Friday, 10 March 2000
1. SPY HYSTERIA: APS PRESIDENT PROTESTS TREATMENT OF WEN HO LEE.
While making no judgement about guilt or innocence, a letter to
Attorney General Janet Reno from Jim Langer strongly objected to
the harsh conditions of Lee's incarceration. He is confined to
his cell 23 hours a day. Outside the cell, including the single
weekly visit he is allowed with his family, his wrists and ankles
are shackled. Langer also notes that the widespread view that
Lee is being treated unjustly is making it difficult to attract
and retain the very best scientists at the weapons labs. The
AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility also
wrote to Reno inquiring into the reasons for this "extraordinary"
treatment. The FBI cites conflicting polygraph test results to
justify its actions. A leading scientific authority on the
detection of deception, William Iacono of the Univ. of Minnesota
will set the record straight at the APS March Meeting, Session
G8.FPS: Voodoo Science. Using pseudoscience to justify
mistreatment of a scientist seems particularly cruel and unusual.
2. SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM: THREATS FROM SOUTH OF THE SOUTH POLE.
Ten
years ago, Pons' lawyer wrote to physicist Michael Salamon
demanding that he retract a paper contradicting cold fusion
claims or face legal action
(WN 20 April 90).
Then APS President
Eugen Merzbacher denounced the threat in the Wall Street Journal.
Recently, a patent was issued for a method of releasing energy by
getting hydrogen into a "state below the ground state," creating
teensy little hydrogen atoms called "hydrinos"
(WN 18 Feb 00).
The inventor, Randy Mills, first made this claim nine years ago
(WN 26 Apr 91).
Physicists were unimpressed. Nevertheless,
Mills' company, BlackLight Power, has now raised more than $25M
from investors, and is reported to be preparing an IPO. This
week, prominent physicists who have scoffed at Mills' hydrino
claim, including Nobel laureates, got letters from Mills' lawyers
demanding that they "stop engaging in further defamatory and
disparaging activities concerning BlackLight and Dr. Mills."
3. MISSILE DEFENSE: COCHRAN CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE NMD DEPLOYMENT.
The National Press Club "Morning Newsmaker" on Wednesday, Senator
Thad Cochran (R-MS), author of the 1999 NMD Act
(WN 29 Jan 99),
explained that "all the elements have been proven." The same was
said, of course, about the elements of the Maginot Line -- never
mind that the parts don't work together
(WN 14 Jan 00;
WN 21 Jan 00).
Cochran got a lock on the 2000 Golden Spinning Wheel Award
with: "Opponents of NMD are stuck in the Cold War."
4. EVOLUTION: PUBLIC DOESN'T WANT CREATIONISM IN SCIENCE CLASS.
According to a new Yankelovich poll, commissioned by People for
the American Way, an overwhelming 83% of Americans think Darwin's
theory of evolution, not creationism, belongs in science class.
That means most people don't live in Kansas
(WN 13 Aug 99).
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