Hi!
A senior Cassini engineer, in remarks to the Atlanta Journal Constitution,
lets the cat out of the bag. We can hold hearings on Cassini and still not
affect the missions science return significantly if in the end we still
decide to launch. See leadoff story for details...
Sincerely, Russell D. Hoffman, Editor, STOP CASSINI newsletter.
***** STOP CASSINI NEWSLETTER Volume #54 October 7th, 1997 *****
Today's subjects:
*** This launch can be delayed long enough for hearings. READ THIS!
*** Suit filed in Hawaii Against Cassini
*** A letter to Hillary Rodham Clinton's aides from Mark Anderson
*** A poem about Cassini by A New York student
*** Anti-Cassini cartoons on the Internet from Finland
*** More Anti-Cassini cartoons on the Internet
*** From the email 'in' box
*** More from the email 'in' box
*** And one more from the email 'in' box
****** VOLUME #54 October 7th, 1997 ******
***********************************************
*** This launch can be delayed long enough for hearings. READ THIS:
***********************************************
>From The Atlanta Journal Constitution Sunday, October 5th, page D-10, in an
article titled A GRAND TOUR OF SATURN by Mike Turner:=20
>>>>> START OF CLIP >>>>>
"Because the succession of gravity assists depends on the location of the
planets, NASA desperately wants to launch the Cassini spacecraft on time.
The launch has already been delayed a week to give ground crews a chance to
repair damage from a minor launch pad accident. The spacecraft is back on
the launch pad, perched atop the Titan IV rocket that will carry it into
space, but Kohlhase says any lengthy delays in the next few weeks will be
harder to deal with. As the Planets shift position, the amount of time it
takes the spacecraft to reach Saturn will increase and the work it can do
when it arrives will decrease. "For the best results, we would really like
to launch before November 4th." Kohlhase says, "After that, any delay will
force us to give up something."
<<<<< END OF CLIP <<<<<
Charles Kohlhase is the Project Science and Mission Director for Cassini at
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.=20
It is obvious from his statement that a delay at least through November 4th
would NOT severely impact the mission objectives, which means WE HAVE TIME
FOR HEARINGS on this mess. In the last few weeks, NASA has stated
REPEATEDLY they have never felt such heat, yet we had hearings over sending
a few astronauts to MIR last month. (None of whom personally objected to
going and that is why we call them heros.) On Spaceship Earth, many people
object to being threatened by Cassini. =20
Hearings are the appropriate forum to resolve the opponent's many fears,
even if those fears are unfounded, but especially if they turn out not to be
unfounded. We have time for hearings. Many of us have called for hearings
from the very beginning... Now our voice is loud and clear and crowded -- it
is time! I have not heard President Clinton speak about Cassini, state his
reasons why "science" (what NASA passes off as science) must move forward
no matter how many people object, no matter how substantive their
objections, no matter how safe and obvious the alternatives, not matter what
the risk to humanity. He has not made such a speech, has he? NO! Rather,
Dr. John Gibbons, his Science Advisor, advised him to go ahead and allow
someone to push the button. But surely as everyone knows this is the
hottest topic around this week. I have heard reliable reports for a month
now that President Clinton is getting more mail, faxes, email, and phone
calls on Cassini than on anything else. That is why he had Dr. Gibbons
review the matter in the past three weeks! Now, around the nation people
are crying, yet still he is silent. =20
Surely, President Clinton has a duty to this nation, to make an unequivocal
statement of his own, explaining why, even in the face of all this
opposition, HE WON'T EVEN DELAY CASSINI FOR HEARINGS. 87 year old ladies
willing to climb eight foot chain link fences. I didn't see that over MIR,
yet we had hearings. A 79 year old American WWII Manhattan Project
scientist who made Oppy's bombs possible by isolating the first working
quantities of plutonium. This man opposes Cassini. The father of Health
Physics and former director of the Health Physics Division at Oak Ridge
National Labs does too. Also a world renowned theoretical physicist
hand-picked by Edward Teller himself to work directly with him in the
nuclear industry. And a scientist with more than two decades as a senior
researcher at NASA's own labs. We have an investigative journalist, who is
also a professor who teaches how to use the Freedom of Information Act at
State University of New York, who had to use his utmost skills and
determination to obtain documents from NASA which clearly indicate NASA not
only misrepresented possibilities for the solar alternatives for Galileo
before, but now has used that very same document completely inappropriately
for Cassini! =20
And even NASA's own Emergency Preparedness Officer for Ulysses and Galileo,
the last two big (the last too big) nuclear launches, has joined us in
opposition to Cassini.
American icons, even American heros, all these men so described, and many
other fine men and women, all oppose this launch. Was there such opposition
to helping Russia with MIR last month, yet we had hearings? Pro-nuclear
Cassini supporters have described the aforementioned men, and THEIR
supporters, as "a small group of antinuclear activists" and newspapers
across the country have used such insulting terms as "antinuke fear=
mongers."=20
These men have not been given a fair voice. It is a complicated issue, and
the truth needs to be told and told again until everyone understands two
things: 1) The truth, and 2) That the truth must be told.
But President Clinton does not need to explain that he does not agree with
the opposition's respected scientists. And he does not need to explain once
again how beautiful Saturn will look in the data Cassini will return if it
makes it all the way there in seven year's time. Not at all, no, that's
been explained. We all would like the pictures and the data, but that's not
the whole story.
President Clinton needs to explain to the Nation and to the world why he
thinks we do not need to have sworn testimony BEFORE the risk is taken,
rather than after, whatever after may look like. Why did he not help us
achieve testimony last summer, or even last spring, when it would not have
made any difference to the launch schedule practically no matter how long
they dragged on? Was it because he thought the opposition was just "a small
group of activists", as they have been so often and so inadequately=
described? =20
This is what the nation wants to know. =20
Mr. President:=20
If what we have done is not enough to get hearings on the matter, what would
you have required? Tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of signatures,
dozens of protests around the country, and state and local government
resolutions against Cassini, at least half a dozen Congresspeople have
called for hearings -- not to mention all the technical articles and
critiques of NASA's positions by leading scientists -- which NASA has NOT
answered. We have presented clear indications of NASA lies, now there are
even court filings (see below), and debates continue across the nation and
around the world -- now it's even front page news at last -- and even NASA
says it has never felt such heat... What else would you require the
opposition to do before you would want it to be debated in sworn testimony,
because something is seriously wrong. Don't you want to be sure of what it=
is?
Even if the launch goes off without a hitch, there is still that upcoming
flyby scheduled for August, 1999. With momentum against Cassini building so
much, even if we don't delay the launch, sooner or later hearings before the
dangerous flyby maneuver are a distinct possibility. Why risk the launch if
there is a chance that the mission could STILL be canceled? Why not hear
out the opposition scientists in sworn testimony, let NASA attempt to
respond in sworn testimony, and THEN let the Nation, and it's
representatives, and Clinton, decide. NASA has not served the public. I
hope President Clinton will.
Call President Clinton! Email him! Fax him! Protest! =20
President Clinton's phone number:=20
(202) 456-1414
President Clinton's fax number:=20
(202) 456-2461
President Clinton's e-mail address:=20
President@Whitehouse.gov
President Clinton's snail address:=20
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Wash. DC 20500
For the latest anti-Cassini protest schedules:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/protests.htm
If NASA launches now, without hearings, without answering the critics, in
the face of the most strident opposition they have ever faced (by their own
admission), it will show a level of arrogance that will ultimately destroy
them even if Cassini goes off without a hitch...
***********************************************
*** Suit filed in Hawaii Against Cassini
***********************************************
If President Clinton will not stop Cassini long enough for Hearings, perhaps
we can still get justice. This item just came in yesterday:
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 6, 1997
On Tuesday, October 7, the Hawai'i County Green Party and
the Florida Peace and Justice Coalition will file suit in
Honolulu federal court in an effort to stop NASA from launching
the Cassini Mission.
The Cassini Mission is a deep space probe to Saturn carrying
72.3 pounds of plutonium as a power supply for the scientific
equipment on board.
The suit claims that NASA's decision making process for the
Cassini Mission was "capricious and arbitrary." The suit also
claims that an accident could have catastrophic effects on human
health and the environment.
The Green Party and the Coalition will ask the court to
prevent the launch of the Cassini until NASA uses an alternative
power supply that does not pose the risk to human health and the
environment posed by plutonium.
With the launch scheduled for Monday, October 13 at 4:55
a.m. EDT (Sunday, October 12 at 10:55 p.m. Hawai'i time), the
litigation will have to move very swiftly.
The Green Party and the Coalition will file a second action
requesting the court to grant a temporary restraining order
delaying the launch and providing more time for the litigation.
Attorney Lanny Sinkin will be in Honolulu and available to
discuss the suit with members of the press at 2:00 p.m. in front
of the Federal Courthouse Entrance to the Prince Jonah Kuhio
Federal Building. (If he is not present at 2:00, he may already
be in front of the judge on the temporary restraining order.)=20
For further information, leave a message at (808) 969-7768=1A
___________________
Light Worker Center
277 Keawe Street
Hilo, Hawai'i 96720
(808) 934-9609 (FAX/Telephone)
light@ilhawaii.net; www.ilhawaii.net/~light
***********************************************
*** A letter to Hillary Rodham Clinton's aides from Mark Anderson
***********************************************
Mark Anderson wrote a Front-Page article about Cassini for the Valley (MA)
Advocate recently... Shortly thereafter the Massachusetts State House of
Representatives passed a resolution calling for the cancellation of Cassini.
Coincidence? You decide. He has also written a letter to the First Lady's
aides, which is shown below. First, here is the URL of Mark Anderson's
article on Cassini, "The Rocket's Dread Glare":
http://www.valleyadvocate.com/articles/rocket.html
>From: Mark Anderson <mkanderson@amherst.edu>
At 09:28 AM 10/7/97Mark Anderson wrote:
To Ms. Rodham-Clinton's aides--
The Cassini spacecraft, scheduled to fly next week, contains 72 pounds
of highly radioactive plutonium. Despite NASA bureaucrats' assurances to
the contrary, top physicists, engineers and space scientists have found
that that plutonium could potentially expose anywhere from thousands to
billions of people to deadly doses of radiation should the Cassini crash
either upon launch or in its scheduled 1999 Earth fly-by. Again, despite
a nervous agency's PR, an accident would not be a remotely unlikely
event either. The rocket which carries Cassini (the Titan IV), for
instance, has a proven failure rate of 1:20.=20
This is insanity. Exploration of the Solar System is an important
component of our country's scientific advancement. But nothing is worth
risking the lives of countless civilians in the process. Should the
Cassini crash, the craft's legacy would not be new photographs of Saturn
or new findings about the planet's magnetosphere -- it could very easily
be millions of painful deaths from lung cancer worldwide. This is what
NASA has become?=20
Stop Cassini. Solar power is a perfectly viable option -- even for deep
space missions. Ask the European Space Agency, who are sending a fully
solar-powered craft to beyond Jupiter's orbit in a few years.=20
I vote. If there really are any democratic impulses left in our
government, it will listen not to the well-monied military contractors
but rather to the American electorate.=20
Stop nuclear proliferation in space: Stop Cassini. Stop the
militarization of the heavens: Stop Cassini. Stop pointing that loaded
gun at our head: Stop Cassini.=20
Thank you for your time,
Mark K. Anderson
Ashfield, Mass.
mkanderson@amherst.edu
***********************************************
*** A poem about Cassini by a New York student
***********************************************
If the pen is truly mightier than the sword, it figures that a New Yorker
would come armed to the teeth. (I lived there for a while myself, as has
about 20% of the Nation at one time or another.)
>>>> INCOMING EMAIL >>>>>
From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org>
Sender: owner-abolition-caucus@igc.org
Subject: Poem about Cassini by New York student
To: abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org
At the "Stop Cassini" rally at the White House on September 28th, a young
woman read the following poem:
Cassandra's Cassini Casino
President Clinton,
if the Cassini rocket blows up,
you will be known as the President who brought the apocalypse.
Hey space knight don't you know you don't have any right
to kill us
with your rocket kite?
What do you think, you're thirteen?
acting all cool and mean...
I can't stand to be
in a democracy
of hegemony
and Cassini.
Ask Turkey
or Italy.
And Haiti
they'll say the same as me.
You're going to blow us away with the U.N.'s say
or anybody's okay
except a contractor's pay
Hey Billy Clinton,
is that a rocket in your pocket -
or are you just happy to kill us?
Turn OFF the JUICE, man!
In three years, we could launch Cassini
and power two probes with solar energy
don't you agree
we should respect humanity?
Or are you so blind,
not to see that Cassini means assinine.
Do you know whose land you'll spoil,
whose kids you'll boil?
Or do you not care?
cause after we're dusted
you might not get busted -
when there's perfect harmonium
in the land of plutonium
If it's the world you will sell
your heaven will be earth
and your earth will be hel..
Even if you stay safe and sound
a mile underground
You'll have to watch reruns of Cheers
for eighty seven years.
Are you the anti-Christ?
Or are you just throwing the dice?
We didn't ante
you stole our tax money
So as you take your next breath
remember
Cassini's going to Saturn the ancient planet of death.
And your war against drugs
will soon be directed at mutants and bugs.
Your environmental VP
won't be able to run
a Presidential campaign
with only one lung.
You can try to hide behind a giant lead veil
But face it.
This time,
you'll just have to inhale.
by:
Maris Abelson c/o
fred@inch.com
<<<<< END OF EMAIL <<<<<
***********************************************
*** Anti-Cassini cartoons on the Internet from Finland
***********************************************
Date: Tue, 07 Oct 1997 12:38:07 +0000
From: Seppo Leinonen <seppo.leinonen@sci.fi>
Reply-To: seppo.leinonen@sci.fi
To: rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
Subject: Cartoon page about Cassini and your page linked
Hello Russell!
I have linked your Stop Cassini page. I just made a cartoon exhibition
and found an old Cartoon, I made as a Happy New year Cartoon to a
Newspaper.=20
I found that it is now more up to date than then!
I hope we could stop this irresponsible act!
You can link my CAssini CArtoon page if you like. URL is:
http://www.sci.fi/~sep/cassinie.html
with best greetings! Seppo
--=20
Seppo Leinonen
pilapiirt=E4j=E4, cartoonist
Lepp=E4hammas, 35300 Orivesi, Finland
tel. +358-3-335 4222
email: seppo.leinonen@sci.fi
http://www.sci.fi/~sep
***********************************************
*** More Anti-Cassini cartoons on the Internet
***********************************************
Date: Mon, 08 Sep 1997 13:17:00 -0400
From: Frank Fitzgerald <ffitz@pobox.com>
Organization: ffitz illustration & design
To: rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
Subject: Cassini not
Friends,
Sorry I am so late coming to the cause... busy with other issues.
Anyway, I have created a Cassini cartoon (large and small version) which
may be of interest to you. It can be linked to from
http://pobox.com/~ffitz
You can use it on your site if you wish. I will link to your site from
the relevant pages on mine. Thanks for your good work.
Peace,
Frank Fitzgerald
***********************************************
*** From the email 'in' box
***********************************************
>>>>> INCOMING EMAIL >>>>>
At 09:47 PM 10/5/97 DS wrote:
>Tell ya what.... If it (Cassini) blows, I'll take you to Disney (France).
>
>If it don't, you owe me and my family a trip to Disney (Fla.)
>
>How confident are you in your dire predictions. Personally I trust NASA
>and their brain surgeons. This is one of those put your money where your
>mouth is things.
>
--DS
<<<<< END OF EMAIL <<<<<
>>>>> MY RESPONSE: >>>>>
Hi!
No deal. You don't seem to understand probabilities very much. Your deal
is an even swap -- one trip for another. But even I who opposes this launch
as strongly as anyone, have NEVER suggested that the chances Cassini will
fail are greater than the chances it will succeed -- so no deal, no trip.
Cassini is not an even swap.
The difference is that if Cassini crashes, a lot of people may be having a
very bad trip.
Thanks, but no thanks,
Russell Hoffman
>>>>> END OF RESPONSE >>>>>
***********************************************
*** More from the email 'in' box
***********************************************
As a confirmed member of the lousy spellers club, I could not bring myself
to let my spellchecker correct this gem:
>>>>> INCOMING EMAIL >>>>>
>At 01:03 PM 10/7/97 ZF wrote:
>There are no Cons on Cassini, only pros. The only moderatly bad thing
>about the progect is its costs. Pros: Will investagate Saturn. Well you
>know the pros, I just want to disprove the percived cons. The plutinum
>in the satilite is in a chamber that can withstand a train crash, and
>with all the tree hugger protestes, they will probley make it stronger.
>=09
>-- ZF =09
<<<<< END OF EMAIL <<<<<
>>>>> MY RESPONSE: >>>>>
Hi!
Thank you for your email. =20
If you feel there are "no Cons" to Cassini then you should read NASA's own
documentation on the subject which makes it crystal clear that accidents can
happen. For example for the launch NASA predicts a 1 in 345 chance of
plutonium release and for an accident during the flyby, a plutonium release
of 3% or more is expected. That's absolutely untested, of course... but
you knew that too, didn't you?
If knowing these things, you still state there are "no Cons", then it would
appear that you are attempting to con.=20
For tree hugger protests, you have the wrong crowd -- but perhaps you would
be content to loose the California Redwoods (for example) as well?
My understanding is that the cost overrun is more than 100%, which on a
multi-billion dollar effort, is a pretty substantial miscalculation. How
many other calculations has NASA missed?
And lastly, if NASA might make their silly containment system stronger
because of our protests, that's a good thing.
Thanks again for expressing your views.
Sincerely,
Russell Hoffman
<<<<< END OF RESPONSE <<<<<
An article from last year about hugging those Redwood trees:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/misc/stories/redwoods/redwoods.htm
***********************************************
*** And one more from the email 'in' box
***********************************************
>>>>> OUTGOING EMAIL, WITH INCOMING EMAIL COMBINED >>>>>
Hi!
Thank you for your email.
At 09:13 PM 10/7/97 JP wrote:
>I feel sorry for a loser such as your self. Are you aware that the
>"clean" energy of Hoover Dam is a result of environmental degredation? =20
I visited it last summer and wrote this statement:
"The Hoover Dam was built to last -- as a working
hydroelectric dam -- for 3,000 years. The concrete won't
even be fully set for centuries. The rest of government
policy should also recognize that America expects to have a
future."
See this URL for where that statement occurs:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/index.htm
>
>You idiots have such shallow lives that you have to find a way to give
>your own life meaning. In your case it is to mis-represent, demean and
>degrade any space program, or anything else you don't agree with.
NASA degrades itself when it lies to support it's illogical and unscientific
position.
>
>Let me tell you that modern life is full of more important dangers; the
>over-use of pesticides, organochlorides (look them up in the
>dictionary), destruction of the environment etc...=20
Yeah, yeah, so what's your point -- one more threat ain't going to kill us?
>
>I think your time would be better spent looking at the resolution of
>those issues first, as they are IMMEDIATE THREATS !!!
Cassini launches October 13th then does the flyby in August 1999. That's a
pretty immediate threat.
>
>Get a life...
>
Thanks for your enlightening email.
Sincerely,
Russell Hoffman
<<<<< END OF EMAIL <<<<<
********************************
AND IN CONCLUSION...
********************************
Please feel free to post these newsletters anywhere you feel it's
appropriate! THANKS!!!
Welcome new subscribers!=20
Thanks for reading,
Sincerely,
Russell D. Hoffman
Editor=20
STOP CASSINI Newsletter
Webmaster
STOP CASSINI Web Site
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/index.htm
CANCEL CASSINI
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