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Salmon Kabobs

� 1 lb Maine salmon cut in cubes

� 1 TBSP lemon juice

� 1/4 cup zesty Italian low calorie dressing

� Fresh crushed garlic cloves (option for garlic lovers)

� Vegetables (optional) green peppers - cubed, cherry tomatoes, summer squash cubed, onions cut in quarters, fresh whole mushrooms

Combine Italian dressing and lemon juice.

Add fresh crushed garlic cloves if you are a garlic lover.

Pour over salmon cubes.

Marinate salmon cubes in this mixture for at least a half hour.

Thread cubes on skewers alternating with green peppers, tomatoes, summer squash, onions, or mushrooms as desired. Baste kabobs with marinade while they are grilling.

(By Chef Jim Bucko, Radisson Hotel, Merrillville, IN )

U.S. Won't Cede Control of the Internet

The United States runs the World Wide Web - and despite some international complaints, it has no plans to relinquish control.

In the late 1990s, the U.S. established the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and promised that the American government would slowly give up control of the servers that underlie the Internet.  "That hasn't happened, and in June the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it won't," the Atlantic Monthly reported.

Some developing countries, including China, India, South Africa and Brazil, want control out of the hands of ICANN and instead placed with an intergovernmental group, possibly under the United Nations.

Several nations with tightly controlled media, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, also want to see the U.S. give up control.

Now critics of the ICANN's dominance have begun efforts to dislodge the U.S. as the sole keeper of Web addresses and give other governments control over their country-code domain names - such as .ca for Canada.

The issue will be discussed at the UN's World Summit on the Information Society, which begins in Tunisia in mid-November.

But the U.S. has made it clear that it will fight any attempt to put the UN or another international body in charge of the Internet. ICANN president Paul Twomey said his organization doesn't want to see "the Internet's technological future politicized."

Study finds government fish consumption advisories may do more harm than good

Eating one fish meal per week gives significant nutritional benefit

Boston, MA � A comparison of the risks and benefits of fish consumption suggests that government advisories warning women of childbearing age about mercury exposure should be issued with caution.

The Harvard Center for Risk Analysis examined in depth the benefits and risks of fish consumption. The guidance is welcome: According to a new survey for the Center for Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Policy at the University of Maryland, almost 31% of the general public is concerned about amounts of mercury in fish and shellfish. About one-third of Americans responsible for children's meals have reduced the amount of seafood they are feeding them. As a consequence, fish consumption has declined.

The study warns that if advisories cause fish consumption in the general public to drop out of fear about the effects of mercury, substantial nutritional benefits could be lost. The study will appear as a series of five articles in the November issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

"Fish are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which may protect against coronary heart disease and stroke, and are thought to aid in the neurological development of unborn babies," said Joshua Cohen, lead author and senior research associate at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis at HSPH. "If that information gets lost in how the public perceives this issue, then people may inappropriately curtail fish consumption and increase their risk for adverse health outcomes."

Fish are a major source of mercury exposure, a neurotoxin that may cause subtle developmental effects in utero, like the loss of a fraction of an IQ point, even at the modest exposure levels typical of the American population. As a result, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and USEPA have issued advisories warning women of childbearing age about mercury in fish.

Because fish are also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, the advisories have had to walk a fine line. The most recent U.S. government advisories emphasize that other adults need not worry about mercury in fish. They even advise women of childbearing age to keep eating fish, although they caution that group to keep away from some species (shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish) likely to contain more mercury and to limit total fish intake to about two meals a week.

The Harvard project looked at whether the benefits of lower mercury exposure to pregnant women justified the loss of omega-3 fatty acids from decreased fish consumption. The project also went one step further, asking what would happen if the public did not follow the government's recommendations exactly as they were intended. Although evidence on how people actually react to advisories is limited, one study found that pregnant women cut their fish consumption by one-sixth following a 2001 government advisory. Nor is it difficult to imagine that other adults, not targeted by the advisory, cut back on fish based on misperceptions about the risks.

In order to synthesize the available evidence, the Harvard project convened a panel of experts, chaired by Steven Teutsch, a medical epidemiologist formerly with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and now at Merck and Company. Other panel members included David Bellinger (Harvard University), William Connor (Oregon Health Sciences University), Penny Kris-Etherton (Pennsylvania State

University), Robert Lawrence (Johns Hopkins University), David Savitz (University of North Carolina), and Bennett Shaywitz (Yale University).

The panel identified important health effects to consider, assessed the dose-response relationships between fish consumption (or its constituents) and health outcomes, and developed an overall health effects model. In addition to Joshua Cohen, Harvard scientific staff included Colleen Bouzan and Ariane K�nig, and principal investigator, George Gray, executive director of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis.

The study found that if pregnant women were to eat the same amount of fish but replace fish high in mercury with fish low in mercury, cognitive development benefits, amounting to about 0.1 IQ points per newborn baby, could be achieved with virtually no nutritional losses. However, if pregnant women were to decrease their fish consumption by one-sixth, the loss of omega-3 fatty acids during pregnancy would cut the nutritional benefit by 80%.

If other adults were to also decrease their fish intake by one-sixth, then risks from coronary heart disease and stroke would increase. For example, among 65 to 74 year old men, the annual mortality risk would increase by nearly 1 in 10,000.

The study also found that increasing fish consumption among individuals who were not going to become pregnant would substantially decrease stroke and coronary heart disease risks. Much of this benefit appears to be associated with getting people to eat at least some fish (e.g., one meal a week), rather than no fish at all.

Cohen explained "that the problem with fish advisories is that we do not know what their overall impact on the population might be. Depending on how the population reacts, that impact could very well be negative."

Because of the potential downside, Cohen urges the government to carefully evaluate the pros and cons. He concluded, "Before the government issues advisories, it needs to gather data on how people actually will react, how those changes in behavior will influence nutrient intake and exposure to contaminants, and how those changes in intake and exposure will translate into changes in health. In other words, before we put an intervention into action, we need to estimate its real world impacts � both its benefits and its countervailing risks."

The Harvard Center for Risk Analysis undertook the project to create a decision model to evaluate policies that influence population fish consumption. Although much of this work was supported by grants from the National Food Processors Association Research Fund and the Fisheries Scholarship Fund, neither organization controlled the research findings or interpretations of the results.

Basically, what they are trying to say is, on balance, eat fish -- it does you more good than harm. Which any humble citizen of countries surrounding the Mediterranean basin, the Korean Strait, the Sea of Japan or the South China Sea would have told you in a nanosecond.

What does it all mean? The good news is that eating fish is good for us. The bad news via worse case scenarios is that eating fish can be very bad for us. The bottom line is the benefits outweigh the risks.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-10/hsop-sfg101705.php

FEMA reverses policy banning firearm possession

The Federal Emergency Management Agency today reversed a policy of prohibiting firearm possession in emergency evacuee trailer parks and other temporary housing provided by

the agency. The issue came to the nation�s attention on the

News Hour with Jim Lehrer when the opening of a �FEMA village� in Baker, La., following Hurricane Katrina was aired. The Second Amendment Foundation complained to FEMA officials, which led to a review by the agency�s legal counsel, who recommended the reversal.

Bush Signs Historic �Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act�

NEWTOWN, Conn.�President Bush, on October 26, signed into law a bill that will put an end to �junk� lawsuits against the nation�s firearms industry.

The �Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act� will block any future lawsuits attempting to hold firearms industry companies liable for the actions of criminals who misuse the industry�s lawful products. This law will not only help protect law-abiding businesses and the jobs of thousands nationwide, but it will also help ensure a positive future for the nation�s hunting and shooting traditions and our firearms freedoms.

President Bush praised Congress last week for the bill�s passage, saying, �I commend the House for passing the �Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.� Our laws should punish criminals who use guns to commit crimes, not law-

abiding manufacturers of lawful products. This legislation will further our efforts to stem frivolous lawsuits, which cause a logjam in America's courts, harm America's small businesses, and benefit a handful of lawyers at the expense of victims and consumers.�

The U.S. Senate passed the bill (S. 397) in July with a 65-31 bi-partisan vote. The House passed the bill Oct. 20 by a bi-partisan vote of 283-144.   With the bill becoming law a motion to dismiss a case against firearm industry companies in New York City were also filed today.

Since 1998 more than 30 municipal lawsuits have been filed against the makers and sellers of firearms by anti-gun organizations and anti-gun politicians. The misguided efforts attempted to blame firearm companies for the illegal actions of criminals. These illegitimate suits have cost the firearms industry hundreds of millions of dollars in legal defense fees and threatened to bankrupt companies.

Animal Extremist Tells Senate Hearing: Murder is Justified to Save Lab Animals 

Committee Members Express Outrage, Vow to Pass New Laws Combating Threat of Radical Animal Activism

WASHINGTON, -- A radical animal extremist stunned Senators from both sides of the aisle last week when he testified that the murder of medical researchers was "morally justified" to save lab animals. California surgeon and ALF (Animal Liberation Front) spokesman Dr. Jerry Vlasak made the outrageous statement to the Senate Committee on 

Environment and Public Works.

Vlasak, who also compared the life of lab animals to African American slaves and the Jewish victims of Nazi concentration camps, made his comments while defending a similar statement, made to the news media last year: "I don't think you'd have to kill - assassinate - too many vivisectors before you would see a marked decrease in the amount of vivisection going on. And I think for five lives, ten lives, 15 human lives, we could save a million, two million, ten million non-human lives."

Weekly Great Lakes Water Levels for October 28, 2005

Lake Level Conditions:

All of the Great Lakes, except Lake Ontario, are 3 to 7 inches below the levels of a year ago.  Lake Ontario is at the same level as a year ago.  Dry conditions this spring and summer are the main reason that water levels on the Great Lakes are below last year�s levels.   Looking ahead, Lake Superior is expected to fall 1 inch over the next month and fall below chart datum in December.  Lake Michigan-Huron is now below chart datum and should decline 3 inches over the next 30 days.  The remaining lakes are expected to fall 3 inches over the next month.  Levels over the next few months on all the Great Lakes are expected to remain lower than 2004/2005.   Evaporation rates during the fall may be higher than average due to warmer surface water temperatures.

Current Outflows/Channel Conditions:

The Lake Superior outflow through the St. Marys River into Lake Huron is projected to be below average during the month of October.  Flows in the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers are anticipated to be below average during October.  Flows in the Niagara River and St. Lawrence River are expected to be near average in October.

Alerts:

Users of the Great Lakes, connecting channels and St. Lawrence River should keep informed of current conditions

before undertaking any activities that could be affected by changing water levels.  Mariners should utilize navigation charts and refer to current water level readings.

Rapala Acquires Luhr Jensen lures

Acquisition Will Complement Rapala Business

MINNETONKA, Minn. � Rapala has finalized the acquisition of lures and other fishing tackle business of Luhr Jensen & Sons, Inc., a Hood River, Oregon based manufacturer of fishing lures and accessories.

Founded in 1932, Luhr Jensen manufactures a wide range of lures for freshwater and saltwater species, including the Kwikfish, Krocodile, J-Plug and Hot Shot.  Luhr Jensen is one of the five largest lure companies in the USA and is the market leader in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and in British Columbia, Canada. The brand is particularly well known in market segments, which target species such as salmon, trout and steelhead. The company also sells a line of cooking products, which are not included in the acquisition. Luhr Jensen employs more than 250 people in Hood River and Mexico. The net sales of its lure and fishing tackle business were in excess of $9 million in the financial year ended in

June 30, 2005.

Luhr Jensen will join Rapala, Storm, Blue Fox, VMC and Williamson in the Rapala family of brands. Future plans include transferring production of Luhr Jensen products to the Rapala factories.

About Rapala VMC Corporation

Rapala VMC Corporation is a leading manufacturer and distributor of fishing lures and treble hooks in the world. Based in V��ksy, Finland, the Group distributes lures, hooks and other fishing-related products in North America, the largest market in the world, through its own distribution companies. Rapala also has a leading distribution network in Europe for fishing tackle and other outdoor-related products. Its primary manufacturing facilities are located in Finland, France, Ireland, Estonia and China. The Group employs approximately 3,000 people in some 21 countries.

Van Roy Cormorant Bill approved 14-2 in joint committee

The Joint Committee on Finance joined the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources in voting in favor of Assembly Bill 486, the Wisconsin Cormorant Bill. State Rep. Karl Van Roy (R-Howard), the principal Assembly author, says that his measure has passed the final hurdle before going to the floor of the Assembly for a full vote.

"I'm pleased that the finance committee joined the natural resources committee by supporting my common sense, environmentally sound bill to control an overpopulating and practically invasive species," said Van Roy. "The economic and environmental costs of not acting far outweigh the costs of solving the problem."

Van Roy says his cormorant bill is the creation of months of

research and conversations with fish, bird, and Great Lakes habitat experts and came at the request of several Brown County constituents. The bill is cosponsored and supported by several other area legislators including Senators Lasee and Cowles, and Representatives Krawczyk, Bies, and Gard.

"Great Lakes states from New York to Minnesota have already created cormorant control programs because cormorants have been found to be the culprits behind habitat destruction, fish population declines, water pollution, and a reduction in available nesting sites for other, threatened bird species," said Van Roy. "This bill brings us in line with the rest of the Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces."

AB 486 will now go to the floor of the Assembly for a full vote. It must then pass the State Senate before moving onto the Governor's desk for his signature.