Reply #20: Plane Crashes, WR Grace, Deadly Asbestos, WTC Collapse & Wellstone [View All]

Plane Crashes, WR Grace, Deadly Asbestos, WTC Collapse & Wellstone
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stickdog (1116 posts) Jan-16-03, 08:21 PM (ET)
Plane Crashes, WR Grace, Deadly Asbestos, WTC Collapse & Wellstone
LAST EDITED ON Jan-16-03 AT 08:30 PM (ET) In the recent NC plane crash, 3 WR Grace employees were killed: Joseph Spiak, general manager of specialty vermiculite (including the highly toxic asbestos containing Zonolite), Paul Stidham, director of environmental health and safety, and Richard Lyons, global health and safety manager. From: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/080400-02.htm Although Halliburton is an enormous operation with more than 100,000 employees in 120 countries, it is a relatively small player when it comes to asbestos litigation, at least when compared with W.R. Grace & Co., GAF and the Johns Manville Corp. Nevertheless, Halliburton has spent $99 million to settle or dispose of 129,650 asbestos suits, according to company records. From: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2001/9/12/192330/380 WR Grace Asbestos containing insulation was used at the World Trade Center (WTC). James Cintani stated that Grace Vermiculite did not contain asbestos. Unfortunately this was not true this material was 2-5 percent asbestos. 100,000 80 pound bags of this vermiculite was used in the WTC. In addition 9,150 pounds of MonoKote 3 was used at the WTC. Monokote 3 was about 20 percent asbestos. Therefore in total about 201,183 pounds of pure asbestos fiber from Grace was used in the WTC. From: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/ADD5A0C8A02AD67B86256C9C006CC522 White House budget office thwarts EPA warning on asbestos-laced insulation BY ANDREW SCHNEIDEROf the Post-Dispatch The Environmental Protection Agency was on the verge of warning millions of Americans that their attics and walls might contain asbestos-contaminated insulation. But, at the last minute, the White House intervened, and the warning has never been issued. The announcement to warn the public was expected in April. It was to accompany a declaration by the EPA of a public health emergency in Libby, Mont. In that town near the Canadian border, ore from a vermiculite mine was contaminated with an extremely lethal asbestos fiber called tremolite that has killed or sickened thousands of miners and their families. Ore from the Libby mine was shipped across the nation and around the world, ending up in insulation called Zonolite that was used in millions of homes, businesses and schools across America. Zonolite insulation was sold throughout North America from the 1940s through the 1990s. Almost all of the vermiculite used in the insulation came from the Libby mine, last owned by W.R. Grace & Co. Interviews and documents show that just days before the EPA was set to make the declaration, the plan was thwarted by the White House Office of Management and Budget, which had been told of the proposal months earlier. Former EPA administrator William Ruckelshaus, who worked for Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, called the decision not to notify homeowners of the dangers posed by Zonolite insulation "the wrong thing to do." "When the government comes across this kind of information and doesn't tell people about it, I just think it's wrong, unconscionable, not to do that," he said. " What right does the government have to conceal these dangers? It just doesn't make sense." The question about what to do about Zonolite insulation was not the only asbestos-related issue in which the White House intervened. In January, in an internal EPA report on problems with the agency's much-criticized response to the terrorist attacks in New York City, a section on "lessons learned" said there was a need to release public health and emergency information without having it reviewed and delayed by the White House." The EPA's files are filled with studies documenting the toxicity of tremolite, how even minor disruptions of the material by moving boxes, sweeping the floor or doing repairs in attics can generate asbestos fibers. Most of those who have studied the needle-sharp tremolite fibers in the Libby ore consider them far more dangerous than other asbestos fibers. In October, the EPA team leading the cleanup of lower Manhattan after the attacks of Sept. 11 went to Libby to meet with Peronard and his crew. The EPA had reversed an early decision and announced that it would be cleaning asbestos from city apartments. (NOTE: THIS STUFF WAS IN THE WTC TOWERS!!!) Peronard told the visitors from New York just how dangerous tremolite is. He talked about the hands-on research in Libby of Dr. Alan Whitehouse, a pulmonologist who had worked for NASA and the Air Force on earlier projects before moving to Spokane, Wash. "Whitehouse's research on the people here gave us our first solid lead of how bad this tremolite is," Peronard said. Whitehouse has not only treated 500 people from Libby who are sick and dying from exposure to tremolite. The chest specialist also has almost 300 patients from Washington shipyards and the Hanford, Wash., nuclear facility who are suffering health effects from exposure to the more prevalent chrysotile asbestos. Comparing the two groups, Whitehouse has demonstrated that the tremolite from Libby is 10 times as carcinogenic as chrysotile and probably 100 times more likely to produce mesothelioma than chrysotile. (Please read. There's much, much more here.) From: http://www.msnbc.com/local/pisea/102011.asp?cp1=1 Murray promises to renew push for asbestos warnings By ROBERT MCCLURE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER Dec. 30 - After revelations that the Bush administration squelched public health warnings about a widely used form of insulation that contains cancer-causing asbestos, Sen. Patty Murray vowed yesterday to renew her fight for a public education campaign. Murray, D-Wash., said she will demand an explanation this week for why warnings planned last spring by the Environmental Protection Agency were called off at the last minute by high-ranking Bush administration officials. Internal EPA documents show that about 15 million to 35 million of the nation's approximately 105 million households contain a brand of insulation known as Zonolite. Mined for decades in Libby, Mont., Zonolite contains a particularly lethal form of asbestos known as tremolite. "I just find it astounding that when this kind of information is available that can save people's lives, that this administration has decided to keep that secret and not let people know," Murray said. "Here's a health risk we can do something about." Murray's co-sponsor, Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., died in October in a plane crash. W.R. Grace says the insulation is safe, and wrote a letter to the EPA in April insisting that no health warnings are necessary. In addition to its use in insulation, the brownish-pink vermiculite was contained in garden products, cement mixtures and many other products. One of those products was as fireproofing in ceiling tiles used widely in schools and federal office buildings. Helping manufacture those tiles as a side job while in college likely gave Brian Harvey of Marysville mesothelioma, a disease caused only by exposure to asbestos. Harvey criticized the Bush administration's decision to pull the public health warning. "I have a real problem with that," Harvey said. "That I consider unforgivable." "At the top levels of the Bush administration, they are maintaining this cloak of secrecy that I can't imagine the people who I've worked with at the EPA are very happy about," Murray said. "Hopefully, the public will start crying out for Congress and the administration to do something about this." (more)


party_line (2235 posts) Jan-16-03, 08:50 PM (ET)
1. All that asbestos was turned to ash?
It might be interesting to know what becomes of the properties of asbestos when it is incinerated.
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stickdog (1116 posts) Jan-16-03, 08:55 PM (ET) Reply to post #1
2. It wasn't all turned to ash.
Most was pulverized into dust, and that's its most lethal form, by far.
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party_line (2235 posts) Jan-16-03, 09:03 PM (ET) Reply to post #2
4. Hasn't the EPA been doing tests?
Aren't several agencies doing air quality tests? This would show up, don't you think? With so much of it, you would think that the levels would be detectable.
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stickdog (1116 posts) Jan-16-03, 09:19 PM (ET) Reply to post #4
6. Read The Article.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/ADD5A0C8A02AD67B86256C9C006CC522 The question about what to do about Zonolite insulation was not the only asbestos-related issue in which the White House intervened. In January, in an internal EPA report on problems with the agency's much-criticized response to the terrorist attacks in New York City, a section on "lessons learned" said there was a need to release public health and emergency information without having it reviewed and delayed by the White House. "We cannot delay releasing important public health information," said the report. "The political consequences of delaying information are greater than the benefit of centralized information management." It was the White House budget office's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs that derailed the Libby declaration. The regulatory affairs office is headed by John Graham, who formerly ran the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. His appointment last year was denounced by environmental, health and public advocacy groups, who claimed his ties to industry were too strong. Graham passes judgment over all major national health, safety and environmental standards. Thirty physicians, 10 of them from Harvard, according to The Washington Post, wrote the committee asking that Graham not be confirmed because of "a persistent pattern of conflict of interest, of obscuring and minimizing dangers to human health with questionable cost-benefit analyses, and of hostility to governmental regulation in general." FAA Head Whitman, Horinko and some members of their top staff were said to have been outraged at the White House intervention. "It was like a gut shot," said one of those senior staffers involved in the decision. "It wasn't that they ordered us not to make the declaration, they just really, really strongly suggested against it. Really strongly. There was no choice left." She and other staff members said Whitman was personally interested in Libby and the national problems spawned by its asbestos-tainted ore. The EPA's inspector general had reported that the agency hadn't taken action more than two decades earlier when it had proof that the people of Libby and those using asbestos-tainted Zonolite products were in danger. Whitman went to Libby in early September 2001 and promised the people it would never happen again. "We want everyone who comes in contact with vermiculite from homeowners to handymen to have the information to protect themselves and their families," Whitman promised. A government analysis of shipping records from W.R. Grace show that at least 15.6 billion pounds of vermiculite ore was shipped from Libby to 750 plants and factories throughout North America. In a confidential memo dated March 28, an EPA official said the declaration was tentatively set for April 5. But the declaration never came. Instead, Superfund boss Horinko on May 9 quietly ordered that asbestos be removed from contaminated homes in Libby. There was no national warning of potential dangers from Zonolite. And there was no promise of long-term medical care for Libby's ill and dying. The EPA's files are filled with studies documenting the toxicity of tremolite, how even minor disruptions of the material by moving boxes, sweeping the floor or doing repairs in attics can generate asbestos fibers. Most of those who have studied the needle-sharp tremolite fibers in the Libby ore consider them far more dangerous than other asbestos fibers. In October, the EPA team leading the cleanup of lower Manhattan after the attacks of Sept. 11 went to Libby to meet with Peronard and his crew. The EPA had reversed an early decision and announced that it would be cleaning asbestos from city apartments. Peronard told the visitors from New York just how dangerous tremolite is. He talked about the hands-on research in Libby of Dr. Alan Whitehouse, a pulmonologist who had worked for NASA and the Air Force on earlier projects before moving to Spokane, Wash. "Whitehouse's research on the people here gave us our first solid lead of how bad this tremolite is," Peronard said. Whitehouse has not only treated 500 people from Libby who are sick and dying from exposure to tremolite. The chest specialist also has almost 300 patients from Washington shipyards and the Hanford, Wash., nuclear facility who are suffering health effects from exposure to the more prevalent chrysotile asbestos. Comparing the two groups, Whitehouse has demonstrated that the tremolite from Libby is 10 times as carcinogenic as chrysotile and probably 100 times more likely to produce mesothelioma than chrysotile.
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seemslikeadream (441 posts) Jan-17-03, 11:20 AM (ET) Reply to post #6
14. After everything I have read lately
this just pulls it all together and makes me truely sick to my stomach. With tears in my eyes I read your post over again, stickdog. How can anyone not believe with this evidence that there are some very dangerous games being played out. Wellstone was murdered no doubt and now a few more. Will there ever be justice?
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stickdog (1116 posts) Jan-16-03, 10:44 PM (ET) Reply to post #4
7. More for those who like breathing asbestos.
http://www.labournet.net/world/0201/asbest1.html WTC asbestos horror from Montana vermiculite mine Report by Andrew SchneiderSt. Louis Post-DispatchFirst Published: 01/13/02 Mining town in Montana endured the horrors of disease from asbestos LIBBY, Mont. Much of the asbestos-tainted vermiculite that spewed from the collapsing World Trade Center was dug from a mine in the Cabinet Mountains above this picturesque Kootenai River town. And in Libby, as in New York, environmental and health officials failed to disclose just how dangerous the mineral could be. Miners digging vermiculite ore at the now-closed W. R. Grace Zonolite mine in Libby breathed dust containing asbestos fibers, then carried it home on their clothes to their wives and children. Trucks carrying the dust spread it throughout the town, and trains hauled the potentially lethal cargo to almost 300 towns across the nation. The company knew it was deadly. But it did not require miners to wear respirators. Federal and state officials knew the dangers, but they looked the other way. Until, that is, the death toll began to climb. So far, hundreds of miners and their relatives have succumbed to the diseases caused by the asbestos fibers that painfully destroyed their lungs. Hundreds more are clinging to a torturous life, sucking air from portable oxygen bottles. And the federal government says its testing has found signs of the disease in thousands more who have been examined. EPA and federal health investigators have been virtually living in this tiny town in the western corner of Montana just below the Canadian border since November 1999. Most arrived three days after the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported the deaths and contamination. They have studied the way asbestos kills - up close and far too personal. Their findings make suspect many of the absolute statements the government is making in playing down the hazards those living in lower Manhattan face from asbestos. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/54382_asbestos14.shtml NYC under an asbestos cloud SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCERMonday, January 14, 2002By ANDREW SCHNEIDER©2002 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCHFederal and state officials have grossly underestimated the number of people in lower Manhattan who are at risk of lethal asbestos-related disease because of the collapse of the World Trade Center, independent experts say.Evaluations by teams of leading asbestos researchers show the increased risk to people who live, work or study in homes or offices that have not been properly decontaminated could be as high as one additional cancer death for every 10 people exposed.These figures come as leading government officials continue to insist that there is no long-term health risk to those living and working near ground zero from the dust of hundreds of thousands of tons of asbestos-containing products used in the floors, walls, ceilings and steel frame of the twin towers."I am glad to reassure New Yorkers ... that their air is safe," Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Whitman said a week after the attacks.When the World Trade Center went down, the EPA and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration rushed teams to the site. They have gathered thousands of samples of the dust that blanketed lower Manhattan, but they used 20-year-old methods for collecting and counting asbestos fibers to assess the health risks. The agencies and their state counterparts said only low levels of asbestos were found in the air outside. "The public faces little or no danger from asbestos," numerous agency heads echoed.Civilian scientists and physicians hired by unions, tenant groups, contractors and New York political leaders found just the opposite. Taking hundreds of samples, many inside apartments, offices and condos, these experts used the newest electron microscope technology and fiber-counting protocols. They found far more asbestos fibers than did government investigators. These private experts -- all regularly used by the government as consultants -- found levels in the dwellings that alarmed many assessing the health risk faced by New Yorkers."If people continue living and working in places that still have dust in the carpets, furniture, drapes and heating and cooling system, these fibers will continue to be resuspended," Jenkins explained. "The elevated risk could be from around one in a thousand extra cancers to maybe as high as one in 10."Four other federal health experts -- two toxicologists, an epidemiologist and a physician -- from the EPA and the Centers for Disease Control, have studied the data gathered by Chatfield, Kominsky and a team headed by Hugh Granger of HP Environmental in Virginia. They agreed with Jenkins' interpretation of the data. http://www.asbestosnetwork.com/news/nw_020102_nyc_wtc.htm Asbestos Remains a Problem Near Trade Center NEW YORK, NY February 1, 2002 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ombudsman Robert Martin recently opened an investigation into how the agency has handled air quality concerns in the World Trade Center area since the September 11 terrorist attacks. The study will concentrate on the type of testing performed and the EPA procedures for informing the public about levels of asbestos and other toxic substances. Various testing laboratories hired by neighborhood tenants, labor groups, and contractors have found elevated levels of asbestos in apartments and offices, according to news sources (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 14, 2002; Los Angeles Times, January 18, 2002). However, EPA administrator Christie Whitman and many New York City officials have repeatedly assured Lower Manhattan residents that their community is safe. A senior EPA scientist, Cate Jenkins, thinks otherwise. The asbestos contamination in Lower Manhattan, up to seven blocks away from Ground Zero, is comparable or higher than that found in Libby, Montana, a designated Superfund site, she states in a recent report. http://landofpuregold.com/truth38.htm A Red Flag on Air Tests at WTCBy Juan Gonzalez, Daily News, March 21, 2002 In the days after Sept. 11, EPA officials used standards to determine dangerous asbestos contamination that were never intended to measure health risks, according to a new 43-page memo by a dissident Environmental Protection Agency scientist. Cate Jenkins, a 22-year veteran with the agency's Hazardous Waste Identification Division in Washington, charged that the agency "misrepresented safety levels and standards for asbestos" and failed to accurately detect possible health risks to the public. Jenkins first criticized her agency's handling of the World Trade Center disaster in late November, arguing that EPA officials effectively "waived" federal asbestos guidelines by endorsing lenient cleanup methods. In the days after Sept. 11, federal officials repeatedly referred to two "standards," one for asbestos in dust and debris and another for asbestos fibers in air. For dust and debris, the agency standard was 1% asbestos content. For air, it was usually 70 asbestos fibers per square millimeter of a testing filter. The "EPA has performed 62 dust sample analyses for the presence of asbestos and other substances. Most dust samples fall below EPA's definition of asbestos- containing material <1% asbestos>," EPA Administrator Christie Whitman announced Sept. 18. Whitman was correct about one thing. Most dust samples were below the 1% standard, but a significant portion were not. Around 35% of those taken in the first few days were above 1%. But as Jenkins explains in her memo, federal regulations never meant the 1% figure to be considered a health standard or even to be applied to measure dust. "She's absolutely correct, this is not a health-based standard," said Joel Shufrot, the executive director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health. "People exposed to 1% or less can have significant exposure with adverse health impacts," he said.
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seventhson (1167 posts) Jan-16-03, 09:05 PM (ET) Reply to post #1
5. So - the three MAIN witnesses who could nail Grace died in the crash.
Engine failure? Power died out. Unexplained crash? Three dead witnesses? Wellstoned. If these guys had ratted on what Grace knew about the dangers to New Yorkers from the WTC asbestos (which I inhaled on my visit to the tower site) then there would be hell (and maybe billions in damages) to pay. And Bush is covering for them. Grace has ties to the Skulls/BFEE too. They are the company Travolta fought in "A Civil Action". I knew a Grace heir who went to Yale. He once told me "we're all guilty". I told him "Not me." Once again. Disgusting and VERY expensive if these guys had talked. Remember when the plane went down mysteriously? I asked who the passengers were. Brilliant reporting. EMPWeapons again? Wellstoned. Salaam/Shalom and Peace Out!!!Gore in '04!!! “I DON'T KNOW WHETHER I WAS TARGETED, BUT I certainly know that human rights activists are targeted,”“It’s a small story that tells the larger story of what’s happening..." THE LATE SENATOR PAUL WELLSTONE commenting on reports that he was the target of an assassination attempt in December 2000.
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patcox2 (745 posts) Jan-17-03, 11:35 AM (ET) Reply to post #5
17. The plane never lost power.
And it happened in broad daylight at an airport with hundreds of witnesses, and there was a black box and its been recovered. You are not as free to speculate wildly in such circumstances. Its easy enough to beleive the plane was sabotaged, as all the evidence so far in fact points to a faulty repair to the hroizontal stabilizer trim tab. Faulty repair? Maybe faulty on purpose? Thats so much more easy to believe than your chupacabra theory.
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stickdog (1116 posts) Jan-17-03, 04:23 PM (ET) Reply to post #17
21. I must agree.
This looks more like a message than anything. Killing these guys was probably second to simply sending them (and others?) a message that accidents can and do happen.
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seemslikeadream (441 posts) Jan-20-03, 10:33 AM (ET) Reply to post #5
50. Yes who were those employees
what did they know and what papers were they carrying that are now gone forever. Only the very people that could blow the lid off the biggest cancer causing conspiracy ever! Wellstone was murdered trying to uncover it. Watch Out Pat Murry!
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nu_duer (413 posts) Jan-16-03, 08:59 PM (ET)
3. Man. wtf is going on here?
Lotta connections and questions here. And the smear of Murray about her bin Laden commments - that coincided as well, didn't it? Guess she wouldn't get on a small plane. I would love to see some investigative reporting from some mainstream press on this. This looks like big, big stuff here. Thanks.
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ElsewheresDaughter (367 posts) Jan-17-03, 09:55 PM (ET) Reply to post #3
27. send link to this thread to GREG PALAST!

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Sophree (267 posts) Jan-19-03, 04:36 PM (ET) Reply to post #3
45. I fear for Patty Murray's safety
She should avoid small planes at all costs. Apparently, 'conspiracy stuff' is now shorthand for unspeakable truth.- Gore Vidal The harder they come, the harder they'll fall/One and all- Jimmy Cliff
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JohnyCanuck (482 posts) Jan-16-03, 11:18 PM (ET)
8. It's all ok folks
as any coincidence theorists will explain, it's all a BIG F**KING COINCIDENCE. Move along now, nothing to see here. You're holding up traffic. JohnyCanuck Proud founding member of Canadian Chapter - Cynthia's Grassy Knoll Society.
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Nottingham (1293 posts) Jan-17-03, 01:14 AM (ET)
9. OMG OMG OMG!! WHOAH!
That was just even more added reason to go after Wellstone! Have Any Dreams Lately!
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goforit (741 posts) Jan-17-03, 01:22 AM (ET)
10. OMG!!! Who is going to arrest Cheney and Bush??????
This is just going tooo damn FAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I'm just so damned TICKED OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have got to bear down and do something!!!!!These guys are getting away with Bloody murder!!!!
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anamandujano (211 posts) Jan-17-03, 07:33 AM (ET) Reply to post #10
13. There have got to be plenty of people who
know they're at risk of having an accident. They would be smart to come forward before anything happens. Especially those on the inside who know facts.
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Cronus (1285 posts) Jan-17-03, 01:31 AM (ET)
11. Excellent work (eom)
Thanks. "...political leaders need not trouble themselves very much with reality provided that their performances consistently generate a sense of versimilitude." — Neil Postman (Amusing Ourselves to Death) Visit My Favorite Web Sites
Progressive buttons —http://brainbuttons.com/ Political Satire —http://bushspeaks.com/

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seemslikeadream (441 posts) Jan-17-03, 06:09 AM (ET)
12. Just to make sure the morning
people don't miss this
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JackRiddler (109 posts) Jan-17-03, 11:28 AM (ET) Reply to post #12
15. kick!
x
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Nottingham (1293 posts) Jan-17-03, 11:39 AM (ET) Reply to post #12
18. Well I feel sorry for the People who live in Manhatten! Their Screwed!
Manhatten has truly been destroyed! Osama Bin Laudin has killed more than 3000!Have Any Dreams Lately!
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loudsue (1107 posts) Jan-17-03, 12:07 PM (ET) Reply to post #18
20. And Bush KNEW, and Bush LET IT HAPPEN!
NO JETS WERE SCRAMBLED!!FEMA HAD ARRIVED ON SEPT. 10TH!! Just more and more amazing "coincidences"!
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patcox2 (745 posts) Jan-17-03, 11:31 AM (ET)
16. The dust looked like snow falling even months after 9/11
I spent 3 days in Manhattan, midtown, in November of 2001. You could see the dust in the air, it was sparkly, like tiny crystals, and at night you could see it form halos around street lamps like tiny snowflakes.
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Nottingham (1293 posts) Jan-17-03, 11:41 AM (ET) Reply to post #16
19. Pat cox it was a Death Snow!
I feel truly sorry for the people who breathed it! Have Any Dreams Lately!
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stickdog (1116 posts) Jan-17-03, 04:31 PM (ET) Reply to post #19
22. Yep. No conspiracy other than this single conspiracy of silence
should be required to put this entire inhuman crew of corporate murderers behind bars. But, of course, a program director might have an accident if this story was featured on a primetime "news" magazine. And the judge and prosecutors might have accidents if this ever came to trial.
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goforit (741 posts) Jan-17-03, 08:06 PM (ET) Reply to post #22
23. Certainly there is something we can do before more get murdered
My god.......I can not stand sitting here typing away knowing that we have these premeditative murders happenning as we talk. Some how we have got to find a reliable connectionthat can resolve this serious problem.
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stickdog (1116 posts) Jan-17-03, 08:59 PM (ET)
24. More on the destination of the three W.R. Grace & Co. victims
From: http://greenvilleonline.com/news/2003/01/08/2003010834140.htm Crash ends promising lives in an instantBy Liv OsbyHEALTH WRITERlosby@greenvillenews.com Many were just starting their lives, like the two Clemson University graduate students, the Bob Jones University co-ed and the young father traveling with his adolescent daughter. Others, including the North Carolina computer salesman with two small children at home and three employees of W.R. Grace & Co., were just making a living when their US Airways plane flipped, crashed and burst into flames moments after takeoff Wednesday morning from Charlotte. W.R. Grace & Co. veteran Richard Lyons was global health and safety manager at Grace Performance Chemicals in Cambridge, Mass. Lyons, 56, joined the company in 1969. Married with two children, he lived in Lynnfield, Mass. Joseph Spiak, 46, also worked at the Cambridge site as general manager for specialty vermiculite (note: this includes the highly toxic, widely distributed brand of asbestos contaminated vermiculite marketed under the W.R. Grace brand name of Zonolite). A resident of Acton, Mass., he had been with Grace since 1981 and occasionally visited its Spartanburg facilities. He was married with two children. Paul Stidham was a newcomer to the company, joining last July as director of environment health and safety for Grace's corporate headquarters in Columbia, Md. He and his wife, Dora, and their two young children made their home in Howard County, Va. All three were on their way to a Grace mining plant in Enoree, S.C. "We are devastated and stunned by this tragic loss," said Grace CEO Paul Norris. From: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/gard31.shtml Asbestos found in many common garden products EPA tests to determine health risks Friday, March 31, 2000 By ANDREW SCHNEIDERand CAROL SMITHSEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS 2000 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. All rights reserved. Federal investigators have found potentially lethal forms of asbestos in several lawn and garden products that contain vermiculite, a mineral used in hundreds of such products nationwide. "I think it is cause for concern," said Dr. Christine Oliver, assistant clinical professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, who has about 600 patients with asbestos-caused diseases. "There is no safe level of asbestos exposure," she said. The EPA findings could explain some of the so-called spontaneous tumors that arise in people who have no known exposure to asbestos, Oliver said. "My contention is they are not arising spontaneously and these data support that," she said. "Who would have known asbestos was in these products?" After the first results came in, the investigators repeated the tests and confirmed the findings. The types of asbestos found were fibrous actinolite and tremolite, both classified as carcinogens by several government agencies. Concern about the safety of vermiculite was sparked by Seattle Post-Intelligencer stories in November about a now-closed W.R. Grace & Co. mine in Libby, Mont., where more than 300 miners and their family members contracted fatal diseases including asbestosis, cancer and mesothelioma because of their exposure to tremolite asbestos fibers in the vermiculite ore. The EPA's results confirm similar tests of several brands of potting soil, soil enhancers and vermiculite conducted by the P-I from December through March as part of the newspaper's ongoing investigation of asbestos dangers in the United States. "We got numerous calls from citizens who had read about the deaths in Libby and asked if there was asbestos in garden products, will they be exposed to it and will they become sick from it," McDermott says. "Yes, there is asbestos in some of the products. And, yes, in using the product the way many people do, asbestos can be released. Horticultural industry analysts estimate that at least 65 local, regional and national companies produce more then 375 lawn and garden products containing vermiculite. The world's largest vermiculite mine is in the northeastern corner of South Africa. Some U.S. companies buy it, but many say they purchase ore from the Grace mine in Enoree, S.C., or from Virginia Vermiculite's mines, owned by Robert Sansom, in Louisa, Va., and near Enoree. Officials at the EPA regions responsible for Virginia and South Carolina said there was no indication that the agency had inspected any of the vermiculite mines in recent years. EPA studies on vermiculite mines were done in 1981, 1982 and 1991. The studies showed the presence of asbestos at Grace's Enoree mine, but at levels far lower than those at Libby. "Asbestos is a toxic substance and if it's in commercial products, we have an obligation to look as far back as it takes, to get to the bottom of where it's coming from," says John Melone, EPA director of national programs, chemical division. "When that product leaves the mine, someone is putting it into commerce. Whoever that someone is, whether they own the mine or not, that person is responsible for knowing what is in the product. And we have a right to ask for that information."
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Nottingham (1293 posts) Jan-17-03, 09:44 PM (ET) Reply to post #24
25. So this stuff is everywhere!
Wow this is soo sad! Have Any Dreams Lately!
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stickdog (1116 posts) Jan-18-03, 01:00 AM (ET) Reply to post #25
31. Dude, they are still makings billions selling it!
LAST EDITED ON Jan-18-03 AT 01:14 AM (ET) It's in everything from topsoil to insulation to fireproofing paint to door cores to auto gaskets to fertilizer to animal feed to concrete to bricks to plaster to pool construction materials to roofing. They even sell it to--get this--clean up asbestos and other toxic waste! http://www.na.graceconstruction.com/prodline.cfm?did=10 How does this sound to you? Recognized worldwide for their in-place performance and superior durability, Monokote products can be found in all types of buildings including high-rise construction, manufacturing facilities, schools, hospitals and sports facilities. above from: http://www.na.graceconstruction.com/prodline.cfm?did=3
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ElsewheresDaughter (367 posts) Jan-17-03, 09:49 PM (ET) Reply to post #24
26. Murray promises to renew push for asbestos warnings....
and murray was smeared in the media about her osama comments to silence her and make her look like a loop...murray was mckinneytized in the hopes of discrediting her.someone else posted this a few weeks ago..... Amazing , Grace airline travel gets riskier and riskier for certain folks... You remember this article:<snip> Murray promises to renew push for asbestos warningsBy ROBERT MCCLURE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERDec. 30 - After revelations that the Bush administration squelched public health warnings about a widely used form of insulation that contains cancer-causing asbestos, Sen. Patty Murray vowed yesterday to renew her fight for a public education campaign. Murray, D-Wash., said she will demand an explanation this week for why warnings planned last spring by the Environmental Protection Agency were called off at the last minute by high-ranking Bush administration officials. Internal EPA documents show that about 15 million to 35 million of the nation's approximately 105 million households contain a brand of insulation known as Zonolite. Mined for decades in Libby, Mont., Zonolite contains a particularly lethal form of asbestos known as tremolite. In Washington alone, at least 53,505 homes contain Zonolite insulation, according to lawyers who filed a class-action suit seeking to force W.R. Grace & Co., the Libby vermiculite mine's last owner, to warn homeowners of the danger. Now, look at who was on that plane that crashed in North Carolina: http://www.islandpacket.com/news/state/regional/story/2073734p-1989786c.html Paul Stidham, 46, of Dayton, Md., was traveling on business for his employer, W.R. Grace of Columbia, Md.Stidham, who was the director of environment health and safety at Grace's corporate headquarters, was one of three Grace workers on the flight. The other two, 56-year-old Richard Lyons and 46-year-old Joseph Spiak of Boston, were employees of Grace Performance Chemicals in Cambridge, Mass. Wow.....gee, it sure seems like a coincidence. Heck, the news media hasn't connected those dots. Nothing to see, please move along. The US government would never participate in targetted assassinations of "potential problems"... I suspected something like this. Just like the Choicepoint exec who died in a plane crash shortly after the florida felon purge was going to be examined. One of the other 2 Grace employees was director of the very area of environment and safety that would have been involved in the asbestos case. Did you know that Murray's asbestos education bill, introduced in July, was co-sponsered by Paul Wellstone? Seriously. Who knows how or if ANYTHING connects?
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JohnyCanuck (482 posts) Jan-17-03, 10:00 PM (ET)
28. Does anyone at DU know any NYC firefighters?
Or for that matter any other workers who took part in the rescue efforts or the cleanup of the WTC. If so they need to know about this. One way to help get this info out is to forward it to the people who are most likely to be affected. It's likely that these emergency workers would start showing symptoms or having lung problems first as they probably had the most exposure. For a start they should be warned of the possible medical problems they might run into so they don't pussy foot around about getting medical attention if they start developing any symptoms of lung problems. JohnyCanuck Proud founding member of Canadian Chapter - Cynthia's Grassy Knoll Society.
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ElsewheresDaughter (367 posts) Jan-17-03, 10:29 PM (ET) Reply to post #28
30. my husband is a hoboken firefighter and
i know 7 NYC firefighters and believe me this will be in thier hands tomorrow!btw hoboken is directly across the hudson river from the WTCthis is most disturbing...will this bush nightmare ever end?
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Eloriel (4958 posts) Jan-17-03, 10:11 PM (ET)
29. Stickdog, you are amazing
Simply amazing. Kudos. Ya know what I'd like to see? I'd like to see someone get to talk to some of the people under the 3 who were killed, or their wives/family, or both. Do you feel up to writing all this up for publication? If not, how about passing it on to someone like Greg Palast, or someone at MoJo? Surely someone somewhere can do something with this. Ya think? Eloriel Bush is neither a uniter nor a divider. He's a destroyer. "Face it," wrote Garrison Keiller in Time, "a nation that maintains a 72% approval rating on George W. Bush is a nation with a very loose grip on reality."
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Nottingham (1293 posts) Jan-18-03, 01:04 AM (ET) Reply to post #29
32. i agree ya need to show this to someone! Its Awesome!
Awesome Awesome! Have Any Dreams Lately!
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goforit (741 posts) Jan-18-03, 01:09 AM (ET) Reply to post #29
33. Greg Palast is a great idea!! On the NY firemen call 1411 for info
and I'm sure they would find someone in Ny who would listen.I am so proud of all of you digging your heals in.Keep up the great work!!!
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stickdog (1116 posts) Jan-18-03, 12:32 PM (ET)
34. The Sordid History of WR Grace and the Lilly, MT Asbestos Mine
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/asbestos/chronology.shtml
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Despondent (51 posts) Jan-18-03, 03:28 PM (ET) Reply to post #34
35. Eliott Spitzer
NY'S Attorney General is someone you could forward this info to he seems to be on our side
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9215 (1541 posts) Jan-19-03, 04:06 PM (ET) Reply to post #34
42. Question
First I want to thank your for this fantastic work. I think you meant "Libby" not "Lilly" in your post title. The weird thing is that ex Eli Lilly head Mitch Daniels is Bush's OMB boy that Patty Murray sent a letter to on the asbestos warning being pulled. When I saw your post title I almost crapped me drawers thinking there was a link between Eli Lilly and WR Grace. Empoweryour Democrat representative. Send them important info on a topic. They will listen. Easy way to send your three national representatives e-mail with one letter: www.congress.org.
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Insider (2155 posts) Jan-18-03, 04:35 PM (ET)
36. hypothetical
for whatever reason, the towers are identified as a hazard (materials, construction, outdated, whatever). would the issue ever see the light of day?if so, what methods would be considered for destruction?how would the public (NY city, NY state, USA, world) handle plans to bring down the towers? what would be the response? Proud Member of The Grassy Knoll Society (Chesapeake Bay Chapter) Black slaves built the White House.
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seemslikeadream (441 posts) Jan-19-03, 04:24 PM (ET) Reply to post #36
43. I have to tell you that's guite the
LAST EDITED ON Jan-19-03 AT 04:38 PM (ET) story you present. Sure does tie everything and I mean everything together! You know the more I think about it, God forgive them for they know not what they do, I believe you and stickdog have put it out there, how many will take note.
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stickdog (1116 posts) Jan-19-03, 02:24 AM (ET)
37. Wellstone vs. Corporate Asbestos Murderers
From:http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:Zds7vaEKUrUC:wellstone.senate.gov/asbestos.html June 18, 2002 Wellstone, Murray, Dayton Introduce Bill to Ban Asbestos Joined At Press Conference By Susan Vento, Widow of Congressman Bruce Vento (Washington, D.C.) - Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) today joined Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Mark Dayton (D-MN) in introducing the Ban Asbestos In America Act of 2002 that would ban the 6 regulated forms of asbestos, require additional research into the risks associated with asbestos, and initiate a public information campaign increase awareness of the dangers posed by products that contain asbestos in homes and workplace"As chair of the subcommittee with jurisdictional responsibility for protecting worker health and safety, I am extremely concerned about the problems of asbestos contamination in the workplace," Wellstone said. "I also know first-hand, from the experience in my home state of Minnesota, how far the tentacles of asbestos contamination can reach. Thousands of residents in Minneapolis are potentially at risk from a facility that processed asbestos-laden vermiculite from the Grace Mine in Libby, Montana. And unfortunately this is only one of the many sites around the country experiencing this dreadful contamination." Today, asbestos is everywhere -- in brake pads, roofing shingles, insulation, corrugated paper and fire protection. Despite the fact that most Americans believe that we have we have banned asbestos, this deadly substance remains in products we use everyday. The health effects of asbestos can take up to 40 years to set in, but the consequences of asbestos exposure are often deadly. Among its many victims, Minnesota Congressman Bruce Vento (D-MN) died of mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos. "Asbestos contamination is not a thing of the past - far from it. It is killing and injuring countless numbers of people," Wellstone said. "We must do everything we can to end this devastating problem. While many recognize asbestos as a contaminant, in fact a carcinogen, I believe the American public would be shocked to know that asbestos is still being added to products on purpose." From:http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:uB2IDWMw-FUC:wellstone.senate.gov/asbestos.htm April 18, 2000 Wellstone Stands With Steelworkers in Opposing Asbestos Legislation Bills Before Congress Would Rob Victims of Their Basic Rights (Eveleth, MN) --Senator Paul Wellstone, joining steelworkers in Eveleth today, announced his opposition to a proposed settlement which would prevent workers afflicted with asbestos-related illnesses from collecting the compensation they deserve. Wellstone said legislation before Congress, if passed, would deprive workers of their basic right to receive just compensation for illnesses they unknowingly contracted while working in factories polluted with asbestos."This legislation is a slap in the face to steelworkers and other Minnesotans who struggle to put a roof over their families' heads and put food on the table; never mind pay high medical bills for diseases they contracted for doing nothing more than putting in an honest day's work," Wellstone said. "It would rob them of their right to just compensation, it would rob them of their right to see justice served on those responsible for making them sick, and it would rob them of their right to get their lives back on track. I will do everything I can to honor the labor of these workers, and friends like Bruce Vento, by fighting this legislation in the Senate."
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seemslikeadream (441 posts) Jan-19-03, 06:24 AM (ET) Reply to post #37
38. Thanks again stickdog
I think you've found the real reason we don't have Paul around anymore.
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opus460 (12 posts) Jan-19-03, 02:31 PM (ET) Reply to post #37
39. Bill number S.2641
I think we should all write to our Senators and ask the status of bill # S.2641 (Ban Asbestos in America Act of 2002). Seems they're just trying to let this die in a committee.
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Nottingham (1293 posts) Jan-19-03, 02:43 PM (ET) Reply to post #39
40. Hopefully the Bill didn't die like its Co Sponsor!
This is worse than Dioxin! Have Any Dreams Lately!
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seemslikeadream (441 posts) Jan-19-03, 03:07 PM (ET) Reply to post #39
41. Thanks for the info opus460
good idea. I was wondering who to send this stuff to. A hand written note along with a copy of what stickdog has posted here. A top 20 list of people that just might take it to heart if they only knew. Any suggestions? Maybe Grace employees families? Wellstone's family? Maybe they already know.
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opus460 (12 posts) Jan-19-03, 04:35 PM (ET) Reply to post #41
44. Show me the money!!!
Robert M. Tarola, Senior VP and CFO, W.R. Grace$1000 to Republican Senatorial Committee 1/22/01 Paul M. Norris, Chairman, President, CEO, W.R. Grace$5000 to Republican National Committee 10/10/2000$3000 to American Chemistry Council 3/6/2001$5000 to American Chemistry Council 4/16/2002$1000 to American Chemistry Council 2/22/2000$500 to GW Bush 6/4/1999 There could be more, just don't have the time to look it all up. Another interesting angle would be to look for any connections with Skull & Bone Society. Also looks to be strong links with the American Chemistry Council and Homeland Security.
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seemslikeadream (441 posts) Jan-19-03, 04:49 PM (ET) Reply to post #44
46. opus460 have you read insiders post 36
what do you think, interesting huh?
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reprobate (1755 posts) Jan-19-03, 05:11 PM (ET) Reply to post #46
47. Seemslikeadream
I'm a , but this seems like a stretch. Could you put it together for me? My mind keeps hitting walls on this. George Washington on crossing the delaware: "Move your fat ass, Henry. And do it slowly so you don't swamp the boat."As told by Gen. Henry "Ox" Knox. Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use, first to shrink wrap peoples brains, and then as cerimonial shrouds to bury the dead. Arundhati Roy
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seemslikeadream (441 posts) Jan-19-03, 06:13 PM (ET) Reply to post #47
48. You want me to say it outloud!
LAST EDITED ON Jan-19-03 AT 07:04 PM (ET) Oh, no tooooo scary. You know though I have always been fasinated with the art of demolition. You know when buildings become useless or hazordous to peoples health and have to be imploded and all the rubble hauled away to a special dump. Maybe an EPA regulated dump for harmful materials. Somewhere safe from, lets say ground water? Maybe Insider post 36 would elaborate, that's where my nightmare started.
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opus460 (12 posts) Jan-19-03, 06:31 PM (ET) Reply to post #48
49. Fresh Kills Landfill
Most of the WTC wreckage was taken to this landfill: http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dcp/html/fkl/ada/about/1_0.html Though I haven't heard anything regarding the environmental impact, I hope there is a study done on the lower Manhattan and surrounding areas (including where I previously lived across the Hudson in NJ) residents over the next several years/decades regarding asbestos related illnesses.