The American people have been denied additional time to voice their opinion about the management of their public lands. A recent decision by the administration rejects a request to extend the public comment period for the draft oil and gas leasing plan of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska's northwest area. A coalition of conservation groups formally requested extending the 60 day comment period to 90 days, as was requested and approved in 1998 for the northeast planning area of the NPR-A. The same group also asked for public hearings to be held in the lower 48 states, just as they were for the northeast planning area of this region, also called the Western Arctic.

Only a single hearing outside Alaska was granted, to be held in Washington, DC on March 13 - a mere five days before the public comment period ends March 18. With so much land in the crosshairs of big oil, and so little - less than 5 percent - of the nation's land permanently protected as wilderness, it is only fair that the public has adequate opportunity to speak up.

"This is about corporate greed, pure and simple, because Americans don't

The Alaska Wilderness League last week applauded a bipartisan coalition of Senators for introducing legislation to permanently protect the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The legislation, which seeks to designate the fragile 1.5 million-acre Coastal Plain of the Refuge as statutory wilderness, was introduced today by Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT).

"We praise the leadership of Senator Lieberman and the other co-sponsors for coming together to support legislation that permanently protects Alaska's most threatened wilderness from the ravages of oil development," said Cindy Shogan, Alaska Wilderness League's executive director. "Sacrificing the crown jewel of our national wildlife refuge system for a six-month supply of oil that might be available 10 years from now is unconscionable."

The Arctic Refuge protects some of America's most spectacular wilderness and wildlife, including polar bears, musk oxen, caribou, grizzlies, and millions of migratory birds. The Gwich'in people, a subsistence culture, consider the Coastal Plain, which serves as the calving grounds for the 130,000 migratory

Well I guess war is coming. George Bush made that perfectly clear last night that war with Iraq is all but certain, it will happen this week.

Bush has (in my opinion) not only undermined the UN, but will also destroy our country. Our economy is a mess, our education system is in a shambles, health care for every American doesn't exsist. Nearly half a million people are without jobs, gasoline prices are most likely going to increase by summer.

This reckless and blatant disregard tor the will of the Amercian people and the world is not a surprise. Remember, Bush did not win the popular vote in 2000, if I remember correctly, over 500,000 people voted for Al Gore. So of course, Bush doesn't care one bit about the people. He doesn't care one bit about diplomacy, or about our relations with other nations like France and Germany.

He has no respect for civil and constitutional rights of the people in this country. John Ashcroft, the fueherer of the Justice Department, is working overtime to get policies and legislation passed that would allow the Department to basically do whatever it wants to whomever, without just cause or due process.

Today a young woman was killed in Gaza. Young women, but more often young men, get killed in Gaza and the West Bank every day, and the world pays no attention. What was different today is that Rachel Corrie was an American, an activist with the International Solidarity Movement, the group that I’m here with in occupied Palestine. And her death is a particularly horrifying example of the cold blooded dehumanization that characterizes this occupation. Rachel was trying to stop the demolition of a Palestinian home in Rafah, Gaza According to the other activists who were with her, she was in dialogue with the operator in the spirit of nonviolence that is a guiding principle of the ISM, which provides support for Palestinian civilians and for nonviolent efforts to bring about justice for Palestine. She climbed up on the bulldozer, to talk to the soldier in the cockpit. She climbed down. She sat in front of the bulldozer. The soldier in control of the huge machine drove it deliberately over her.

For a number of years, 18, I have worked a Saturday night through Sunday morning job in addition to a regular job.  We put together various out-of-town newspapers and load them on trucks.  Last night, the fellow who delivers the Dayton paper was worried.  He said he was concerned, and so wasn't the paper owners, that the attack on Iraq might happen today. 

  Why was he worried?   Well, he explained, the "bracket day," when what teams will play in the NCAA tournament is drawn up, is tomorrow.  That is the best-selling paper day of the year.  The day the war starts, they anticipate allot of papers will be sold then too, but not as many as bracket day.  If both events are covered on the same day, then only one day will be a big paper day instead of two, so it would be better to bomb Iraq on a different day than bracket day for the paper business!

  He did not express an opinion as to whether there should be a war.