Fair Proxy Web

58 years later, another look at Rosenberg spy case

NEW YORK (CNN) — After 58 years, historians and journalists will have a chance to examine the secret grand jury testimony of witnesses in the espionage case against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

The couple was investigated in 1950, tried in 1951 for conspiracy to commit espionage and convicted and sentenced to death in 1953.

Cold War scholars are hoping the grand jury transcripts will shed light on some nagging questions about the case: primarily, just how strong the case was against Ethel Rosenberg.

The National Security Archive, the American Historical Association, the Georgetown University Law Center and others have petitioned to have the transcripts of 46 witnesses released to the public.

In an unusual move, federal authorities have said that because of the historic significance of the case, they do not oppose releasing the transcripts of testimony from witnesses who have died or who do not object to their release.

Of the 46 grand jury witnesses, 36 are deceased or do not object to releasing the transcripts. Three others are thought to have died; four have not been found.

In a partial ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied a request to release the testimony of three other witnesses, including one of the most controversial: David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg’s brother and a pivotal witness against the couple.

found here.

Vice president buzz swirls around McCain

(CNN) — Amid speculation that Sen. John McCain will announce his vice presidential running mate this week, the Arizona senator avoided answering any questions on a timetable for the decision Tuesday.

At a news conference in Epping, New Hampshire, McCain was asked whether this was a good week to pick a running mate. Laughing, he responded, thanks, no. We have the same answer as we’ve always had. We’ll … announce when we are ready to announce. … We’ll let you know when we have an announcement.

Adding fuel to speculation is a planned Wednesday meeting between McCain and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Some analysts say the Arizona senator is seriously considering the 37-year-old Republican for his running mate.

News of the meeting, first reported by the Washington Post, comes amid reports that the McCain campaign was considering naming the vice presidential candidate this week in an effort to steal the media spotlight from Sen. Barack Obama’s trip overseas. Watch more on the vice presidential speculation

Sources close to the Republican presidential candidate have indicated that scenario is one of several possibilities recently discussed.

Speculation swirled around Jindal this summer when he was one of a handful of politicians McCain invited to his Sedona, Arizona, ranch. The long weekend was described as purely social, though former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist were also in attendance.

Jindal is considered a boy wonder of sorts in the Republican Party and has been lauded by several conservatives wary of McCain, including talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh.

But the decision would undercut one of the Arizona senator’s chief arguments against Obama: his relative lack of experience. Jindal is nearly 10 years younger than Obama.

Jindal has remained mum on whether he is interested in or being formally vetted for the vice presidency.

Meanwhile, veepstakes speculation swung into full gear this week after sources in the McCain campaign confirmed to CNN’s Dana Bash and Gloria Borger that there have been recent discussions high in the campaign about the possibility of naming a running mate this week.

One source says no decision has been made by the candidate. Another says that some within the campaign are arguing to hold off until Obama has named his decision so there is an opportunity to counter-program.

In any case, a campaign source adds, this does mean the choice has been narrowed in McCain’s mind to the point where he could, if he were so inclined, spring a decision this week.

The prospect of a McCain vice presidential announcement this week, first reported by Bob Novak on the Human Events Web site, would obviously change the subject from Obama’s trip to the Middle East and Europe.

On Tuesday, Novak told Fox News that his report about McCain announcing his running mate this week may have been a dodge by the campaign to grab some headlines.

The conservative columnist went on to say that he received the tip from a very senior McCain aide and that the campaign suggested I put it out so he posted something online. Now he says he’s been told by certain people he may have been used. If that’s the case, it’s pretty reprehensible, Novak said.

Meanwhile, some of McCain’s own advisers admit that just leaking the possibility of a vice president selection could take some of the attention away from Obama.

A senior adviser said the report is a head fake meant to distract attention from Obama’s headline-grabbing overseas trip.

But when pressed, this adviser said that was their public explanation because they did not want to give the impression the campaign was undisciplined: Because someone is an idiot, so we have to explain it as a tactic.

One GOP strategist says it would be a mistake to name a vice president pick this week. Another Republican source involved in top-level McCain campaign meetings — including senior level discussions of the vice president search process — told CNN’s John King, it’ll be closer to the convention and after Obama picks his.

found here.

Make your home healthier in five easy steps

You may think your home is safe, but there may be toxins in your water, linens, and even your deck. There are several simple steps you can take to make your kitchen, living spaces, playroom, and backyard healthier for you and your family. Here’s what to do:

IN THE KITCHEN

Potential danger: Nonstick cookware

The scoop: Pans that let cookies slide off easily and make cleanup a cinch contain perfluorochemicals (or PFCs), which have been shown to cause cancer, hormone disruption, and hypothyroidism in animals. In humans, they’ve been linked to a decreased ability to fight infection, as well as low birth weight in babies whose mothers were exposed to them during pregnancy. PFCs are found in the linings of fast-food packaging and most microwave-popcorn bags to keep grease from soaking through (as well as in some furniture and carpeting).

Healthy-home fixes: It’s not clear whether humans are at risk from day-to-day exposure, but environmental health experts recommend these commonsense precautions:

Turn down the heat! Don’t preheat an empty pan, and keep burners on medium while cooking. It’s when nonstick pans get too hot that they emit potentially dangerous fumes, says pediatrician Alan Greene, M.D., author of Raising Baby Green.

Replace flaky, peeling pans when they start to go. Switch to old-fashioned stainless steel or cast iron, or try one of the new PFC-free nonstick pans on the market.

Take your takeout out of the containers, and serve it on plates.

Pop popcorn on the stove, or use an air popper.

IN THE KITCHEN

Potential danger: Pollutants in tap water

The scoop: Here’s something you can worry less about. Tap water is more regulated than bottled water, says Dr. Paulson. However, it can vary greatly from region to region. An analysis of tap-water data from 19 cities by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), for instance, revealed elevated levels of lead, arsenic, and other hazardous chemicals.

Healthy-home fixes:

Find out what’s in your water. Your community water department is required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regularly review the makeup of local water supplies and publish those results. If you don’t get a report in the mail once or twice a year, call and ask for one. For a guide to understanding water-safety facts and figures, go to safe-drinking-water.org.

Test your own H2O with a simple kit from Everpure ($85; everpure.com). After sending in a sample of your water, you’ll receive detailed results, plus the best ways to filter out any impurities that the test turned up.

And then, use a filter. Many contaminants can be removed with a simple activated-carbon one, says Anne Steinemann, director of The Water Center at the University of Washington, in Seattle. These are the relatively inexpensive filters that attach at the faucet or below the sink. Parenting.com: Great greenware for eating and drinking

However, there are some water contaminants (percholate, a by-product of rocket fuel, for example) that may require a reverse-osmosis filter. These under-sink units are expensive and waste some water in order to clean it, but they may be worth it if you live in an area with heavily contaminated H2O. Whatever type of filter you choose, look for one labeled as meeting NSF/ANSI Standard 53, which means that the manufacturer’s claims have been verified. You can find a more detailed explanation of water-filter options at waterfiltercomparisons.net.

IN THE FAMILY ROOM AND BEDROOMS

Potential danger: Chemical flame retardants in bedding and furniture

The scoop: Tons of household products contain chemicals called PBDEs, which slow the rate at which something burns. The problem is, PBDEs have been shown to interfere with a child’s developing nervous system, causing problems with memory and attention. What’s more, they have widely contaminated the environment and even our bodies. Although there’s still a scarcity of data regarding the danger to humans, several states are concerned enough to have banned the production and sale of certain PBDEs.

Healthy-home fixes:

Keep your house as dust-free as possible. (Yes, not easy for a busy family!) PBDEs like to attach to dust particles, says Sarah Janssen, M.D., a science fellow at the NRDC in San Francisco. And kids are especially likely to be exposed because they spend so much time on the floor and put things in their mouths.

Make small changes now. No need to chuck all the flame-retardant items in your house, but do consider replacing some. Start with your children’s bedrooms, since kids spend so much time in there and their faces are close to their bedding all night, Greene says. When you buy new bedding, switch to the organic-cotton kind (organic fibers are never treated with PBDEs, so opting for organic sheets and pillowcases is one way to make sure you avoid them). If you’re ready to replace mattresses (including crib mattresses), consider looking for ones that meet flame-retardant standards without using chemicals. Also, toss old egg crate foam mattress pads, since they’re coated with flame retardants. A list of companies that make PBDE-free mattresses and bedding can be found at ewg.org/pbdefree.

found here.

Cai Guo-Qiang: Exploding expectations

(CNN) — Gunpowder, fireworks and attention-grabbing installations mark Cai Guo-Qiang as one of the world’s biggest and brightest artists.

The Chinese artist is about to show the whole world what he can do with a spectacular pyrotechnics display at the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Despite not having lived in China since 1986, Cai has been selected to be the Director of Visual and Special Effects for both the opening and closing ceremonies at the Games.

For the 51-year-old contemporary artist, whose work has previously caused controversy in China, the politics that have been swirling around the Games are secondary to the event itself.

In any country, in any city, there will be political influence on what is said, what kind of images are to be projected and, yes, of course artists can be and are influenced by politicians, he told CNN.

But what I also think is that our leaders at the very highest level want artists to be able to be free, to be creative and to show this other side of China that is vibrant.

While some of his art is politically charged, Cai has established his reputation as much as a director of the spectacular, with his work often providing a visceral and visual bang.

He studied stage design at the Shanghai Drama Institute between 1981 and 1985 before moving to Japan a year after graduation. Now residing in New York, he gained wide-spread international recognition at the Venice Biennale in 1999, winning the Golden Lion prize.

However, the work he displayed — Rent Collection Courtyard, a replica of famous Chinese socialist-realist sculpture — upset artists of the original piece in Shanghai who believed it diminished the sentiment behind the original work.

Born in Fujian in 1957, Cai’s father was also an artist, but had a much more traditional outlook than the one Cai developed.

He and his friends always lamented about the good days and, that there’s no vitality in today’s art and culture. So, I really rebelled against that. I felt that what they were talking about had very little to do with how our lives were like at that moment, he said.

Cai began using gunpowder in his work after moving to Japan. Detonating large trails of it on his two-dimensional pieces, creating small mushroom-clouds, or lighting enormous firework displays, explosions have been a continuous theme of his work.

found here.

Rice to press North Korean envoy on nukes

SINGAPORE (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has begun talks with Asian officials in Singapore before meeting North Korea’s top diplomat in what will be the Bush administration’s highest-level contact with the communist state in four years.

Amid promising developments in the international effort to get the North to abandon nuclear weapons, Rice is hoping to gauge the North’s commitment to the process when she sees North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun on Wednesday on the sidelines of an Asian security forum in Singapore.

Pyongyang has been given a four-page draft document detailing what the United States says it must do to prove it has told the truth about its past atomic programs, a key element in the six-nation denuclearization initiative.

Diplomats expect Pak to provide at least an initial response to the proposal at the meeting with Rice and the foreign ministers of the other four nations involved: China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

It will give some indication of the amount of effort the North Koreans have put into completing this verification protocol, chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill said late Tuesday.

The draft calls for intrusive inspections of North Korean nuclear facilities, soil sampling, interviews with key scientists and a role for U.N. atomic experts. Hill travels on Friday to the International Atomic Energy Agency headquarters in Vienna to brief them on developments.

The proposal was presented to the North Koreans earlier this month by Hill and representatives of the other four nations pushing the denuclearization effort.

found here.