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U.S. is in no shape to give advice, Medvedev says
Russia's new president, Dmitri Medvedev, less swaggering than his predecessor but as touchy about criticism from abroad, said in an interview that an America in "essentially a depression" was in no position to lecture other countries on how to conduct their affairs.
With soaring oil revenues bolstering the Russian economy and Kremlin confidence, Medvedev brushed aside American criticism of his country's record on democracy and human rights. He also said that a revived Russia had a right to assume a larger role in a world economic system that he suggested should no longer be dominated by the United States.
(End of excerpt)
Full story at link by Clifford J. Levy// International Herald Tribune Russia's new president, Dmitri Medvedev, less swaggering than his predecessor but as touchy about criticism from abroad, said in an in... more -
H.A.A.R.P. - Is it Weather, or Government Terrorism?
s it the weather or government terror?
By Jerry Mazza
Online Journal Contributing Writer
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Click here to download a free copy.
October 22, 2005—Government manipulation of weather for terror and destruction is one pattern your local weatherman is surely not pointing out. So let me help with the forecast, past, present and long-range.
Starting on December 26, 2004, you had the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, an undersea earthquake that generated a tsunami that killed approximately 275,000 people. As the linked article reports, the magnitude of the Indian Ocean quake now stands at 9.15, making it one of the most deadly and frightening in history. From the third paragraph, come some hair-raising facts . . .
In May, scientists reported that the earthquake itself lasted nearly ten minutes when most major earthquakes last no more than a few seconds; it caused the entire planet to vibrate at least a few centimetres. It also triggered earthquakes elsewhere, as far away as Alaska.
The section on "Tectonic Plates" gives two more earth-shaking pieces of information . . .
. . . Seismographic and acoustic data indicate that the first phase involved the formation of a rupture about . . . 250 mi . . . long and . . . 60 mi wide, located . . . 19 mi . . . beneath the sea bed - the longest known rupture ever known to have been caused by an earthquake (italics mine) . . .
As well as the sideways movement between the plates, the sea bed is estimated to have risen by several metres, displacing an estimated . . . 7 cu mi . . . of water and triggering devastating tsunami waves. The waves did not originate from a point source, as mistakenly depicted in some illustrations of their spread, but radiated outwards along the entire . . . 750 mi . . . length of the rupture. This greatly increased the geographical area over which the waves were observed, reaching as far as Mexico, Chile and the Arctic. The raising of the sea bed significantly reduced the capacity of the Indian Ocean, producing a permanent rise in the global sea level by an estimated 0.1 mm.
Stated more simply, these facts point to an extraordinary amount of energy expended to produce extraordinary events, including a permanent rise in sea level. From the "Power of the earthquake" section, there are more unsettling statistics . . .
The total energy released by the earthquake in the Indian Ocean . . . is equivalent to 100 gigatons of TNT, or about as much energy as is used in the United States in 6 months. It is estimated to have resulted in an oscillation of the Earth's surface of about 20–30 cm (8 to 12 in), equivalent to the effect of the tidal forces caused by the Sun and Moon. The shock waves of the earthquake were felt across the planet; as far away as Oklahoma, vertical movements of 3 mm (0.12 in) were recorded. The entire Earth's surface is estimated to have moved vertically by up to 1 cm (italics mine).
. . . It also caused the Earth to minutely "wobble" on its axis by up to 2.5 cm (1 in) . . . or perhaps by up to 5 or 6 cm (2.0 to 2.4 in). . . .
Simply stated, here we have an event that expends so much energy it literally shortens the day, causes the earth to wobble and its surface to raise...."
Go to link to read more and find links to more info on H.A.A.R.P.
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from TouchArt.net and OneEarthBlog.blogspot.com s it the weather or government terror? By Jerry Mazza Online Journal Contributing Writer Download a .pdf file for printing. ... more -
Raising an Issue: Californian Independence
It's a small movement today - only one website is devoted to it, and few really care about the subject. California's economy could quite possibly be the seventh largest in the world, with effective agriculture, wine production, gold, and many other recources (including marijuana, but that doesn't count, really). We have the country's largest population, and a system of direct democracy.
Problem is, we have to deal with the federal government. Our taxes go to them, and they spend very little of it on us (something I forgot to mention in the blog I'm linking to). I urge Californians to get informed on the issue, especially with the Bush administration, and quite possibly, a "McCain administration," that will further bring us all down.
Also, don't forget the dollar is worth 41% less than it was before Bush. It's a small movement today - only one website is devoted to it, and few really care about the subject. California's economy could qu... more -
US in last place of G8 countries in fighting climate change
The U.S. has done the least among the world's eight largest economies to address global warming, a study released Thursday found.
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UK's top spy, the head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, seriously ill
Britains Top Spy Alex Allen, has fallen Ill and is a coma. The question Illness or assassination attempt?
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Pentagon fights EPA on pollution cleanup
The Defense Department, the nation's biggest polluter, is resisting orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up Fort Meade and two other military bases where the EPA says dumped chemicals pose "imminent and substantial" dangers to public health and the environment.
The Pentagon has also declined to sign agreements required by law that cover 12 other military sites on the Superfund list of the most polluted places in the country. The contracts would spell out a remediation plan, set schedules, and allow the EPA to oversee the work and assess penalties if milestones are missed.
The actions are part of a standoff between the Pentagon and environmental regulators that has been building during the Bush administration, leaving the EPA in a legal limbo as it addresses growing concerns about contaminants on military bases that are seeping into drinking water aquifers and soil. The Defense Department, the nation's biggest polluter, is resisting orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up Fort M... more -
Concentration Camps in US...FEMA, can you answer some questions?
It's hard to understand why there would be this type of concentration camp in the United States. Is it a place for us to go if something goes wrong? Then why are there shackles? The footage from these camps is scary and confusing - the information about these places is already out to the public. It would be nice to have a little more understanding of the actual purpose of the "camps". It's hard to understand why there would be this type of concentration camp in the United States. Is it a place for us to go if somethi... more
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Secret war against Iran underway
n an article in the "New Yorker", Seymour Hersh says that the President got up to 400 million dollars in a “Presidential Finding” and that top democrats were involved. An unidentified source told Hersh:"The Finding was focused on undermining Iran's nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change." The funds were requested at the same time that a US National Intelligence Estimate late last year stated that Iran had halted any kind of Nuclear Weapons program they may have had by 2003. Despite the report the Bush administration and many in congress continue to talk about Iran as a nuclear threat. In an interview with CNN, Hersh talked about Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney: "They believe that their mission is to make sure that before they get out of office next year, either Iran is attacked or it stops its weapons program," As well, a non binding resolution with bipartisan support is moving quickly through the house. The resolution calls on the White House to ban the export to Iran, of refined petroleum or gasoline and for "stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran," and would give the President free reign in dealing with Iran including a naval blockade. n an article in the "New Yorker", Seymour Hersh says that the President got up to 400 million dollars in a “Presidential Finding” and ... more
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FCC to discuss digital future at Pittsburgh hearing
Date: June 30, 2008
Contact: Jen Howard, Free Press, (202) 265-1490, x22 or (703) 517-6273
WASHINGTON -- Today, the Federal Communications Commission announced it will hold a public hearing about broadband and the digital future in Pittsburgh on July 21.
Last week, industry, advocacy, academic and financial leaders launched InternetforEveryone.org -- a groundbreaking initiative to make access to a fast, open and affordable Internet a basic right for all Americans.
Timothy Karr, campaign director of Free Press, the organizer of InternetforEveryone.org, issued the following statement:
"We applaud the FCC for continuing to seek public input on key policy questions. Few issues facing the nation are more important than the future of the Internet and its vital role in economic growth, education, media and democracy.
"Broadband is no longer a luxury; it is a public necessity. The country that invented the Internet should be able to connect every home, business and civic institution. But right now half of American homes are still not connected to high-speed Internet. This vast digital divide has left entire communities shut out of the economic, political and social opportunities that access to technology brings.
"We hope this is the beginning of a broad public dialogue on how to connect this nation -- and what policies Congress and the FCC must implement to get us there."
Read the FCC's announcement: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-2... Date: June 30, 2008 Contact: Jen Howard, Free Press, (202) 265-1490, x22 or (703) 517-6273 ... more -
The government or the corporation, does the public trust either?
In this article Multinational Monitor lists The 10 Worst Corporations of 2007 and poses the question, Does the public not trust big business, and equally distrust the government to constrain corporate power or are they miss led as to what is being done? Its hard to say, but what is easy to say is the people want restraints on the corporation and the government should be eager to help.
http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2007/112007/mokhi...
Neither Honest Nor Trustworthy: The 10 Worst Corporations of 2007
Presented alphabetically:
Abbott
Blackwater
BP
Chiquitta
Countrywide
ExxonMobil
Gen Re
Murray Energy
Purdue Pharma
SAIC
The Multinational Monitor and Essential Action are some of my favorite reads for corporate wrong doings. Check out the links and I think you will agree. http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2007/112007/mokhi...
http://www.essential.org/
Also check out the documentary "The Corporation" part 1 & 2 for examples of activism and questions everyone should ask themselves. http://www.archive.org/details/The_Corporation_ In this article Multinational Monitor lists The 10 Worst Corporations of 2007 and poses the question, Does the public not trust big bu... more -
Right On, General Clark. Do Not Back Down.
Jon Soltz: In short, General Clark respects John McCain's service, calls him a hero to millions, but notes that experience doesn't make him qualified to be Commander in Chief. I don't see what is so wrong about what General Clark said. And yet, immediately and unsurprisingly, the McCain campaign let loose with a response that expressed shock and dismay. Almost right after that, all of the media was up in arms about how 'wrong' this was. Pretty disappointingly, even progressive surrogates couldn't muster the strength to back up General Clark on TV. Why? Jon Soltz: In short, General Clark respects John McCain's service, calls him a hero to millions, but notes that experience doesn't mak... more
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Saving Our Youth
Revolutionary Sista Damali Abrams and BETJ Host Abiola Abrams discuss what's happening with our youth and the solution to the problem. Revolutionary Sista Damali Abrams and BETJ Host Abiola Abrams discuss what's happening with our youth and the solution to the problem.... more
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Colorado's Renewable Energy Future - Environment Colorado
Bill Brown of NM Global Warming and The Climate Project reports good clean energy news from the Colorado legislature.
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Greetings, All -- The press release below describes Colorado House Bill 1164 intended to help ensure that solar power plants are a part of Colorado's new clean energy economy. For more information, see: http://www.environmentcolorado.org
To read the bill itself, go to : http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics/CLICS2008A/csl.nsf/Mai... and type 1164 in the search box in the left-middle part of the page.
-- Bill Brown
www.nmglobalwarming.org
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From TouchArt.net and OneEarthBlog.blogspot.com
Bill Brown of NM Global Warming and The Climate Project reports good clean energy news from the Colorado legislature. ... more -
Government must tackle poverty to combat gun crime
A new study has revealed the extent to which shootings and other gun crime in the UK goes unreported. It also highlights the poverty which lies behind gun crime.
The cultural unwritten law of not 'grassing' - and intimidation of witnesses - distorts gun crime figures.
The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, which carried out the research, called upon the government to focus on social solutions to combat the menace. It warned that tough sentencing policies "may be ineffective".
"Contrary to its commitment to be 'tough on crime'... the Government's criminal justice policy has been characterised by a reluctance to acknowledge the causal relation between income inequality and violent crime," it said. A new study has revealed the extent to which shootings and other gun crime in the UK goes unreported. It also highlights the poverty ... more -
"It was oil, all along"
Oh, no, they told us, Iraq isn't a war about oil. That's cynical and simplistic, they said. It's about terror and al-Qaeda and toppling a dictator and spreading democracy and protecting ourselves from weapons of mass destruction. But one by one, these concocted rationales went up in smoke, fire and ashes. And now the bottom line turns out to be ... the bottom line. It is about oil. Oh, no, they told us, Iraq isn't a war about oil. That's cynical and simplistic, they said. It's about terror and al-Qaeda and topplin... more
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U.S. Settles With Scientist Named in Anthrax Cases
Hatfill Was Called 'Person of Interest'
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 28, 2008; Page A01
In this Aug. 11, 2002 file photo Steven Hatfill, gestures during a news conference outside his lawyer's office in Alexandria, Va. The Justice Department has agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement with Hatfill, who was named a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks. He sued the Justice Department, saying it violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File) (Rick Bowmer - AP)
The Justice Department agreed yesterday to pay biological-weapons expert Steven J. Hatfill a settlement valued at $5.85 million to drop a lawsuit he filed after then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft named him a "person of interest" in the investigation of the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks.
The agreement, in which the government did not admit wrongdoing, ended a five-year legal saga. It came after months of mediation in a case that pitted investigators and major news organizations against the scientist, who said his privacy rights had been violated in the race to solve the notorious crimes.
Hatfill, who once worked at the Army's elite biological-warfare research center at Fort Detrick, Md., has always maintained that he played no role in the mailing of lethal powder to lawmakers and media figures weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks. He said information that law enforcement agents supplied to the media cost him a job and any chance of employment.
"I don't think anyone would believe the Department of Justice would . . . pay that kind of money unless they felt there was significant exposure at trial," said Brian A. Sun, a defense lawyer who represented nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee in a leak case.
The anthrax mailings killed five people, including two postal workers at the Brentwood Road facility in the District, and sickened 17 others, spreading fear on Capitol Hill and across the country.
At a 2002 news conference, Ashcroft named Hatfill a person of interest in the wide federal investigation. Hatfill's home was searched, he was followed and his conversations were wiretapped. He lost his job as an instructor at Louisiana State University and, he said, his reputation was tarnished.
He eventually sued Ashcroft, the Justice Department and the FBI, maintaining that they had violated his constitutional rights and prevented him from earning a living. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton ordered five reporters at news organizations, including The Washington Post, Newsweek, USA Today and CBS News, to answer questions about who provided them information about the investigation and its focus.
Read More Here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20... Hatfill Was Called 'Person of Interest' By Carrie Johnson Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, June 28, 2008; Page A01 ... more -
NYT: The Face of Torture: All Too Human
Op-Ed on Torture, and how "foul" it is.
Excerpt Starts Here
By BOB HERBERT
Thursday was the 21st anniversary of the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
It was also the same day that two Bush administration lawyers appeared before a House subcommittee to answer questions about their roles in providing the legal framework for harsh interrogation techniques that inevitably rose to the level of torture and shamed the U.S. before the rest of the world.
The lawyers, both former Justice Department officials, were David Addington, who is now Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, and John Yoo, now a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. There is no danger of either being enshrined as heroes in the history books of the future.
For most Americans, torture is something remote, abstract, reprehensible, but in the eyes of some, perhaps necessary — when the bomb is ticking, for example, or when interrogators are trying to get information from terrorists willing to kill Americans in huge numbers.
End of Excerpt
Full Op-Ed at New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/28/opinion/28herbert.htm...
Photo from Wikipedia Op-Ed on Torture, and how "foul" it is. Excerpt Starts Here By BOB HERBERT ... more -
NRA targets San Francisco gun ban
Targeting San Francisco, the National Rifle Association is attempting to overturn the city's gun ban. The move was prompted by a recent Supreme Court decision not to grant Washington DC a handgun ban.
"The National Rifle Association sued the city of San Francisco on Friday to overturn its ban on handguns in public housing, a day after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a handgun ban in the nation's capital.
The legal action follows a similar lawsuit against the city of Chicago over its handgun ban, filed within hours of Thursday's high court ruling.
In San Francisco, the NRA was joined by the Washington state-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and a gun owner who lives in the city's Valencia Gardens housing project.
The gun owner, who is gay, says he keeps the weapon to defend himself from "sexual orientation hate crimes." He was not identified in the complaint because he said he fears retaliation.
Mayor Gavin Newsom said the city will "vigorously fight the NRA" and defended the ban as good for public safety.
"Is there anyone out there who really believes that we need more guns in public housing?" Newsom said. "I can't for the life of me sit back and roll over on this. We will absolutely defend the rights of the housing authority."
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said that the Supreme Court ruling didn't address gun bans on government property and that he is "confident that our local gun control measures are on sound legal footing and will survive legal challenges"."
By Paul Elias and Associated Press staff Targeting San Francisco, the National Rifle Association is attempting to overturn the city's gun ban. The move was prompted by a rece... more -
Backlogs threaten Government targets for renewable energy
Ambitious plans to erect more than 10,000 wind turbines across Britain and around the coast by 2020 are at risk of being derailed by a critical supply bottleneck.
The German engineering giant Siemens, which is one of the leading wind turbine manufacturers, admitted yesterday that it had a four-year backlog of orders for its largest machines. "Supply is indeed tight, relative to demand," a spokesman said. Ambitious plans to erect more than 10,000 wind turbines across Britain and around the coast by 2020 are at risk of being derailed by a... more
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