease. ‘People understand that Alzheimer’s is a common illness and they’re very concerned about it’ says Dr. Marilyn Albert, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and chair of the Alzheimer’s Association’s medical and scientific council,” quoting this very thorough MSNBC story. link here . 4. WORLD’S OLDEST LIVING MAN PASSES “The world's oldest living man, Fred Hale, Sr., died in his sleep Friday [Nov. 19], while battling pneumonia. He would have celebrated his 114th birthday on Dec. 1. He drew national attention earlier this year for his devotion to the World Champion Boston Red Sox. Hale was recognized by the Gerontology Research Group at the UCLA School of Medicine and the Guinness Book of World Records on March 5, as the oldest living man, when he was 113 years and 95 days old. He succeeded Spain's Joan Riudavets Moll. When told he was the world's oldest man, he reportedly said, ‘I don't believe it. And I ain't going to die just to satisfy them,’” quoting this story from Senior Journal in Medical News Today. link here And, further: link here . 5. SWEDES MAY HAVE CANCER FROM 1986 CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT “More than 800 people in northern Sweden may have cancer as a result of the fallout that spewed over the region after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. The results of the study by Swedish scientists are significantly worse than any previous estimate, and the work has drawn immediate fire from critics who say they doubt its accuracy. The study monitored cancer cases among the more than one-point-one (m) million people in the northern parts of Sweden who were exposed to the radioactive fallout between 1988-1996. The study says that of the 22-thousand-400 cancer cases among the group, 849 can be statistically attributed to Chernobyl. The findings were first published in this month's issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, a science magazine,” reported by the AP. link here And the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health story: link here . 6. AIRLINERS' DRINKING WATER TANKS TO BE TESTED FOR BACTERIA “Drinking water on commercial airliners will be checked more frequently after the Environmental Protection Agency found evidence of harmful bacteria in the water of one of every eight planes tested. Twelve major airlines have agreed to sanitation improvements and increased testing of drinking water aboard aircraft. EPA also said Tuesday [Nov 23] it would conduct random water quality tests on 169 domestic and international passenger aircraft at 14 airports throughout the United States and publish the results by the end of the year, “ quoting UK’s Guardian. [Ed. Note: About time! This was an issue when I was working for an airline back in 1977. When I started flying, I was told by fellow flight attendants never to drink water from airplane spigots even then.] link here . 7. SAFE NUCLEAR FISSION? "The world's only known natural nuclear reactor, which decommissioned itself over two billion years ago, could provide insights into how modern nuclear plants can operate more safely. The site, in Gabon, West Africa, ran for 150 million years without blowing up, and storing its own waste in a safe manner. The reactor was a natural deposit of uranium. Today, and for the last two billion years, natural uranium will not undergo nuclear reactions, because it contains too little of the fissionable isotope, uranium-235 (U235)," quoting e4engineering.com link here . 8. BANKRUPT MAN BUYS LOTTERY TICKET, WINS! CONSCIOUSNESS + ENERGY REALLY DO EQUAL REALITY! “With just 78 cents in his savings account and $44,000 owed to creditors, parking attendant Juan Rodriguez plunked down $1 on a lottery ticket. Good thing he wasn’t pinching pennies: He won the $88.5 million jackpot. link here . 9. STILL OWN A CELL PHONE? ANOTHER REASON TO THINK AGAIN! “Over the past two years federal safety officials have received 83 reports of cell phones exploding or catching fire, usually because of incompatible, faulty, or counterfeit batteries or chargers. Burns to the face, neck, leg, and hip are among the dozens of injury reports the agency has received. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is providing tips for cell phone users to avoid such accidents and has stepped up oversight of the wireless industry. There have been three voluntary battery recalls, and the CPSC is working with companies to create better battery standards, quoting this MSNBC story. link here "Early this month, several Web sites began offering software promising ringtones and screensavers for certain cell phones. But those who downloaded the software found that it turned every icon on their cell phones' screens into a skull-and-crossbones and disabled their phones, so they could no longer send or receive text messages or access contact lists or calendars. Security experts named the malicious software "Skulls" and consider it an early warning of the damage hackers could do as they turn their malevolent talents to cell phones from computers, quoting this Washinhton Post story on MSNBC. link here . 10. PASSENGER FLIGHTS TO MOON PROPOSED "Constellation Services International, a small California space firm founded in late 1998, recently disclosed details of the Lunar Express project to resume human flights to the moon funded by private passengers. Chief executive officer Charles Miller discussed it with MSNBC.com in an interview this month," quoting MSNBC. link here . 11. THE NO-NONSENSE GUIDE TO WATER "Maggie Black explores the many roles water plays in human life and, as the defense of water rights looks set to become an explosive issue, provides a clear overview on the vital issues of distribution, technology, irrigation, land use, and commodification," quoting Seattle's own Amazon.com. link here . 12. NEW TOOLS TO HELP PATIENTS RECLAIM DAMAGED SENSES “Using novel electronic aids, vision can be represented on the skin, tongue, or through the ears. If the sense of touch is gone from one part of the body, it can be routed to an area where touch sensations are intact. Pilots confused by foggy conditions in which the horizon disappears can right their aircraft by monitoring sensations on the tongue or trunk. Surgeons can feel on their tongues the tip of a probe inside a patient's body, enabling precise movements. Sensory substitution is not new. Touch substitutes for vision when people read Braille. By tapping a cane, a blind person perceives a step, a curb, or a puddle of water but is not aware of any sensation in the hand; feeling is experienced at the tip of the cane,” quoting the New York Times. link here . WHAT THE BLEEP – MOVIE NEWS “There's a bit of marketing genius behind the low-budget indie movie "What the Bleep Do We Know?" because: You see the movie. You come out dying to talk about it with friends, but you can't unless they've seen it, so you urge them to go. They repeat the process: seeing, dying, urging. Bleeping brilliant. It's one reason the movie has sold more tickets than any other this year at the Edina Cinema, and why, despite being ignored by Hollywood's honchos, it's being held over for weeks, and even months, in theaters nationwide. But the geniuses forgot one thing: to come up with a way to describe this exceedingly weird movie. You begin with the obvious. It's a movie about quantum physics. Right away, you sense trouble. But there's more,” quoting the Minneapolis Star Tribune. link here See all of the latest Bleep news at: link here . WORLD EVENTS THAT SPEAK VOLUMES Please do NOT read this if you are offended by my listings of current affairs: "The Selective Service System (SSS) and the U.S. Department of Education now are gearing up to compare their computer records, to make sure all men between the ages of 18 and 25 who are required to register for a military draft have done so. The SSS and the Education Department will begin comparing their lists on Jan. 1, 2005, according to a memo authored by Jack Martin, acting Selective Service director. While similar record checks have been done periodically for the past 10 years, Martin’s memo is dated Oct. 28, just a few days before the Nov. 2 presidential election, a hard-fought campaign in which the question of whether the nation might need to reinstate a military draft was raised in debates and on the stump. It took several more days, until Nov. 4, for the document to reach the Federal Register, the official daily publication for rules and notices of federal agencies and organizations," quoting the Brownsville (TX.) Herald. HMMM! [Ed. Note: And this Adminitration keeps saying there are no plans for a draft. Right---and I am the Easter Bunny! Again.] link here "The U.S. dollar hit a new all-time low against the euro Friday [Nov. 26] for the fourth straight day, pushing the European currency above US$1.33 amid markets' concerns about the twin U.S. deficits. The dollar also dipped to a nearly five-year low against the yen, but later regained ground against both currencies after China denied rumors it was selling U.S. Treasury bonds," quoting this AP report. link here And gold continues its rise, breaking 15 year records rising above $450 per ounce on Nov. 26: link here [Ed. Note: Click "30 day gold chart" for an instructive look at gold's rise since USA elections on November 2nd. The non-US world has little hope in debt control with this President's re-election.] On the heels of this section’s stories in last week’s KK comes this article quoting the Boston Herald: "Stephen Roach, the chief economist at investment banking giant Morgan Stanley, has a public reputation for being bearish. But you should hear what he's saying in private. Roach met select groups of fund managers downtown last week, including a group at Fidelity. His prediction: America has no better than a 10 percent chance of avoiding economic Armageddon.'' link here “U.S. consumers had $6.8 trillion in mortgage debt, accounting for nearly three-quarters of their total debt at the end of 2003, according to the latest detailed data from the Federal Reserve.” link here Buy gold and silver coins now, while you still can! . QUOTE OF THE WEEK "It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.” Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) (Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) Soviet Dictator (1938-1953) Changed name from Dzhugashvili to Stalin, which in Russian means "Man of Steel" . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2004. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on “Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives” at www.kleinerskorner.com . . Kleiner's Korner For Week of November 22, 2004 Since so many of you have subscribed to Kleiner's Korner from the What the Bleep Movie link, KK is pleased to announce the European launch of the American film phenomenon "What the Bleep Do We Know?!" Tuesday, December 7th, at 6:30 p.m.[1830hrs] with a Q & A following the showing. Venue is at The Vue West End, Leicester Square Theater, Cranbourne Street in London, England. "Filmmakers William Arntz, Betsy Chasse, and Mark Vicente invite you to view the little movie that is sweeping the scientific, medical, academic, and spiritual atmospheres. Put bluntly, the film is a hybrid documentary about the confluence of leading edge science, quantum physics, molecular biology, neurobiology, etc., with spirituality. Not exactly predictable Hollywood fare," quoting the email to the European community. "A sleeper hit … Moviegoers are enthralled!" - says Time Magazine. "Mind-Bending!" say the Los Angeles Times. RSVP by Novmeber 29th for this showing to: Pavel@capturedlight.biz link here More What The Bleep Movie news below. 1. WORLD'S LARGEST CONSERVATION GATHERING OPENS TO ESCALATING SPECIES EXTINCTION CRISIS "A total of 15,589 species face extinction, reveals the 2004 IUCN [The World Conservation Union] Red List of Threatened Species. One in three amphibians and almost half of all freshwater turtles are threatened, on top of the one in eight birds and one in four mammals known to be in jeopardy. From the mighty shark to the humble frog, the world’s biodiversity is declining at unprecedented rates. Halting the growing extinction crisis will be a major concern for IUCN’s 1,000 plus member organizations attending the 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress, which kicks off in Bangkok today [Nov. 17]," quoting the IUCN News Release. link here . 2. APPLE A DAY REALLY DOES KEEP THE DOCTOR AWAY SAYS STUDY "Antioxidant quercetin fights cell damage, study finds. An apple a day really does keep the doctor away, thanks to strong antioxidants that fight cell damage, U.S. researchers reported...Antioxidants are compounds that counteract the damage done by chemicals known as free radicals -- generated by sunlight, chemical reactions, and the stress of day-to-day living," quoting this Reuters report on MSNBC. link here . 3. LINKS TO HOW SOUTH PACIFIC WAS INHABITED 3,000 YEARS AGO "Staring out from an ancient piece of pottery, the mysterious face of a bearded man has given scientists a unique glimpse of what the first settlers of Fiji may have looked like. Researchers say the 'extraordinary discovery' is a vital clue in mapping out how the South Pacific came to be inhabited some 3,000 years ago, suggesting the first direct link to islands some thousands of kilometres away. Thought to be the work of the Lapita people – a long-lost race which originated near modern-day Taiwan then migrated to Polynesia – the fragment is also at least 200 years older than any other piece found in Fiji. 'This is the first time that a clearly recognisable face design made in three dimensions on a piece of Lapita pottery has been found in Fiji,' said a statement from the University of the South Pacific, based in the archipelago," quoting this Australian Broadcasting Corporation story. link here . 4. EUROPE'S FIRST SUCCESSFUL LUNAR MISSION - WORLD'S FASTEST AIRCRAFT BREAKS SPEED RECORD "A small spacecraft has made it into lunar orbit, signaling Europe’s first successful mission to the moon and paving the way for the craft to be used to study the lunar surface, a European Space Agency spokesman said Tuesday [Nov. 16]. link here Follow-up: "An unmanned experimental jet broke a world record for speed on Tuesday [Nov. 16], cruising over the Pacific Ocean at just under 7,000 mph (11,000 kilometers per hour) in a NASA test of cutting-edge “scramjet” engine technology. The X-43A aircraft flew at a speed of around Mach 9.6 — nearly 10 times the speed of sound — after a booster rocket took it to around 110,000 feet (33.5 kilometers) and then separated," quoting Reuters on MSNBC. link here . 5. US GOVERNMENT CONSIDERS NIXING PRIVATE PASSENGER SPACE FLIGHTS - HMMM! Follow-up: "Just days after SpaceShipOne's prize-winning flight [ link here ] opened the world's eyes to the prospect for private spaceflight, legislation that might have opened the way for paying passengers to get on board has been put on hold — at the urging of space entrepreneurs who were once its biggest supporters," quoting MSNBC.com. link here "Legislation that would have put private-sector suborbital space trips like this summer's historic SpaceShipOne launches on firmer footing is at death's door," according to the House Science Committee. At the last minute, H.R. 3752 [ link here ] is running afoul of a jurisdictional dispute between that committee and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure," further from MSNBC.com. link here "Members of Congress and their aides mounted a hurry-up offense Thursday [Nov 18] to revive a bill that would open the way for suborbital space tourism, but it was not yet clear whether the legislation could be approved in the closing days of the lame-duck session. link here . 6. EPA WAS TO USE POOR KIDS AS GUINEA PIGS IN NEW STUDY ON PESTICIDES? Follow-up on pesticides exposure issue reported here last week: Did you know that the EPA was to use poor children as guinea pigs associated with studies on pesticides effects on children? Neither did I! Fortunately, that has now been suspended until 2005. YIKES! [Ed. Note: What about the President's "No Child Left Behind" Act? Oh, I see! That is only for test scores to show Bush is doing something about education!] Here is the original story: link here Here is the suspension story: link here . 7. NEW USE FOR POLAROID SUNGLASSES "An international team led by an Edinburgh astronomer have discovered that by studying polarised light from black holes they can focus much more closely on what exactly is going on around them. The work is published this week in the monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on November 11th," quoting Science Daily. link here . 8. EVEREST SHOULD BE PUT ON UNESCO DANGER LIST BECAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE "Melting glaciers caused by climate change pose an urgent threat to Mount Everest's unique environment, activists said Wednesday [Nov. 17], launching a campaign to protect the Himalayan mountain range and the world's highest peak," quoting this story on CBS News. link here And, the "Friends of the Earth" Press Release on said subject: link here . 9. POTENTIAL RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCE ANNOUNCED "Researchers at Luca Technologies have made a discovery regarding natural gas production in Wyoming's Powder River Basin that could lead to a renewable source of energy for generations to come. The company today [Nov. 17] announced that laboratory evidence shows that the Powder River Basin (PRB) coals are generating natural gas in real time through the ongoing activity of anaerobic microbes (bacteria that live in the absence of oxygen) resident in those coal fields. The company has termed sites where this microbial conversion of hydrocarbon deposits (coals, organic shales, or oil) to methane occurs 'Geobioreactors,' and believes the careful management of such sites may offer a new long-term solution to U.S. energy needs," quoting Space.com Daily. link here . 10. SURGE IN ATMOSPHERIC CO2 - RISE IN URBAN DWELLERS DEATH RATES DUE TO OZONE "The recent surge in levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which made front-page headlines around the world last month, may have been caused in part by smoldering peat bogs in Borneo. This is the claim of a UK expert on the bogs, who says that further fires will accelerate global warming. 'Burning peat could be a major contributor to the as yet unexplained accelerating build-up of CO-2 in the atmosphere since 1998,' says Jack Rieley of the University of Nottingham in the UK. His warning comes as peat bogs in Indonesia began burning again last month," quoting New Scientist. link here "Deaths rise among urban dwellers immediately following a peak in ground-level ozone, according to researchers who analyzed pollution in 95 cities nationwide. A link between air pollution and death has been quietly growing in the scientific literature, and now in one of the largest studies to date, scientists have found that a short-term spike in ground-level ozone -- a common pollutant -- can increase mortality. The analysis, funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, is reported in today's [Nov. 17] issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association," quoting Newsday. [Ed. Note: Take heed: Buy land in the country and move there. The commute will be worth the trip.] link here . 11. DAILY PLACEBO WORKS BETTER THAN TAKING AN ACTIVE DRUG IRREGULARLY "When it comes to heart disease, it may not be what pill you take but how regularly you take it that is important. The finding controversially implies that so long as patients stick to a daily regime, they would do just as well with a placebo," quoting Nature. HMMM! link here . 12. SUPPORT YOUR HOMETOWN BY BUYING FROM YOUR SMALLER BUSINESSES THIS HOLIDAY - HAPPY THANKSGIVING! This writer is a strong advocate for our local businesses, no matter what town in which I have lived. These owners and employees have invested their lives and heart into their respective communities through their hard work buying, supplying their hometown with the best in products and services. Yelm is no exception and many of our local internet companies and retail establishments have asked to be listed on the Kleiner's Korner links page: link here The Masters' Connection Business Directory provides a wonderful list of local services and products, many unique to this area. Won't you consider supporting our hometown folk when making your holiday gift lists this year? link here Additionally, I invite each of you to check-out JZ Knight's fabulous online store of a Magical Christmas at The Outback Boutique. This is as close as computers can get to standing in front of the windows at Herald Square or your hometown store filled with surprises for all! Turn up your volume. link here . WHAT THE BLEEP - THE MOVIE NEWS "On November 27/28 Dr. Masaru Emoto (The Messages from Water) will be hosting the Peace/Water Festival in Tokyo, Japan. What the BLEEP Do We Know!? has been subtitled in Japanese for a special screening at the festival. Filmmaker William Arntz has been invited to attend the festival [Will will attend] and give a presentation before the screening. There will also be a press conference with regard to the film along with meetings with Japanese distributors," quoting the Bleep site: link here Follow-up: Regarding the KK story of November 8th about worldwide drinking water supply issues, Dr. Emoto has written extensively about consciousness's effect on water molecules: link here With reference to Dr. Emoto's research, we have seen the change in water crystal structure of dirty, polluted water from a simple intent or prayer being projected into the water. Here is a link to a website where people can refer visually to the pictures of the polluted water before and after the intention/prayer/blessing (when there certainly appears to be no more pollution, according to the beauty of the crystal after the blessing). link here . OF LOCAL NOTE: The Yelm Prairie Arts Association has asked that their work be shared with all of you. This is such a worthy endeavor for our area, as this is another vehicle highlighting the talent in this community. They are a nonprofit group that raises funds to support art groups and education in Yelm and surrounding areas. They have a fabulous website well worth the visit. link here Coupled with this is the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Drew Harvey Theater, of which the Kleins have been staunch supporters for many years. Theater Director and artistic creator Nancy Tribush Hillman has developed a jewel in Yelm's cap with our local citizens getting to hone their communication skills in front of audiences while delighting their patrons from all over South Puget Sound with their acting talents. [Ed. Note: Ask most anyone their greatest fear besides death and they will say speaking in front of a group. The actors at Drew Harvey, our local townsfolk, have worked to move beyond that fear!] link here . WORLD EVENTS THAT SPEAK VOLUMES Please do NOT read this if you are offended by my listings of current affairs. 1. "The Bank of France and the French finance ministry yesterday [Nov. 19] agreed to sell up to 600 tonnes of gold reserves over the next five years and use the proceeds to help the country's deficit-ridden budget....The proposed sale equates to almost 20 per cent of the 3,025 tonnes held by the central bank, the fourth largest holder of gold after the US, Germany and the International Monetary Fund,' quoting the Financial Times. [Ed. Note: YIKES! HMMM!] link here 2. "Yesterday [Nov 19] Mr Greenspan's remarks about the US current account deficit sent the dollar below Y103 against the yen for the first time in four years and the euro see-sawing near its recent peak [$1.3074]. The Fed chairman said that the US could not be complacent about its deficit, currently at record levels, and sounded a warning about the concentrated build-up of dollar holdings outside the US. He said: 'Net claims against residents of the United States cannot continue to increase forever in international portfolios at their recent pace,'" quoting the London Financial Times. [Ed. Note: DUH! And how does anyone think the U. S. deficit is going to be eased anytime soon with a multi-billion war on three fronts, rising interest rates servicing the debt and peak oil prices?] link here And, please note this quote from the aforementioned link, "The truly amazing fact is that he's talking about it at all - he's not a dollar spokesman. US currency policy is managed by the Treasury, not the Fed. This fits the Fed's growing public concern over the current account and continues to clash with the Treasury's relaxed stance," said Sean Callow, strategist at IDEAglobal. 3. "Alan Greenspan, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, yesterday [Nov. 19] issued a strong warning about the "increasingly less tenable" US current account deficit, triggering fresh falls in the dollar...Mr Greenspan hinted that he expected the dollar to bear much of the brunt of adjusting a current account deficit in excess of 5 percent of gross domestic product...Investors fear the ballooning US deficit is adding to the risk of a further decline in the dollar, higher interest rates and slower economic growth. Gold prices rose to their highest level for more than 16 years and the dollar dropped to a four-and-a-half year low against the yen after Mr Greenspan's comments, while the euro surged. In late New York trading the euro was at $1.3023, within sight of its lifetime peak around $1.3074, according to Reuters data," quoting the Financial Times. [How can I sit back and not highlight facts against what the current administration says is a rosy economy.] link here 4. KK readers were told about this move just days after the US election: "President George W. Bush yesterday signed into law an increase in the US government's debt limit to $8,180bn - a move needed to maintain the government's borrowing ability to finance continuing operations. The House of Representatives voted late Thursday to raise the debt limit by $800bn (€620bn, £430bn), rejecting calls by some Democrats to accompany the vote with new restrictions designed to keep Congress from further increasing the deficit," quoting London's Financial Times. [Ed. Note: Again means that we have a Congress that is a wimp and will not bite the bullet to deal with this country's emerging debt crisis.] link here 5. Gold now has a floor of +$445 per ounce, Silver at a floor of +$7.50 per ounce. [Ed. Note: That portends lack of confidence in paper currencies.] link here . HAPPY THANKSGIVING "Thanks & Giving asks us to give ‘Thanks’ for the healthy children in our lives, while ‘Giving’ to help children everywhere who are desperately ill and battling to stay alive. This national event was created to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital—the world’s epicenter of pediatric medical research that was founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas," quoting the St. Jude Children's hospital website in Memphis. link here HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOUR HOME FROM OURS! May your holiday and everyday be filled with a cornucopia of blessings, bounty, and abundance. link here . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2004. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on “Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives” at www.kleinerskorner.com . Kleiner's Korner For Week of November 15, 2004 Dear Kleiner's Korner (aka KK) Readers, Several KK readers expressed their views that I was too harsh on President Bush recently and had "polluted the KK with politcal commentary" and unsubscribed. That said, this President has now followed though with his continuing record of what I described as "trashing the environment," and this just one week after his re-election. Read where true pollution will occur now: "The U.S. Interior Department on Friday [Nov. 12] gave final approval to a plan by ConocoPhillips and partner Anadarko Petroleum Corp. to develop five tracts around the oil-rich Alpine field on Alaska’s North Slope. The department’s Bureau of Land Management authorized the first commercial development of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, allowing the companies to go forward with developing the tracts, which are located in the northeastern corner of the reserve. Production from these fields, which together hold more than 330 million barrels of oil, will start by 2006, according to the BLM. They will supplement production from the Alpine fields, which hold 429 million barrels and have a daily oil output of about 100,000 barrels," quoting Reuters on MSNBC.com. [Ed. Note: As someone who has traveled to the North Slope, reporting this brings tears to my eye. One will never know the grandeur of this magnificent, last unspoiled of Earth's places unless they have taken an Alaska Airlines flight into Dead Horse, AK. in the middle of a driving snow storm as the Arctic Ice Shelf is moving in on a snowy Autumnal Equinox to close off the sea for another winter. When most people around the world now hear the name Prudhoe Bay, AK., they immediately think of oil drilling. That is pathetic for such a pristine area.] link here "Emboldened by a stronger Senate majority, Republicans are once again trying to open the oil-rich but environmentally sensitive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. Environmentalists are gearing up for battle, but the numbers favor Republicans and even some Democrats are resigned to defeat after staving off drilling in the Alaska refuge for a decade," quoting MSNBC. link here OH NO! "After a contentious and unsuccessful three-year journey through Congress, the Bush administration’s comprehensive energy bill [made behind closed doors with Vice President's energy industry buddies called the Energy Task Force] has risen from the dead, thanks to a stronger Republican majority in the Senate, where the bill remains stalled. If approved, the measure would bring major changes for energy producers, investors and consumers," quoting MSNBC.com. link here Follow-up: "Global warming is heating the Arctic almost twice as fast as the rest of the planet in a thaw that threatens the livelihoods of millions of people and could wipe out polar bears by 2100, according to an eight-nation report released on Monday [November 8]." [Ed. Note: This President will not sign accords to limit pollution, as reported here last week!] link here "The loss of sea ice near Antarctica brought on by global warming may be causing a decline in the numbers of the crustacean krill, posing a risk to other marine wildlife that feed on it, scientists said in the journal Nature...Other scientific studies have shown that a drop in the krill population has 'clearly adverse' effects on species that feed on it, such as fur seals, black-browed albatrosses and gentoo and macaroni penguins, Atkinson said. The loss of krill is also a potential threat to fish, he said," from last week's Minneapolis Star Tribune. link here Follow-up: "Michael Moore plans a follow-up to “Fahrenheit 9/11,” his hit documentary that assails President Bush over the handling of the Sept. 11 attacks and the war on terrorism, according to a Hollywood trade paper...The issues for the follow-up film will remain the same, Iraq and terrorism, Moore said, quoting AP on MSNBC. link here Michael Moore's website says: link here 1. U. S. AIR FORCE SET TO STUDY PSYCHIC TELEPORTATION "Air Force report calls for $7.5M to study psychic teleportation," blares this USA Today title. Star Trek fans may be happy to hear that the Air Force has paid to study psychic teleportation....The Air Force Research Lab's August 'Teleportation Physics Report,' posted earlier this week on the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Web site, struck a raw nerve with physicists and critics of wasteful military spending. In the report, author Eric Davis says psychic teleportation, moving yourself from location to location through mind powers, is 'quite real and can be controlled.'" link here The Federation of American Scientists site: link here . 2. STUDY: COMPONENT OF RED WINE BENEFICIAL AS ANTI-INFLAMMATORY "Homing in on mechanisms for the reported effectiveness of resveratrol, which is found in red wine, researchers at Imperial College London, England, confirmed its broad anti-inflammatory action, and found potential for applications in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and possibly even arthritis. Clinical preparation and delivery remain issues, though an aerosol version would have obvious benefits. Indeed, lead researcher Louise Donnelly said 'Resveratrol exhibited nti-inflammatory activity in all the systems we examined: laboratory cells lines as well as 'real' human airway epithelial cells,' or HAEC. The research paper published by Donnelly et al. in the American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, notes: 'Our study is novel as it examines the anti-inflammatory mechanism(s) of resveratrol in cells relevant to human disease and explores all of the proposed mechanisms in a single study,' quoting The American Physiological Society press release: link here The American Physiological Society website: link here . 3. CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH IN STEM CELL RESEARCH AFTER HISTORIC VOTE THERE Follow-up: "A 21st-century gold rush is on in California after the voters approved $3 billion for human embryonic stem cell research. At least one out-of-state biotech company is already making plans to move to California. Stem cell start-up businesses are expected to emerge. And universities are hoping to recruit some of the field's brightest minds to take part in the biggest state-run research project in U.S. history," quoting an AP report on MSNBC. link here . 4. MERCURY/PESTICIDE ISSUES RAISED IN CONNECTION TO HUMAN TISSUE EXPOSURE Follow-up: President Bush recently trashed regulations limiting pollution from energy suppliers, as reported here previously." In response to a new Institute of Medicine proposal, advocates are calling on the federal Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) program to stop exposing America's most sensitive, low-income populations to mercury in white tuna. The IOM Report is considering '…dietary guidance from federal agencies and panels of the National Academies regarding food safety' and suggests that 'the types of fish/shellfish that are intermediate in methylmercury contamination [be] limited' in the WIC program. 'Since last year, FDA has known that white canned tuna has three times as much mercury as light tuna' said Michael Bender, director of the Mercury Policy Project. 'So why is the federal WIC program continuing to subsidize the tuna industry and, in effect, the poisoning of low-income Americans with mercury from white albacore tuna?' quoting e-wire.com. link here And this from Newsday, "Two monkeys exposed to a common pesticide for more than a year developed classic signs of Parkinson's disease, strong evidence environmental factors may destroy key brain cells regulating movement, scientists reported Sunday [Oct.24] at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, in San Diego. Investigators first discovered the brain-damaging effects of rotenone in rats but wanted to test whether the widely used agricultural pesticide also triggered Parkinson's symptoms in an animal closer to humans. 'Monkeys have a brain structure that is much more similar to humans than rats,' said Dr. J. Timothy Greenamyre of Emory University in Atlanta. 'Chronic pesticide exposure may be capable of causing Parkinson pathology in humans.'" link here . 5. HEALTH ISSUES OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST POPULATION "In an annual survey ranking the health of the United States, Washington and Oregon were among three states with the largest decline in overall score, though they retained their positions on the list, with Washington at No. 15 and Oregon at No. 21." quoting King 5 TV. link here Here is how one community is dealing with the U. S. obesity issue-- right here in Washington State: link here . 6. QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT STUDIES OF AMERICANS' HEIGHT INCREASES OVER PREVIOUS 40 YEARS Follow-up: "Statements that the average US citizen has gained an inch since the 1960s, released last week, have been criticized as misleading by a Munich-based historian of economics...'That is strictly correct. But it is misleading,' says John Komlos, an economic historian at the University of Munich in Germany. 'Americans did increase in height by just under an inch between 1960 and 1970, but they have stayed roughly the same height since then,' he says. 'American people have stagnated in height in the past three decades,' he says, 'whereas Europeans are still growing. Today western and northern Europeans are towering over Americans by as much as 7 centimetres and still growing,' quoting Nature. link here . 7. RADIO ANTENNAS TO BE PLACED ON DRUGS TO STOP COUNTERFEITING AND FRAUD/IMPLANTATION OF ID CHIPS IN HUMANS The Food and Drug Administration and several major drug makers are expected to announce initiatives today [Nov. 15] that will put tiny radio antennas on the labels of millions of medicine bottles to combat counterfeiting and fraud...Experts do not expect the technology to stop there. The adoption by the drug industry, they said in interviews, could be the leading edge of a change that will rid grocery stores of checkout lines, find lost luggage in airports, streamline warehousing and add a weapon in the battle against cargo theft. 'It's basically a bar code that barks, 'said one expert, Robin Koh, director of applications research at the Auto-ID Labs of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The technology, Koh said, could 'make supply chains more efficient and more secure,'" quoting the New York Times. [Ed. Note: EVERYTHING in the name of more security? HUMMM! Sounds like Orwellian Doublespeak to me!] link here Speaking of Orwellian, here is an article from last Summer that will surely send shivers up some KK readers' spines, also from the New York Times. "There's not a lot of middle ground on the subject of implanting electronic identification chips in humans. Advocates of technologies like radio frequency identification tags say their potentially life-saving benefits far outweigh any Orwellian concerns about privacy. RFID tags sewn into clothing or even embedded under people's skin could curb identity theft, help identify disaster victims and improve medical care, they say. Critics, however, say such technologies would make it easier for government agencies to track a person's every movement and allow widespread invasion of privacy. Abuse could take countless other forms, including corporations surreptitiously identifying shoppers for relentless sales pitches. Critics also speculate about a day when people's possessions will be tagged--allowing nosy subway riders with the right technology to examine the contents of nearby purses and backpacks." link here Ed. Note: We all should remember the US Constitution's Amendment IV, while a Constitution still exists: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." link here . 8. EARTH'S MOST POWERFUL GENERATOR OF X-RAYS REVEALED (EXCEPT NUCLEAR BOMBS) "Peering into the center of Sandia National Laboratory's Z machine as it fires had been a feat unachievable for a decade. Other than a nuclear bomb, Z is the most powerful generator of X-rays on the planet. Last year, its central mechanism, called a Z-pinch, fused isotopes of hydrogen to create nuclear fusion. Now, by inserting a pretty, two-inch-long crystal that reflects at only a single frequency into the hellish center of Z as it fires, researchers have been able to visually filter out the bedlam of more than 99 percent of the energies generated," quoting Space.com. link here PICTURE OF PULSAR NEVER BEFORE IMAGED IN HIGH-ENERGY X-RAYS "Scientists using an experimental X-ray telescope suspended from a balloon have captured a unique picture of a pulsar shining in a form of light never before imaged in detail - that is, in high-energy "hard" X-rays. The observation marks a milestone in astronomical imaging," quoting Space Daily.Com. link here . 9. EXPERIMENTAL JET SET TO BREAK SPEED RECORD AT 5,000+ MPH "In March, NASA launched an experimental jet that reached a record-setting speed of about 5,000 mph. Now researchers want to leave that milestone in the dust. NASA’s third and last X-43A “scramjet” was set to streak over the Pacific Ocean on Monday [Nov. 15] at 7,000 mph (11,200 kilometers per hour) for 10 or 11 seconds — or 10 times the speed of sound," quoting MSNBC.com. link here The test flight was postponed due to a glitch. . 10. EGYPT PLANS TO X-RAY KING TUT'S BODY/ ROBOT EXPERIMENT SLATED FOR 2005 INSIDE CHEOPS PYRAMID "Egypt plans to x-ray the mummy of Tutankhamun to find out what killed the king who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago and died while only a teenager. Archaeologists will move the body from its tomb, which was found packed with treasure in 1922, to Cairo for tests which should resolve whether or not he was murdered. 'We will know about any diseases he had, any kind of injuries and his real age,' Egyptian antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said. 'We will know the answer to whether he died normally or was he killed.' A Cat scan, which will produce a 3D x-ray of his remains, will be completed this year, he said," quoting UK's Guardian. link here "The robot experiment inside Cheops Pyramid in Giza will be repeated next year but this time by a different institution, said Chairman of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawas," quoting this link from the Egyptian State Information Service. link here The PBS Series "Secrets of the Dead" site may be of interest, including King Tut. link here . 11. ROLL OF STRESS EXAMINED IN LOWER FERTILITY RATES AMONG WOMEN "A New Fertility Factor - Stress is just one of many obstacles to pregnancy, but it's one you can control," is the title to this fascinating Newsweek story. link here . 12. "IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS" LYRICS Here is a fabulous song to which this writer was recently exposed titled: "IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS" Written in 1934 during the Depression and used to focus on brighter days, this was sung by one of the all-time greatest jazz vocal groups, the Boswell Sisters; Martha, Vet and Connee. You just gotta check out the lyrics: link here And the Boswell Sisters' story: link here . WHAT THE BLEEP - THE MOVIE NEWS: What The Bleep cracked the $8 million total take over the weekend and was ranked at number 22 of all films. This writer noticed that Bleep is the highest ranked film in release the longest, at 23 weeks: link here As Bleep infiltrates Middle America, read what these medium-sized cities' reviews say: A. The McAllen, TX. Monitor: link here B. The Grand Rapids, MI. Press: link here . OF LOCAL NOTE: With Yelm, WA. slated for a Wal-Mart store, area residents should read this story about Wal-Mart's next victims: link here PBS will air a story titled "Is Walmart Good For America?" on its Frontline program Tuesday, November 16th at 9p.m. PST. link here . Quote of the Week: "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) 16th President of the United States . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2004. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on “Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives” at www.kleinerskorner.com Send comments to steve@kleinerskorner.com . Kleiner's Korner Special Edition, November 11, 2004 Dear Readers, Many of you have signed onto this website and e-list after seeing the blockbuster movie "What The Bleep Do We Know," which has bumped up the number of signees to this writer's site considerably. As such, I am very pleased to have been asked to share with KK readers a special opportunity for Pacific Northwest residents: "What do a priest, a chiropractor, and a 35,000 year old warrior from Lemuria have in common? First, they appear in the award-winning film What the Bleep Do We Know!?, which has been playing for 28 weeks at the Uptown theater on Queen Anne Hill [in Seattle and other theatres around the country]. Second, on Friday, November 12th, at 7 p.m. all three will be in the Rainier Room at Seattle Center [adjacent to the Seattle Space Needle & Key Arena]. The free presentation will be a unique opportunity to meet Ramtha, the Enlightened One and learn about his school in Yelm which teaches how your thoughts affect everything in your life. Ramtha uses the body of JZ Knight to teach his philosophy. The form in which he communicates his teachings is through the phenomenon called channeling, a term first coined by Ramtha. This unusual format allows us to become aware of the preconceived ideas and molds in which we normally perceive and evaluate reality. Also present will be Monsignor Miceal Ledwith, former university president and adviser to the Pope, and Dr. Joe Dispenza, a medical researcher and international lecturer. Following the presentation, a 2-day workshop will be presented on November 13th and 14th. The workshop will be from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on both days at the Seattle Center in the Rainier Room. The workshop costs $200 and has been successfully presented in China, Turkey, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, and the United States. Through the understanding of quantum physics, neuroscience, and ancient wisdom, there is a way to control your life on a daily basis. You will learn how to do this at the workshop," qouting the Ramtha School of Enlightenement press release. For additional information, contact: Michelle Horkings at1-360-458-5201, ext. 45; mhorkings@ramtha.com or Greg Simmons ext. 43; gregs@ramtha.com. What The Bleep Do We Know has a terrific website with all of the information about the film, including reviews from around the world and showtimes & locations in your neighborhood: link here The Ramtha School of Enlightenment in Yelm, WA., called the "Quintessential School of the Mind" can provide you details about this fabulous one-of-a-kind school on their site: link here Further, the Ramtha School will be conducting an Free Introductory Evening on Friday, November 19th in the Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona area and following that, an Introductory Weekend November 20-21, with Dr. Dispenza and Monsignor Miceal Ledwith, as well. For those details: link here . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2004. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on “Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives” at www.kleinerskorner.com Send comments to steve@kleinerskorner.com . Kleiner's Korner For Week of November 8, 2004 A reader sent a suggestion to highlight each item in bold print. I am doing that here as a test. Regardless of who is at the helm, ain't this "A Wonderful World," to quote Louie Armstrong from his signature song! 1. DRINIKING WATER SUPPLY NEWS FROM LAST WEEK "A quarter of the people in the world still drink filthy water and live miles from electrical power; nearly half the world lacks sewage treatment. Environmental engineer Bruce Logan and his team at Pennsylvania State University are working to remedy all three problems at once. They have created a fuel cell that uses wastewater to generate electricity—and spits out pure water in the process," quoting Discover Magazine. link here As if the third world has drinking water issues. Read this from last week's Washington Post about a neighborhood there: "Random tests performed in summer 2003 found unsafe amounts of a chemical toxin a few hundred yards from Washington's drinking water supply, a discovery that has set off a tense, largely behind-the-scenes debate over what steps are necessary to protect the water and the public....This article is titled “Army Engineers Faulted for Inaction Since 2003 Finding," which is why this issue arose last week. [Ed. Note: YES!] link here . 2. PROFOUND CHANGES IN ARCTIC ENVIRONMENT DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING "A comprehensive four-year study of warming in the Arctic shows that heat-trapping gases from tailpipes and smokestacks around the world are contributing to profound environmental changes, including sharp retreats of glaciers and sea ice, thawing of permafrost, and shifts in the weather, the oceans, and the atmosphere. The study, commissioned by eight nations with Arctic territory, including the United States, says the changes are likely to harm native communities, wildlife, and economic activity but also to offer some benefits, like longer growing seasons. The report is due to be released on Nov. 9, but portions were provided yesterday [October 29] to The New York Times by European participants in the project," quoting The New York Times. [Ed. Note: VP Cheney's supersecret energy taskforce decisions are not going to improve this in the next four years!] link here Further, Follow-up: "Warmer temperatures and disappearing sea ice in the Southern Ocean appear to be causing food shortages that could threaten Antarctic whales, seals and penguins, scientists said in a study released Wednesday [Nov 3]. The vanishing ice in the winter has resulted in an 80 percent drop in the number of Antarctic krill, a shrimp-like crustacean that is a major source of food for animals in the region," quoting MSNBC. link here . 3. QUEEN, BUSH, PUTIN WEIGH IN ON GLOBAL WARMING AS AN ISSUE "The Queen, in an unprecedented initiative, will this week throw her weight behind international attempts to combat global warming. This Wednesday [Nov. 3] during her state visit to Germany she will, for the first time, publicly signal her concern about the possibility of a catastrophic heating of the planet by opening a meeting in Berlin that is planning the next steps in the worldwide effort to head it off. This will bring into the open a largely unnoticed greening of the monarch, which has already produced measures to make the Royal Household more environmentally friendly - including plans for a hydroelectric plant to power Windsor Castle. Senior Buckingham Palace sources said yesterday that they could not remember a previous occasion when the Queen had opened a conference on such a sensitive international issue on a state visit. She is augmenting a strong family tradition. Prince Philip was one of the world's earliest and most influential green campaigners, helping to found the World Wildlife Fund more than 40 years ago and then serving as its international president," quoting the Independent of UK. link here “President Bush became further isolated on the issue of global climate change today following Russian ratification of the Kyoto protocol…The Kyoto protocol is only the first step towards tackling climate change. Much bigger cuts in greenhouse gases will be required in the years ahead. President Bush has refused to ratify the treaty claiming, it would harm the US economy,” quoting Friends of the Earth. link here “President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill confirming Russia’s ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, the Kremlin said Friday, clearing the way for the global climate pact to come into force early next year…Without Russia’s support, the pact — which has been rejected by the United States and Australia — could not have come into effect. It needed endorsement by 55 industrialized nations accounting for at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 1990. The United States alone accounted for 36 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in 1990, while Russia accounted for 17 percent. link here . 4. WASHINGTON ONLY STATE FREE OF WEST NILE VIRUS "Washington is apparently the only state in the Lower 48 to remain free of the West Nile virus this year. State Health Department epidemiologist Joe Hofmann says experts have no idea why Washington was spared," quoting an AP story reported by Seattle's KING-5 TV. link here . 5. JANE GOOODALL RECOGNIZED FOR HER WORK WITH CHIMPANZEES "Jane Goodall, the primatologist known for her work with chimpanzees, says the creatures remain threatened as their natural habitat shrinks because of human encroachment. The conservationist spoke with VOA's Mike O'Sullivan in Los Angeles, and said she is hopeful that that the problems afflicting the animals and their human neighbors can be surmounted. Jane Goodall has studied chimpanzees, a kind of African ape, for 44 years, but she spends much of her time on the road spreading her conservation message. She says the animals' numbers are declining and that their condition today is 'grim,'" quoting Voice of America. link here "Dr. Jane Goodall, leading researcher in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitat, has been chosen for this year’s “Spirit if Will Rogers Award.” It will be presented Nov. 4 at the Tulsa Will Rogers Rotary Club Gala. The award, presented the past seven years, is designed to honor a person who embodies the spirit of Will Rogers, one of the most influential Americans of the 20th Century, and his impact on the world. Like Will, Dr. Goodall’s voice has been heard around the world," quoting the Claremore [OK.] Progress. link here "Founded by renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, JGI [Jane Goodall Institute] is a global nonprofit that empowers people to make a difference for all living things. We are creating healthy ecosystems, promoting sustainable livelihoods and nurturing new generations of committed, active citizens around the world." link here . 6. STEM CELL NEWS OF THE WEEK "Spain's Socialist government has authorised research with embryonic stem cells, the latest in a string of laws set to rile the Catholic Church. Spain's previous right-wing, pro-church Popular Party government passed a law last year to allow stem cell research on embryos but only under a string of conditions. It never took the necessary steps to put the law into effect. But the new government stripped out some of the conditions and issued guidelines on Friday [Oct. 29] so that scientists can start their work. The move came despite opposition from the Vatican. Ninety percent of Spain's population calls themselves Catholic but liberal views increasingly coexist with traditional Catholic values," quoting Reuthers reported on Swissinfo.org. link here More news on the stem cell front last week: A. "Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) have shown that stem cells found in adult skin retain their embryonic capability of making many types of cells. This discovery affirms the potential that stem cells derived from this non-controversial source possess for the development of possible therapies for spinal cord injury and nervous system disorders. This research is reported in the November issue of the scientific journal Nature Cell Biology," quoting the SickKids website. link here B. "Texas researchers say they have perfected a method to deliver cancer treatment directly into tumors, bypassing healthy tissue. The study was done on mice, but human trials could begin soon, said Dr. Michael Andreeff, an author of the study in today's issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The research team used as its starting point a protein called interferon beta, which can kill cancer cells but which has toxic side effects and whose benefits are short-lived. The scientists worked around those problems by manipulating a certain type of stem cell to encode the interferon beta gene. The stem cells then moved like guided missiles, targeting tumor cells and producing high concentrations of therapeutic proteins within the tumor cells, Andreeff said," quoting the Seattle Times. link here . 7. OWNER’S SERVICE DOG DIALS 911 FOR HELP "Faith the service dog phoned 911 when her owner fell out of her wheelchair and barked urgently into the receiver until a dispatcher sent help. Then the 4-year-old Rottweiler unlocked the front door so the responding police officer could come in. 'I sensed there was a problem on the other end of the 911 call,' said dispatcher Jenny Buchanan, who answered the call from Faith." quoting Seattle's KING-5 TV. link here . 8. M. D. SAYS CANCER CAN BE BEATEN This writer has found this letter from 2002, sent in by a KK reader, an amazing piece of work. While not endorsing or agreeing with everything the author states, I do know this is an eye-opener for everyone who will read and contemplate this link. Quoting "Cancer Can Be Beaten, [A] Presentation by Matthias Rath, M.D. [in] New York City, September 29, 2002: "We are here tonight because the message I stand for, the scientific discoveries I have been privileged to contribute are not welcomed by those who make health care. Otherwise, you would hear about this breakthrough from Dan Rather, or in the morning news, or you would read about it in the New York Times. Even better, you would be living in a world where the diseases that brought you here tonight, especially cancer, are long gone.... "On July 2, 1992, Linus Pauling, two-time Nobel Laureate, and I stood in the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco telling the world -- and I am reading this in the handwriting of Linus Pauling – 'The goal of eliminating heart disease as the major cause of death and disability is now in sight.' In a press conference, we were shouting it out to the world that heart disease can be eradicated. Who blocked it? It is those who have identified cardiovascular disease as the number one source of income and cancer as the number two source of income. So we went on." link here FYI, Linus Pauling wrote the forward to Dr. Elmer Cranton's book, Bypassing Bypass, prior to his passing. [Ed. Note: Dr. Pauling not only won two Nobel prizes but both were unshared. Nobel prizes are often split between two or three people. Pauling's were entirely his. The Linus Pauling Institute was established at Oregon State University in August 1996 under an agreement reached between OSU and its antecedent organization, the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine (located in California from 1973 to 1996). The Institute functions from the basic premise that an optimum diet is the key to optimum health.] link here Further, Dr. Cranton has offices here in Yelm, WA, with "Specialties [that] include EDTA chelation therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), nutrition, anti-aging, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, Parkinson's, and cardiovascular disease. Public information is presented on this website only to inform and educate," quoting Dr. Cranton's website. link here . 9. FIVE OR MORE FLU SHOTS MAY INCREASE ALZHEIMER CHANCES While on the subject of mercury, if you get flu shots, you had better read and inform yourself about this: "The mercury and other additives in vaccines are not necessarily harmless, according to Hugh Fudenburg, MD - celebrated immunologist (served on the expert advisory panel in immunology for the WHO for 20 years), winner of numerous honors, with over 800 papers in peer-reviewed journals and noted researcher in Alzheimer's. Quoting a recent study, Dr Fudenberg stated the following: 'If an individual has had 5 consecutive flu shots between 1970 - 1980 (the years of the study) his/her chance of developing Alzheimer's Disease is 10 times greater than if they had one, two, or no shots." When asked why, Dr. Fudenberg stated that "It is due to the mercury and aluminum buildup that is in EVERY flu shot (and in almost all childhood shots). The gradual mercury and aluminum buildup in the brain causes cognitive dysfunction." Dr. Fudenberg's comments above were from his speech at the NVIC International Vaccine Conference, Arlington VA September, 1997.'" quoting this link. link here Dr Fudenberg's site is: link here Further, from the National Vaccine Information Center site, the "First International Public Conference On Vaccination Puts Vaccine Risks On The Record", at which Dr. Fudenberg spoke in 1997. link here . 10. ONE OF USA'S LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IS FROM MEDICINES And death from medicines is a major cause of death in this country, says the NIA. "The Nutrition Institute of America, Inc. (NIA) is a New York not-for-profit corporation, founded in 1975 to promote better public health and nutrition through research, awareness and education." link here "The NIA's activities involve ground-breaking health research that has produced incisive reports, like "Death by Medicine" and "The Comprehensive Nutrient Review" as well as valuable media projects, like the Progressive Radio Network." [Ed. Note: What does Death by Medicine say? The title says it all] link here . 11.NASA CONSIDERS SPACE SHUTTLE RETIREMENT, PRIVATE FIRM HAS EYE TO TAKE PASSENGERS INTO SPACE "Even as NASA gears up for the space shuttle's return to flight next year, officials at the space agency are quietly studying the possibility of cutting back its number of missions and retiring the spacecraft years ahead of schedule, MSNBC.com has learned. With the shuttle's main objective being the completion of the international space station, such an early retirement would mean either transferring major station assembly and supply jobs to expendable rockets and/or dropping some station components entirely," quoting MSNBC. link here Rutan may not be familiar to you, but to astronauts, pilots and aeronautical engineers – basically anyone who knows anything about airplanes – he is a legend. A maverick aeronautical engineer, Rutan has designed and built more than 40 revolutionary airplanes. Now he's set out to conquer space travel, by making it cheap enough, and safe enough, for ordinary people to make the trip. 'There will be a new industry,' says Rutan. 'And we are just now in a beginning. I will predict that in 12 or 15 years, there will be tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people that fly, and see that black sky. And in 10 to 12 years, kids will not just hope. But they will know that they can go to orbit in their lifetimes,'" quoting CBS News 60 Minutes program, which aired Rutan's story November 7th, 2004. link here "By the end of the decade, Virgin Galactic - the most exciting development in the story of modern space history - is planning to make it possible for almost anyone to visit the final frontier at an affordable price," quoting Virgin owner Richard Branson's site, who is in partnership with Rutan for these space flights. Branson is the owner three of Earth's airlines: Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Express (Europe), and Virgin Blue (Australia). link here . 12. JAPAN QUAKE SHUTS NUCLEAR REACTOR “A strong earthquake shut down a nuclear reactor Thursday in central Japan, where the toll from an earthquake last month rose to 39, officials said… Tokyo Electric Power Co. said a reactor at the seaside Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant automatically shut down when Thursday's tremor hit. The reactor was down for hours but there was no radioactive leak, a company spokesman said. Five other reactors at the plant continued operations with another reactor closed for regular check-ups,” quoting Terra.wire. link here [Ed. Note: Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant is sitting directly ON the San Andreas fault on the Pacific Coast north of Los Angeles. This writer is a former California resident and always questioned the intelligence of power company officials to place a nuclear reactor at this site. HMMM! link here ] . WHAT THE BLEEP – THE MOVIE NEWS: A. Says the Winnipeg [Manitoba] Sun, "The #$*!ing truth is in here. We don't know anything about quantum physics but we know what we like -- and we like What the #$*! Do We Know?!, a film about creating one's own reality via thought, self-empowerment for dummies, you might say. This is a terrific way to spend 109 minutes." link here B. Revenue figures for the Oct. 29-31 weekend box-office show What The Bleep continued its take surpassing the $7 million gross receipts mark and ranked number 22 on the gross domestic ticket sales charts of all movies for that weekend. link here C. The venerable Wall Street Journal weighed in on Bleep on November 5th with an article titled "How the 'Bleep' Did They Do It?" describing how this film has now amassed $7.5 million in ticket sales without the help of Hollywood. link here D. Mark Vicente, cinematographer/producer of What The Bleep will be a guest speaker at the first annual Spiritual Cinema Festival-at-Sea, May 14-21, 2005 aboard Holland America's MS Zuiderdam, with a special on-board screening of Bleep. link here . Of Local Note: "Western Washington residents could watch a spectacular light show of the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, in the skies overnight Sunday [November 7]...The Northern Lights are commonly visible around the Arctic Circle, but during strong solar flares the lights can be seen further south," quoting KING-5 TV. link here . Quote of The Week: "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." George W. Bush (1946-) 43rd President of the USA Then President-Elect, in a CNN Interview from December 18th, 2000 Transcript found here: link here . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2004. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on “Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives” at www.kleinerskorner.com Send comments to steve@kleinerskorner.com . Kleiner's Korner Election Wrap-up--A Few Final Thoughts--November 6, 2004 This is the last blog devoted to Election 2004 issues, as I return to regular Kleiner's Korner fare next week. As quoted from my Homepage, this website lists links "in medicine, the environment, space, and exploration of the final frontier, the human mind." With all of these under assault by this Administration, I chose to correlate these areas with the political winds these last three weeks. Let's check the scorecard almost one week after the election: A. "Wall Street closed Wednesday [Nov 3] with a solid advance, having given up some of a strong rally seen earlier in the day, as investors expressed a sigh of relief over victory for President George W. Bush in the fiercely fought 2004 Presidential election...A Bush win was seen as positive for U.S. drug stocks, as it is expected to reduce the threat of government-imposed price cuts. The Bush victory buoyed stocks in chemical and other companies battling asbestos litigation..." quoting MSNBC. link here [Ed. Note: Quoting a report heard on Seattle's KIRO 710 AM radio on November 3rd, oil/energy, chemical, and pharmaceutical stocks all pushed the market higher as these companies expect less environmental regulations under a Bush Presidency causing them less in expenses. VERY revealing, as pollution regulations were suspended by the Bush Administration, as reported here previously. And, I am certain no one noticed that gold jumped $8 the day after the election to $427.10 an ounce then closed at its highest level in 10+ years on Nov. 4th at $429.50 and Nov. 5th at $432.90, a sure sign the rest of the world has little confidence in the US Dollar, IMHO. HMMM!] link here . B. Look for a meeting soon between Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to map Senator Clinton's position to run for President in 2008. Let's go to Senator Kerry's hometown Boston Globe for this analysis: link here And the betting line already is on to Hillary in this story titled "Bookies Back Hillary Clinton for 2008": link here And: link here . C. "The Bush administration announced Wednesday [Nov 3] that it will run out of maneuvering room to manage the government's massive borrowing needs in two weeks, putting more pressure on Congress to raise the debt ceiling when it convenes for a special post-election session," quoting Newsday. YIKES! KK readers knew this story was coming weeks ago. Here we go! link here . D. Ed Note: Please, do NOT read the following articles if you have no interest or are deeply disturbed that one would suggest an election in the USA could be fixed! This writer heard someone he respects say three weeks prior to election day that this election was "rigged" for a Bush second term, and that happened exactly as told. I did not write these following stories, folks, and I always provide the link for you get the whole article to discern for yourself: "The jury is still out on e-voting machines used in the election but reports collected by late Tuesday [Nov 2] evening by election watchdogs seem to contradict assurances by voting company representatives that the election should 'put to rest the unreasonable suspicion' about e-voting machines," quoting Wired.com. [Ed. Note: Again, do NOT read this article if you have no interest or are deeply disturbed that one would suggest an election in the USA could be rigged.] link here Titled "Kerry Won", Greg Palast, contributing editor to Harper's magazine, investigated the manipulation of the vote for BBC Television's Newsnight. The documentary, "Bush Family Fortunes," based on his New York Times bestseller, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, has been released this month on DVD . His story about how Kerry actually won is here: link here "Concern over electronic voting technology was not assuaged Tuesday [Nov. 2] as glitches, confusion, and human error raised a welter of problems across the country, even while e-vote watchdogs prepared to file suits challenging the results derived from the controversial machines. New rules, new voters, and a tight presidential contest combined to create 'a recipe for problems,' said Sean Greene, who was watching Cleveland polls for the Election Reform Information Project, a nonpartisan research group on election reform," quoting USA Today. link here [Ed. Note: How would you feel if your vote were lost into thin air and no paper trail to verify such? Read this story.] From the Jacksonville, N. C. News-Observer: "More than 4,500 Carteret County votes have been lost because officials believed a computer that stored ballots electronically could hold more data than it did. Scattered other problems may change results in local races around the state. Carteret officials said UniLect Corp., the maker of the county's electronic voting system, said each storage unit could handle 10,500 votes, but the limit was actually 3,005 votes. When they tried to store more than 7,500 early votes in the unit, some 4,530 were lost." link here "Black Box Voting [an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit 501c(3) organization funded solely by citizen donations dedicated to consumer protection for elections] has taken the position that fraud took place in the 2004 election through electronic voting machines. We base this on hard evidence, documents obtained in public records requests, inside information, and other data indicative of manipulation of electronic voting systems. What we do not know is the specific scope of the fraud. We are working now to compile the proof, based not on soft evidence -- red flags, exit polls -- but core documents obtained by Black Box Voting in the most massive Freedom of Information action in history," quoting their site. link here Here is the latest on how Florida voted for Bush this time. link here then "Click here to watch the video...". E. "Britain's most famous scientist, Stephen Hawking, condemned the U.S. led invasion of Iraq as a 'war crime' and said Tuesday [USA's Election Day, Nov 3] it was based on lies," quoting the AP. link here . F. Garry Wills, an adjunct professor of history at Northwestern University and is the author of 'St. Augustine's Conversion' penned a thoughtful op-ed in The New York Times stating, "This election confirms the brilliance of Karl Rove as a political strategist. He calculated that the religious conservatives, if they could be turned out, would be the deciding factor." [Ed. Note: This is a an interesting piece and one all politicians from here on could learn much.] link here . G. For those of us disappointed that Bush has another four years, here is an article written by Jonathan Chait, senior editor at The New Republic, who says in his title "Let Bush Clean Up His Own Mess." [Ed. Note: Another brilliant piece written in October, 2004 and already starting to come true as Bush deals with a debt ceiling limit!] link here . H. Whatever you think of filmmaker Michael Moore, these two letters are very much worth the read. His "First thoughts" on the election results. [scroll to Nov. 4] Warning: Extrmemly moving. link here And his second story titled, "17 Reasons Not to Slit Your Wrists..." [scroll to Nov. 5th] link here . I. The maps of the breakdown of how we voted are very enlightening. In particular, scroll to "Election Results By County." HMMM! link here . J. We have a Catholic Church that burned women at the stake 400+ years ago for witchcraft, for having the abilities to lure men into their lairs as helpless victims to female advances, as if the men had no free will around a woman. This was born out in The Book of the Courtesans: A Catalogue of Their Virtues. link here Courtesan Veronica Franco's true story of standing up to the Church and the Inquisition is legendary. Here is a site with that story: link here And the movie version from 1998 was titled Dangerous Beauty [Ed. Note: The movie version changed the true ending so the film would end on an upbeat note.]: link here Now, this same Holy Mother Church that decried women as seductresses to men and killed them for this, is telling them to "Do It," as "A Vatican-sanctioned sex guide is encouraging churchgoers to make love more often in an effort to offset 'impotence and frigidity' and address papal concerns over declining birth-rates among Italian Roman Catholics. The controversial book, It's A Sin Not To Do It, written by two theologians, promises the reader answers to 'everything you wanted to know about sex but the Church (almost) never dared to tell you,'" quoting the Telegraph [UK]. This out the same week as the U. S. Election. HMMM! link here . K. FROM KLEINER'S KORNER: Final thoughts: Many people have written their consternation at my views, and many more have written thanking me for the information and associated links, as I brought political issues to the forefront this last month. One writer said I was "impassioned," and he is correct. A lady wrote to say my remarks were "hateful." That said, I know that there will always be people who will agree and disagree with what I present. The key is to honor and respect all individuals as the creators of all reality in their lives, even though we may not agree with each others' choices. I sincerely honor and respect each of you for reading what I link here and for what you add to all of humanity. What I enjoy to share with the world are important stories glossed over by a media owned and controlled by a handful of men, restricting what can be presented on front pages. Where is truth in that? Whatever your thoughts and opinions, have a light heart, smile to your neighbor, and love one another for our differences. Go out and give a heartfelt hug to a stranger today. That IS the American way, for our differences are what built this great nation. And we all have blessed life! Steve Klein . Qoute of the Week: "Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours its own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor." Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Third President of the USA Letter to Colonel Edward Carrington 16 January, 1787 in Papers of Thomas Jefferson vol. 11 (1955) p.49 . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2004. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on “Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives” at www.kleinerskorner.com Send comments to steve@kleinerskorner.com . Kleiner's Korner Special Edition for November 3, 2004 With Senator John Kerry's call to President Bush conceding the election, as reported by the AP, look for a country again divided as 51% of the vote for President Bush was fueled by "faith and morals doctrines" supported by a rural base of right-wing Christian constituents, while Senator Kerry's share of the vote of 48% was supported by the more educated constituents of both coasts and the Chicago area. In the wake of the U. S. Presidential Election, look to four more years of the most repressive regime ever in American politics; the most dangerous to the environment, to women, to every person's civil rights, to stem cell research, to gay people, to the USA's relationship with its allies like Canada, the European Union & Israel, and all while trashing Mother Nature, freedom and the truth about why we are in Iraq. With no re-election of President Bush in 2008 due to term-limits, look for more cavalier adventures flamed by the President's Chief of Staff Andrew Card, Attorney General John Ashcroft and VP Cheney into this administration's disregard for its fellow citizens, as these "leaders" will not be concerned about another vote of the people. And, all of this attitude will be supported by a "rubber-stamp" Republican controlled House and Senate. Congratulations America! We just got ourselves more secret government, a government that refuses to supply Congress with requested information, a government that refuses to reveal how energy policy was developed, a government that has the highest deficits in history and is broke, and a government that is borrowing a billion dollars a day. And what will happen to Roe vs. Wade with Republican Executive and Legislative Branches of government joined by potential Bush appointments in the Judicial Branch? Good-by "checks and balances." . Ask yourself if America will be better off four years from now? . With Bush now in control for four more years, this book is a must read by all Americans as to what this President has condoned for his first four years, and a preamble of what is ahead for the next 4 years. This book is "Gag Rule" by Lewis H. Lapham. Following is an excellent synopsis from the Amazon.com website on how the American people are giving up their rights in the name of national security and buying into threats concocted for just that purpose by leaders who sell-out their constituents. Tough words? YES! Somebody has to say them... "Lapham, editor of Harper's, plays the role of a modern-day Tom Paine, propelling stinging criticisms and scathing indictments at the Bush administration and its supporters for what he claims are their bald-faced deceptions about the justifications for the war in Iraq and for establishing policies—especially the USA Patriot Act—he sees as aimed at silencing dissent about its policies and the war in Iraq. Lapham argues that the muting of dissenting voices has contributed to the erosion of democracy, because policy disagreements form the heart of a democratic republic. Most disturbing, says Lapham, is the complicity of the media in its support of the steady erosion of individual civil liberties in the name of national security. Lapham also levels forceful criticism at our educational system: 'An inept and insolent bureaucracy armed with badly written textbooks instills in the class the attitudes of passivity, compliance, and boredom.' This, charges Lapham, results in schools producing citizens who blindly accept the pronouncements of their leaders. The United States, he points out in a strong historical sketch, has a deep history of quashing dissent when politicians have raised alarms over perceived threats to the well-being of the country, most notably with the Sedition Act of 1798, the Espionage Act of 1917 and, he asserts, the Patriot Act. Lapham's compelling book reminds us that 'democracy is an uproar, and if we mean to engage the argument about the course of the American future let us hope that it proves to be loud, disorderly, bitter and fierce.'" Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. link here . Thank heaven for the Holy Mother Church in its infinite hypocrisy! The same church that took over 350 years to exonerate Galileo for saying the Sun did not the revolve around the Earth is now condoning its parishioners to go out and have sex more often, blatantly revealing Rome's hypocritical stances. Now, "It's A Sin Not To Do It" blares the title. [Ed. Note: PULEEZ! Thank you, Holy Mother Church and the ole Popiola for releasing the world from your shackles of over 2,000 years involving sex!] "A Vatican-sanctioned sex guide is encouraging churchgoers to make love more often in an effort to offset 'impotence and frigidity' and address papal concerns over declining birth-rates among Italian Roman Catholics. The controversial book, It's A Sin Not To Do It, written by two theologians, promises the reader answers to 'everything you wanted to know about sex but the Church (almost) never dared to tell you,'" quoting the Telegraph [UK]. link here . The one bright spot in this election is that Californians thumbed their noses at President Bush's limits on federal funding of stem cell research. "Californians came down on the side of stem-cell research Tuesday by passing a controversial bond measure that devotes $3 billion to human embryonic stem-cell experiments and comprises the biggest-ever state-supported scientific research program in the country. Proposition 71 won 59 percent of the vote with about 74 percent of precincts reporting. The passage of the measure — designed to get around the Bush administration’s restrictions on the funding of such research — will likely put California at the forefront of the field and dwarfs all current stem-cell projects in the United States, whether privately or publicly financed," quoting MSNBC. [Ed. Note: Wise choice by Californians, as four more years with this President will certainly see more right-wing Christian conservatism bubbling to the surface in America. Thank heaven we now have the Roman Catholic Church telling its members, "It's A Sin Not To Do It" in its Vatican-endorsed sex guide. Tongue in cheek!] link here . Ed. Note: This writer registered as an 18 year-old voter in 1972 into the Republican Party and has voted in every election since. Twelve years ago, I left the "Grand Old Party" of Lincoln, as this Party no longer embodies the ideals of states' rights, less government, and less intrusion into citizens lives. . Quote of the Week: "Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us." U. S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (1898–1980) In a speech from January, 1953 printed from Nieman Reports, vol. 7, no. 1 (Jan. 1953): p. 20. . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2004. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on “Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives” at www.kleinerskorner.com Send comments to steve@kleinerskorner.com. Kleiner's Korner for Week of November 1, 2004 Just days before this Presidential Election and this writer presents these last thoughts to inspire contemplation on why President Bush needs to be voted out and sent back to Texas: Visualize John Kerry winning. Visualize John Kerry at his inaugural. Visualize John Kerry bringing the troops home. See this link for more ideas on Tuesday's outcome when President Bush is removed: *** Note: A must-see link *** link here "The FBI has begun investigating whether the Pentagon improperly awarded no-bid contracts to Halliburton Co., seeking an interview with a top Army contracting officer and collecting documents from several government offices," quoting the Seattle Times. link here "An Army contracting officer who led the FBI to widen its investigation of Pentagon contracts to Halliburton told NBC News that she had never seen a worse case of contracting abuse.... The line of inquiry expands an earlier FBI investigation into whether Halliburton overcharged taxpayers for fuel in Iraq, and it elevates to a criminal matter the election-year question of whether the Bush administration showed favoritism to Vice President Dick Cheney’s former company. link here This is one of the most scathing comments from the scientific community about Bush Administration policies: "The Bush administration is trying to stifle scientific evidence of the dangers of global warming in an effort to keep the public uninformed, a NASA scientist said Tuesday [Oct 26] night. 'In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it is now,' James E. Hansen told a University of Iowa audience. Hansen said the administration wants to hear only scientific results that ''it predetermined, inflexible positions.' Evidence that would raise concerns about the dangers of climate change is often dismissed as not being of sufficient interest to the public. 'This, I believe, is a recipe for environmental disaster.' Hansen said the scientific community generally agrees that temperatures on Earth are rising because of the greenhouse effect -- emissions of carbon dioxide and other materials into the atmosphere that trap heat," quoting the AP as reported by KING TV: link here And The New York Times input on this story: link here "Applying some of the same brain-scan technology used to understand Alzheimer’s and autism, scientists are trying to learn what makes a Republican’s mind different from a Democrat’s. Brain scanning is moving rapidly beyond diseases to measuring how we react to religious experiences, racial prejudice, even Coke versus Pepsi. This election season some scientists are trying to find out whether the technology can help political consultants get inside voters’ heads more effectively than focus groups or polls,' quoting this AP article on MSNBC.com. link here A message from Florida Governor Jeb Bush on the upcoming election: link here 1. "The first week of November will be an exceptional time for predawn skywatchers with a beautiful gathering of the two brightest planets, and the waning crescent moon will later drop by to join them. Venus and Jupiter will appear closest together on the mornings of Nov. 4 and 5. The moment of closest approach will actually come during the early evening hours of Nov. 4, unfortunately when this dynamic duo is below the horizon for North America. They’ll be separated by just over a half-degree, roughly the apparent width of the moon (the width of your fist, held at arm’s length roughly corresponds to 10 degrees)...When Venus and Jupiter next get together, it will be in the evening sky late next summer, at the beginning of the Labor Day holiday weekend," reported by Space.com on MSNBC. link here . 2. "A University of Florida scientist has grown a living 'brain' that can fly a simulated plane, giving scientists a novel way to observe how brain cells function as a network. The 'brain' -- a collection of 25,000 living neurons, or nerve cells, taken from a rat's brain and cultured inside a glass dish -- gives scientists a unique real-time window into the brain at the cellular level. By watching the brain cells interact, scientists hope to understand what causes neural disorders such as epilepsy and to determine noninvasive ways to intervene. As living computers, they may someday be used to fly small unmanned airplanes or handle tasks that are dangerous for humans, such as search-and-rescue missions or bomb damage assessments. 'We're interested in studying how brains compute,' said Thomas DeMarse, the UF professor of biomedical engineering who designed the study. 'If you think about your brain and learning and the memory process, I can ask you questions about when you were 5 years old and you can retrieve information. That's a tremendous capacity for memory. In fact, you perform fairly simple tasks that you would think a computer would easily be able to accomplish, but in fact it can't," quoting this story reported by Science Daily. link here . 3. "Scientists are mapping the pathways that link emotion to health. The challenge for the rest of us is to put the discoveries to work. Imagine you're allergic to the oil of the Japanese lacquer tree — so allergic that the brush of a leaf against your skin provokes an angry rash. Strapping a blindfold over your eyes, a scientist tells you she's going to rub your right arm with lacquer leaf and your left arm with the innocuous leaf of a chestnut tree. The rubbing commences, and before long your right arm is covered with burning, itchy welts. Your left side feels fine. No surprise, until you learn that your left arm — not the right — is the one that got lacquered," from this fascinating story reported in Newsweek Magazine by Herbert Benson, M.D., Julie Corliss, and Geoffrey Cowley. link here . 4. Speaking of the brain, "Twin brothers both get a flawless 1600 on the SAT, but Long Beach seniors simply take it in stride. It seems like the kind of SAT question custom-made for Dillon and Jesse Smith of Long Beach: If one out of every 1,511 students taking the SAT will get a perfect score, what are the odds that twin brothers will both ace the test? Answer: No one knows for sure. Nevertheless, that's what the Smith twins have done," quoting this Newsday story. link here . 5. Mentioned many times to KK readers are the mounting studies of the healthful benefits of drinking red wine, the latest research on such just released last week. "Drinking red wine could protect against lung cancer, but white wine may increase the risk, Spanish scientists said on Thursday [Oct 28]. They examined the effects of different types of wine on lung cancer, the most common and deadly form of the disease... Red wine contains tannins and resveratrol, substances which he said could expl