This board is overflowing with completely insane rumor and nasty innuendo, such as suggestions that Miller is co-opted and that some extremely dedicated activists who have never had industry ties have been co-opted (or somehow were responsible for a delay in the hearings that was actually very short and completely due to other factors) and with completely uninformed speculation about the intent of Miller vis a vis survivors that has no basis in reality.
There is *strategy* to legislation and legislative hearings-- and one of the smart kinds of strategy is not to play your whole hand all at once. One hearing is not the whole deal. Those who testify now are probably not the only ones who will have the opportunity.
Second, the existing version of the bill was written while the Republicans controlled Congress as a compromise. here's a hint: the Republicans no longer control Congress. NATSAP is scared because they know Miller wants *federal* regulation and only deferred to the states because his party was not in power.
And the GAO is not stupid. Any look at their prior investigations of industries and scientific claims that the government would have preferred to suppress suggests that they don't fall for nonsense.
Please stop the infighting and do not judge what is going on until you actually know the facts from the inside.
Of course, the actual legislation may ultimately disappoint as with everything in government-- but people here have some really bizarre ideas that have serious potential to hinder their chances of effectively promoting their own cause.
*YAWN*...you finished, CAFETY-ite? "Infighting" is a word you guys kick around a lot, but you aren't "in" - You've got a board member who's tight with Isabelle Zehnder and her business associate, Sue Scheff. The guy would not end his involvement with CAICA and became defensive when his ego got a boot print on it. CAFETY should have ejected him, but maintained an icy silence, despite "discussions" in private. What was the final decision? At this point, no one cares.
Forntis is a "cult" anyway, according to a CAFETY board member. At that point it became clear CAFETY was like a beast thrown in a sawdust pit to fight for its life. CAFETY became a liability and an embarrassment to organizations they worked with - organizations that expected CAFETY to be wise in creating it's own affiliations. CAFETY let a lot of people down, go to the CAFETY site and check out an internet ghost town. Discredited, disrespected, viewed as spineless whiners who became nasty and bitchy when they couldn't offer an explanation or a corrective action.
A START seems unaware of CAFETY's near total lack of supporters - I guess it's becoming clear enough, since the Wiki request for survivor stories is getting an icy response. One CAFETY board member is probably doing the same whining he did on their forum - "Isn't anyone going to RESPOND to this?"
I hope people are sending their stories in directly and bypassing the CAFETY middle-man. A middle-man is all CAFETY was, even when the group mattered. They're still stuck in the middle, dead in the water, incapable of moving forward or backward...whining, pleading, arrogantly demanding that everyone jump back on the boat and row for them.
