Olive Newsbriefs
Jail Baited
The Ulster County Legislature's Law Enforcement Center
Project Committee has again fallen short of passing a resolution
to allocate additional money to complete construction on its
ongoing multi-million dollar jail project and pay for related
claims filed against the county. The county's consultant,
Hill International, has recommended that the Legislature authorize
borrowing up to $15.7 million for the project: $4.7 million
for actual construction, and $11 million to cover contractor
claims the county has received, and legal and consulting costs
to resolve those claims. According to both Hill and construction
manager Bovis Lend Lease, the county may have to spend up to
an additional $21 million to complete the project and claims
in the long run. Democrats have said they want to see some accountability
for the cost overruns before spending more on the project, while
Legislators on both sides of the aisle say they want to have
some control over doling out money, rather than handing Hill
what has been called a "blank check." While the
Legislature had been notified that three contractors intended
to file claims against the county, recent amounts actually filed
were nearly double what was expected.
Lost Asopus
Atlantis, the legendary island nation whose major river was
called the Asopus, was actually Ireland, according to a new
theory by a Swedish scientist. The Greek philosopher Plato wrote
in 360 BC that Atlantis was an island in the Atlantic Ocean
where an advanced civilization developed some 11,500 years ago
until it was hit by a cataclysmic natural disaster and sank
beneath the waves. Geographer Ulf Erlingsson, whose book explaining
his theory will be published next month, says the measurements,
geography, and landscape of Atlantis as described by Plato match
Ireland almost exactly. He believes the idea that Atlantis sank
came from the fate of Dogger Bank, an isolated shoal in the
North Sea, about 60 miles off the northeastern coast of England,
which sank after being hit by a huge flood wave around 6,100
BC."I think the memory of Dogger Bank was probably preserved
in Ireland for around 3,000 years and became mixed up with the
story of Atlantis," he said. Previous theories about Atlantis
have suggested it may have been around the Azores islands 900
miles west of the Portuguese coast, or in the Aegean sea.
Utter Maloney
Republican Legislator James Maloney is fighting to keep both
his job as town of Ulster assessor and his elected position
as a county lawmaker by recently filing an appeal against a
state Supreme Court ruling that found holding the two posts
amounts to a conflict of interest. Weighing in on the issue
have been lawyers for county Democrats and Republicans who are
afraid that Maloney's removal will threaten the current
17-16 majority held by the GOP. Papers were filed with the state
Supreme Court's Appellate Division on July 30 challenging
state Supreme Court Justice Vincent Bradley's ruling that
Maloney must either give up his post as assessor or his job
as legislator by Aug. 20. GOP lawyers are saying that Maloney
will be able to remain in both offices until the appeal is resolved.
But attorneys for county Democrats believe that filing the appeal
does not automatically stay Bradley's ruling, and if not,
they will ask Bradley to uphold his decision and force Maloney
to relinquish one of his positions. Maloney currently earns
$56,250 annually as town of Ulster assessor, and an additional
$10,000 a year from serving on the Legislature.
Rich Benefits
Fully one-third of President Bush's tax cuts in the last
three years have gone to people with the top 1 percent of income,
who have earned an average of $1.2 million annually, according
to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The report calculated that households with incomes in that top
1 percent were receiving an average tax cut of $78,460 this
year, while households in the middle 20 percent of earnings
- averaging about $57,000 a year - were getting an average cut
of only $1,090. Since 2001, the federal budget has deteriorated
from a surplus of more than $100 billion to a deficit expected
to exceed $400 billion in 2004. President Bush's top economic
priority has been to make his tax cuts permanent, rather than
letting them expire at the end of this decade as they would
under current law. Democratic candidate John Kerry would seek
to roll back the tax cuts for households with incomes above
$200,000 a year, a move his campaign estimates would save $860
billion over 10 years, and use that money in large part to pay
for a vast new national health care plan.
Highway Friction
A dispute about which of two candidates will become Ulster County
Highways and Bridges commissioner has caused a fight within
both parties of the county legislature. While it looked like
Acting Highway Commissioner John Lukaszewski would be a shoo-in
for the position vacated by former Commissioner Jim Donahue,
who retired in January, Marbletown Highway Superintendent David
Sheeley actually gained the support in recent months to win
the powerful post. Both men are Republicans who were among
four finalists for the position. Supporters of Lukaszewski pointed
to his many years with the county and work as acting commissioner
as reasons to stand behind him, but those backing Sheeley said
it's time to shake things up in the department and bring
in a new perspective. Some lawmakers took issue with the advancement
of the resolution nominating Sheeley for the position,
criticizing Sheeley backers for putting up the resolution after
the search committee had already picked Lukaszewski. Frank Felicello
of Marlboro is one of the sponsors on the Lukaszewski resolution,
while Michael Stock of Woodstock is listed as a sponsor for
the Sheeley resolution. There has been a growing rift between
Stock and Felicello, both powerful Republicans, who clashed
at the July 20 meeting of the Public Works Committee, and later
were seen having a shouting match in the parking lot of the
Ulster County Office Building after a recent meeting.
Dems Growth
Ulster County currently has one more registered Democrat than
Republicans, with the shift now likely to occur before Election
Day in November. for perhaps the first time ever. As of 2:15
PM August 11, there were 32,089 registered Republicans in the
county and 32,090 Democrats. The trend was such that among Ulster
County residents who enrolled in a political party between January
and the end of July, 1,635 were Democrats and 722 were Republicans.
In 1996, there were 31,542 registered Republicans in the county
and 27,025 Democrats. Board of Elections statistics are showing
that the accelerated registration of Democrats in Ulster County
began in 2001, and reached a crescendo with a surge of Democratic
candidates winning legislative seats last November, shrinking
the traditional Republican majority from 24-9 to 17-16. The
number of people who were registered to vote but not enrolled
in any party as of Aug. 2 was 32,881- slightly larger than the
Democratic and Republican ranks. In all, Ulster County had 105,146
registered voters on Aug. 2, including 8,159 who were enrolled
in such relatively small parties as Independence, Working Families,
Liberal, Green and Right-to-Life∑ and including five Ulster
County residents enrolled in the Marijuana Party.
Flu Shots?
Last season's flu shot was effective only about half the
time, confirming the concerns many experts had since the vaccine
was not an exact match for one of the flu strains making many
Americans sick, the federal government said recently. When the
flu vaccine is a closer match to the type of flu circulating,
it is can be up to 90 percent effective in healthy adults, according
to the CDC. But officials noted thatlast season's
level of immunity was fairly typical of other years in which
the shot and the threatening virus aren't a perfect match.
The CDC and Colorado health officials studied more than 1,300
people in Colorado - the epicenter of last year's flu
outbreak - including about 300 who were lab-confirmed to have
the flu. Of those who had the flu, about half had been vaccinated.
Using that data, researchers calculated the vaccine probably
worked about 52 percent of the time for healthy adults and 38
percent of the time for those with previous medical conditions.
The study also confirmed that children who have never had a
flu shot need two doses for it to be effective, something the
CDC has been recommending all along.
Last fall's flu season began early and hit hard in some
regions, causing considerable anguish about the shot's
effectiveness. Health officials were concerned about how much
protection the flu shot would provide against the Fujian strain,
which emerged in Asia too late for the experts to include it
in the vaccine formula. The last time a similar situation had
occurred was in 1997, and the CDC estimated the vaccine was
about 30 percent to 50 percent protective then.
Budget Passed!
The state finally released school aid figures following the
Legislature's approval of the latest-ever budget in New
York's history last week, restoring some cuts in Gov.
George Pataki's original budget and raising overall school
aid by 5.2 percent. State Sen. John Bonacic said that a 5.2
percent increase over last year's aid package, which was
the largest in state history, represented a commitment on the
part of the legislature to education. But despite the passage
of the school aid plan, state legislators never got around to
addressing a Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit decision forcing
a July 30 deadline for the legislature and governor to
increase funding for New York City schools.
More later∑
High Carb Cancer
New research suggests high-carb diets might raise the risk of
breast cancer. Women in Mexico who ate a lot of carbohydrates
were more than twice as likely to get breast cancer than those
who ate less starch and sugar, scientists found. Fats, fiber
and specific foods have long been studied for their effects
on various types of cancer, but few firm links have emerged.
Being overweight is known to raise risk, but the new study took
that into account and still found greater risk from high carbohydrate
consumption. Scientists think carbs may increase cancer risk
by rapidly raising sugar in the blood, which prompts a surge
of insulin to be secreted. This causes cells to divide and leads
to higher levels of estrogen in the blood, both of which can
encourage cancer. For this study, researchers enrolled 475 women
newly diagnosed with breast cancer and a comparison group of
1,391 healthy women in Mexico City who were matched for age,
weight, childbirth trends and other factors that affect the
odds of getting the disease. Women filled out a lengthy food
questionnaire developed by Willett and widely used in nutrition
studies, and were divided into four categories based on how
much of their total calories came from carbohydrates. Those
in the top category - who got 62 percent or more of their calories
from carbs - were 2.22 times more likely to have breast cancer
than those in the lowest category, whose carb intake was 52
percent or less of their diet. How applicable the results are
to American women is debatable. Carbohydrates make up half of
the typical American diet - less than what most of the women
in this study consumed. Breast cancer rates in the United States
are among the highest in the world. Nearly 132 cases are diagnosed
for every 100,000 women. In Mexico, incidence is rising and
is currently estimated at 38 cases per 100,000 women. In the
study, women who ate a lot of insoluble fiber - found in whole
grains, fruits and vegetables - had somewhat less risk of breast
cancer. Fiber can modulate the absorption of carbohydrates.
The Institute of Medicine recommends that carbohydrates constitute
45 percent to 65 percent of calories, and that no more than
20 percent should come from added sugars, said Schlicker, who
served on the panel that drafted the advice. New dietary guidelines
are due to be released next year.
Draft This∑
Most U.S. high-school students believe the government will restart
the military draft during their lifetimes, and shrinking numbers
are optimistic about the country's future, a new poll
finds. Among teenagers, 55 percent say young Americans will
be required to serve in the military, up from 45 percent last
year, according to "The State of Our Nation's Youth,"
an annual survey by the Horatio Alger Association. During the
year between polls - May 2003 to May 2004 - U.S. casualties
mounted during attacks in Iraq even after President Bush declared
on May 1, 2003, that major combat had ended. Former President
Nixon halted the draft in 1973. Pentagon leaders and numerous
generals and admirals have said it should not be resumed because
the volunteer military is more efficient. Critics including
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry have accused the
Pentagon of engaging in a "backdoor draft" to compensate
for manpower shortages in Iraq with wholesale mobilizations
National Guard and Reserve units and other retention tactics.
In the poll, respondents were asked their views of a mandatory
military service requirement of two years, and 70 percent of
students were opposed. The students' outlook for the country
was dimmer this year, but it remained relatively high, as 68
percent said they were hopeful. That was down from 75 percent
last year. More than two-thirds of students said they care who
wins the presidential race, but two-thirds also said they have
not closely followed news reporting about the race.
Nigeria Next?
Nigeria is the fifth largest source of oil imports for the United
States. The Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of Nigeria is estimated
to hold up to 11% of the world's oil reserves. With continuing
problems in the ME, the US has been looking more towards this
region for alternative fuel suppliers. Last month the US held
talks with Nigeria over protecting huge oil discoveries in the
Gulf of Guinea. The United States Navy will now be deploying
forces to the area. The Nigerian Air Force will also receive
$3 million dollars in aid to buy aircraft replacement parts
and are requesting for improved relations between the Nigerian
and U.S. Air Force. During "Summer Pulse" exercises
in June the US Navy operated in the Gulf of Guinea in a "show
of force". But even though the area is oil-rich most of
the residents earn less than a dollar a day. Royal Dutch/Shell
Group, Europe's second-biggest oil company, has been accused
of "feeding" the unrest in the area. There are also
American and other foreign companies involved in on-going graft
investigations. They include Halliburton, Hughes Corp., and
the Swiss engineering firm ABB.
Recruiting Cash
The Army is dramatically increasing cash bonuses for enlistees
and preparing to put hundreds of new recruiters on the streets
in anticipation that it will have an increasingly tough time
finding recruits in coming months as a means of meeting its
goal of 77,000 new active-duty recruits for the 2004 fiscal
year, which ends Sept. 30. But Army officials are far less certain
about next year, when the service will have to persuade 80,000
young adults to sign up in the midst of a prolonged guerrilla
war in Iraq and an improving economy at home. As a result, Army
planners are still debating how many new recruiters to add,
but they intend to send at least 300 more to recruiting offices
across the USA to bolster the Army's force of about 6,000
active and reserve recruiters. To lure new prospects, the cash
bonuses in some hard-to-fill specialties will rise to a maximum
of $15,000, more than double the previous top bonus of $6,000
for a three-year enlistment. The top bonus for most recruits
will rise to $10,000.
The concern over potential recruiting shortfalls comes as the
Pentagon is having increasing difficulty finding enough troops
for ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Long overseas tours
have soured some current troops and have made the military less
enticing for some potential recruits. The improving U.S. economy
has lured others to civilian jobs. There also is a growing shortage
in the Army's Delayed Entry Program, which allows recruits
to sign up months ahead of the time they are required to report
to boot camp. Because of an increased demand for recruits this
year, the Army has been rushing delayed-entry soldiers into
basic training ahead of schedule. That has depleted the pool
of soldiers who would have reported next year and added to the
burden for recruiters.
The last time the Army significantly increased its recruiting
force was in 1999, when the booming civilian economy made it
tough to find recruits, and the Army and Army Reserve missed
their recruiting targets by a combined 16,000 enlistees. Last
month, the Army announced a program to recruit former Air Force
and Navy personnel into the Army. The program, called "Blue
to Green" to describe the change from the blue uniforms
of the Navy and Air Force to the green worn by the Army, is
designed to capitalize on the fact that the Air Force and the
Navy both have more troops than they need now and plan to trim
more than 20,000 this year and next.
Measuring Rain!
Meteorologists at North Carolina State University are working
on a way to more accurately measure rainfall in small areas.
They're developing software programs that use radar readings
in combination with measurements taken from ground gauges to
more accurately estimate where it rained and how much rain fell.
Rainfall can vary greatly over short distances, so the new measuring
tool will provide a better understanding of how wet or dry an
area is. Filling in these information gaps will make water-management
decisions easier should drought ˆ or flooding ˜ threaten.
Radar systems have long been used to detect approaching storms,
but these projections aren't always accurate, scientists
said. The estimates become much more reliable when the calculations
are adjusted to include rainfall totals recorded at collection
stations. So instead of relying on spots 30 miles apart to paint
the region's weather portrait, the program will make it
possible to determine within a two-and-a-half-mile square area.
Revelation
The revelation that a mole within al Qaeda was exposed after
Washington launched its "orange alert" this month
has shocked security experts, who say the outing of the source
may have set back the war on terror. "Running agents within
a terrorist organization is the Holy Grail of intelligence agencies.
And to have it blown is a major setback which negates months
and years of work, which may be difficult to recover,"
said Tim Ripley, a security expert who writes for Jane's
Defense publications. It was recently learned from Pakistani
intelligence sources on Friday that computer expert Mohammad
Naeem Noor Khan, arrested secretly in July, was working under
cover to help the authorities track down al Qaeda militants
in Britain and the United States when his name appeared in U.S.
newspapers. "After his capture he admitted being an al
Qaeda member and agreed to send e-mails to his contacts,"
a Pakistani intelligence source told Reuters. "He sent
encoded e-mails and received encoded replies. He's a great
hacker and even the U.S. agents said he was a computer whiz."
Security experts later said they were shocked by the revelations
that the source whose information led to the alert was identified
within days, and that U.S. officials had confirmed his name.
"The whole thing smacks of either incompetence or worse,"
said Ripley. "You have to ask: what are they doing compromising
a deep mole within al Qaeda, when it's so difficult to
get these guys in there in the first place? It goes against
all the rules of counter-espionage, counter-terrorism, running
agents and so forth. It's not exactly cloak and dagger
undercover work if it's on the front pages every time
there's a development, is it?" Rolf Tophoven, head
of the Institute for Terrorism Research and Security Policy
in Essen, Germany, said allowing Khan's name to become
public was "very unclever. If it is correct, then I would
say its another debacle of the American intelligence community.
Maybe other serious sources could have been detected or guys
could have been captured in the future" if Khan's
identity had been protected, he said. British Home Secretary
David Blunkett, responsible for Britain's anti-terrorism
policy, said in a statement there was "a difference between
alerting the public to a specific threat and alarming people
unnecessarily by passing on information indiscriminately."
Rising Rates
The U.S. Federal Reserve has raised interest rates another quarter
of a percentage point to head off potential inflation, saying
the economy had been hit by energy costs but was poised for
faster growth. The unanimous decision by the policy-setting
Federal Open Market Committee moves the benchmark federal funds
rate, charged on overnight loans between banks, to 1.5 percent.
But in announcing its second rate rise this year, the central
bank gave no sign it was prepared to let up on a "measured"
campaign to lift the fed funds rate to a more neutral level
despite weak July jobs data and other poor economic indicators.
It raised rates by a quarter point after its last meeting on
June 30 ˜ the first increase in four years. Analysts expressed
reservations about the Fed's buoyant assessment of growth
prospects, especially given that it is not clear what will cause
energy prices to fall or at least stabilize. The central bank
said economic risks remained balanced between weaker growth
and higher prices, repeating that some of the recent signs of
inflation pressure appeared to stem from transitory factors.
They also retained a pledge to respond to changes in the economy
as needed to keep inflation under wraps ˜ wording some
in financial markets thought might shift to reflect more concern
about employment. President Bush credits his tax cuts with helping
the economy "turn the corner" to a stronger expansion
after a recession and halting recovery while Democratic challenger
John Kerry argues the administration's policies have not
only failed to stimulate solid hiring but have fueled record
budget deficits.
Heat Waves∑
Heat waves like those that have hit Paris and Chicago in recent
years are likely to get worse, roasting more and more cities
with ever-higher temperatures, climate researchers predicted
recently. And while some may like it hot, the forecast means
misery for many, and hotter weather can affect crops, drive
up fuel prices and can kill the old and weak. The heat wave
that hit France a year ago killed an estimated 15,000 people.
A similar heat wave that hit the U.S. Midwest last year damaged
corn and soy crops, and 739 people died in a heat wave that
broiled Chicago in 1995. Using a new computer model that takes
into account increasing levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon
dioxide, Gerald Meehl and Claudia Tebaldi of the National Center
for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, found heat waves
might become more common as global warming heats the Earth.
Writing in the journal Science, they said they tried to see
if other pollutants such as sulfur dioxide might reflect sunlight
away from the planet and perhaps offset some of the heat-trapping
properties of carbon dioxide. But their model shows no such
effects. Regions already prone to heat waves, such as the U.S.
Midwest and Southeast and Europe's Mediterranean areas,
will suffer even more, and longer, the model predicts. For their
study, Meehl and Tebaldi used data from 1961 to 1990 to predict
future weather patterns in 2080 to 2099. They assumed there
will be few policy changes to affect global warming.
Another team of scientists said that governments can turn this
pattern around right now, if they choose to. Stephen Pacala
and Robert Socolow of Princeton University identified 15 technologies,
from wind, solar and nuclear energy to conservation techniques,
that could each help reduce global warming. Their report, also
published in Science, counters the common argument that a major
new technology needs to be developed before greenhouse gases
can be controlled.
Ah, Halliburton!
Pentagon auditors have concluded that Halliburton Co. hasn't
adequately accounted for more than $1.8 billion of work in Iraq
and Kuwait, a finding that is likely to increase pressure on
the government to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in
payments to the company. The amount represents 43% of the $4.18
billion that Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root
has so far billed the Pentagon for its work feeding and housing
troops in the region. A move to withhold substantial payments
to KBR could create new headaches for Halliburton, whose KBR
unit filed for bankruptcy-court protection under the weight
of billions of dollars of asbestos claims. Houston-based Halliburton
warned shareholders in June that a move by the Pentagon to withhold
substantial payments or demand refunds could "adversely
affect our liquidity." Efforts by the Pentagon to reclaim
funds also could potentially disrupt the many services KBR provides
to U.S. troops and other personnel in Iraq and Kuwait. Army
officials threatened earlier this year to begin withholding
up to 15% of KBR's billings for its services to troops,
citing smaller KBR billings that weren't properly documented.
But the Pentagon has given the company two waivers saying progress
was being made. However, the latest Pentagon audit report underscores
that KBR's billing problems remain widespread and could
pressure Army officials to begin withholding substantial sums
from the company. KBR officials disputed the report's
conclusions, saying that they have worked within the same Defense
Department system without a hitch for years. The 60-page audit
report has stirred deep concern within the Pentagon, in part
because Halliburton has emerged as such a persistent political
issue in the presidential race. Vice President Dick Cheney ran
Halliburton through the late 1990s, and the Kerry campaign has
frequently accused the Bush administration of doing multiple
favors for the company. Halliburton, for its part, claims that
Mr. Cheney's former role as chief executive is irrelevant,
but it opens the company up to politically motivated charges.
Pentagon officials also worry that the financial disputes could
impede KBR's work in Iraq, where the company provides
everything from showers to bunkrooms and hot meals for nearly
all U.S. troops. According to some Pentagon officials, the administration
may face a decision in coming months on whether essentially
to forgive many of the unsupported expenses that KBR has incurred
in Iraq.
Hiring Help
Help is available from the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC)
for businesses seeking to retain or add employees in Greene,
Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster Counties. The CWC has reallocated
funds that were not expended on other economic development grant
programs into the Job Retention and Creation Grant program for
the remainder of 2004. Grants of up to $2,000 for each job created
or retained over three years will be available as part of a
financial package for manufacturing, commercial, natural resource
or service businesses. A target number of ten jobs must be created
or retained. Retail businesses are not eligible for this program.
A business plan is required as part of the application, which
may be submitted at any time prior to December 31, 2004. Grant
applications and guidelines may be printed from the CWC website,
www.cwconline.org (click on the appropriate announcement on
the news bar at the top of the home page). Or, call toll-free,
877-WAT-SHED; or 845-586-1400, Ext. 22 (Phil Sireci) to arrange
for an application to be mailed to you. In addition to the grant
program, the CWC offers three low-interest loan programs under
the Catskill Fund for the Future: the REDI Loan Program, Micro-Loan
Program and the Commercial Septic and WOH Mandates Loan Program.
The latter can be used for the repair or replacement of non-residential
septic systems, or for other environmentally-related projects
required solely due to their location within the West-of-Hudson
Watershed.
Trade Deficit
The U.S. trade deficit hit a record $55.82 billion in June as
the country's foreign oil bill surged to an all-time high,
the government has reported. Soaring energy costs also showed
up in wholesale prices for July, although a big drop in food
costs helped keep the overall increase in the Labor Department's
Producer Price Index down to a modest 0.1 percent. While food
costs fell by 1.6 percent in July, the biggest one-month decline
in more than two years, energy prices shot up by 2.3 percent,
the biggest gain in six months. The Commerce Department's
monthly trade report showed the June imbalance was up a sharp
19.1 percent from a revised May imbalance of $46.88 billion.
Exports of goods and services fell by 4.3 percent to $92.82
billion while imports climbed 3.3 percent to a record $148.64
billion.
The far bigger-than-expected jump in the deficit caught analysts
by surprise. They said it would act to further slow an economy
already struggling with what Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan
described as a "soft patch" in the early summer.
Economic growth, as measured by the gross domestic product,
slowed sharply in the April-June quarter to an annual rate of
just 3 percent, down from 4.5 percent in the first quarter.
The country's trade deficit with China climbed to a record
$14.2 billion, up 17 percent from May, while the imbalance with
Japan rose to $6.3 billion and the imbalance with the expanded
25-nation European Union to $10.6 billion. The Bush administration
blamed the weakness on a global economic slowdown. But the campaign
of Bush's Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry, said the
soaring trade deficit was an indictment of the current administration's
trade policies, which it blames for the loss of millions of
manufacturing jobs over the past three years.
Tsunamis!
The bad news is tens of millions of people along the eastern
seaboard of the United States and Canada may drown if the slow
slippage of a volcano off north Africa becomes a cataclysmic
collapse. But the good news is the world is not likely to be
destroyed by an asteroid any time soon. Scientists recently
announced that some time in the next few thousand years the
western flank of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Canary Island
of La Palma will collapse, sending walls of water 100 yards
high racing across the Atlantic. A chunk of the volcano the
size of a small island began to slide into the ocean in 1949.
There is almost no monitoring of the volcano, giving virtually
no chance of any advance warning of another eruption which could
trigger the catastrophe.
"The U.S. government must be aware of the threat. I am
sure they are not taking it seriously," McGuire of the
Benfield Grieg Hazard Research Centre told reporters. "They
certainly should be worried, as should the island states of
the Caribbean." He said the giant tidal wave or Tsunami
triggered by such a collapse would hit the other islands of
the Spanish-owned Canaries within an hour and reach the north
African coast within two hours. Between seven and 10 hours later,
waves still several tens of metres tall and travelling at the
speed of a jet plane would be swamping the Caribbean and crashing
into the eastern seaboards of South and North America. Scientists
urged the governments of Spain and the United States to fund
monitoring of the volcanically active La Palma ˜ a project
they said could be achieved relatively cheaply. They said the
slow collapse ˜ started by an eruption in 1949 ˜ would
almost certainly be turned catastrophic by another eruption
of the volcano which erupts every 25 to 200 years. The last
eruption was in 1971, and prior to 1949, the previous eruption
was in 1712.
Religious Zeal
A skillful mixing of religion and politics helped President
Bush silence critics and sell his policies on terrorism and
Iraq to the nation, according to a new book that analyzes hundreds
of public communications and news reports. As Bush makes his
case for a second term, the research by David Domke documents
how during his first term the president effectively linked religious
terminology with political goals in the turbulent months after
the Sept. 11 attacks. In all but one of Bush's 15 national
addresses between 9/11 and the end of major combat in Iraq,
for example, he cast the campaign against terrorism as a simple
struggle of good (America) vs. evil, according to Domke's
book. And in four of the speeches, Bush issued explicit declarations
that administration policies and goals were in line with divine
powers. Yet only two of the 326 post-speech editorials in 20
leading newspapers challenged the religiously derived notion
of good vs. evil, and none questioned the president's
statements about God's will. The findings appear in Domke's
book, "God Willing?: Political Fundamentalism in the White
House, the ŒWar on Terror,' and the Echoing Press,"
just released by Pluto Press (London and Ann Arbor), a detailed
portrait of how the administration grounded its war on terrorism
in religion and how a deferential mainstream press helped pave
the way. "All of this came at great cost to democracy
and the public," he said, "both of which were roundly
ignored by the administration as it pursued a religiously grounded
vision of America in the 21st century."
Young Viagrans
Viagra is not just for old men. The blockbuster impotence pill
is being used by a growing number of younger men under the age
of 55 says a new study of more than 5 million insured adults
from 1998 to 2002, which found the fastest-growing segments
of users was men aged 18 to 55 years. And fewer of these men
are using Viagra because they need to for some medical reason.
"These findings suggest increased use of Viagra as an
enhancement or recreational agent," the study concluded.
The drug, known generically as sildenafil, acts by increasing
blood flow. It can help men made impotent by diabetes, heart
disease and other conditions. Its use increased from 0.8 percent
of the population surveyed in 1998 to 1.4 percent in 2002, a
rise of 84 percent. Viagra generated sales of $1.9 billion in
2003.
Plame Game
Reporters who refuse to divulge confidential sources have rarely
been forced to spend time behind bars, but a rash of subpoenas
and waning sympathy from judges could change that. A federal
judge last week held a Time magazine reporter in contempt of
court ˜ which could carry a maximum penalty of 18 months
in jail ˜ for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating
the leak of a CIA officer's identity. The reporter, Matthew
Cooper, is appealing. Prosecutors have subpoenaed at least four
other journalists in that investigation, and have interviewed
President Bush and other officials. Federal judges appear increasingly
reluctant to recognize a First Amendment privilege for journalists
to shield their sources and notes, said Lucy Dalglish, executive
director of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press.
And, she said, "prosecutors are getting more aggressive
in going after journalists." First Amendment lawyer Floyd
Abrams, who represents Time's Cooper, has seen an increase
in investigations of leaks. Many cases don't become public
because they are shrouded in grand jury secrecy. "We've
had more and more situations in which the press has been in
the crosshairs," Abrams said. Media law experts expect
the Cooper case to be eventually appealed to the Supreme Court.
Two years ago, the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal
of a freelance writer from Houston who had been subpoenaed by
a federal grand jury in a murder case. Vanessa Leggett spent
more than five months in jail for refusing to turn over notes
from her interview with a suspect in the killing. Journalists
argue that the right to shield a source's identity is
vital to a free press. The public has an interest in "a
vigorous and independent press, and it cannot play that role
if sources are intimidated from speaking with reporters,"
said media lawyer David Schulz, who represents The Associated
Press.
A criminal grand jury is investigating who leaked the name of
CIA operative Valerie Plame to syndicated columnist Robert Novak.
Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, had
criticized some of Bush's claims about Iraq and says his
wife's name was leaked in retaliation. In a column last
summer, Novak cited two "senior administration officials"
as his sources. Disclosure of an undercover official's
identity can be a felony.
At The DEP...
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection has
announced that it will soon begin a study on the Hudson River
to determine whether groundwater from beneath the river could
be a suitable source for the New York City water supply system.
"The City is looking at many ways it can improve the dependability
of its water system, and the Hudson River is one source the
City has used intermittently in the past," said DEP Commissioner
Christopher Ward. "Induced infiltration from the aquifer
that runs beneath the river is one way to improve the quality
of water and to reduce the environmental effects of its use."
A test well will draw up to four million gallons of water per
day from the aquifer that runs through the sand and gravel that
exists beneath the Hudson River . By drawing water from this
aquifer, water from the river above can be induced to migrate
through the river bottom and to infiltrate the aquifer. This
migration and infiltration provides for natural filtration of
the water and is expected to result in higher quality water
than that taken directly from the river. The $1.585 million
study is intended to verify the existing geophysical survey
and historical boring data, and provide better information on
the characteristics of the aquifer, including its potential
long-term water yield and water quality. The study will be performed
in a stretch of the river between River Mile 65 and River Mile
68 in the vicinity of Chelsea , New York . It will use up to
two 90-foot barges to drill 10 test borings up to 200 feet into
the riverbed, and one platform on the river to serve as a base
for a test well and observation well. Field work for the study
is scheduled in two phases so as not to affect the critical
fish spawning season. The first phase is scheduled to begin
in mid-August and end in December. The second phase is scheduled
to begin in July 2005 and end in December 2005. The project
has been coordinated with federal, state and local officials
in order to minimize the impact on the community, and with the
Coast Guard to minimize the effect on river traffic. Induced
infiltration technology is already in use in over 100 cities
in the United States , and at other locations in Europe and
throughout the world. U.S. cities that use induced infiltration
include Albany and Binghamton in New York , as well as Perth
Amboy , NJ , Cedar Rapids , IA , Columbus , OH , and Louisville
, KY.
EMT Training
Ulster County Community College will offer courses in emergency
management in the fall semester, beginning August 30. The courses,
designed to prepare for and deal with local, regional or national
disasters, can be taken individually or as part of a four-semester
sequence. According to Art Snyder, director of emergency
management for Ulster County, "These courses, which cover
fundamental emergency management practices, provide a great
opportunity for individuals to be exposed to the emergency management
field. In light of current world circumstances, with the urgent
need for all emergency services providers to work together,
effective emergency management serves as the focal point for
these efforts." The Emergency Management courses will
provide an academic background for professionals in such fields
as emergency planning, disaster operations and risk assessment.
Individuals in government, non-profit agencies and local business
will benefit from the courses, which meet New York State and
Federal Emergency Management Agency requirements. Students who
take the courses, which offer college credit, should inquire
regarding eligibility for financial aid. For information about
emergency management courses at SUNY Ulster, phone the Admissions
Office at 1-800-724-0833 or check the college website at www.sunyulster.edu.
Affordability...
More than $3.7 million in aid will be used to create home ownership
and rental housing opportunities across Ulster County, the state
legislature decided recently. Those receiving funding include:
Rural Ulster Preservation Company (RUPCO), which will receive
$1 million to develop housing for sale to first time home buyers.
The program will offer mortgage principal reduction on newly
constructed homes; Kingston Limited Partnership, which
will receive $646,369 in low income housing tax credits. Those
tax credits will produce an equity contribution of an estimated
$5.12 million. The development will create 122 units of rental
housing. The total project cost is $11.85 million; and The Birches
at Saugerties, which will receive $1.4 million in Housing Trust
fund assistance and an additional $656,043 in tax credit assistance.
The RUPCO grant will play a key role in helping to make home
ownership more affordable for working class families in Ulster
County. Senator John Bonacic, one of the bill's sponsors,
said, "Home prices are out of reach for too many working
class families. These are families with good credit, but too
little income to save for a down payment. Early this year RUPCO
came to me with an outstanding proposal to provide $6.4 million
worth of single family housing in Ulster County. They needed
a $1 million State grant to make it happen. I am pleased that
today, that funding has been made available." Kevin O'Connor,
Executive Director of RUPCO said, "This is a large project,
and a very large grant that will help us with that key mission."
