IWOG ORGANIZATIONS

Members of the HAWAII CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION for their vehement opposition to Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas attending the David-Levin First Amendment Conference (June '01). In regard to their opposition to Justice Thomas joining an event where freedom of speech and controversial Constitutional issues are debated, they wrote, "We are appalled at the thought that the ACLU of Hawaii may invite Justice Clarence Thomas to speak."

The IPCC, the INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (part of the United Nations' Framework Convention on Climate Change), and one of its most vocal members, British meteorological scientist SIR JOHN HOUGHTON. Both the IPCC and Houghton have, according to those ranging from internationally-renowned atmospheric scientists to the science journal Nature, made up their minds on the global warming issue regardless of evidence, repeatedly ignored evidence running counter to their theories, and have suppressed any scientific dissent in their ranks or from the outside.
Two examples will serve: First, the 1995 IPCC report was written and endorsed by a number of climactic scientists who also openly included data in chapter 8 that cast doubts on their own conclusions. Before the final draft was published, that chapter was admittedly changed by one DR. BENJAMIN SANTER, who downplayed the uncertain data to therefore better match the IPCC conclusions. In the process he left the names of the scientific authors on the report, many of whom disavowed it after the changes. The tampering drew a strong rebuke in the form of a Wall Street Journal editorial on 6/12/96 by Dr. Frederick Seitz, former president of the U.S. Academy of Science.
In the spring of 2000, on the heels of the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty, the IPCC presented a report which other scientists across the world have called extremely flawed--primarily because it passed along both mistakes and combinations of incongruous data to reach its conclusions, such as ancient tree rings mixed with modern surface temperature data. It also left out contradictory satellite temperature data; data garnered from tree rings showing no significant warming trends over the past thousand years; the "urban heat island effect" (a long-proven fact that concrete and asphalt in urban areas raise a city's temperature); and the lack of substantial evidence for carbon dioxide increases in ice core analyses. It altered the age of the ice core samples to make them seem 95 years younger, and thus containing "greater" buildups of greenhouse gas emissions. It even completely ignored the Southern Hemisphere, where there has been little change, though their models projected their information onto the Southern Hemisphere as well.
The scientific chapters were overseen and approved by Sir John Houghton.

PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS (PETA), for some of its members' April, 2001 vegetarian campaign in Nairobi, Kenya. In a country suffering the worst drought in recent memory, where malnourishment is epidemic and nearly 4 1/2 million people are in danger of starvation, the PETA members protested the eating of chicken by sitting in a chicken coop on a Nairobi street to draw awareness to the dangers of cholesterol, and to give chickens everywhere in Kenya a better life.
Also, in March of 2001, PETA wrote separate letters both to Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh and his prison warden, Harley Lappin, asking that McVeigh not be allowed to have any more meat in his meals, or at least not in his last meal, saying that he should not be allowed to "take even one more life." Both the warden and McVeigh refused the request. McVeigh wrote back that he understood their position, but "...finally, plants are alive, too: they react to stimuli (including 'pain'); have circulatory systems, etc.; how about them?"
PETA member Bruce Friedrich thought that McVeigh could serve as a good example for their cause, saying "the tragedy of the bombing can serve to focus attention on the tragedy inflicted every day in the slaughterhouses of this country."

The RED CROSS, for shelling out millions of dollars from its "September 11 Fund" to political organizations that have no affiliation with victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks. The most egregious violation of the trust of those people who donated money is the Red Cross' gift of $171,000 from the Fund to the Legal Aid Society--which is currently (11/01) defending eight terrorist suspects being held in Brooklyn, New York.

The UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, for it's late 2001 announcement that it was $1.7 billion in the hole and would need to raise the price of stamps from 34 to 37 cents.
For despite being so deeply in debt, the Postal Service still managed to dole out over $200 million in executive bonuses at the end of 2001, as well as $284 million the previous year. In fact since 1996, and despite the recent years of red ink, executives have enjoyed $1.4 billion in bonuses. The 2000-2001 $500 million total set a bonus-giving record, while during those same years the USPS suffered its greatest debt.

The WORLD WILDLIFE FEDERATION (WWF), for their handling of an eco-forestry project they run in Papua New Guinea. Following a report on Britain's BBC Channel 4, the Environmental News Service revealed in an April 4, 2001 article that the WWF had been logging mangrove forests illegally and selling the wood through a WWF-established logging company called Kikori Pacific Limited (KPL). An internal report by the WWF claimed that Papua New Guinea's National Forest Authority was fully aware of this logging, but the National Forest Authority denied having any such knowledge and said that the WWF had no permission to log the mangroves, which is outlawed in the country.
In addition, the WWF has sponsored a joint partnership between KPL and Chevron to develop a major oil and gas project in the Kikori rainforests.
KPL now says that as a response to the controversy following the revelations, it will slowly phase out its logging operations in PNG. No word yet about the energy project with Chevron.

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