by Neil Hacioglu
October 13, 2003
Public Interest Watch (PIW), a watchdog group based out of Washington D.C. that monitors non-profit organizations has filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Monday due to allegations that Greenpeace is violating U.S. tax law laws. According to the PIW’s report, the tax-subsidizing division of Greenpeace USA did not follow federal non-profit tax guidelines regarding its educational and charitable activities. Further into the report, the PIW claim that Greenpeace diverted $24 million during a three-year span to non-tax exempt activities. Some of these activities included the blocking of ships leaving the American Naval base Rota in Spain against the war in Iraq.
Mike Hardiman,the executive director of the PIW, says "Greenpeace has come up with a plan on transferring funds and using them for non-exempt — and oftentimes illegal — purposes". In a battle of dogs, Greenpeace USA spokesperson Melanie Janin fired back after the complaint was made by PIW and said that "It’s completely false and without merit." She then says that PIW has a plan to go after anti-governmental organizations and that PIW is funded by American corporations who are anti-environmental.
Now that the American chapter of Greenpeace is under pressure what about its Canadian counterpart? Stewart Bell’s article in the National Post from June 5, 1999 states that in 1989, Revenue Canada revoked their charitable status over the fact that they weren’t a true charity and that their actions were "no public benefit." In consequence of loosing their status, donators of the organization could no longer receive tax receipts from the government. Revenue Canada also added that in order to be a charity, you must give back something to the people. Then the Greenpeace Canada Charitable Foundation was created. They claimed they were different from the rest of Greenpeace. Speculations emerged that they were not complying with tax laws so an audit was done. It showed that their resources were not all given to charitable activities, but that it was transferring money to other Greenpeace organizations. So in 1995 their charitable status was revoked. A new group called the Greenpeace Environmental Foundation was created, but this time Revenue Canada did not register the organization due to their history.
Since then they have been short of donations and have been receiving money from Europe but something is still fishy. According to the 2002 edition of Associations Canada, Greenpeace Canada still considers it self as a registered charity. Is Greenpeace starting to play the same game it did in the past?
DDT: World with or without
by Caitlin Low
This past week in Toronto, Ed Whitlock (who is 72 years old) ran faster than anyone of his age category did in the 42.2 kilometre Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon. The sixty-some year old J. Gordon Edwards is a teacher, writer and continually lives an active life style of running up and down mountains. The similarities are pretty visible; both of these "senior citizens" live an extremely active life style. The differences? Well, Mr, J. Gordon Edwards, along with his daily breakfast, swallows a tablespoon of DDT.
Yes that is right, DDT. The same insecticide that was banned from the United States about 31 years ago. So why would Mr. Gordon continue to do such a thing? Well to prove Rachel Carson’s allegations wrong.
In 1972 DDT was banned by the EPA administrator William Ruckelshaus. It was claimed that DDT was thinning out egg shells and slowly dispersing in humans and if we as the human race continue to use it to fight off certain insects that carry such deadly disease as Malaria. Then we will soon become more sick than healthy and DDT stays in our system.
After the United States banned it many countries followed right behind. The U.S is such a powerful and economical country. If they did why shouldn’t others? Well the answer is because the U.S has the problem of Malaria, Typhus, yellow fever, and bubonic plague under control. But underdeveloped countries are still fighting some of these diseases and find it difficult to fight them off when the soul carrier of them is a little mosquito, lice nit, or flea. DDT helps kill these insects and with out it the country may as well diminish.
" For rich countries to tell poor nations… to ban chemicals that help control disease-carrying insects — and then claiming to be responsible humanitarian and compassionate — is to engage in hypocrisy of the most lethal kind" (Ron Bailey, writer of ‘Greens vs. the World’s Poor’)
Many scientists realise that residue of by-products of can still be found in our bodies and in the environment. But we are still living aren’t we? We are all still breathing, and walking and running? And free of Malaria? Though many of these diseases that only might have been heard of in the medieval era are making a comeback, due to many environmental orgainizations (Greenpeace, Envriomental Defence Fund and the World Wildlife Fund) the safest and most efficient source and is in fact DDT is less available.
West Nile hit North America on September 15th and new cases continually pop up. We have to walk around with long sleeves in a city where a fall day reaches highs of 27ºC, which may I remind everyone who is not familiar with Toronto weather, is pretty humid for a Canadian city. SO in any case we have to walk around with long sleeves be extremely cautious and continually apply bug repellent on us. All this extra precaution because some people and orgainzations cannot fully understand the positive aspect of DDT.
In J. Gordon Edward’s case, he will continue to live a normal, healthy life. And as Mary Popins always says: "A spoon full of sugar, helps the medicine go down, in the most delightful way" In Mr. Edwards case it helps the DDT go down. And then DDT keeps him climbing mountains.
Hurricane Isabel linked to global warming
by Neil Hacioglu
Even when Hurricane Isabel was just about to reach the East Coast of the United States, environmentalists in Washington D.C. were already blaming its existence on global warming. The environmentalist group Worldwatch Institute stated in a press release that "Weather-related disasters are occurring with ever-greater intensity and frequency around the world." The press release furthermore states connections on how the hurricane and global warming are related "… meteorological studies indicate that rising temperatures will tend to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme storms…"
On the other side of the spectrum, climatologist and sciences professor at the University of Virginia Patrick J. Michaels, believes that there is no evidence that there is an increase in the frequency and severity of hurricanes. In an interview with CNSNews.com, Michaels said that it’s a mystery why Worldwatch would base global warming on a weak Category 2 hurricane and then a downgraded Category 1 hurricane, which is considered as a common storm. He also says that if Worldwatch had read the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, they would have known that "within the Atlantic basin, maximum winds and hurricanes have declined significantly in the last 50 years".
Worldwatch says that greenhouse gases must be cut through the Kyoto Protocol to stop the warming of the planet. "There will be more frequent and intense heat waves, floods, droughts and wildfires…". This was a pitch to go against the Bush administration who did not accept the first step in reducing greenhouse gases 7 percent by 2012. They also stated that "Most scientists agree that global warming is real", but S. Fred Singer, president of the Science & Environmental Policy Project in Virginia, says that isn’t true. In an interview with CNSNews.com, he does accept the fact that there is dispute on the surface data but that the satellite data does not show the same results. He says that environmentalist groups are always trying to make a big deal out of a small situation.
This wouldn’t be the first time environmentalists tried to blame weather patterns and storm on global warming. In February of this year, environmentalists tried to link the "Northeast blizzard" and the spread of the West Nile Virus on global warming.
Deathbed lectures from PETA
Leave it to the insensitive People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to fax a letter to the bedside of a dying man.
The letter arrived as Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy lay in a hospital bed with a near-fatal neck injury sustained when a tiger mauled him.
PETA’s letter urged Siegfried and Roy to retire their animals and build a sanctuary for them.
"The only natural thing that happened on that stage was that this majestic animal lashed out against a captor who was beating him with a microphone because he wouldn’t do a trick," PETA vice president Dan Matthews wrote in the letter.
"No matter how much you say that you love the wild animals whom you have confined continents away from their natural homes, you are still the men who have subjugated their wills and natures to further their own careers."
PETA, on the other hand, never take measures like publicity to further their own careers.