Send your letters to the Free Press, PMB #178, 1463 E Republican St, Seattle 98112. Keep them short. Letters may be edited for length, spelling and grammar. Letters do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Free Press. Letters which respond to Free Press articles and which bear your real, full name will be given precedence.

CEDAR RIVER WATERSHED STILL UNDER ATTACK

Thank you for publishing my article in the last issue on the Bonneville Power Administration's attempts to build power lines in the Cedar River Watershed, the pristine area where Seattle gets its water. Public opposition to BPA's proposal has delayed the project for at least a year, but the agency still has its eye on the area! BPA is planning five public meetings on alternative routes and lists the watershed as an alternative! Please write to the BPA and Seattle officials to tell them to implement conservation measures that will obviate the need for a new power line. For recent news articles and updates on the BPA/Watershed Campaign: http://biodiversitynw.org/Watersheds/BPAintro.htm

Michael Shank, Outreach Director, Biodiversity Northwest (Formerly Pacific Crest Biodiversity Project)
4649 Sunnyside Avenue North #321
Seattle, WA 98103
Web: www.BiodiversityNW.org

Counter-evidence

I picked up a copy of your May/June issue at the Paul Robeson Memorial Concert held at the Peace Arch Park on May 18. Your Free Press is doing excellent work, however, I have one beef with that issue. It concerns a letter from a WWII veteran in response to a book about Pearl Harbor (Day of Deceit) that was reviewed in a previous issue of the Free Press. The letter writer asserts that the US government did not know of the planned attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The response from the editor claimed that Day of Deceit "provides an abundance of evidence that FDR had detailed foreknowledge of the Japanese attack," and complains that the letter-writer offers no counter-evidence. The counter-evidence can be found in Roberta Wohlstetter's Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision, particularly in the seventh and final chapter. Ms. Wohlstetter reviews in a lucid fashion the fragmentary jigsaw puzzle data relating to the impending attack, alludes to the fact that the US was also preoccupied with developments in the European theater. She makes a point that is obvious but often forgotten about controversial episodes in history, and states it as follows: "There is a difference, then, between having a signal available somewhere in the heap of irrelevancies, and perceiving it as a warning: and there is also a difference between perceiving it as a warning and acting or getting action on it. These distinctions, simple as they are, illuminate the obscurity surrounding this moment in history." In my view there are certainly some very bad odors emanating from September 11, and investigative journalists should do their best to discover their source. However, I do not extend by jaundiced view about the events of September 11 back to December 7, 1941.

Richard Clements

Made it Big in America

I am a Turkish citizen. I arrived in the US eight years ago and have always been a severe critic of the politics of this country. non-stop, I criticized the US, its institutions, culture, and politics. My anger was caused by culture shock, feelings of inferiority (I clearly look Middle Eastern and I was always made to feel different) and the confusion of not quite fitting in. I have been told by many friends that this country would embrace me if I gave it a chance. I confess: they were right. No, I did not make it big in the financial sense. However, I made it so big that I could hardly contain my emotions this morning when I received a volunteer award at my daughter's school. I drove home shedding tears. I had managed to make time to help and my help was appreciated by the school principal, the teacher, and other parents. At that moment I came to the realization that genuine love and giving of oneself are going to win over superficial borders, colors of skin, religious differences, and all the other byproducts of our minds. Children are our future. It was my daughter who knocked down my mental barrier of not belonging in this country. Today I feel the most American I have ever felt. I feel the most human. I feel the most citizen of the world today. I wish I could share my story with the Afghani, Iraqi, Vietnamese, Somali (to name a few) people who lost their children to wars against the US and therefore lost the opportunity of growing with their kids. I would love to tell them that politics is an ugly game and that they should not hate the American people who embrace their Muslim friends at home. Only love and compassion will melt the ice in our souls. Can we spread this love to our fellow human beings around the globe? Peace be with us.

Burcu Gezek Harbert

EPA SCIENTISTS SEEK PUBLIC SUPPORT

Dear Friends and Allies:

I am writing to ask for your help. On May 1, 2002, our union conducted an informational picket at EPA Headquarters. The picketing and leafleting was in connection with EPA's "Science Forum," an event staged to tout EPA's use of quality science in its regulatory work. The help we seek from you is to put pressure on EPA to start really using good science in its regulatory work--something that could, for example, lead to good science-based drinking water standards, indoor air quality measures and pesticide controls. EPA refuses to take any steps to implement or enforce its Principles of Scientific Integrity (Principles) policy. The union was the driving force behind getting EPA to adopt the Principles during the previous administration. We filed a suit [because employees are being pressured] to craft spurious scientific cover to support a management decision that is both illegal under a number of statutes and a violation of EPA's Principles of Scientific Integrity.

[Our] union was founded in the early 1980's...to ensure that EPA staff professionals have an ethical a work environment. This administration's leaders' disdain for that concept, as displayed by their failure to respond to our grievance, and their denial of any relief, puts them at odds with those of us who will continue to insist that our work be done to the highest professional standards. What we need from you is communication from you to your two Senators and your Representative in the House about this matter. We also need you to communicate with EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and Assistant Administrator Morris X. Winn. Just as our work has been synergistic with yours in your communities, your aiding us in this way will help us to force EPA to halt unethical pressure on employees. If we in this union have been of any help to you and/or your community, I plead with you to help us now. Please spread this word among all your friends, acquaintances and allies in the struggle for good health and a clean environment. Together, we can do great things for the environment and public health by bringing Scientific Integrity to life within EPA.

On behalf of all the members of NTEU Chapter 280, thanks very much.

Bill Hirzy, Ph.D., Senior Vice-President

The union's web site is at www.nteu280.org. Dr. Hirzy's report to a Congressional subcommittee hearing on Arsenic, Radon and Fluoride is at www.Keepers-of-the-Well.org.