Innocents in Web of Philippine Terror The New York Times reminds us of the ongoing hostage situation in Mindanao. More than fifty people have been held for up to six weeks by Islamic separatist rebels; several have been killed by their captors as government troops encroached. Hostages include more than a dozen schoolchildren. The crisis gives us a glimpse into an incredible “lawless world of pirates, smugglers

and warlords, where kidnapping for ransom is a business and

religious wars are fought by throwing bombs into markets

and churches.”

A Political Scientist Renews His Alarm at the Erosion of Community Ties: Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam decries the rise of “bowling alone” (the title of his new book) and other signs of the lack of connectedness in modern American life:

“Henry Ward Beecher’s advice a century ago to ‘multiply

picnics’ is not entirely ridiculous today. We should do this,

ironically, not because it will be good for America — though

it will be — but because it will be good for us.” [New York Times]

Epidemiological study finds link between in-home pesticide exposure and increased risks of Parkinson’s Disease.

So much for house arrest with electronic monitoring bracelets.

Here’s the schedule for the Physicians for Social Responsibility National Conference 2000, taking place now in Arlington VA. This agency founded in the ’70’s was a unifying vehicle for health professionals’ raising public concerns about nuclear issues, under the powerful histrionic charisma of Australian physician Helen Caldicott. An offshoot organization, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, won the Nobel Peace Prize several years later. I was proud to collaborate with Caldicott and other inspiring physician activists when I was a medical student, started the PSR chapter at my school and organized a major conference in New Haven CT on the effects of the nuclear arms race on children in the early ’80’s. I was floored, and glad, to come across evidence that the organization still exists and thrives, with an apparently broadened agenda — environmental health, nuclear security and violence prevention.

NewsWatch criticizes 60 Minutes II’s “media circus” on MDMA (Ecstasy). Many bloggers’ comments about the show were along the lines of how MDMA scares them, and it should. But the broadcast was rife with inaccuracy and sensationalism.

Greenpeace says the joint statement by the five nuclear weapons states to attempt to allay the concerns of non-nuclear states is “a lame attempt to excuse the inexcusable.” Lasst week’s conference by signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT) on progress toward halting the nuclear threat reminded the nuclear weapons states that the NNPT obligated them to take meaningful steps toward disarmament. Even with the stockpile reductions by the US and Russia since the “end of the Cold War”, arsenals are massively larger than when the 1970 treaty was enacted. Had you stopped being concerned about disarmament issues?

An Australian team has extracted DNA from the remains of a Tasmanian Tiger, extinct for 60 years, and reports that a resurrection is possible. [Wired]

The NRA is chomping at the bit to have George W. in the White House, and Handgun Control wants you to know it. “…A report…released

last year based on information from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)…

indicated that there may be a large number of dangerous, convicted felons in illegal

possession of firearms in Texas. These felons are at large and have not been prosecuted,

despite their having provided the state of Texas with their names, addresses, color photos,

fingerprints and certification of their proficiency in the use of handguns when they applied for

a license to carry a concealed handgun. The report shows that, despite Governor Bush’s

calls for tough enforcement of existing gun laws and more prosecutions of gun crimes, it is

the governor’s own support for the carrying of concealed weapons that has conclusively

demonstrated that Texan felons can continue to own guns.”

Expect Legislative Attacks on Environmental Protection This Summer:

“The nation’s leading conservation groups warned today that

damaging congressional attacks on the environment are expected to proliferate this summer

as Congress rushes to adjourn before the November elections.

The groups expect that most anti-environmental riders will be added to “must pass”

appropriations bills that Congress has to enact in order to avoid a government shutdown.” [Common Dreams]

American Society of Magazine Editors’ National Magazine Awards 2000 Winners. I don’t know about you, but these are not the magazines I read.

The Sierra Club is raising the hue and cry about a Dept. of Agriculture plan that would essentially sell out the Everglades to the sugar industry.

The humbling of human conceit before the terrible majesty of raw nature always awes me. We need taking down a notch like that. The Perfect Storm was a good summer read a couple of years ago, and it looks to be a good summer movie. The author, Sebastian Junger, reacts to them making a film of his book. [New York Times]