tagged w/ Indigenous People
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We are socio-environmental organizations and movements, male and female workers in family and peasant agriculture, agroextractivists, members of Quilombola (descendants of runaway slaves) communities, women's organizations, urban grassroots organizations, fishermen and women, students, traditional peoples and communities, and native peoples sharing the struggle against deforestation and for environmental justice in the Amazon and in Brazil at large. We gathered at the seminar "Climate and Forest - REDD and market-based mechanisms as a solution for the Amazon?," held in Belém, state of Pará, Brazil, on October 2-3, 2009, to analyze proposals for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) for the region in the light of our experiences with policies and programs implemented in the region in recent decades. In this letter, we are publicly calling on the Brazilian Government to reject the idea of using REDD as a carbon market-based mechanism and of accepting it as a means to compensate the emissions from Northern countries.
We reject the use of market-based mechanisms as tools to reduce carbon emissions based on the firm conviction that the market cannot be expected to take responsibility for life on the planet. The Conference of the Parties (COP) and its ensuing results showed that governments are not willing to take on consistent public commitments and that they tend to transfer the practical responsibility for achieving (notoriously insufficient) targets to the private initiative. As a result, public investments in and control of compliance with targets falter, while the expansion of a global CO2 market is legitimized as a new form of financial capital investment and a means to ensure the survival of a failed production and consumption model.
The REDD proposals under discussion do not make any distinction between native forests and large-scale tree monoculture, and they allow economic actors - which have historically destroyed ecosystems and expelled populations from them - to resort to standing forest appreciation mechanisms to preserve and strengthen their economic and political power to the detriment of those populations. In addition, we run the risk of allowing industrialized countries not to reduce their fossil-fuel emissions drastically and to maintain an unsustainable production and consumption model. We need agreements to force Northern countries to recognize their climate debt and to assume the commitment to pay it off.
For Brazil, international climate negotiations should not be focused on discussing REDD and other market-based mechanisms, but rather on the transition to a new production, distribution and consumption model based on agroecology, on a solidarity-based economic approach, and on a diversified and decentralized energy matrix capable of ensuring food security and sovereignty.
The main challenge for addressing deforestation in the Amazon and in other biomes in Brazil lies in solving the serious land ownership problems facing the country, which are at the roots of its socio-environmental conflicts.
Deforestation - resulting from the advance of monoculture and of policies that favor agribusiness and a development model based on the predatory exploitation and export of natural resources - can only be avoided if the land issue is appropriately addressed through a Land Reform and sustainable territorial reorganization measures, and if territories occupied by traditional peoples and communities and by native peoples are legally recognized.
We have a different vision on what territory, development and economics are all about, which we are building over time, based on the sustainable use of forests and free use of biodiversity. A set of public policies is necessary for ensuring recognition of and appreciation for traditional practices, on the basis of a balanced relationship between production and environmental preservation.
We are committed to keep on fighting for what we believe in the light of this vision and to make sure that any mechanism for reducing deforestation is based on a comprehensive set of public policies and public and voluntary funds that can ensure our rights and life in the Amazon and on the planet.We are socio-environmental organizations and movements, male and female workers in... more
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An 18-year Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Manager for the FBI has called for a Special Counsel to be appointed to investigate the allegations of FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds. John M. Cole, who now works as an intelligence contractor for the Air Force, made his comments during an audio interview released late last week with radio journalist Peter B. Collins.
He also offered a detailed insider's look at the concerns among high-level officials inside the Bureau as Edmonds' disturbing allegations began coming to light back in 2002, before they would be quashed for seven long years by the Bush Administration's unprecedented use of the so-called "State Secrets Privilege" to gag her.
Earlier last week, following the publication of a remarkable American Conservative magazine cover story interview with Edmonds --- detailing a broad bribery, blackmail, and espionage conspiracy said to have been carried out between current and former members of the U.S. Congress, high-ranking State and Defense Department officials and covert operatives from Turkey and Israel, resulting in the theft and sale of nuclear weapons technology on the foreign black market --- Cole had been quoted by the magazine confirming one of Edmonds' key allegations.
"I am fully aware of the FBI's decade-long investigation of" Marc Grossman, he said in response to the AmCon article/interview. Grossman had served as the third-highest ranking official in the Bush State Department and was alleged by Edmonds in the interview, and in a sworn, video-taped deposition a month earlier, to have been the U.S. ringleader for a massive Turkish espionage scandal reaching through the halls of power and into top-secret nuclear facilities around the country to the benefit of allies and enemies alike. Cole said that the FBI's counterintelligence probe "ultimately was buried and covered up," and that he believes it is "long past time" for an investigation of the case to "bring about accountability."
In his subsequent interview with Collins last week (audio and text excerpts posted below) Cole elaborated on those comments in much greater detail, noting that Edmonds has been "one hundred percent right on the money, on the mark" and confirming the existence of an "ongoing and detailed effort by Turkey to develop influence in the United States" through various illegal activities.
"Yes, I can confirm that," Cole told Collins, "That's true."
The FBI veteran executive also offered an insider's account of the panic that ensued inside the highest echelons of the bureau following Edmonds' first disclosure of information in 2002, recounting how an executive assistant director admitted to him at the time, just after the story first broke, "Well, all I know is that everything that Sibel is stating is true. I read her file. Everything she stated is, in fact, accurate."
Cole further describes how the concerns about Edmonds ultimately led to the Bush Administration's two-time use of the Draconian "State Secrets Privilege" in hopes of keeping her extraordinary information from becoming public. "Everybody at headquarters level at the bureau knew that what she was saying was extremely accurate."
"I know they didn't want her to go out and speak about it at all," Cole revealed, "and I know they were trying to figure out ways of keeping this whole thing quiet, because they didn't want Sibel to come out."
He also offered information which directly counters one of the criticisms of Edmonds' allegations as frequently offered by skeptics. Namely, that as a short time FBI contract translator --- even though she was tasked to review some seven years of counterintelligence wiretaps made from 1996 to 2002 --- she couldn't have had enough understanding of the full scope of the investigations to understand what was really going on.
More...An 18-year Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Manager for the FBI has called for... more
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Indian tribe the Dongria Kondh face destruction of their lands and extinction at the hands of British mining giant Vedanta Resources.
The ash spills out across the plain beneath the brooding bulk of Niyamgiri mountain, swamping the trees that once grew here, forming dirty grey-brown drifts around the stems of the now-dead scrub.
Every day there is more ash, pouring out of the alumina refinery that squats among the steep-sided, jungle-clad hills of western Orissa, India. The dust hangs in the air and clings to the landscape, settling on the huts of the aboriginal Kondh tribes who call this place home, choking those who breathe it in.
Niyamgiri is as remote as any place in the country: 600km from the state capital Bhubaneswar, accessible only by narrow, shattered roads pocked with deep holes, a world away from the economic powerhouse that is 21st-century India.
It is a place of quiet beauty, of lush green paddy fields and huge mango trees, where self-sufficient tribes still share the jungle with elephant, tiger and leopard. Yet this most unlikely place is now the frontline in a clash of civilisations that has pitched the indigenous population up against the corporate might of the British mining company Vedanta Resources, intent on dragging Niyamgiri into the modern world.
It is the mineral wealth lying beneath the slopes of the mountain that has drawn Vedanta to Niyamgiri. It wants to turn the hillside into a giant bauxite mine to feed its refinery at the foot of the mountain.
The FTSE 100-listed company, which is run by the abrasive billionaire Anil Agarwal, is pressing ahead despite a desperate local rearguard action and an international outcry. Yesterday the British government turned on the company, issuing an unexpectedly damning assessment of its behaviour.
Vedanta hopes the refinery will produce at least one million tonnes of alumina a year. But the Kondh people – the Dongria, Kutia and Jharania – need the bauxite too. It holds water remarkably well and helps feed the perennial streams on which they and the animals that live on the mountain rely. Once the bauxite is gone, they fear, the streams will run dry. And that will be the end of the Kondh.
Faced with ferocious local opposition and an international campaign to stop the development, the company has returned time and again to the courts to push its plans through. In July, after numerous setbacks and rulings against it, it was finally given permission by India's supreme court to start mining.
It has wasted no time. Already, the skeleton of an enormous conveyor belt snakes out of the refinery and up to the foot of the mountain. Beyond it, an ugly scar of deep red earth runs up the hillside where hundreds of trees have been felled. Convoys of lorries trundle along the narrow roads, churning them to mud.
There are still legal challenges that the protesters can make and there is also the remote possibility that Vedanta shareholders, which include the Church of England, could bring pressure on the board to reverse its plans.
Although the mining is yet to start in earnest, those who live in the hundreds of small villages that dot the slopes are in no doubt that the effects of Vedanta's presence are already being felt. People and animals are dying, they say: the number of cases of tuberculosis have shot up.
Basanti Majhi sits with her hands folded in her lap, in a hut in the centre of the Kutia Kondh village of Rengopali, a couple of hundred metres from where the company has sited the red mud pond that holds the waste slurry from the refining process.
The 12-year-old started coughing hard last year; her family took her to a doctor, who confirmed TB. She complains of constant pains in her hips and joints and of problems from the dust that settles on the village. "The dust gets in my eyes and it makes it hard to breathe," she says.Indian tribe the Dongria Kondh face destruction of their lands and extinction at the... more
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The adorable K-6th grade Navajo children during the second week of school at the Navajo Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, Arizona.
Narrated and videotaped by Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard, executive director of the Navajo Lutheran Mission
Featuring K-6 students, teachers and staff.
1-928-659-4201 (Office)
1-928-659-4202 (School)
Navajo Lutheran Mission School:
NELM School Principal Felisita Jones
Kindergarten teacher Sharon Woody
1st grade teacher Lark Pettit
2nd grade teacher Jolene Wilson
3rd and 4th grade teacher Pauline Wagon
5th and 6th grade teacher Eileen Holiday
Tara Chee, NELM Community Services Coordinator and Navajo Language and Culture Instructor
2009 Board of Directors
Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission
Ron Augustson, Chair
Janice Lee Jim
Roger Johnsen
Jerry Thomas
Bill Heincke
Richard Wixom
David Ulibarri
Jeannie M. Harvey
Christel Badey
Clarence Begay
Sue Vogel-Herrera
Alice Natale
Support the Navajo Lutheran Mission through financial donations, volunteering
and many other national programs.
http://www.nelm.org/support.htm
Campbell's Labels for Education
http://www.labelsforeducation.com
Boxtops for Education
http://www.boxtops4education.com
NELM Related Links
More on new NELM executive director:
http://www.nelm.org/special/newExec2009/index.html
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Navajo-Lutheran-Mission/162194916280
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/NELMRockPointAZ
myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/navajolutheranmission
bliptv:
http://NavajoLuthMission.blip.tv
youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/NavajoLuthMission
WordPress blog:
http://navajolutheranmission.wordpress.com
Blogspot:
http://navajolutheranmission.blogspot.com
Zimbio:
http://www.zimbio.com/Navajo+Lutheran+Mission+in+Rock+Point%2C+AZ
Photobucket:
http://photobucket.com/NavajoLutheranMission
flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregdonnaphotos/sets/72157621891406253
Shutterfly:
http://navajolutheranmission.shutterfly.com
Flute music courtesy:
Carol Buckley, owner of Arizona Flutes and Native Arts in Camp Verde, AZ (high desert in Verde Valley) and a non-native flute musician specializing in American Indian music.
She has Michigan roots - lived in Davison and taught school in LakeVille Public Schools in Otisville, where she was a Speech and Language Pathologist.
In 1994 Buckley decided to refocus her life, escape from the cold weather, and move to the beautiful Verde Valley in Arizona’s high desert.
She is a poet and writer who plays Native American style flute music and has great respect for the Navajo and other Native American tribes and their respective cultures/heritage.
Carol also teaches classes on how to play the Native flute.
Songs used from Carol Buckley's “Rhythm Keepers” and “Raindrops on Roses” CDs
Navajo Lutheran Mission Second Week of School & Photo Montage:
Carol Buckley's “Raindrops on Roses” CD
Track 4 “Living Life”
Track 6 “Dancing Moccasins”
wk email:
sales@arizonaflutes.com
Arizona Flutes & Native Arts
P.O. Box 1511
Camp Verde, AZ
86322
1-928-300-4781 (wk)
Arizona Flutes:
http://www.arizonaflutes.com/index.html
Navajo Nation Flag used in this video was created by artist R. Daniel Markstedt of Linköping in central Sweden:
Wikipedia username Himasaram:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Navajo_flag.svg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Himasaram
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Himasaram/gallery
Knox College
2 East South Street
Galesburg, IL
61401-4999
1-309-341-7000
Knox College
http://www.knox.edu
Knox College students at NELM
http://www.knox.edu/News-and-Events/News-Archive/Knox-faculty-and-students-study-in-Americas-Southwest.html
Cal Farley's Boys Ranch in Texas
http://www.calfarley.org
Boys Ranch
Located 36 miles northwest of Amarillo, Texas, on US Highway 385
http://www.calfarley.org/boysranch/pages/default.aspx
Cal Farley's Girlstown, U.S.A.
Situated on 1,425 acres of land eight miles south of Whiteface, Texas, (west of Lubbock)
http://www.calfarley.org/girlstown/pages/default.aspxThe adorable K-6th grade Navajo children during the second week of school at the... more
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(Rock Point, AZ) - Videos produced by two Pittsburgh area churches led by Pastor Susan C. Schwartz that sent missionaries to the Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, Arizona in July 2009.
Volunteers from several faith traditions and churches painted murals and did other work at the Navajo Lutheran Mission including the Hope Lutheran Church of Forest Hills and St. John Lutheran Church in Swissvale.
Related Links:
Navajo Lutheran Mission:
http://www.nelm.org
New NELM executive director Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard:
http://www.nelm.org/special/newExec2009/index.html
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Navajo-Lutheran-Mission/162194916280
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/NELMRockPointAZ
myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/navajolutheranmission
bliptv:
http://NavajoLuthMission.blip.tv
youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/NavajoLuthMission
WordPress blog:
http://navajolutheranmission.wordpress.com
Blogspot:
http://navajolutheranmission.blogspot.com
Zimbio:
http://www.zimbio.com/Navajo+Lutheran+Mission+in+Rock+Point%2C+AZ
Photobucket:
http://photobucket.com/NavajoLutheranMission
flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregdonnaphotos/sets/72157621891406253
Shutterfly:
http://navajolutheranmission.shutterfly.com
Flute music by Travis Terry
http://www.myspace.com/dtravisterry
Hope Lutheran Church of Forest Hills
353 Ridge Ave
Pittsburgh, PA
15221-4111
1-412-242-4476 (church office)
Blog about 2009 NELM trip by volunteers from several Pittsburgh area churches including Hope Lutheran Church of Forest Hills and St. John Lutheran Church in Swissvale:
http://scs1249.blogspot.com
Hope Lutheran Church of Forest Hills near Pittsburgh
Hopeforesthills@aol.com
Preview story on April 9, 2009 in Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Pittsburgh Live about area church group heading to NEML to paint. Pastor Susan C. Schwartz heads Hope Lutheran Church of Forest Hills and St. John Lutheran Church in Swissvale and Kathy Gaberson, a Hope Lutheran member.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_619790.html
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette preview story:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09141/971544-56.stm?cmpid=news.xml
More about the flute music featured in this video:
Travis Terry is a native Flutist of the Pima Nation who is born of the indigenous Gila River Pima Nation in Sacaton, Arizona.
On his myspace page, Native flutist Travis Terry says:
"I grew up surrounded by ethnic music and instruments of long ago, including the Native flute," Terry said. “As a child I had natural appreciation for music, which contributed to me becoming a self-taught flutist in my adult years. My military service has sent me around the world exposing me to the musical traditions of various cultures."
"Ethnic music was a continual interest and drew me closer to this dream of creating music. I have always been grateful to my parents (Irving and Caroline) for supporting my dreams and at the same time continually teaching me and my sisters (Denise and Dawn) the indigenous Pima culture, traditions and language. These values have aided me in blending contemporary culture with this heritage of the 'Desert People.' This conscious blending of cultures is very much reflected in my musical compositions and playing style."
"After my military service, I visited Canyon De Chelly where my good fortune led me to meet my lovely wife Cara and settle in Chinle, AZ. Cara and her family taught me the ways and language of the Dine (Navajo) people."(Rock Point, AZ) - Videos produced by two Pittsburgh area churches led by Pastor Susan... more
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(Rock Point, AZ) - During July 2009, volunteers from the Lutheran Church of the Cross in Sacramento, CA visited the Navajo Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, AZ to assist the Navajo people with the health of their livestock.
Despite the extreme summer heat and the remote Navajo homes, church members helped deworm and vaccinate 500 sheep and goats plus 200 horses.
The volunteers from the Lutheran Church of the Cross paid for the expense of vaccinating over 700 livestock.
The vaccination program badly needs funding and anyone wish to help should contact the Navajo Lutheran Mission (see contact info below)
The Navajo Lutheran Mission extends special thanks to Arizona Navajo musician Anthony Maloney, who music is featured in this video and will be used in upcoming videos (scroll down for more info and links about Anthony Maloney)
Songs by Maloney included in this video are "Our Warriors" and "A Better Life."
Navajo Lutheran Mission:
http://www.nelm.org
New NELM executive director Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard:
http://www.nelm.org/special/newExec2009/index.html
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Navajo-Lutheran-Mission/162194916280
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/NELMRockPointAZ
myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/navajolutheranmission
bliptv:
http://NavajoLuthMission.blip.tv
youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/NavajoLuthMission
WordPress blog:
http://navajolutheranmission.wordpress.com
Blogspot:
http://navajolutheranmission.blogspot.com
Zimbio:
http://www.zimbio.com/Navajo+Lutheran+Mission+in+Rock+Point%2C+AZ
Photobucket:
http://photobucket.com/NavajoLutheranMission
flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregdonnaphotos/sets/72157621891406253
Shutterfly:
http://navajolutheranmission.shutterfly.com
Church of the Cross in Sacramento, CA:
Church of the Cross
4465 H Street
Sacramento, CA
95819
Church of the Cross (ELCA Lutheran)
http://www.xross.org
1-916-456-8880 (office)
Pastor serves as a Chaplain at California State University Sacramento
Church is on the Board of Directors of the Sacramento Area Campus Ministry.
http://www.sacacmin.com
Rev. Michael Walton
(916) 548-4624
michael@mdwalton.com
Wikipedia on the Navajo Nation:
The Navajo Nation (Diné Bikéyah in the Navajo language) is a semi-autonomous Native American homeland covering about 26,000 square miles (17 million acres), occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico. It's the largest land area assigned primarily to a Native American jurisdiction within the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_Nation
Navajo Nation Flag used in this video was created by artist R. Daniel Markstedt of Linköping in central Sweden:
Daniel Markstedt Wikipedia username Himasaram:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Navajo_flag.svg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Himasaram
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Himasaram/gallery
The Navajo Lutheran Mission extends special thanks to Arizona Navajo Musician Anthony Maloney, who music is featured in this video and will be used in upcoming videos
Songs by Maloney included in this video are "Our Warriors" and "A Better Life."
Navajo (Diné) singer, songwriter and poet Anthony K. Maloney, a member of the Navajo Nation (Diné Bikéyah) from Yuba City, AZ "Music City"
Anthony Maloney official website includes background & profile:
http://www.akmrecords.bravehost.com
Anthony Maloney music on soundclick:
http://www.soundclick.com/anthonymaloney
amaloney1998_98@yahoo.com
1-253-661-3652
Links to a few of Maloney's songs:
Taken Away
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=1059384
We Were
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=1107571
The High Life
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=1580501
Our Warriors
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=1692003
A Better Life
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=1737075
4-Directions
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=1755167
What are my Chances
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=2281129
Walk Away
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=3379744(Rock Point, AZ) - During July 2009, volunteers from the Lutheran Church of the Cross... more
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Beautiful, great victory!
Thank you for stopping the killing of our Earth.
My congratulations to Greenpeace.
"Another good news update in the battle against deforestation in the Amazon: Greenpeace is hailing the announcement by four of the world's largest players in the cattle industry that they have committed to ban purchases of beef produced in newly deforested areas:
At an event in Sao Paolo, organized by Greenpeace -- which really started putting pressure on the Brazil meat and leather industry with its Slaughtering the Amazon report back in June -- Marfrig, Bertin, JBS-Friboi and Minerva all committed to steps to ensure that the meat that the sell does not contributed to further deforestation.
In order to ensure compliance with these standards, the companies will establish monitoring of their entire supply chains, as well as register farms that both directly and indirectly supply cattle. Additionally, cattle will no longer be purchase from indigenous and protected areas, as well as from operations using slave labor. (Yes, slave labor...)"
More at the link.Beautiful, great victory!
Thank you for stopping the killing of our Earth.
My... more
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LINK TO FULL ARTICLE: http://amconmag.com/article/2009/nov/01/00006/
Who’s Afraid of Sibel Edmonds?
GIRALDI: And Grossman received money as a result. In one case, you said that a State Department colleague went to pick up a bag of money…
EDMONDS: $14,000
GIRALDI: What kind of information was Grossman giving to foreign countries? Did he give assistance to foreign individuals penetrating U.S. government labs and defense installations as has been reported? It’s also been reported that he was the conduit to a group of congressmen who become, in a sense, the targets to be recruited as “agents of influence.”
EDMONDS: Yes, that’s correct. Grossman assisted his Turkish and Israeli contacts directly, and he also facilitated access to members of Congress who might be inclined to help for reasons of their own or could be bribed into cooperation. The top person obtaining classified information was Congressman Tom Lantos. A Lantos associate, Alan Makovsky worked very closely with Dr. Sabri Sayari in Georgetown University, who is widely believed to be a Turkish spy. Lantos would give Makovsky highly classified policy-related documents obtained during defense briefings for passage to Israel because Makovsky was also working for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
GIRALDI: Makovsky is now working for the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy, a pro-Israeli think tank.
EDMONDS: Yes. Lantos was at the time probably the most outspoken supporter of Israel in Congress. AIPAC would take out the information from Lantos that was relevant to Israel, and they would give the rest of it to their Turkish associates. The Turks would go through the leftovers, take what they wanted, and then try to sell the rest. If there were something relevant to Pakistan, they would contact the ISI officer at the embassy and say, “We’ve got this and this, let’s sit down and talk.” And then they would sell it to the Pakistanis.
GIRALDI: ISI—Pakistani intelligence—has been linked to the Pakistani nuclear proliferation program as well as to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.LINK TO FULL ARTICLE: http://amconmag.com/article/2009/nov/01/00006/
Who’s... more
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I THINK:
Biofuel from corn Ethanol is a joke!
A catastrophic joke!
It will destroy our Nature before our eyes if it becomes the next world's form of energy taking oil's place.
Excerpts:
"As the world looks around anxiously for an alternative to oil, energy sources such as biofuels, solar, and nuclear seem like they could be the magic ticket. They're not."
"Renewable Fuels Are the Cure for Our Addiction to Oil."
Unfortunately not. 'Renewable fuels' sound great in theory, and agricultural lobbyists have persuaded European countries and the United States to enact remarkably ambitious biofuels mandates to promote farm-grown alternatives to gasoline. But so far in the real world, the cures -- mostly ethanol derived from corn in the United States or biodiesel derived from palm oil, soybeans, and rapeseed in Europe -- have been significantly worse than the disease."
"Researchers used to agree that farm-grown fuels would cut emissions because they all made a shockingly basic error. They gave fuel crops credit for soaking up carbon while growing, but it never occurred to them that fuel crops might displace vegetation that soaked up even more carbon. It was as if they assumed that biofuels would only be grown in parking lots. Needless to say, that hasn't been the case; Indonesia, for example, destroyed so many of its lush forests and peat lands to grow palm oil for the European biodiesel market that it ranks third rather than 21st among the world's top carbon emitters.
In 2007, researchers finally began accounting for deforestation and other land-use changes created by biofuels. One study found that it would take more than 400 years of biodiesel use to "pay back" the carbon emitted by directly clearing peat for palm oil. Indirect damage can be equally devastating because on a hungry planet, food crops that get diverted to fuel usually end up getting replaced somewhere. For example, ethanol profits are prompting U.S. soybean farmers to switch to corn, so Brazilian soybean farmers are expanding into cattle pastures to pick up the slack and Brazilian ranchers are invading the Amazon rain forest, which is why another study pegged corn ethanol's payback period at 167 years. It's simple economics: The mandates increase demand for grain, which boosts prices, which makes it lucrative to ravage the wilderness."
I THINK:
Corn?
What?
Does that word sound familiar to me?
The Evil corn, the one that comes from MONSANTO, genetically engineered.
Did occur to anyone to link biofuel and Monsanto?
Monsanto already leads the seed market with its deadly genetic engineered food, it won't take long until he will become the major if not the only energy source provider in the world supposing corn ethanol takes oil's place.
Let's read more of the article now, an other shocking passage:
"Even if the United States switched its entire grain crop to ethanol, it would only replace one fifth of U.S. gasoline consumption.
This is not just a climate disaster. The grain it takes to fill an SUV tank with ethanol could feed a hungry person for a year;"
At the article nuclear energy cannot fix climate crisis, reasons are timing and cost.
Last passage is:
"After all, the developing world is entitled to develop. Its people are understandably eager to eat more meat, drive more cars, and live in nicer houses. It doesn't seem fair for the developed world to say: Do as we say, not as we did. But if the developing world follows the developed world's wasteful path to prosperity, the Earth we all share won't be able to accommodate us. So we're going to have to change our ways. Then we can at least say: Do as we're doing, not as we did."
I THINK:
We need to focus mainly on solar power as it is the only futuristic, potential form of energy, that could save the world one day.
We need to readdress our way of thinking towards solar power.
I will try to explain a new direction, working to post it soon.
Join Organic:
http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/I THINK:
Biofuel from corn Ethanol is a joke!
A catastrophic joke!
It will... more
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On his website:
http://www.rainforestsos.org/content/home/
you'll see a live counter of m2 of rain forest being destroyed.
"Half of the World's Rain Forest has already been lost.
Every year fifteen million acres of Rain Forest are destroyed, the size of England Wales and Scotland combined together."
Watch it and visit the website to help.
Spread awareness.On his website:
http://www.rainforestsos.org/content/home/
you'll see a live... more
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"Oil company in Ecuador transforms indigenous community into commercial poachers, threatening wildlife in a protected area
The documentary Crude opened this weekend in New York, while the film shows the direct impact of the oil industry on indigenous groups a new study proves that the presence of oil companies can have subtler, but still major impacts, on indigenous groups and the ecosystems in which they live."
"In Ecuador's Yasuni National Park—comprising 982,000 hectares of what the researchers call "one of the most species diverse forests in the world"—the presence of an oil company has disrupted the lives of the Waorani and the Kichwa peoples, and the rich abundance of wildlife living within the forest. By building a 149 kilometer (92 mile) road through the protected forest and providing subsidies to the local tribes, the oil company Maxus Ecuador Inc. transformed some members of the tribes from semi-nomadic subsistence hunters into commercial poachers."
We’ve found that a road in a forest can bring huge social changes to local groups and the ways in which they utilize wildlife resources," said Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) researcher Esteban Suárez, lead author of the study. "Communities existing inside and around the park are changing their customs to a lifestyle of commercial hunting, the first stage in a potential overexploitation of wildlife."
The article concludes saying:"
"A simple, seemingly inoffensive road can have far-reaching effects on a landscape and its people," said Dr. Avecita Chicchón, Director of WCS’s Latin America and Caribbean Program. "It provides hunters with more access to a wider range of forest while providing a low-cost transportation route to markets. More importantly, it plugs communities more easily into the larger economic world while creating increased demand for numerous species of animals. It is the road to unsustainability."
The picture:Peccary legs. Wild meat fetched prices double that of domestic in the area. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS
Not only roads are a big polluter and a natural resource devourer but actually accelerate destruction among nature and people."Oil company in Ecuador transforms indigenous community into commercial poachers,... more
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Dennis Hastert, Stephen Solarz, Bob Livingston, Tom Lantos, Roy Blunt, Dan Burton and an Unnamed Congresswoman ~ All Named IN MAJOR WASHINGTON DC SCANDAL
A long tale of massive corruption that has been hidden throughout the eight years of the Bush administration is finally surfacing. After years of Federal Gag Orders issued by the Department of Justice , the Obama White House has refused to continue the coverup and has opened the doors to criminal investigation.
What has surfaced, is a scandal that like no other. Showing clearly the selling of American influence and nuclear defense secrets to the highest bidder. The names that have floated to the surface are some of the most trusted highest ranking US government officials. Starting with The Ex-Speaker of the House; Republican, Dennis Hastert, then on to Stephen Solarz, Bob Livingston, Tom Lantos, Roy Blunt, Dan Burton and an (Unnamed Congresswoman) ~ All whom were named (Under Oath) as what appears to be the largest US Scandal of all time.
More will be surfacing as Pandora's box has just begun to open...
Gérartd Angé
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In this first break-down article, we'll look at the answers given by Edmonds during her deposition in regard to bribery and blackmail of current and former members of the U.S. Congress, including Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Bob Livingston (R-LA), Dan Burton (R-IN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Stephen Solarz (D-NY), Tom Lantos (D-CA, deceased) and an unnamed, currently-serving, married Democratic Congresswoman said to have been video-taped in a Lesbian affair by Turkish agents for blackmail purposes.
Though Edmonds was careful to not "discuss the intelligence gathering method by the FBI," she notes in her deposition that her claims are "Based on documented and provable, tracked files and based on...100 percent, documented facts."
In further breakdown articles, we'll look at her disclosures concerning top State and Defense Department officials including Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz and, perhaps most notably, the former Deputy Undersecretary of State, Marc Grossman, the third-highest ranking official in the State Department. Also, details on the theft of nuclear weapons technology; disclosures on Valerie Plame Wilson's CIA front company Brewster-Jennings; items related to U.S. knowledge of 9/11 and al-Qaeda prior to September 11, 2001; infiltration of the FBI translation department and more.
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Brad Friedman: Investigative journalist, broadcaster,
BradBlog.com creator,
Commonweal Institute Fellow.
Posted: September 5, 2009 03:14 PM
LINK TO ARTICAL:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-friedman/fbi-whistleblower-hastert_b_277704.h...
LINK TO DEPOSITION TRANSCRIPTS (PDF):
http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/SibelEdmondsDeposition_Transcript_080809.pdf
.Dennis Hastert, Stephen Solarz, Bob Livingston, Tom Lantos, Roy Blunt, Dan Burton and... more
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Looking at the rolling fields and jungles of the Amazon, it is tempting to think that such a vast area has endless resources.
That is still the mindset for many who farm here.
But the average productivity of the land used for cattle farming in the Amazon is less than one head per hectare (2.5 acres).
Using already deforested land more efficiently and creating a sustainable forest economy are seen as key for the region, which faces the challenge of combining development and conservation.
"Have no doubt that the environment is a major concern of the farmers in the Amazon today," says Diogo Naves, vice-president of the farming federation in the Brazilian state of Para.
"But to produce sustainably we need to be partners of the government and of society and not to be only the ones accused of destroying the jungle."
Sandy soil
Para was the main destination for migrants and investors who flocked to the Amazon on government settlement programmes, mostly from the 1960s to the 1980s.
It's cheaper to open up the forest for fresh land than to recover pastures - this is the mindset that we need urgently to change
Land law debate heats up
Indiscriminate logging and deforestation to make way for cattle made the south-eastern portion of this state the most devastated area of the Amazon.
The availability of cheap land in the Amazon meant farmers tended to abandon areas after a few years of production.
"It's cheaper to open up the forest for fresh land than to recover pastures," says Paulo Barreto, senior researcher at a non-governmental organisation, the Amazon Institute for Mankind and the Environment (Imazon).
"This is the mindset that we need urgently to change."
One major problem is that the Amazon soil is actually sandy and rather poor. The vegetation is lush only because it feeds itself with all the organic matter provided by dead plants and animals.
Once this cycle is broken by agriculture, the soil turns to sand in a few years and farmers burn another bit of forest.
'Slow change'
This is the technique Indians used for centuries in the jungle, but not on the industrial scale of today.
"The change is slow, but it's coming," says farmer Mauro Lucio Costa.
Mauro Lucio Costa says more farmers are trying to practice sustainability
Still an exception in the Amazon, his 4,500 hectare (11,000 acre) farm boasts productivity some four times higher than the Amazon average, while retaining 80% of the native forest on the land.
Mr Costa says that when he started to develop sustainable practices in his farm - such as reforesting and researching better varieties of pasture - other farmers said he was "crazy" for investing in technology in a sector dominated by extensive farming.
"But that was almost 10 years ago," he says.
"Fortunately today I see more and more farmers adhering to these principles, but it will take some time for this to be felt in practical terms."Looking at the rolling fields and jungles of the Amazon, it is tempting to think that... more
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Excerpts:
"Exploration of remote Peruvian region could spell disaster for hitherto uncontacted tribespeople"
"It sounds like a recipe for environmental catastrophe: 42,000 bags of cement, 10,000 planks and a fleet of tractors being airlifted deep into the Amazon rainforest to establish whether a remote and unspoiled region of northern Peru can be turned into Latin America's next great oilfield.
It could also spell human tragedy. That, at least, is the claim before Lima's constitutional court, where a British energy company will this week stand accused of orchestrating an exploration project that will "ethnically cleanse" two of the world's last remaining uncontacted tribes.
Perenco, a London-based oil and gas firm, is being sued by Peru's 350,000-strong native Indian community over plans to bring its chainsaws, incinerators and heavy-lifting equipment into "Lot 67," a vast, secluded area of the Marañon basin near Peru's border with Ecuador."
More:
"Most of all, of course, it will kill them. These tribes have never been exposed to things like cold and flu, and their immune systems won't be able to cope. History shows that contact as slight as exchanging a shirt, or a few objects, with outsiders can decimate entire communities."
They must be stopped.
Greediness and the dependency on oil will continue to kill us all unless we do something about it.Excerpts:
"Exploration of remote Peruvian region could spell disaster for hitherto... more
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Hooded men in unmarked uniforms shot and killed 12 members of the Awa indigenous tribe, including five children, in Colombia today.
The massacre took place at around 5am on the Gran Rosario reserve, about 50 miles (80km) inland from the Pacific port of Tumaco, home to about 1,500 Awa.
State governor, Antonio Navarro, said all the victims were related.Hooded men in unmarked uniforms shot and killed 12 members of the Awa indigenous... more
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A broad coalition of more than 300 faith, human-rights, social justice, and environmental groups sent a letter to U.S. senators today calling for energy and climate legislation that is much stronger than the Waxman-Markey bill that passed the House of Representatives June 26. That bill contained massive giveaways to polluting special interests and would fail to ensure a rapid transition to clean energy.
The groups plan to hand deliver the letter to senators' state offices next week as part of a larger, grassroots mobilization demonstrating far-reaching support for bold leadership in the fight to solve the climate crisis.
In the letter, the groups express "profound concern" about the House bill and ask senators to usher in "the transformational change and greenhouse emissions reductions required to avert catastrophic climate impacts." The letter calls for legislation that:
•Reduces atmospheric CO2 concentrations to a safe level of below 350 parts per million;
•Maintains existing Clean Air Act protections against global warming pollution;
•Minimizes the use of offsets and other loopholes;
•Protects vulnerable populations and communities;
•Promotes abundant clean energy;
•Eliminates polluter giveaways; and
•Adheres to preexisting U.S. commitments to the rest of the world.
Comments from a few groups that signed the letter follow:
"We haven't yet seen the bold leadership from Congress that's required to solve the climate crisis," said Church World Service Director of Education and Advocacy Rajyashri Waghray. "We're sending this letter to demonstrate broad grassroots support for such leadership."
"We have to have a stronger climate bill than the watered-down version that passed the House," said San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society Conservation Chair Drew Feldmann.
"We're organizing on the ground, in communities around/throughout the country, to mobilize the everyday people who will feel climate impacts, and to defeat the entrenched, polluting special interests in Washington and pass a truly strong bill in the Senate," said Appalachian Voices Legislative Associate J.W. Randolph.
"The everyday people of America have been left out of the climate debate. We are building a grassroots movement that reflects the diversity of America, to mobilize everyday people who are experiencing the affects of climate change. We aim to defeat entrenched fossil fuel polluting special interests in Washington and pass a truly strong climate bill," said Tom Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network.
"There's an impressive breadth of groups on this letter, and it demonstrates that the status quo isn't acceptable. Congress must pass a bill that actually gives us a fighting chance of avoiding runaway global warming. There's no other option," said Tyson Slocum, who directs Public Citizen's energy program.
Other organizations signing the letter include the Center for Biological Diversity, Center on Race Poverty and the Environment, Central California Environmental Justice Network, Corporate Ethics International, CREDO, Communities for a Better Environment, Franciscan Sisters of Mary, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Friends of the Earth, Global Exchange, Greenpeace, International Rivers, Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility United Church of Christ, Rainforest Action Network, the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, and many others.
For a copy of the letter, go to
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/action/toolbox/ACESA/sign-on_letter.html.A broad coalition of more than 300 faith, human-rights, social justice, and... more
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSvlwg3F6q0
Former FBI Language Specialist Sibel Edmonds finally gets to testify under oath, after being hit with a gag order. Bombshells Under Oath: INCLUDE: CONGRESS MEMBERS NAMED IN ESPIONAGE, BRIBERY, SEXUAL BLACKMAIL SCHEMES; NEW BREWSTER JENNINGS / VALERIE PLAME DISCLOSURE...
Long gagged under the "state secrets" privilege by the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration's DoJ chose not to re-invoke privilege, paving the way for this information to finally make its way on to the unclassified public record.
WHEN CORPORATIONS FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS CAN USE OUR COURTS AS A TOOL TO SUBVERT THE FABRIC OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS THAT PROTECT ALL CITIZENS. THEN... WE ALL LOSE.
IN A SURPRISE TWIST: Our Trial Judge was quickly switched from The Honorable Barbara Miller to: Judge John M. True III.
OUR FIRST HEARING BEFORE JUDGE JOHN M. TRUE III ~ We were Denied our Constitutional Right to equal justice under the law.
" I was ordered by Judge True to represent our corporate case in trial." " I told Judge True NO! That I couldn't do that because I am not an attorney and, I wasn't qualified and, that we already had an Attorney." Judge True III replied: [quote] "That if I SAID THAT YOU would have to represent yourself - Then... that's exactly what you will have to do!... So, Deal With It-!!!!" . [end quote].
By doing that Judge John M. True III first denied us our Constitutional Right to equal justice under the law and then soon after Judge John M. True III... denied our Second Constitutional Right... The Right to a Trial.
On August 04, 2009, Judge John M. True III on behalf of Gap International, a TurkishAmerican company based in Pennsylvania, with self-claimed
[ Deep Government Connections] dismissed our case against the Defendants,
After six years, a series of quick odd rulings a surprise hearing without our attorney present. Fabricated Phony charges of missing "Assignment of Claims" documents that were in fact... never missing at all.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSvlwg3F6q0
Former FBI Language Specialist Sibel... more
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See Links to vote below:
Please vote daily through August 30, 2009 for story about Rev. Jon Magnuson's nonprofit environment projects in Michigan's Upper Peninsula: Vote for the story by Donna Kumpula about the EarthKeeper Initiative and the Zaagkii Project
It was weekly winner in April but now its competing against about 19 others for the big prize . Money that would help fund the projects for a year.
You'll need to register - or login if you have voted before.
Its entitled:
Creating numerous environment projects that bring together diverse groups, students, American Indians
Link to story is near end of list on lower right hand side of page.
http://www.friendsofelsie.com/friends.asp?action=register
Or go directly to story – and register or log-in:
http://www.friendsofelsie.com/SingleSensations.asp?action=readStory&story=70
Brief summary of projects your vote would support:
The interfaith Earth Keeper Initiative:
The interfaith EarthKeepers planted twelve thousand (12,000) trees across northern Michigan for Earth Day 2009 thanks to over 100 churches/temples from 12 religions.
During past Earth Day projects, the EarthKeepers have recycled or properly disposed over nearly 400 tons of waste including cellphones, computers (and related equipment), printers, car batteries, poisons, pesticides, oil-based paint, pharmaceuticals and much more.
The Zaagkii Project:
This summer Native American youth and at-risk teens are repairing the ecosystem along a Lake Superior beach, built dozens of Mason Bee houses including some to be placed at the U.S. National Gardens in D.C.; Native American teens this month are helping build a greenhouse for native species plants on the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community reservation.
Last summer the teens built dozens of butterfly houses for migrating Monarchs.See Links to vote below:
Please vote daily through August 30, 2009 for story about... more
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Please vote daily through August 30, 2009 for story about Rev. Jon Magnuson's nonprofit environment projects in Michigan's Upper Peninsula: Vote for the story by Donna Kumpula about the EarthKeeper Initiative and the Zaagkii Project
It was weekly winner in April but now its competing against about 19 others for the big prize . Money that would help fund the projects for a year.
You'll need to register - or login if you have voted before.
Its entitled:
Creating numerous environment projects that bring together diverse groups, students, American Indians
Link to story is near end of list on lower right hand side of pagfe.
http://www.friendsofelsie.com/friends.asp?action=register
Or go directly to story – and register or log-in:
http://www.friendsofelsie.com/SingleSensations.asp?action=readStory&story=70
Brief summary of projects your vote would support:
The interfaith Earth Keeper Initiative:
The interfaith EarthKeepers planted twelve thousand (12,000) trees across northern Michigan for Earth Day 2009 thanks to over 100 churches/temples from 12 religions.
During past Earth Day projects, the EarthKeepers have recycled or properly disposed over nearly 400 tons of waste including cellphones, computers (and related equipment), printers, car batteries, poisons, pesticides, oil-based paint, pharmaceuticals and much more.
The Zaagkii Project:
This summer Native American youth and at-risk teens are repairing the ecosystem along a Lake Superior beach, built dozens of Mason Bee houses including some to be placed at the U.S. National Gardens in D.C.; Native American teens this month are helping build a greenhouse for native species plants on the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community reservation.
Last summer the teens built dozens of butterfly houses for migrating Monarchs.Please vote daily through August 30, 2009 for story about Rev. Jon Magnuson's... more
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