Taking a break

I am afraid I will have to take another break from posting here, due to personal circumstances. I will probably resume posting in about a month.

Vietnam dissidents protest APEC summit repression

This statement of dissidents on the APEC summit, issued Saturday, was sent to me by a friend. - Steve Denney

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Appeal to the International Community:

On the Repression of Vietnamese Democratic Dissidents During the APEC Summit by the Communist Regime in Vietnam

The Government of Vietnam has carried out harsh repressive measures against Vietnamese democracy-loving dissidents during the APEC Summit, out of fear of being exposed to an international audience on their suppression of human rights and on the social evils created by this totalitarian regime.

Those harsh, barbarous measures include:

Disconnecting telephones, scrambling waves to prevent dissidents from communicating with each other or with the international media.

Confiscating computers, blocking internet access so that dissidents are prevented from exchanging emails or accessing the internet.

Isolating dissidents from foreign journalists by erecting English signs such as "No Foreigners", "Restricted Area" or "No Trespassing" or creating unrest in areas where dissidents live.

Surrounding dissidents, by placing police security guarding their residence. No exit or entry is authorized so as to isolate them.

Resorting to violence, using force to arrest and to assault dissidents such as the case of Dr. Pham Hong Son on the November 17, 2006.

We, the undersigned, strongly condemn this violent conduct, which gravely violates human rights by the Vietnamese government.

We request the Vietnamese government to cease immediately this course of action and pay proper compensation for the material damages it has caused to its victims.

We earnestly call on the democracy=loving governments and people in the world, especially those nations attending the APEC Summit, to take necessary measures to prevent such barbarous conduct, which gravely violates human rights, by the government of Vietnam, relative to Vietnamese citizens who dearly love democracy and freedom.

Hanoi, November 18, 2006

Signed:
Nguyen Phuong Anh, Engineer
Nguyen Van Dai, Lawyer
Bach Ngoc Duong, Engineer
Pham Que Duong, Retired Colonel
Nguyen Thanh Giang, Ph. D.
Do Nam Hai, Engineer
Nguyen Chinh Ket, Professor
Tran Anh Kim, Lt. Colonel, retired
Nguyen Van Ly, Catholic Father
Le Thi Cong Nhan, Lawyer
Ms Vu Thanh Phuong
Vu Cao Quan, Retired Army Officer
Pham Hong Son, M.D.
Ms Le Thi Kim Thu
Ms Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, Writer
Hoang Tien, Writer
Nguyen Khac Toan, Journalist
Le Tri Tue, Veteran

Protest against EPA library closures

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is circulating a letter among her colleagues protesting the decision of the Environmental Protection Agency to close many of its libraries. The EPA has already closed several libraries without waiting for congressional approval of its proposed budget cuts. The agency, part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, defends the action by claiming it is a cost-cutting measure and that it plans to digitalize the materials. It claims the closures will save the EPA $2 million. However, Boxer's letter noted:

"A 2004 EPA report found that '[c]alculated conservatively, the benefit-to-cost ratio for EPA library services ranges between 2:1 and 5.7:1.' The report noted that libraries saved EPA professional staff $7.5 million and non-EPA personnel $2.8 million, in 2003; and that one-third of the libraries' work gave EPA $22 million in benefits."

The letter also noted opposition to the closures from the American Library Association, the American Association of Law Libraries, and Special Library Association, who describe the library holdings as "unique collections, including an estimated 50,000 one-of-a-kind primary source documents that are available nowhere else."

Even the EPA's own Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) appears to have serious misgivings about the decision, according to Boxer's letter: "OECA notes that the libraries have information important to specific regions, states and locales, and unique data on industrial processes and analytical methods. OECA has indicated that it fears that dispersal of this material without proper tracking and access could undercut rulemakings and the ability to 'substantiate and support findings, determinations, and guidance.'"

So far, the EPA has "eliminated or reduced library service to the public in seven EPA regions covering 31 states and is planning to close its Headquarters' library and maintain it only as a repository;' and "has also closed its pesticide and toxics program library."

Co-signers of the letter include Senators Frank Lautenberg, Tom Harkin, Richard Durbin, Maria Cantwell, Jack Reed, James Jeffords, Barack Obama, Ken Salazar, Max Baucus, Joe Lieberman, John Kerry, Jeff Bingaman, Edward Kennedy, Russ Feingold, Paul Sarbanes, Mark Dayton, and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Missoulian comments further:

"Already going or gone are big regional libraries in Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City, the EPA's headquarters library in Washington, D.C., and the agency's principal chemical library.

"These are huge collections: The headquarters library alone has 380,000 documents on microfiche, 5,500 hard copies of EPA documents, and more than 16,000 books and technical reports produced by other government agencies.

"The most recent closure, the Office of Prevention, Pollution and Toxic Substances Library in Washington, sent an irreplaceable paper-only collection of research reports to a basement cafeteria, stuffed and sealed in boxes.

"Among the chemical library's holdings were extensive collections of literature on emergency planning, chemical risk assessments, the latest research on genetically engineered chemicals and biotech products, and toxicological studies on the potential effects of a whole host of chemicals on children. And those are just two of the libraries - which could eventually number 27 - where access is quickly, and quietly, being lost.

"In each case, agency officials have cited budget cuts, or threatened budget cuts. Each time, too, they've promised to digitize the collection - a page-by-page process - and eventually make the information available again. But when? And where? The EPA isn't saying, most likely because no one knows..."

".. Admittedly, the agency says it is simply responding to $300 million in budget cuts proposed by the Bush administration, including a 90 percent loss of funding for many of the targeted libraries.

"But none of this makes any sense. The EPA spends more than $500 million a year on research, but just $2.5 million on its entire network of libraries. How, though, can agency scientists build on our nation's knowledge base when their access to existing research is either eliminated or significantly curtailed?"