tagged w/ Greed
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Billionaire Warren Buffett may not seem to have much in common with angry laborers at town hall meetings or armies of California nurses protesting in the streets. But these days, the executive celebrity in his boardroom and working folks on the front lines have found a common mantra as the economy continues to sputter and the 2012 election approaches: "Tax the rich."Billionaire Warren Buffett may not seem to have much in common with angry laborers at... more
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Cabal
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Raimundo Francisco Belmiro dos Santos, a defender of the Amazon jungle, has requested urgent protection from the authorities in Brazil after reporting that a number of hired gunmen are looking for him, because landowners in the northern state of Pará have offered a 50,000 dollar contract for his death.
Belmiro dos Santos is a 46-year-old "seringueiro" or rubber tapper who fears for his life and the lives of his family, after receiving numerous threats for his activism against the destruction of the Amazon jungle.
"My life is really complicated today, because they have put a price on my head, and say that I will be killed before the end of the year," the activist told IPS in an anguished voice by telephone from the Riozinho do Anfrísio reserve, where he lives.
It takes several days to reach the reserve by river from the nearest city, Altamira, which is 800 km from Belém, the capital of the state of Pará.
"I am fighting to defend life, the jungle, nature, and I can't live without protection anymore," Belmiro dos Santos, who is a married father of nine, told IPS.
In response to his cry for help, the prosecutor's service for the state of Pará instructed the police to launch an investigation, sources at the prosecutor's office told IPS.
According to an official statement, prosecutor Cláudio Terre do Amaral ordered the police to ask the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) to provide "all documents and information relating to the matter" and for the authorities to provide Belmiro dos Santos with assistance.
The latest threat came on Aug. 7, when an anonymous caller told the activist by telephone: "They are going to the reserve to kill you. If I was you, I wouldn't go back."
But dos Santos says he will continue to return to his home.
Over the last week he has held several meetings with members of the ICMBio, the government agency responsible for managing and enforcing environmental laws in protected areas.
The activist's fears are grounded in a long history of violence in Pará. In May, José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espírito Santo, a husband and wife team of activists who spent years fighting illegal deforestation in the rainforest, were gunned down after receiving numerous death threats.
Pará is the Brazilian state with the largest number of murders involving conflicts over land. The Catholic Church's Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), which has documented rural violence in Brazil since the 1980s, has counted hundreds of such killings.
The highest-profile cases included the 2005 murder of 73-year-old U.S.-born Catholic nun and activist Dorothy Stang at the hands of killers hired by local landowners. For four decades she had been active on behalf of the poor in the state of Pará, in Brazil's eastern Amazon jungle region.
Another case that had international repercussions was the April 1996 "massacre of Eldorado de Carajás", in which 19 rural protesters were killed when the police opened fire on a crowd of peasant farmers who were holding a peaceful demonstration on a road in southern Pará.
Environmentalist Marcelo Salazar told IPS that there are many people in the region who dedicate their lives to the tireless struggle to defend the Amazon jungle, and many are murdered "without anyone ever hearing about it."
Defending their land
The threats against Belmiro dos Santos began in 2004, shortly after the government of Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2011) declared the creation of the Riozinho do Anfrísio Extractive Reserve, a 736,000-hectare area located in the region of Terra do Meio between the Xingú River and its tributary, the Iriri River, in the southwest portion of the state of Pará.
Extractive reserves are areas in Brazil dedicated to the regulated use of natural resources in such a way that ecological balance is not affected. The idea emerged in the Amazon jungle on the initiative of Chico Mendes, the leader of the "seringueiros" and defender of the environment whose 1988 murder shocked the world.
Belmiro dos Santos was rewarded the government's Human Rights Award in 2004. When the first threats arrived that year, he and his uncle Herculano Porto de Oliveira were flown out of the jungle by helicopter for their own protection and taken to the capital, Brasilia, on the orders of then minister of the environment Marina Silva.
The former minister has now promised, in messages on her Twitter account, to ask the Special Secretariat of Human Rights of the government of left-wing President Dilma Rousseff to provide protection once again.
The destruction of the jungle by landholders, ranchers and loggers has run up against resistance from the Riozinho do Anfrísio Extractive Reserve association, and the name of Belmiro dos Santos, the association's leader, is now circulating among paid killers.
"I have always lived in the jungle," the activist said. "They wanted to buy my small plot of land to get me to leave, but I told them no. I'm not scared of what might happen to me, but I am afraid for the lives of my family, of my children, who live in the reserve," he said, adding that there are some 10 armed men looking for him in the area.
Belmiro dos Santos, who was born and raised in Riozinho, says his grandfather came to the area from the northeast state of Ceará during the rubber boom in the first half of the 20th century.
But when Brazil lost its global market dominance in natural latex, the local population started to shrink, to the current 60 families (around 500 people) who have no basic public services, labour protections or social entitlements, and who are exposed to the predatory activities of the "grileiros" – "land-grabbers" who invade and seize public property or private land belonging to others, using forged documents or, simply, intimidation and violence.
This practice of taking illegal possession of the land to sell it to large landowners or agribusiness interests, known as "grilagem", is carried out on a large scale in the Amazon rainforest, where the "grileiros" are the main culprits of deforestation.
More at the linkRaimundo Francisco Belmiro dos Santos, a defender of the Amazon jungle, has requested... more
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Imagine corporations telling you they want to create American jobs in exchange for a tax break. Thanks to a compliant Congress, they get a cheap rate on billions of dollars of profits — and cut thousands of American jobs instead. (Pfizer and Hewlett-Packard come to mind.)
After the turn of the century, hundreds of multinationals, such as Pfizer and H-P, nominally headquartered in the United States had a problem. They had about $300 billion in profits parked overseas. They wanted to bring that money home — a process artfully called repatriation of funds.
Their opponent was the U.S. tax code: To repatriate profits, the code said they’d have to pay 35 cents on every dollar brought home. So they sweet-talked (that’s called lobbying) their friends in Congress (their hired elected minions) to fix the problem. Their congressional chums were glad to help out by lowering the tax bite to 5 cents for every dollar brought home. The lobbying effort was a good investment: For every buck the corporations spent, they got $220 back.Imagine corporations telling you they want to create American jobs in exchange for a... more
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"Although computer memory is no longer expensive, there's always a finite size buffer somewhere. When a big piece of news arrives, everybody sends a message to everybody else, and the buffer fills." - Benoit Mandelbrot
Original: 48"h x 36"w ink on Acrylic Skin: $864"Although computer memory is no longer expensive, there's always a finite... more
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"A singer starts by having his instrument as a gift from God... When you have been given something in a moment of grace, it is sacrilegious to be greedy." - Marian Anderson
"Are we like late Rome, infatuated with past glories, ruled by a complacent, greedy elite, and hopelessly powerless to respond to changing conditions?" - Camille Paglia
Original: 48"h x 36"w ink on Acrylic Skin: $864"A singer starts by having his instrument as a gift from God... When you have... more
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Concern is rising for the welfare of uncontacted natives in the Brazilian Amazon after armed marauders stormed the area where they were last documented. Last week men with rifles and machine guns, believed to be drug traffickers from Peru, overran a remote government guard post run by FUNAI (Brazil's Indigenous Affairs Department) on the Envira River, near the uncontacted indigenous people's location on the border of Brazil and Peru. The uncontacted indigenous people in question made headlines worldwide earlier this year after photos and film of them were released from flyovers.
"There is no knowing how many tribal peoples the drugs trade has wiped out in the past, but all possible measures should be taken to stop it happening again. The world’s attention should be on these uncontacted Indians, just as it was at the beginning of this year when they were first captured on film," Stephen Corry, the head of indigenous rights group Survival International, said in a press release.
Brazilian officials found a broken arrow in one of the drug traffickers backpack, which added to fears that the armed men had run into the uncontacted tribe.
"Arrows are like the identity card of uncontacted Indians. We think the Peruvians made the Indians flee. Now we have good proof. We are more worried than ever," Carlos Travassos, the head of Brazil's isolated Indians department, explained, before adding that, "This situation could be one of the biggest blows we have ever seen in the protection of uncontacted Indians in recent decades. It’s a catastrophe."
FUNAI officials say the men may have been targeting the uncontacted tribe deliberately in order to make way for illegal logging or drug trafficking from Peru to Brazil. Officials have estimated the uncontacted tribe contained around 200 people. However, following the drug traffickers invasion a rapid survey of the area revealed no one from the tribe.
Earlier this year, when the photos of the uncontacted people were released, Survival International stated that the photos "reveal a thriving, healthy community with baskets full of manioc and papaya fresh from their gardens", but warned that the indigenous community was imperiled by illegal loggers from Peru.
When known about uncontacted indigenous groups are usually monitored from afar, however some governments and corporations simply deny their existence if their presence upsets their plans.Concern is rising for the welfare of uncontacted natives in the Brazilian Amazon after... more
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A former Pennsylvania county judge was sentenced to 28 years in prison Thursday following a corruption scandal in which he was convicted of illegally taking nearly $1 million from a builder of juvenile-detention facilities.
In February, a federal jury in Scranton, Pa., found the former judge, Mark Ciavarella, 61, guilty on 12 charges related to an alleged scheme in which prosecutors said he sentenced juveniles to private detention facilities in exchange for payments. He was convicted of racketeering, money laundering and conspiracy, but acquitted on 27 charges, including bribery and extortion.
Another judge, Michael Conahan, pleaded guilty last year to a racketeering charge in connection with the alleged scheme. He is awaiting sentencing.
About two years after the allegations emerged in 2007, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered all of Mr. Ciavarella's adjudications involving children over a five-year period to be vacated. That wiped clean the records of about 4,000 juveniles, ranging from 10 to 18 years old.
(more at link)A former Pennsylvania county judge was sentenced to 28 years in prison Thursday... more
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Joe Bastardi has become the go-to anti-scientist for Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News. But normally Bastardi doesn’t dress up his disinformation in this much blatant Charlie-Sheen-esque pseudoscience.
Those who watched Fox News over the weekend were treated to a brief but ambitious science lesson on “Why CO2 Can’t Cause Warming”:
Oh boy. Let’s take these one at a time.
During the segment Fox’s global warming expert, Joe Bastardi, who is employed by the WeatherBELL meteorological consulting firm, declared that the theory of human-induced climate change “contradicts what we call the 1st law of thermodynamics. Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. So to look for input of energy into the atmosphere, you have to come from a foreign source.”
It’s not clear what to conclude from this except that Fox and Bastardi are not familiar with the greenhouse effect. Climate scientists aren’t claiming that humans are creating energy. They’re saying that humans are trapping more energy by increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Duke University scientist William Chameides, who called Fox’s claims “utter nonsense,” explained via email:
It is true that global warming requires a source of heat. In this case it comes from the sun. What CO2 does is trap a larger amount of the heat from the sun, preventing it from escaping and thus driving up temperatures. To argue otherwise is to argue that the greenhouse effect does not exist. In fact the existence of the greenhouse effect was established by scientists more than a century ago. It would be impossible to explain the temperatures of Mars and Venus, as well as the Earth, without invoking this effect.
Bastardi went on to claim Le Chatelier’s Principle “says that any system in distress, physical or chemical in the atmosphere, tries to return toward normalcy. And that is why you’re seeing temperatures level off.”
In fact the notion of a system moving toward “normalcy,” or more accurately, toward a new “equilibrium,” explains why greenhouse gases do cause warming, rather than “Why CO2 Can’t Cause Warming.” By preventing infrared energy from efficiently escaping to space, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere make it more difficult for the earth to maintain its previous energy balance, and thus its previous temperature.
Kevin Trenberth, Senior Scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, explained via email that the system “re-creates equilibrium” by heating up, since the surface and atmosphere radiate more at a higher temperature. As a result, “it reaches a new equilibrium but at a higher temperature,” he said, adding: “And of course we keep adding more CO2 so we have not reached that new state yet.”
Though it appears that Bastardi cites Le Chatelier’s Principle in a general sense and not in reference to any specific process, the principle does have implications for “the uptake of fossil fuel carbon by the ocean,” according to David Archer of the University of Chicago’s Department of Geophysical Sciences. He said, “Without Le Chatelier’s principle, the climate crisis would be much worse than it is, but even with this buffering, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is rising and will continue to remain elevated for tens of thousands of years into the future. So to suggest that Le Chatelier’s principle is going to save us is wrong.” And the principle certainly doesn’t establish that “CO2 Can’t Cause Warming.”
And that’s not all Fox got wrong.
More at the linkJoe Bastardi has become the go-to anti-scientist for Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News.... more
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Demand and supply certainly matter. But there’s another reason why food across the world has become so expensive: Wall Street greed.Demand and supply certainly matter. But there’s another reason why food across... more
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WWH - In other words- I’m beginning to believe in some sort of grand plan by the far right-white bread-ultra wealthy men behind the curtain. If it’s true, then there really isn’t much sense in fighting for peace and justice because peace will only be rationed out to us at the whim of the men in the “other room” to further their agendas and justice, or a poor facsimile will cost far more than the rest of us can pay. They’ll make sure of that!
Or, is the truth closer to say, it just seems like a grand scheme because so much of what is wrong today has accidentally come together like a perfect storm of misery for most of us because separate factions in government and without found a way to lie/cheat and steal their way to get what they covet and the rest of the word, “so be it?”
I’m hoping that it’s the latter and not the former. If it’s a perfect storm then we can recover from it. If it’s the beginning of the grand plan, decades in the making, then we are, sweet hippies, in deep SHIT! A grand scheme would mean a few people far harder to ferret out let alone defeat. The effects of an accidental hurricane of greedy selfish and stupid can be overcome eventually.
It does seem that so many things that we took as the American way of life for at least the last 60 years have been systematically chipped away at- or made to seem sinful- instead of the right thing to do for ourselves and for our fellow members of the human race.
Since when is feeding the homeless(some of the poorest and sickest among us)a terrible thing? Does ANYONE really believe that if these folks had no food or spare change given they would just magically shed the street and get a living wage job?
Speaking of living wage-WTF??? Since when is it “anti-biblical” to give a worker enough to live on? Maybe there are a few republicans out there that really DO think that slavery is a great idea-that’s freaking biblical too!
Me? I think any deity that thinks some people deserve to be slaves or poor or handicapped or get cancer or have a child suffer and die is a nasty thing that I refuse to worship OR fear and I certainly DON’T want ANYONE that believes in that sort of a god in charge of my life or my tax dollars and truly-not in charge of any nukes! Fine if they want to beg and plead and condemn and petition. I don’t care what they believe in their heart of hearts. This is America. They have every right to freedom of religion- just don’t try to muck up our government with it.
Hell, they’ve taken away food aid to pregnant women and high risk kids yet they say they love them some fetuses. I had a friend way back in the early 70’s. she and her husband both worked but they had a 3 year old and then a set of twins a few years later. They got coupons from the government for cereal and milk through the program that was just cut. Doesn’t sound like much but when you’ve got a 3 year old and 2 newborns with all of the attendant costs, milk and cereal really helps. What hypocrites. Take the food from a kid’s mouth but still find money to give to NASSCAR!
Then there’s the old folks. if you are just on social security it’s no gravy train. Thankfully if one is lucky enough to get into a senior citizen’s high rise it a decent old age because it’s subsidized and rent is based on income. All the tenant is responsible for is telephone and a cable bill- reception isn’t good in those buildings. My mom was in one near to me after my dad died. She lost his pension and hid disabled vet stipend and had just her social security and the money from her house (not a spiffy home by any means) she loved it. It was just a tiny apartment but she felt independent and had company. She would get all worked up though when, once a year, she had to go down to the office and they reviewed her paperwork. We always were there with her but she was scared that the regs would have been changed and that she would have to move. I worry now, about the people I came to know while my mom was there. What happens if that program is cut back? I worry, lots of families worry about that-not the people in D.C. it seems. Not, I think, the newly sworn in REPUBLICAN governors. If they aren’t worrying about the jobless rate they can’t care about the low income seniors –that is-not unless they see that some of those people still make it to the voting booths-then they can just try to scare the bejeebus out of them so they vote the way they want them too. I know all about those unethical and immoral scare tactics. My mom’s been dead for 2 years and I still get campaign mailings from the radical right. Just the quotes they have on the outside of the envelopes are enough to give me the creeps. I can only imagine what they do to a person in their 80s!
Today, I read that the powers that be have cut 104 million from Legal Aid. Yep- just keep taking from those with the most need. Because lawyers are so very inexpensive! Please! We had to deal with a lawyer when we settled my mother’s “estate!”
I know what it’s like to grow up lower middle class. (if we stretch that definition)
My dad was a truck driver. My mom was a stay at home mom-that was the norm in the 50s. He was laid off every winter. We paid our bills but we didn’t have much else. Most of the people that I grew up with were better off financially. Some were not. Some were ridiculously wealthy. It was that type of an area. I was lucky in that I went to a very good public school but oh, there was a socio-economic pecking order-even with teachers. They worked for a living too and they knew what was good for them.
In my 59 years of living I have met and mingled with all sorts of people. I learned that we all have the same needs. The same hopes. But, we don’t all have the same fears. Oh no, most don’t have the luxury of average fears. The worries about what college my kid will be accepted to. What shade should I have the family room painted? FIOS or Verizon or The Dish? Even if it takes a little bigger bite of the monthly budget those are average concerns.
I’ve known and still do, good people that are skipping a meal now and then and/or halving the medicine they need. Have you noticed how many people out there in the places you go to, that have really bad TEETH? Dentists are expensive. Good dentists are. I’ve come across some in poorer areas who just pull teeth-yep-that’s all they do. They see people that have put off dental visits until they can’t take the pain and instead of being able to offer a crown or extensive reconstruction via fillings they just pull them and the patient goes on their way.
Now, it’s common knowledge that bad teeth can lead to infections and heart attacks. It would be cheaper and far more kind to make dental health a regular part of health insurance-not an unaffordable extra.
Frankly-good, bad or average, all of our people deserve better. ALL people everywhere deserve better but we can start here. We CAN start here.
Unless, instead of the storm, it’s the overlords behind the curtain.
Sweet hippies, whatever, whoever
I still believe in the power of love.
If we are going down –we go down telling and singing and shouting our truth!
Are you in?WWH - In other words- I’m beginning to believe in some sort of grand plan by the... more
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This is a non-commercial attempt to highlight the fact that world leaders, irresponsible corporates and mindless 'consumers' are combining to destroy life on earth. It is dedicated to all who died fighting for the planet and those whose lives are on the line today. The cut was put together by Vivek Chauhan, a young film maker, together with naturalists working with the Sanctuary Asia network (www.sanctuaryasia.com).
For full effect, click on the link to watch it in a large size.This is a non-commercial attempt to highlight the fact that world leaders,... more
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Let's expose the structure of violence that keeps the world economy running.
With an entire planet being slaughtered before our eyes, it's terrifying to watch the very culture responsible for this - the culture of industrial civilization, fueled by a finite source of fossil fuels, primarily a dwindling supply of oil - thrust forward wantonly to fuel its insatiable appetite for "growth."
Deluded by myths of progress and suffering from the psychosis of technomania complicated by addiction to depleting oil reserves, industrial society leaves a crescendo of atrocities in its wake.
A very partial list would include the Bhopal chemical disaster, numerous oil spills, the illegal depleted uranium-spewing occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan, mountaintop removal, the nuclear meltdown of Fukushima, the permanent removal of 95 percent of the large fish from the oceans (not to mention full-on systemic collapse of those oceans), indigenous communities replacement by oil wells, the mining of coltan for cell phones and Playstations along the Democratic Republic of the Congo/Rwanda border - resulting in tribal warfare and the near-extinction of the Eastern Lowland gorilla.
As though 200 species going extinct each day were not enough, climate change, a direct result of burning fossil fuels, has proved not only to be as unpredictable as it is real, but as destructive as it is unpredictable. The erratic and lethal characteristics of a changing planet and its shifting atmosphere are becoming the norm of the 21st century, their impact accelerating at an alarming pace, bringing this planet closer, sooner than later, to a point of uninhabitable ghastliness. And yet, collective apathy, ignorance and self-imposed denial in the face of all this sadistic exploitation and violence marches this culture closer to self-annihilation.
Lost in the eerily comforting fantasy of limitless growth, production and consumption, many people cling to things like Facebook, Twitter, "Jersey Shore" and soulless pop music as if their lives depended on it, identifying with a reality that's artificial and constructed, that panders to desire rather than necessity, that delicately conceals the violence at the other end of this economy, a violence so widespread that we're all not only complicit in it to a degree (e.g., if you're a taxpayer, you help subsidize the manufacturing of weapons of mass destruction), but victims of it as well. As Chris Hedges admonished in his books, "Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy" and the "Triumph of Spectacle," any culture that cannot distinguish reality from illusion will kill itself.
Moreover, any culture that cannot distinguish reality from illusion will kill everything and everyone else in its path as well as itself.
As the world burns, as species die off, as mothers breastfeed their children with dioxin-tainted breast milk, as nuclear reactors melt down into the Pacific while the aerial deployment of depleted uranium damages innocent lives, it is perplexing that so few people fight back against a system that has horror as a reality for most living on the planet. And those who fight back, who stand in opposition to the culture behind such wholesale abuse and call it what it is - a genocidal mega-state (especially if you believe that the lives of nonhumans are as important to them as yours is to you and mine is to me) - are met with hostility and hatred, scoffed at, harassed, even tortured. With so much at stake, why aren't more people deafening their ears to the nutcases who preach a future of infinite-growth economies? And why do so many people continue to put "the economy" first, to take industrial capitalism as we know it as a given and not fight back, defend what's left of the natural world?
More at the linkLet's expose the structure of violence that keeps the world economy running.... more
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On a small, floating piece of ice in the Beaufort Sea, several hundred miles north of Alaska, a group of scientists are documenting what some dub an "Arctic meltdown."
According to climate scientists, the warming of the region is shrinking the polar ice cap at an alarming rate, reducing the permafrost layer and wreaking havoc on polar bears, arctic foxes and other indigenous wildlife in the region.
What is bad for the animals, though, has been good for commerce.
The recession of the sea ice and the reduction in permafrost -- combined with advances in technology -- have allowed access to oil, mineral and natural gas deposits that were previously trapped in the ice.
The abundance of these valuable resources and the opportunity to exploit them has created a gold rush-like scramble in the high north, with fierce competition to determine which countries have the right to access the riches of the Arctic.
This competition has brought in its wake a host of naval and military activities that the Arctic hasn't seen since the end of the Cold War.
Now, one of the coldest places on Earth is heating up as nuclear submarines, Aegis-class frigates, strategic bombers and a new generation of icebreakers are resuming operations there.
Just how much oil and natural gas is under the Arctic ice?
The Arctic is home to approximately 90 billion barrels of undiscovered but recoverable oil, according to a 2008 study by the U.S. Geological Survey. And preliminary estimates are that one-third of the world's natural gas may be harbored in the Arctic ice.
But that's not all that's up for grabs. The Arctic also contains rich mineral deposits. Canada, which was not historically a diamond-producing nation, is now the third-largest diamond producer in the world.
If the global warming trend continues as many scientists project it to, it is likely that more and more resources will be discovered as the ice melts further.
Who are the countries competing for resources?
The United States, Canada, Russia, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Finland all stake a claim to a portion of the Arctic. These countries make up the Arctic Council, a diplomatic forum designed to mediate disputes on Arctic issues
Lawson Brigham, a professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and an Arctic expert, says "cooperation in the Arctic has never been higher."
But like the oil trapped on the Arctic sea floor, much of the activity of the Arctic Council is happening below the surface.
In secret diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stieg Moeller was quoted as saying to the United States, "If you stay out, the rest of us will have more to carve up the Arctic."
At the root of Moeller's statement is a dispute over control of territories that is pitting friend against foe and against friend. Canada and the U.S., strategic allies in NATO and Afghanistan, are in a diplomatic dispute over the Northwest Passage. Canada and Russia have recently signed development agreements together.
In the same way a compass goes awry approaching the North Pole, traditional strategic alliances are impacted at the top of the world.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/07/15/larsen.arctic.ice.wars/index.html
More at the linkOn a small, floating piece of ice in the Beaufort Sea, several hundred miles north of... more
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The Ledger.com...
[ EDITORIAL ]
Yellowstone River Oil Spill: Too Much Oil Pollution
Published: Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 12:16 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 12:16 a.m.
Another day, another oil spill. On July 1 a ruptured 12-inch pipeline spilled as much as 42,000 gallons of crude oil into Montana's fabled Yellowstone River. The exact cause of the rupture has not been determined, but the 20-year-old pipeline, owned by Exxon Mobil, has a history of safety violations.
Monday, Montana's Department of Environmental Quality sent Exxon Mobil a letter, asking for an explanation of its estimate of the oil amount spilled.
"Since the event occurred, Exxon Mobil has increased its estimate of the duration of the spill event tenfold from its original assertion of six minutes," wrote department Director Richard Opper. "Despite this revision as to the duration of the event, Exxon Mobil has not revised its estimate as to the volume of the spill into the river."
Exxon Mobil said it stands by its estimate.
This spill has attracted national attention because it has contaminating one of America's most beloved wild rivers. Exxon Mobil's stonewalling just makes the matter murkier and therefore worse.
One thing is clear: Pipeline spills and eruptions are too common in America.
In June, a CBS News investigation found in 2010 alone reports of "at least 6,500 spills, leaks, fires or explosions nationwide — that's 18 a day."
"Overall, at least 34 million gallons of crude oil and other potentially toxic chemicals were spilled," CBS said. "That's triple the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill."
TOUGHER RULES
The Department of Transportation recently announced it will toughen pipeline regulations, and reporting and inspection requirements. This comes after aging natural gas pipelines exploded in California and Pennsylvania.
The department is also asking Congress to authorize higher fines for pipeline safety violations and to provide funding for more inspectors.
"People shouldn't have to worry, when they flip a light switch in their kitchen, that it could cause an explosion in the front yard," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.
He's right about that. Some in Congress might consider tougher pipeline regulations and enforcement job killers. But a single natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, Calif., last year killed eight people.
Those people will never hold jobs again.
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http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Va3objv1cIE/S91_7rRG5BI/AAAAAAAABuI/4Wo1hJwSNMM/s400/oil+spill.jpgThe Ledger.com...
[ EDITORIAL ]
Yellowstone River Oil Spill: Too Much Oil... more
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McConnell's debt plan: What's in it for GOP?
His proposal would give Obama power to raise debt ceiling without Republican support
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) proposed a new solution for the Obama administration to raise the national debt ceiling.By Gail Russell Chaddock
Staff writer
Christian Science Monitor Christian Science Monitor
updated 7/12/2011 11:55:41 PM ET 2011-07-13T03:55:41
Share Print Font: +-WASHINGTON — In a surprise move, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday proposed a “last choice option” to avoid default on the national debt that would require the support of just over a third of the House and Senate to raise the national debt ceiling.
The McConnell proposal , which requires special legislation to be adopted, gives the president expedited procedures to increase the debt limit by as much as $2.4 trillion that require only submission of a plan to reduce spending by a greater amount. There is no requirement that Congress actually pass those spending cuts.
But even if the cuts are never passed, the proposal has two political advantages for Republicans: It forces President Obama to lay out his proposed spending cuts in writing, a longtime GOP demand. And it absolves Republicans of responsibility for sending the nation into its first-ever default, as early as Aug. 2.
In exchange, Republicans give up all leverage on spending – riling many conservatives who elected a new GOP House majority to make tough decisions on spending, and diminishing Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.
More US news from the Christian Science Monitor McConnell's last ditch debt ceiling plan: What's in it for Republicans?
Mitt Romney keeps low profile amid nastiness on debt ceiling. Is that smart?
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..Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D) Nevada said at a press conference that he did not know much about the plan, but stated: "I am not about to trash his proposal. It's something that I will look at."
Video: Heat turned up in debt ceiling standoff (on this page)
“It’s an admission by Mitch McConnell that the votes won’t be there on the GOP side to do anything. They’re looking for a way out,” says Stan Collender, a longtime congressional budget analyst and partner at Qorvis Communications in Washington. “It puts the onus for raising the debt limit directly on President Obama.”
Little chance to override veto
With both sides in deeply entrenched positions – Republicans refusing tax increases and Democrats refusing deep spending or entitlement cuts without them – default on the national debt is an outcome that some congressional leaders are taking more seriously.
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.Sen. Pat Toomey (R) of Pennsylvania proposed legislation requiring the Obama administration to come up with contingency plans to prioritize payments to avoid default after Aug. 2. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has proposed invoking an obscure clause in Article 14 of the Constitution to give the president unilateral authority to raise the debt limit.
McConnell’s proposed legislative mechanism gives the House and Senate the option to defeat the proposed increase in the debt ceiling with a joint resolution disapproving of the president’s request that has little chance of success.
Either the resolution fails in either chamber – most likely in the Democrat-controlled Senate – in which case the debt limit increase goes forward. Or, the president vetoes the disapproving resolution, requiring a two-thirds supermajority to override the veto. In other words, it would take only 33 senators and 146 House members to sustain the presidential veto and increase the debt limit.
A way out?
So, why is the House minority leader making it easy for President Obama to get a $2.4 trillion increase in the national debt limit?
McConnell says the aim is to take the unthinkable prospect of national default in the next three weeks off the table.
“We have become increasingly pessimistic that we will be able to reach an agreement with the only person in America who can sign something into law, and that’s the president of the United States,” he told reporters at a press briefing on Tuesday.
“What we are not going to be a party to in the Senate, I’m pretty confident, is default,” he added.
Conservative critics say it’s a way for Republicans to avoid taking responsibility for two unthinkable votes – either raising taxes or forcing the nation into default.
“It’s a classic game of chicken, and the Republicans say we’re willing to resolve this in an orderly way and here’s the formulaic mechanism we want to set in place,” says Michael Franc, who heads the Heritage Foundation’s outreach to members of Congress.
No deal, no Social Security checks?
“President Obama can propose a debt increase with smoke-and-mirrors spending cuts, and fiscal conservatives don’t get spending cuts anywhere,” says Chris Edward, director of the tax policy studies at the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank.
“What the Republicans should have done months ago was have reasonable cuts, pass them through the House and say: ‘This is what we want, and we’re not budging,’ ” he adds.
Forcing a plan
But Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), an anti-tax group, held off criticism on the grounds that the plan at least forces the White House to publish something like a plan to cut spending.
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.“The president has been allowed to promote imaginary spending cuts to which he would accede in order to get Republicans to agree to tax hikes,” said ATR president Grover Norquist, in a statement. “Republicans didn't bite. But President Obama, up until today, didn't have to disclose what imaginary spending cuts he was so reasonably prepared to accept.”
The plan also requires the president to make three separate requests for the full $2.4 trillion increase in the debt limit that he has been requesting. That’s three big votes before the 2012 elections – votes Republicans expect will focus voter attention on big government and run to their advantage.
To enact McConnell’s proposal, Congress must first pass a law that authorizes the president to submit a request asking for $2.4 trillion increase in the debt limit in three stages, with an initial request for $700 billion.
“One of the ways to deal with the budget is to deal with the budget process instead,” Mr. Collender says. “This is a bit of a throwback. It was inevitable that they would try to come up with some procedural gimmick.”
This article, "McConnell's last ditch ceiling plan: What's in it for Republicans?," first appeared on CSMonitor.com.
© 2011 Christian Science Monitor
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BP is arguing that victims of last year’s Gulf oil spill should not be paid any more claims for future losses because the areas affected by the spill have recovered and the economy is improving.
The British oil company makes its case in a 29-page document filed with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which administers the $20 billion fund for victims.
It criticizes several aspects of the fund’s policies and claims that at some times it has paid victims more than is allowed under the federal Oil Pollution Act.
“Multiple lines of evidence demonstrate that, to the extent that portions of the Gulf economy were impacted by the spill, recovery had occurred by the end of 2010, and that positive economic performance continues into 2011, with 2011 economic metrics exceeding pre-spill performance,” the BP document said.
To back up its argument, the document notes that all commercial fisheries have re-opened, hotel industry statistics indicate strong occupancy rates, and news reports on tourism venues reporting strong business.
The company is not arguing against paying out claims for documented losses. And those who feel more damages for future losses are warranted, or who are otherwise unsatisfied, can reject the final compensation offer and pursue litigation.
“Any claimant who is of the view that, notwithstanding the economic data, there is too much risk of future loss to enter a final settlement has the right to file an interim claim and seek the payment of past loss without signing a release of liability,” the BP document said.
The fund’s administrator, Kenneth Feinberg, said BP’s arguments would be considered, but he declined further comment.
As for BP’s claims that various GCCF payments exceed that authorized by federal law, Mr. Feinberg said the GCCF was authorized to use that law as a guideline. “Many of our claims, I readily admit, go beyond what’s required by federal law,” he said. “But it was always understood in our original protocol establishing the GCCF, that the GCCF would use the federal law as a guide, that’s all.”
BP had already argued months ago that Mr. Feinberg’s formula for determining final payments includes a “future factor” that artificially inflates future expected losses. That formula would provide individuals and businesses twice their documented 2010 losses. Oyster harvesters, in some limited cases, would be offered four times their losses.
In its latest filing, BP says Mr. Feinberg should end automatic “’future factor” payments for everyone, except in limited cases involving oyster harvesters.
BP notes evidence of recovered fisheries and government assurances that seafood is safe to eat as part of its argument. New Orleans seafood processor Harlon Pearce says that doesn’t address the lingering effect of the spill on the seafood business.
“For someone to say we don’t have damage in the future is clearly wrong,” Mr. Pearce said. While BP comments cited evidence that Gulf Seafood is safe, Mr. Pearce said the public’s perception hasn’t caught up with that reality. He estimated his distributions are down about 25 percent and it will take years to regain the trust of consumers and a place in the national market.
Mr. Pearce, who is president of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, said the board’s research indicates it took three to five years for the Alaskan seafood market to rebound after the Exxon Valdez spill, and noted a study commissioned by the board that says 75 percent of consumers around the country are still concerned about seafood safety.
Economist Loren Scott in Baton Rouge said there are points favoring BP’s argument. He cited sales and “bed tax” revenue from tourist-dependent areas of northwestern Florida, which were only beginning to recover from the Great Recession when the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon explosion killed 11 offshore workers and caused the spill.
And, while the seafood industry can point to a drop in consumer confidence, Mr. Scott said, BP lawyers would likely argue that it was the industry’s own complaints of oil spill damage that contributed to the drop.
“As it has from the outset, BP supports the payment of legitimate claims, and to the extent that a claimant can substantiate future losses, a final offer covering past and future losses and a release of claims are appropriate,” spokesman Tom Mueller said in a statement. “Given the strong evidence of recovery, what we are objecting to is GCCF’s practice of assuming future losses on certain claims,” he said.
Still, the BP comments stirred lingering animosities.
“They go back on their word. They try to weasel out of everything they told you they’d do,” Orange Beach, Ala., Mayor Tony Kennon said.
Mr. Kennon said BP still owes Orange Beach $2.5 million for lost revenues during 2010. While the summer season is off to a good start this year, it’s too soon to say whether different sectors of the coastal economy including lodging, restaurants, seafood, retailers and tourist attractions have fully recovered because there’s no data yet to show whether visitors are spending as much as they once did.
In Mississippi, Tom Becker, head of the Charter Boat Captains Association and a fisherman in Biloxi, said he has only booked eight trips for this month, when before the oil spill he would have expected three times as many.
Mr. Becker said some charter boat captains are still hoping to get money out of BP and he thinks it’s premature for BP to seek to end any payments.
He said potential customers still ask if the seafood is safe to eat.
“It hasn’t recovered,” Mr. Becker said. “I wish they wouldn’t come out with statements like that. It’s just depressing. It’s like, ‘Here we go again.’ A lot of us don’t believe that this is over with.”
Ocean Springs Mayor Connie Moran said she was “astounded. I was really just flabbergasted.”
“While I understand BP is still committed to paying losses from last year and early 2011, there are many businesses that continue to be negatively impacted by the spill, among them the seafood industry and charter fishing,” Ms. Moran said.
Ms. Moran said it will take years to fully recover and the long-term impact on delicate ecosystems is not clear.
http://www.toledoblade.com/Nation/2011/07/08/BP-argues-Gulf-recovery-so-strong-that-future-loss-claims-should-end.html
"Sure Whatever, we know damned good and well, these clowns are just playing the game!!!ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Agent Orange is one of the most devastating weapons of modern warfare, a chemical which killed or injured an estimated 400,000 people during the Vietnam War -- and now it's being used against the Amazon rainforest. According to officials, ranchers in Brazil have begun spraying the highly toxic herbicide over patches of forest as a covert method to illegally clear foliage, more difficult to detect that chainsaws and tractors. In recent weeks, an aerial survey detected some 440 acres of rainforest that had been sprayed with the compound -- poisoning thousands of trees and an untold number of animals, potentially for generations.
Officials from Brazil's environmental agency IBAMA were first tipped to the illegal clearing by satellite images of the forest in Amazonia; a helicopter flyover in the region later revealed thousands of trees left ash-colored and defoliated by toxic chemicals. IBAMA says that Agent Orange was likely dispersed by aircraft by a yet unidentified rancher to clear the land for pasture because it is more difficult to detect than traditional operations that require chainsaws and tractors.
Last week, in another part of the Amazon, an investigation conducted by the agency uncovered approximately four tons of the highly toxic herbal pesticides hidden in the forest awaiting dispension. If released, the chemicals could have potentially decimated some 7,500 acres of rainforest, killing all the wildlife that resides there and contaminating groundwater. In this case, the individual responsible was identified and now faces fines nearing $1.3 million.
According to a report from Folha de São Paulo, the last time such chemicals were recorded in use by deforesters was in 1999, but officials say dispensing the devastating herbicide may become more common as officials crack down on the most flagrant types of environmental crime.
"They [deforesters] have changed their strategy because, in a short time, more areas of forest can be destroyed with herbicides. Thus, they don't need to mobilize tree-cutting teams and can therefore bypass the supervision of IBAMA," says Jerfferson Lobato of IBAMA.
While Agent Orange was originally designed to clear forest coverage in combat situations, its use became a subject of controversy due to its impact on humans and wildlife. During the Vietnam War, the United States military dispersed 12 million gallons of herbicide, impacting the health of some 3 million, mostly peasant, Vietnamese citizens, and causing birth defects in around 500 thousand children. Additionally, the chemical's effect on the environment have been profound and lasting.
More at the linkAgent Orange is one of the most devastating weapons of modern warfare, a chemical... more
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In the past 20 years, the US economy has grown nearly 60 percent. This huge increase in productivity is partly due to automation, the internet, and other improvements in efficiency. But it's also the result of Americans working harder—often without a big boost to their bottom lines. Oh, and meanwhile, corporate profits are up 20 percent. (Also read our essay on the great speedup and harrowing first-person tales of overwork.)
Click below to see all charts and full article:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/06/speedup-americans-working-harder-chartsIn the past 20 years, the US economy has grown nearly 60 percent. This huge increase... more
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IN "AGE OF GREED", AUTHOR JEFF MADRICK WRITES HOW WALL STREET'S FINANCING AND AGGRESSIVE MARKETING OF LEVERAGED BUYOUTS CRIPPLED AMERICAN BUSINESS, SABOTAGED COMMERCE, AND ULTIMATELY CORRUPTED GOVERNMENT AND THE POLITICAL PROCESS. CITING EXAMPLES OF HOW REAGAN, GREENSPAN, AND SPECIFIC OTHERS FACILITATED WALL STREET'S SLASH AND BURN BUSINESS PRACTICES, HE REVEALS HOW THE AMERICAN TAX PAYER CONTINUES TO PAY FOR THE DAMAGES WALL STREET CONTINUES TO WREAK UPON THE PUBLIC'S AND THE COUNTRY'S ECONOMY.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6972http://rt.com/on-air/IN "AGE OF GREED", AUTHOR JEFF MADRICK WRITES HOW WALL STREET'S... more
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