Miszaros Laszlsval vitazom. Engem bant hogy miniszterelnokomet ilyen nyeglen sz
olitjak. Ha a kovetkezo ciklusban mast valasztanak ot is miniszterelnokomnek fo
gom tekinteni, es szolitani meg ha nem is ertek vele egyet.Bos mar tulnott azon
 hogy indulatosan kezeljuk a vele kapcsolatos dolgokat. Kellene valami jo megol
das, es nem azon ragodni, hogy ki milyen hibat kovetett el. Szeretnem ,ha a val
aszok is  jo megoldasokat hozna.Teny hogy szamunkra az lenne a jo, ha dunakilit
ivel a kulcs a kez|nben lenne, meg olyan aron is, hogy a csunyi beruhazas egy r
eszet kifizetnenk. Nagymaros megepitese sok joszandeku embert alazna meg, ezert
 meg kell keresni az  azt potlo megoldast. Hazafias lozungok nem csak Magyarors
zagon, de Szlovakiaban is elhangzanak, es az egyszeru johiszemu emberek ezt bev
eszik. Az elmult tobbszaz ev ep eleg gyanakvast, ellenerzest netan gyuloletet p
lantalt az emberekbe,  az elmult 8 evben meg rapakoltunk erre. Es ez sokkal nag
yobb kar mint amit bar milyen muszaki megoldas okozhat.Megoldas kell es gyorsan
 . Utana ra erunk levonni a tanulsagokat. 
				Nits Gyula

(ugyan most nem kornyezeti tartalmu, de igen aktualis Dana)

DEEPLY SADDENED BY THE STATE OF THE UNION

Like many Americans, I snapped this week.  Snapped off the TV.  And the radio,
even venerable NPR.  "Shut up!"  I yelled.  "I don't want to hear this!"

I stomped around delivering my own gloomy state of the union address to myself.
 
Then I realized that I was not the one who needed to hear it.  This is a
democracy, I said to myself.  They're not in charge; you are.

So I wrote down my state of the union message, addressed to them all in that
august hall -- president, Congress, the press, the cabinet -- all the
perpetrators -- and this is my way of delivering it to them.

You people, individually and collectively, are abusing our trust and destroying
our democracy.  You are breaking our political system and our hearts, and our
patience is at an end.

To cheat on a wife and trifle with a young girl's affections is a double
betrayal of personal trust, a sign of weak, self-centered character, poor
judgment, and a deep need for and confusion about self esteem.  Such cheating
is unfortunately a common human failure.  It is not -- if it happened, which we
don't actually know -- a betrayal of public trust.  It is not the concern of
anyone except the persons involved.

To cheat on a wife repeatedly and to use positions of power to trifle with many
young girls' affections, however eager the girls are to be trifled with,
demonstrates a lack of self-control that raises real questions about one's
worthiness to hold power.  To do so after years of being criticized for doing
so, while being sued for doing so, knowing there is a pack of enemies watching
and waiting for one to do so, that -- if it happened, which we do not know --
is so pathological as to answer all questions about one's worthiness to hold
power.  A person who would do such a thing should voluntarily relieve himself
from pressing public duties and seek psychological help.

A press that releases mobs of reporters to speculate about personal scandals
but virtually none to cover major raids of the public treasury (such as the
corruption of the savings and loan banks) or public resources (such as the
timber salvage rider) is not performing its democratic duty.  It is not only
failing to keep the voters informed of matters that concern them, it is
distracting them with matters (perhaps not even true) that have no purpose but
titillation, matters that demean everyone who reports or listens to them,
matters that reveal to the world a nation in deep moral confusion.

Spending full time trying to destroy another person's reputation in order to
bring him down from power must be one of the most soul-rotting exercises a
human being can undertake.  It is one thing to expose real betrayals of the
public trust in order to heal and restore that public trust.  It is quite
another to erode the public trust through desperate witch-hunts based on
jealousy, ambition, and hate.

A nation that pays someone to carry out such a vendetta against one of that
nation's own leaders, in the spotlight and with the approval and support of
other leaders, a nation that not only condones but funds this activity with
millions of taxpayers' dollars -- that nation has relinquished control of the
public agenda to some of the worst of its own people.

There is an enormous difference between asking a mistress to lie about an
affair -- if it happened, which is not proven -- and using the instruments of
government to lie about and suppress an investigation of crimes knowingly
committed by leaders of that government in order to interfere with a democratic
election.

The first is a shabby personal misdeed, for which a leader might feel
sufficiently shamed to abdicate his own power.  The second is a breach of the
rules that hold a democracy together and a violation of the vows every
president takes upon inauguration.  It is an offense for which the president
should be removed from power and a reason for the nation that elected that
president to examine and thoroughly restructure its electoral procedures.

A union that cannot keep these distinctions straight, that repeatedly elects
leaders of inferior character from both parties, that cannot inform itself in a
balanced way about the affairs of the republic, that cannot control the forces
of spite and hate that inevitably whirl around centers of power, that cannot
bring forth, listen to, and be guided by the moral sense and common sense of
the people -- that union is in a terrible state.  I fear for it, I am saddened
by it, I'm sick of it, as are many, if not most, of its people.

This latest hysteria is the last straw.  It shows how broken our system is, how
badly it needs fixing.  We, the people, must now use our combined power, the
power of democracy, to insist upon political elections and leaders and public
media that are not governed by money and cynicism.

We want the president to tell us the complete truth and prove it.  We want the
independent prosecutor to be fired and the legislation controlling such
prosecutions to be tightened.  We want thoroughgoing campaign reform.  We want
media monopolies to be broken up and many more broadcasting bands to be
released to noncommercial citizen-based organizations.  We want the political
parties to put up candidates we don't have to be ashamed of, in either their
public or their private lives.

We want all that right now.

(Donella H. Meadows is an adjunct professor of environmental studies at
Dartmouth College.)

POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT

The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC)
is a non-partisan, non-advocacy, not-for-profit organization with a
mission to assist in solving the environmental problems in Central and
Eastern Europe (CEE). The Center achieves its mission by encouraging
cooperation among environmental stakeholders, by supporting the free
exchange of information and by promoting public participation in
environmental decisionmaking.
 
The REC is now accepting applications for the position of: 

PROJECT OFFICER (TELEMATICS)

The position is based in the Information Exchange Department (IED) at 
the REC's Headquarters in Szentendre, Hungary. The goals of the Department 
are to provide access to regional environmental information and promote 
networking among environmental stakeholders. Between now and summer 
1999, the REC will be undertaking several projects in the field of 
'Telematics', an expanding area which combines the use of sophisticated 
telecommunications technologies for information-related activities that 
benefit society. Examples include community information systems, 
transport management technologies, and water/air quality monitoring.

Qualifications and Tasks

The successful candidate will be responsible for: 

 - Overseeing the preperation of a conference to be held early in June 1998 at 
the REC's conference facility in Szentendre where the results of European Union
 
(EU) funded telematics projects in the field of environment and transport 
would be presented. The target participants will be environmental stakeholders 
from CEE countries, including national governments, regional and local authorit
y 
decisionmakers, businesses and academia. The Project Officer will assist in the
 

selection of speakers and participants, preperation of a conference brochure an
d 
proceedings, and the design of an Internet homepage. 

- Building on the results of the above conference, the second assignment beginn
ing 
March '98 and continuing until May '99 will include coordinating a more in-dept
h 
study of the framework for the implementation of telematics-like projects in CE
E 
countries and preparing an inventory and database of best-practice case studies
 . 
An Internet homepage will be developed, and a second conference (also with 
proceedings) and workshop will be organised.  

The goal of both projects is to encourage the uptake of Telematics 
projects in CEE and to encourage partnerships between local 
authorities in the EU and the CEE region, thus helping to build the "European 
Information Society." In both assignments, the Project Officer will report to t
he 
Project Manager and will work closely with the REC's Conference Dept.

The applicant should have the following qualifications:

- At least two years work experience in project management, 
experience with local and regional authorities a plus; 
- University degree in environmental or information sciences 
(experience with Telematics not essential);
- Good written and spoken English language abilities, knowledge 
of one regional language an advantage;
- Good personal computer skills with Internet experience; 
- General knowledge of environmental issues in the CEE region;
- Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment as a team player. 

Please send your application including CV and cover letter to Mr. Mozes 
Kiss, The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern 
Europe, Ady Endre ut 9-11, 2000 Szentendre, Hungary, fax: (+36-26) 
311-294, e-mail: . 

Deadline for applications: 13 Feb 1998