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10.29.09

Central District Newsletter-October 29, 2009

Central District Newsletter Captain James I. Dudley October 20, 2009 “Arm yourself….with knowledge!”... more

stopnoise
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Tinnitus Symptoms Causes Treatments

What is Tinnitus? Tinnitus is a condition commonly found in older people but, can also develop in younger people. It is a... more

healthy85
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Michael Moore tells Democrats: 'Find your spine' on health care

Sans video camera, filmmaker Michael Moore on Tuesday turned his megaphone on the current health care system and those Blue Dog... more

WakeUpPeople
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YouWebRadio - 10/7/2009 - Healthcare News

Good Morning San Francisco, Good Morning Bay Area, Good Morning Vietnam. This is YouWebRAdio and the News on Healthcare and... more

stopnoise
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Lawmakers Gone Wild!!

This is Government at its best!

Hurtsville
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To Avoid Regulation, Credit Raters Hide Behind First Amendment Rights

For two decades, the nation's top credit rating agencies have managed to fend off a crackdown from Washington by relying on a... more

WakeUpPeople
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Should we enact 'No Child Left To Die'?: Lack of health care led to 17,000 US child deaths

Lack of adequate health care may have contributed to the deaths of some 17,000 US children over the past two decades, according to... more

WakeUpPeople
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Solitude contributes to a person's imagined intimacy with a TV character

If your best friend is a guy from "The Office" or a young doctor on "Grey's Anatomy," you may be relying... more

pjacobs51
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House Democrats Unveil Sweeping Health Reform Bill

WASHINGTON - The retooled health care overhaul plan that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled Thursday would extend coverage to... more

current89
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Concentration camps

Among the silence of the press and taking advantage of the ignorance of most of the population Western governments are doing... more

hyperion74
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Why Do We Need A Central Bank? PBS

One of the more interesting developments during the current recession is a small but growing drumbeat of criticism of the Federal... more

shanklinmike
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Central District Newsletter-October 15, 2009

Central District Newsletter Captain James I. Dudley October 13, 2009 “Arm yourself….with knowledge!”... more

stopnoise
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Simon Johnson and US Rep. Marcy Kaptur and review of the financial crisis.

October 9, 2009 Just over a year after economic calamity brought promises of reform from Washington, has Wall Street really... more

stopnoise
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Movie Rendering Settings, Tech Question!

Hey stopnoise, Would you be so kind as to take a look at one of my videos and offer me a theory on why the audio has kind of a... more

stopnoise
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Brain Waves Surge Moments Before Death

"A study of seven terminally ill patients found identical surges in brain activity moments before death, providing what may... more

DeliaTheArtist
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US Treasury misled public on Wall Street banks' bailouts, Report

Neil Barofsky, the inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program has criticised US Treasury officials for making... more

bansheewail
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GOP Health Plan - Don't Get Sick, but if you do, Die Quickly!

Republicans want a Democratic lawmaker to apologize or face a reprimand for saying the GOP wants Americans to “die... more

jubal
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Rio de Janeiro wins the 2016 Olympic bid

COPENHAGEN — The Olympics were awarded to a South American city for the first time, when the International Olympic Committee... more

Nettle
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Senator Sanders and Michael Moore

Senator Sanders Takes on Michael Moore question on Capitalism. That is the whole problem of Capitalism. That is exactly one of... more

stopnoise
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The World Seed Conference: Good for farmers?

Last week marked a little-known and under-reported symposium held in Rome under the auspices of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation – the World Seed Conference. Although the subject may appear obscure, the conference theme and the issues discussed, including plant variety protection and seed improvement techniques, could not be more important to millions of farmers in the developing world.

Between the heavy acronyms and technical terms used by the UN figures, government officials and industry representatives, the conference illustrated two clear themes; firstly, the desire of Northern-based business to continue a process of enclosure of key farming inputs such as seeds by way of technology. Secondly, a push by these same companies (supported by the US and EU countries) for an extension and tightening of intellectual property rights on plant genetic resources into the national law of poorer countries.

Under the guise of innovation and progress, breeding companies suggest that seed varieties developed in laboratories in the North and then sold to poorer farmers in the South can raise yields in crops, increase nutritional values, reduce pesticide and fossil fuels use as well as conserve biodiversity. In the words of one participant at the conference, his company utilised ‘the art and science of changing the genetics of plants for the benefit of humankind.’

Advocates from industry argue that to safeguard their investment in these manipulated ‘seed innovations’ governments should use a form of legal construction (intellectual property rights) to prevent farmers from re-using and changing seeds that are a ‘product’ of agribusiness. Industry lobbyists also suggest that such monopoly rights should extend to developed plants varieties that business cannot easily control by technology – for example due to natural reproduction.

However, the patenting of seeds, extension of plant variety protection and rollout of a global regime of intellectual property rights for agricultural inputs could have serious consequences for small-scale farmers in the developing world.

Techno-Fixes and Monopoly Control

Firstly, the intellectual property regime that many participants in the Conference wish to tighten and extend to poorer countries (what one participant called ‘the development of a new industry competitiveness on foreign markets’), legally prevents farmers from sharing and saving seeds for later harvests or for future generations.

Under a key intellectual property treaty first signed in the 1960s and last amended in 1991, called UPOV, and the later WTO TRIPS, governments agreed to prevent farmers from saving or sharing seeds with only a few limited exceptions. In countries that have accepted these intellectual property regimes, small-scale farmers have moved increasingly towards the use of imported seeds, suffering from a number of adverse effects including increased debt levels, displacement and worsening food security. Making the situation worse, under intellectual property laws, some governments refuse to subsidise or even prohibit the use of seeds that do not make an ‘official list’ – most often those that were previously shared and exchanged between communities.Last week marked a little-known and under-reported symposium held in Rome under the auspices of the UN Food and Agriculture... more

JanforGore
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1 month ago

Acoustic Space Invaders - The Movie

Hi, My name is James Derek III and I am a Film Maker. My friends call me "jd." Presently I am working as an announcer in... more

stopnoise
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1 month ago

Google Wave Overview

Here is what is going on in the Google new communication tool. Product managers, Stephanie and Greg explain many of the features... more

stopnoise
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1 month ago

TV hosting Character Figure Development

Here is my Character Design Development for my TV host Figure.

stopnoise
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2 months ago

Europeans say US lacks will on climate

As world leaders gather in New York for the highest-level conference yet on climate change, European leaders are expressing growing unease about the United States’ stance in international talks aimed at reaching a global agreement in Copenhagen in December.

Officials of several European countries have cited what they see as a lack of political will on the part of the United States to adequately address climate change. The American reluctance to accept any agreement that would require legally binding and internationally enforceable targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions could doom the Copenhagen session, they said.

Ahead of this week’s climate talks at the United Nations, the Europeans also expressed little hope that the United States Senate would act on a climate bill before the Copenhagen talks begin. They said the lack of domestic consensus sows doubt about whether the United States can keep any pledges it makes at Copenhagen, either on the level of reductions in global warming emissions or on financial commitments to help developing nations adapt to a changing climate.

Inaction in the Senate also limits the flexibility of America’s chief climate negotiator, Todd Stern.

The Obama administration is trying to satisfy European demands for firm targets and timetables, while reassuring a wary Senate that it is not signing on to a system that would impose steep economic costs on the United States that are not shared by developing countries like China and India.

Although the administration and its allies in Congress say they are deeply committed to meaningful action on climate change, they do not want to repeat the experience of Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, when the Clinton administration signed an international agreement that was repudiated by the Senate because it made few demands on the developing world. The United States never ratified the agreement, called the Kyoto Protocol.

John Ashton, the British foreign secretary’s special representative for climate change, said several large gaps need to be closed among the major industrialized countries before there could be any hope of success in Copenhagen.

Chief among them, he said, is the “ambition gap” between the United States and the nations of the European Union. While the United States discusses the broad outlines of climate policy, the Europeans have already pledged to cut their emissions by 20 percent by 2020, and more deeply if there is an international agreement.

The Europeans say a bill passed by the House in June showed American goodwill but still fell short of the European target and what scientists say is necessary to limit global temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius over the planet’s temperature early in the Industrial Revolution, which means limiting future changes to about 2 degrees Fahrenheit above current temperatures. This limit is the internationally accepted goal.

The Senate has yet to act, but its targets are likely to be less ambitious.

Mr. Ashton said that the path forward is clear, but that politics are hampering movement in the United States and several other large countries. “There is no technological obstacle. There is no macroeconomic obstacle,” said Mr. Ashton, in Washington late last week for a meeting of major industrial countries on climate change. “The barriers are political.”

end of excerptAs world leaders gather in New York for the highest-level conference yet on climate change, European leaders are expressing... more