“We Are Michigan” Exclusive
Detroit is Seeing Green
Greener more environmentally friendly cars are taking Detroit Michigan by storm at the 21st Annual Auto Show.
Electric, Hydrogen, and Hybrid cars dominate the scene at the Detroit Auto Show this year. Some of the stories we are tracking: Toyota Plans Global EV Rollout, China's BYD Auto Co. said it plans to sell its electric plug-in hybrid sedan in the U.S. by 2011, Ford to Partner With Magna, Chrysler Gets Heavy on the Gizmos for Electric Concept Vehicle, and Honda Insight Back in Business ... we can hardly wait.
Watch for exclusive reports from the floor by our reporters Phillip Gibbs and Charles Miller.
General Motors Developing Diesel/Electric Hybrids
GM is now working on a range of diesel-electric powertrains, with production tentatively slated to begin by the middle of the decade. Engineering of the new powertrains is currently ongoing at GM’s diesel headquarters in Turin. Diesel-electric powertrains hold the most promise as hybrids are most efficient in city use while diesel are most adapt to highway cruising. “If you want the best fuel consumption, you have to go with the diesel-electric hybrid. [Editor: the strong advantage of diesels will be their ability to run on a wide variety of fuel ranging from homegrown biodiesel from algae, to vegetable oil from the grocery store, or deep fat fryer.]
State tax credits to the rescue!
“This is huge,” said James McBride, vice president of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. “This is the rebirth of the auto industry in this state.” Officials said the Detroit automaker intends to consolidate in Michigan the assembly of its battery systems and the next generation of hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles they will power. According to Mlive.com’s coverage of the issue, this latest round of advanced battery tax credits break down like this: $100 million for Fortu PowerCell’s possible manufacturing facility in Muskegon Township, $42 million for pack assembly, and $78 million for Ford Motor Co. The company already has received tax incentives to build the new all-electric Ford Focus in Dearborn.
Ten clean technology predictions for 2010
In 2010, clean cars will form part of a broader shift to smart mobility. Smart mobility will quickly permeate beyond simply the transport sector, and will be integrated into the new energy paradigm and influence the design of urban systems, even shipping ports. Look increasingly in 2010 for eco-city designs based on concepts such as “new urbanism.” Leading governments around the world will rethink tax systems, fiscal incentives and budgets to encourage greener forms of work and transport based on smart mobility concepts (SNCF, the French state-owned rail operator, set up a fund in 2009 specifically to invest in e-mobility.)
Automakers Launch Website Focused on CO2 Reductions
Today, global automakers launched a new website called www.DrivingSustainability.com to focus on the need for an integrated, economy-wide approach to CO2 reductions. A National Program is a priority to automakers because a national fuel economy program allows manufacturers to average sales nationwide, so customers in all 50 states can continue to buy the types of vehicles they need for family, business and leisure. A National Program also avoids conflicting standards from different regulatory agencies, and it gives automakers much needed certainty for long-term product planning. In addition, a National Program delivers overall greenhouse gas reductions equal to or better than those that would be realized under separate programs by different regulatory bodies.
Breaking News GM Invests $336 Million in Detroit-Hamtramck Plant for Chevy Volt
Michigan Jobs—General Motors will invest $336 million in the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant to begin production of the Chevrolet Volt electric car, with extended-range capabilities, in 2010. This brings GM’s combined Volt-related investments in Michigan to $700 million, covering eight facilities. Detroit-Hamtramck will be the final assembly location for the Volt, using tooling from Grand Blanc, lithium-ion batteries from GM’s Brownstown Township battery pack manufacturing facility, camshafts and connecting rods from Bay City, and stampings and the Volt’s 1.4L engine-generator from Flint. The Volt will be built on the existing assembly line at Detroit-Hamtramck. Assembly of Volt prototype vehicles will begin in the spring, with the start of regular production scheduled for late 2010.
The Chevrolet Volt: Real Technology, Real Investment
Nearly three years ago at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, we revealed what will soon become the first mass-produced electric vehicle designed, developed and manufactured by a U.S. automaker on U.S. soil – the Chevrolet Volt. When the Volt was revealed many considered it to be nothing more than vaporware. However, today it’s obvious that the Volt is not only very real, but that it has become an economic multiplier for the state of Michigan, the country and the electric vehicle industry.
The investment in Detroit-Hamtramck is in addition to GM’s $364 million of investment in seven other GM facilities including:
$37 million in Bay City, Mich. to produce cam shafts and connecting rods for the Volt’s engine generator. You know, that generator that will allow the Volt to travel more than 300 miles in addition to the initial 40-mile, all-electric range when the Volt won’t use any gasoline or produce any tailpipe emissions.
$23 million in our Flint, Mich. Tool and Die facility to build the dies to stamp metal parts for the Volt.
$202 million at our Flint Engine South plant — this is where we’ll build the 1.4-liter engine generator that provides Volt an extended-range capability of more than 300 miles.
$1.7 million at the Flint Metal Center, in presses to stamp parts.
$30 million in the Weld Tool Center, in Grand Blac, Mich., to produce the robotic weld tool cells that were installed at our Detroit/Hamtramck plant.
$27 million in the Alternative Energy Center at the GM Tech Center in Warren, home of our new, state-of-the-art battery lab where we test and refine the Volt battery pack.
$43 million in Brownstown Township, Mich., to open the world’s first OEM-owned, high-volume, lithium-ion battery pack plant. We expect battery-pack production to begin there early next month.
General Motors Calls For Electric Evolution
We have significantly expanded our commitment to electrically-driven vehicles at GM, and are now in the midst of an extraordinary transformation. GM is moving from a company that, for 100 years, has been based on mechanically driven automobiles, to one that will eventually be focused on electrically driven vehicles. This is a big deal. The Volt is powered by our exclusive Voltec electric propulsion system. When running off its battery, the Volt operates as a traditional battery-electric vehicle. In this mode, it has a gas-free range of up to 40 miles – which is more than the average daily commute for three-quarters of Americans. And when the driver of a Volt needs to go farther, the car’s engine-generator kicks in, seamlessly, to produce enough electricity to power it for another 300 miles. The engine-generator eliminates the “range anxiety” of electric-only vehicles – the fear of being stranded by a depleted battery
First Algae Powered Car Will Cross the U.S. on 25 gallons
Just yesterday San Francisco saw the unveiling of the world’s first algae fuel-powered vehicle, dubbed the Algaeus. The plug-in hybrid car, which is a Prius tricked out with a nickel metal hydride battery and a plug, runs on green crude from Sapphire Energy — no modifications to the gasoline engine necessary. The set-up is so effective, according to FUEL producer Rebecca Harrell, that the Algaeus can run on approximately 25 gallons from coast to coast! MORE ON ALGAE BASED FUEL: CLICK HERE
Green Car of the Year
The Audi A3 TDI (as in turbo diesel) was the winner. It is the same basic power-plant seen in last years winner with some changes to the engine management system for a bit more torque and “engine hum” to better fit Audi’s sport-luxury image. All of this was done and it achieves 42mpg on the open road (32 city), while reducing its CO2 output by 50% over the “base” A3 with a 2L turbocharged gas engine. Warren Buffet this week predicted in 20 years that all cars sold here will be electric. That’s pretty bold, but I have to agree that the electric car in urban areas will be a significant player if some of the hurdles in the infrastructure can be fixed. The hydrogen fuel cell is another key player in our future, again providing we have a clean source for the gas and overcome the infrastructure hurdles. In my not so humble opinion I think the fuel cell will be the bigger player in our future as the infrastructure to support will be easier to put into place.
Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell Passes 1 Million Miles
DETROIT (September 11, 2009) — The Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell electric vehicles today passed 1 million miles of gasoline and tailpipe pollution-free driving by homemakers, accountants, computer game designers and others using the vehicles every day in real-world conditions. More than 50,000 gallons of gasoline have been saved so far in the fuel cell Equinox, more than 100 of which are part of the largest consumer fuel cell demonstration fleet in the world.
Asian carp DNA found in Lake Michigan
January 19, 2010—The DNA of Asian carp has been found in Lake Michigan for the first time, researchers said Tuesday, igniting a new round of calls for urgent action and renewed criticism of Illinois and the federal government for allowing the voracious carp to migrate up the state's waterways. The alarming find came just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to address the carp issue, rejecting Michigan's request for an injunction to force Illinois to stop its waterways from flowing into Lake Michigan. That left the issue in the hands of federal and state officials in Illinois.
The Plastics Many Use Every Day Linked to Heart Disease, Study Confirms
BPA is commonly used in consumer plastics, particularly polycarbonate plastic items such as many sunglasses, reusable bottles, food packaging, and baby bottles. It also lines the inside of food cans. In a sampling of U.S. adults, those with the highest levels of BPA in their urine were more than twice as likely to suffer from coronary heart disease than those with the lowest concentrations of BPA. BPA's ability to mimic estrogen—and spur reproductive mutations in the womb—has been well documented, leading some cities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe to ban BPA-containing products. People can limit their exposure by not microwaving polycarbonate plastic food containers (which normally have number sevens on their undersides), avoiding canned foods, and using BPA-free baby bottles, according to the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Johnson & Johnson expands Tylenol recall
16-jan-10—Johnson & Johnson expanded a recall of over-the-counter medications Friday, the second time it has done so in less than a month because of a moldy smell that has made users sick. The broadening recall now includes some batches of regular and extra-strength Tylenol children's Tylenol, eight-hour Tylenol, Tylenol arthritis, Tylenol PM, children's Motrin, Motrin IB, Benadryl Rolaids, Simply Sleep, and St. Joseph's aspirin. Both caplet and geltab products were recalled. Almost three weeks ago, the company's McNeil Consumer Healthcare Products expanded its recall to include Tylenol Arthritis Caplets.
Factually challenged news channel hires factually challenged Palin
PolitiFact.com named Palin's death panels claim its "Lie of the Year." During the health care debate, Palin also falsely linked the Independent Medicare Advisory Board created by the Senate health care reform bill and nonbinding mammogram guidelines to death panels.
Plastic: Degrading Poisons into Ocean Water
Until we stop participating in trashing the planet and ourselves we are slashing away at our planetary wrists in ecocide. Charles Moore, the sailor who discovered the Northern Pacific Garbage Patch and who has dedicated his life's work to fighting the plastic plague, warns that unless consumers cut back on their use of disposable plastics, the plastic stew would double in size over the next decade. (Feb. 4, 2008, The Independent - UK)
Factory Farming Could Cause a Pandemic
Michael Greger, M.D. delineates how a virus begins, mutates, and becomes dangerous. As with so many problems we are seeing lately -- environmental or health -- factory farmed meat seems to be a big part of the cause. A graduate of the Cornell University School of Agriculture and the Tufts University School of Medicine, Michael Greger, M.D., serves as Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at The Humane Society of the United States. An internationally recognized lecturer, he has presented at the Conference on World Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, and the International Bird Flu Summit, testified before Congress, and was an expert witness in defense of Oprah Winfrey at the infamous "meat defamation" trial. His recent scientific publications in American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, Critical Reviews in Microbiology, and the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition, and Public Health explore the public health implications of industrialized animal agriculture. So far, only thousands of people have died from swine flu. Unless we radically change the way livestock are raised for food, though, it may only be a matter of time before a catastrophic pandemic arises.
In the latest hit movie Avatar, the lush, mineral-rich moon Pandora is under assault by human intruders seeking to extract a fabulously valuable mineral called "unobtainium." Opposing them are not only a humanoid race called the Na’vi, loosely modeled on Native Americans and Amazonian jungle dwellers, but also the semi-sentient flora and fauna of Pandora itself. While our own planet may not possess such extraordinary capabilities, it is clear that the environmental damage caused by humans since the onset of the Industrial Revolution is producing a natural blowback effect which will become increasingly visible in the coming decade.
China Rises, the U.S. Declines and the Planet Strikes Back
Our two wars have been sucking us dry in two countries where state-owned Chinese companies have just scored significant economic victories. While we've been running around playing whack-a-mole with the Taliban and 'investing' billions each year in the corrupt Karzai government, China has been investing in things that might actually be of some value, like a big copper mine. Chinese energy companies had gained a stronger foothold in the future exploitation of Iraq’s massive oil reserves than had U.S. multinationals. The ironies were legion and painfully visible. What, then, will be the dominant characteristics of the second decade of the twenty-first century? Prediction of this sort is, of course, inherently risky, but extrapolating from current trends, four key aspects of second-decade life can be discerned: the rise of China; the (relative) decline of the United States; the expanding role of the global South; and finally, possibly most dramatically, the increasing impact of a roiling environment and growing resource scarcity.
Unaccompanied minor flights | Tech tools for parents
Many family lawyers assist their clients in learning more about long Flightaware distance parents and about how major airlines unaccompanied minor programs work. While researching the David and Sean Goldman case, I learned about a very helpful Internet tool that allows parents on both ends of the flight to keep track of where their children are in the journey. See Flight Aware at http://flightaware.com/live/flight/XFL5
How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities
A growing number of Americans, mounted on their bicycles like some new kind of urban cowboy, are mixing it up with swift, two-ton motor vehicles as they create a new society on the streets. They’re finding physical fitness, low-cost transportation, environmental purity. In a world of increasing traffic congestion, a grassroots movement is carving out a niche for bicycles on city streets. Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities explores the growing bike culture that is changing the look and feel of cities, suburbs, and small towns across North America.
America the Traumatized
In America today, it seems we all have a touch of post-traumatic stress disorder, as evidenced by our increasingly vitriolic political environment, where reality is denied and histrionics run riot. Anger, we're told, is the natural reaction to trauma; in people with PTSD, the anger is out of control. By that measure, the millennial decade has brought us 10 years of PTSD politics -- with no end in sight.
Bottled water sales dry up
For the first time in decades, the $11.1 billion bottled water industry is stuttering. Experts say that an increasing sense of environmental awareness across the U.S. is influencing consumer choices. Environmental groups take credit after campaigning for years against the industry over waste, safety concerns and the corporate privatization of water.
"The Health Care Bill Is A Total Fraud On The American People" | CLICK HERE
Before anything else, for those have not been paying attention, we are NOT the right wingers. The Republicans won't vote for the bill, but for the WRONG reasons. For them it's not vicious and exploitive of the people enough. They in fact secretly want it to pass, because they know it is destined to be the most despised piece of legislation in American political history, and woe unto any Democrat who votes for it in its present form.
What's Wrong With the Healthcare Bill? Ask a Nurse.
"It is tragic to see the promise from Washington this year for genuine, comprehensive reform ground down to a seriously flawed bill that could actually exacerbate the health-care crisis and financial insecurity for American families, and that cedes far too much additional power to the tyranny of a callous insurance industry," says National Nurses Union co-president Karen Higgins, RN.
Great Lakes Carp Threat Prompts New Lawsuit
Michigan asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to sever a century-old connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system to prevent Asian carp from invading the lakes and endangering their $7 billion fishery. State Attorney General Mike Cox filed a lawsuit with the nation's highest court against Illinois, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.
The Evolution Of An Eco-Prophet
"The pathway that I think is likely to be the winner is enzymatic hydrolysis, which essentially uses engineered enzymes to break down the cellulose, the lignin, into fermentable compounds that would then yield many more liters per hectare than any of the first-generation ethanol options," Gore tells me. "I think it's going to play a significant role … One of the many advantages of third-generation biofuels is that they can yield fuels like biobutanol that don't have any blending problems. You just burn them directly. Enzymatic hydrolysis, if I can make another point about that: there is no theoretical upper limit to how efficient they can become.
The Economy Will Contract In 2010
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz warned there's a "significant" chance the U.S. economy will contract in the second half of next year, and urged the government to prepare a second stimulus package to spur job creation. "The likelihood of this slowdown is very, very high," Stiglitz told reporters. "There is a significant chance that the number will be in the negative range." Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University, called on Washington to make more funds available to state governments who face a drop in tax revenue. "If you don't prepare now, and the economy turns out to be as weak as I think it's likely to be, then you'll be in a very difficult position," he said.
Insurance Industry Shapes Health Care Bill
An analysis of public documents by Northwestern University's Medill News Service in partnership with the Tribune Newspapers Washington Bureau and the Center for Responsive Politics found a revolving door between Capitol Hill staffers and lobbying jobs for companies with a stake in health care legislation. At least 166 former aides from the nine congressional leadership offices and five committees involved in shaping health overhaul legislation -- along with at least 13 former lawmakers -- registered to represent at least 338 health care clients since the beginning of last year, according to the analysis. Their health care clients spent $635 million on lobbying over the past two years, the study shows.
Blackwater Guards Tied to Secret Raids
WASHINGTON — Private security guards from Blackwater Worldwide participated in some of the C.I.A.’s most sensitive activities — clandestine raids with agency officers against people suspected of being insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and the transporting of detainees, according to former company employees and intelligence officials. The raids against suspects occurred on an almost nightly basis during the height of the Iraqi insurgency from 2004 to 2006, with Blackwater personnel playing central roles in what company insiders called “snatch and grab” operations
Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition United States Movement
Rob Hopkins reminds us that the oil our world depends on is steadily running out. He proposes a unique solution to this problem -- the Transition response, where we prepare ourselves for life without oil and sacrifice our luxuries to build systems and communities that are completely independent of fossil fuels.
The Earth is Hiring
No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen. Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done.
Britain Unveils Whopping Tax On Bank Bonuses; U.S. Windfall Tax Proposal Going Nowhere
British bankers are going bonkers today after the UK government announced that it wouldn't stand idly by as they showered themselves with obscene bonuses made possible by last year's massive infusion of government money. Across the pond, however -- where the Wall Street titans whose companies were saved from dissolution by an infusion of hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars are about to reward themselves with a good chunk of that money in the form of year-end bonuses -- no such action is in the offing. Much of Wall Street's imminent largesse is not the product of skill, but is a direct result of taxpayer support. In other words, Wall Street's earnings have been an unexpected transfer of wealth from taxpayers.
These Jobs May Not Come Back
The real question facing the nation, and one that Obama's summits and speeches aren't addressing, is this: What if the job losses this time around aren't temporary, the "ebb" part of the ebb and flow of the business cycle? What if employers are hacking away at their permanent workforce? There is support in the data for the idea that many of the lost jobs aren't coming back. In November, a record 55.1 percent of job losses were categorized as permanent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Michigan population loss cost $4.4 billion
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan has lost $1.9 billion in economic activity and $2.5 billion in home equity value in three years because of population declines in 63 of its 83 counties, according to a Michigan State University study. Michigan and Rhode Island were the only states to lose population in 2006-08, the report said. Michigan lost about 80,000 people in that time, and Rhode Island lost about 2,000, it said. Michigan had about 10 million residents in 2008, about 90,000 less than it had in 2005, according to a Census Bureau estimate. Michigan is expected to lose 1 million jobs this decade, with about a third of those lost this year alone, according to a November report from the Pew Center on the States.
An Open Letter to Congress From US Scientists on Climate Change and Recently Stolen Emails
As U.S. scientists with substantial expertise on climate change and its impacts on natural ecosystems, our built environment and human well-being, we want to assure policy makers and the public of the integrity of the underlying scientific research and the need for urgent action to reduce heat-trapping emissions. In the last few weeks, opponents of taking action on climate change have misrepresented both the content and the significance of stolen emails to obscure public understanding of climate science and the scientific process. We would like to set the record straight. The body of evidence that human activity is the dominant cause of global warming is overwhelming. The content of the stolen emails has no impact whatsoever on our overall understanding that human activity is driving dangerous levels of global warming.
America Without a Middle Class
The crisis facing the middle class started more than a generation ago. Even as productivity rose, the wages of the average fully-employed male have been flat since the 1970s. But core expenses kept going up. By the early 2000s, families were spending twice as much (adjusted for inflation) on mortgages than they did a generation ago -- for a house that was, on average, only ten percent bigger and 25 years older. They also had to pay twice as much to hang on to their health insurance. To cope, millions of families put a second parent into the workforce. But higher housing and medical costs combined with new expenses for child care, the costs of a second car to get to work and higher taxes combined to squeeze families even harder. Even with two incomes, they tightened their belts. Families today spend less than they did a generation ago on food, clothing, furniture, appliances, and other flexible purchases -- but it hasn't been enough to save them. While the middle class has been caught in an economic vise, the financial industry that was supposed to serve them has prospered at their expense. America today has plenty of rich and super-rich.
We've Got a Global Fishing Crisis
Before making any bold statements about the nature of the fishing industry, I had to get the facts. A handy piece of software called Fishstats was used, and the results that appeared on my screen were dreadful: there was a crisis, entirely of civilization’s making, and yet we were still pulling fish out of the sea like we owned the oceans. To say we have a poor understanding of the oceans is an understatement, to say the least, yet Industrial Civilization seems to use that lack of understanding as a reason to continue its assault on the greatest climate control mechanism on Earth, and one of the most important sources of food. There are none so blind as those who will not see.
All American adults carry around hundreds of synthetic chemicals in their bodies.
“Many synthetic chemicals have intrinsic hormonal activity,” and hormonal disruptions carry a high likelihood of causing disease (British Medical Journal).
“It is clear that environmental and lifestyle factors are key determinants of human disease—accounting for perhaps 75 percent of most cancers (British Medical Journal).
Climate Fog
A recent Washington Post/ABC poll found that the percentage of Americans who think global warming is happening at all has dropped eight points in just the past year. The past few years have been fairly temperate. The economic crisis has pushed issues perceived as not immediately vital to the back burner. And a good portion of the decline in belief in the climate science comes from sheer partisan polarization: for certain Americans in the era of death panels, birthers and Glenn Beck, if Barack Obama says the world is warming, then it must not be.
Goldman Sachs Loaded and Ready for Bear
Senior Goldman people have loaded up on firearms and are now equipped to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the bank. Some of these dorks might actually think that they’re going to forestall proletarian rebellion by keeping guns in their Hamptons beach houses. The bailout was meant to keep the curtain drawn on the way the rich make money, not from the free market, but from the lack of one. Goldman Sachs blew its cover when the firm’s revenue from trading reached a record $27 billion in the first nine months of this year, and a public that was writhing in financial agony caught on that the profits earned on taxpayer capital were going to pay employee bonuses.
World carbon emissions overshoot
OSLO (Reuters) - The world has emitted extra greenhouse gases this century equivalent to the annual totals of China and the United States above a maximum for avoiding the worst of climate change, a study estimated on Tuesday. Global accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers said in the report that almost all major nations, including European Union countries that pride themselves on climate policies, were lagging since 2000 in a push for low-carbon growth. It said the world was already far above a "budget" of total emissions of 1,300 billion tons of carbon dioxide from 2000-50 which it estimated as the maximum permissible while avoiding the worst of climate change.
Biomass: a Guide for Michigan Energy Consumers
Burning biomass (wood, tire and waste) for energy production needs to become part of the public debate. For one thing, It's a profound water issue --millions of gallons a day, and potentially serious water pollution from the fly ash and airborne particles. Our forests can't take any more logging than is already occurring! It's also a profound public health threat. It is also time that we take a serious look at what really constitutes biomass. You may be surprised.
We only have months, not years, to save civilisation from climate change
Saving civilisation is going to require an enormous effort to cut carbon emissions. The good news is that we can do this with current technologies. Plan B aims to stabilise climate, stabilise population, eradicate poverty, and restore the economy's natural support systems. It prescribes a worldwide cut in net carbon emissions of 80% by 2020, thus keeping atmospheric CO2 concentrations from exceeding 400 parts per million (ppm) in an attempt to hold temperature rise to a minimum. The eventual plan would be to return concentrations to 350 ppm, as agreed by the top US climate scientist at Nasa, James Hansen, and Rajendra Pachauri, head of the IPCC.
Eliminate animal farming on planet Earth
Now along comes Stanford University biochemist Dr. Patrick O. Brown who, as reported in (of all places) Forbes, will spend the next 18 months focused on "put[ting] an end to animal farming." Explains Dr. Brown, "There's absolutely no possibility that 50 years from now this system will be operating as it does now... I want to approach this as a solvable problem.
California Marriage Protection Act
California voters outlawed gay marriage in 2008, largely on the argument that a ban is needed to protect the sanctity of traditional marriage. If that's the case, then Marcotte reasons voters should have no problem banning divorce. "Since California has decided to protect traditional marriage, I think it would be hypocritical of us not to sacrifice some of our own rights to protect traditional marriage even more," the 38-year-old married father of two said.
Why are Green Companies Ditching the Chamber of Commerce?
The US Chamber of Commerce is the largest not-for-profit business organization in the world. It represents over 3 million companies. It's arguably the most powerful lobbying group in the nation. And it's doing everything it can to stop climate legislation.
Meijer can be prosecuted
Acme—Schneider asked state police in January 2008 to investigate possible felonies after details emerged of Meijer's secret role in financing a 2007 recall campaign that targeted the Acme Township Board of Trustees. Meijer's actions came to light during then-township Treasurer Bill Boltres' lawsuit against the retailer.
Eating meat causes more than half of global warming (conservatively)
World Bank agricultural scientists Robert Goodland, who spent 23 years as the Bank’s lead environmental advisor, and Jeff Anhang, a research officer and environmental specialist for the Bank, argue convincingly that more than half of all greenhouse gas emissions are attribut
able to our desire to eat chicken, pigs, and other farmed animals. That’s right: Add up all the causes of climate change, and you find that eating meat causes more than everything else combined.
One bite at a time
I heard from a lot of people who wanted help in making the transition to a vegetarian (or mostly vegetarian) diet. Let's face it: If you've been eating meat all your life, this sort of a change can be daunting even just to think about, let alone act on. Happily, it's easier than ever today to make the transition from meat-eater to vegetarian, and the following suggestions should help even the most die-hard carnivores make the switch.
Vegetarian is the New Prius
Last month, the United Nations published a report on livestock and the environment with a stunning conclusion: "The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." It turns out that raising animals for food is a primary cause of land degradation, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and not least of all, global warming.
Global Warning - The impact of meat production and consumption on climate change
A farmer can feed up to 30 persons throughout the year on one hectare with vegetables, fruits, cereals and vegetable fats. If the same area is used for the production of eggs, milk or meat the number of persons fed varies from five to ten. Dr Pachauri challenged our reliance on high meat consumption, showing how livestock production releases 18% of our global greenhouse gas emissions, can pollute water and soils, damages our health and often causes suffering to animals kept in factory farms. (includes power point and video)
It's time for Americans to start cutting our baby emissions
Let's not wait for climate change, he says. Let's start depopulating right now. Instead of burning down our numbers with oil and gas, let's cut the birth rate to one child per couple, for a few generations at least. The population would dwindle by about 5 billion people over the next century, ensuring the habitability of the Earth for the 1.6 billion who remained. At that point, they could all reap the rewards of a more spacious planet, sharing in "the growing joy of watching the world daily become more wonderful." It seems like a notion from the fringe, but Weisman's book has become a mainstream best seller. Could population control be the next big thing in green culture?
Women and Minorities Getting Left Out of Green Job Market, New Study Finds
After all these years and so much progress, even in a sector dedicated towards achieving the noble aim of an emissions-free economy, it appears some prejudices still plague us." Well, he might not have said it exactly like that. But it appears to be the unfortunate truth: women--especially minority women--are getting largely left out of the green job market.
Lake Michigan on the Brink of Being Invaded
If you thought round gobies and zebra mussels were scary invaders of the Great Lakes, brace yourself for the arrival of Asian carp, a voracious fish that could decimate the lakes' native fisheries. Capable of growing to 4 feet in length and 100 pounds in weight, have the capability to take over ecosystems. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, 90 percent of the lifeforms in some stretches of the Illinois River are Asian carp. Filter feeders, Asian carp were introduced to the United States in the 1970s to help keep wastewater treatment facilities and aquaculture ponds clean. Floods in the 1990s enabled them to reach the Mississippi River, and they've been headed north ever since. They can spawn multiple times during each season and quickly out-compete native species by disrupting the food chain everywhere they go." Federal authorities on Friday acknowledged that an electric fence that was being counted on to prevent the carp from reaching Lake Michigan has failed, leaving carp just just one lock from being able to swim the final 25 miles to the lake, home to both Indiana Dunes and Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes national lakeshores. Groups worried about the carp reaching the lake have called for the immediate closure of all waterways and locks leading from Chicago into Lake Michigan.
Asian Carp Could Hurt Boating, Fishing Industry in Great Lakes
On Friday, federal officials reported biological evidence that the fish appear to have breached an electrical barrier designed to keep them out of the Great Lakes. The fish themselves haven't been seen but if the evidence is accurate two species of Asian carp are now about eight miles from Lake Michigan. A lock, which is often open to allow ships to pass, could hinder their progress. Asian carp can grow to four feet long and weigh as much as 100 pounds and can eat up to 40% of their weight daily. The fish have been steadily moving up the Mississippi River for nearly two decades. In sections of some Midwest rivers they now make up 90% of the biomass. Asian carp were first brought to the U.S. in the 1970s, to eat algae and other microscopic waste from fish.
Asian Carp Emergency
The Asian carp, a monstrous, invasive fish, has been knocking at the door of the Great Lakes for decades. Now bad news is spreading that the fish may have breached an electric barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, entering Lake Michigan. University of Notre Dame researchers have found DNA evidence of a breach. Here's what's at stake: The native fish population in the Great Lakes, the world's largest source of surface freshwater, which touches lives in the United States and Canada, and a $7 billion sport fishery. In a strange coincidence, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is getting ready to start taking proposals for funding from a $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which aims to, among other things, address invasive species in the lakes.
Government Overpaid Wall Street Banks In AIG Bailout, Says TARP Watchdog
Billions more than necessary went to U.S. banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc.; Merrill Lynch, now part of Bank of America Corp.; and Wachovia, now part of Wells Fargo & Co.; and European banks including Societe Generale, Deutsche Banke, UBS and Calyon.
Fed Chairman Blames Banks For Continued High Unemployment
"Banks' reluctance to lend will limit the ability of some businesses to expand and hire," Bernanke said. "Because smaller businesses account for a significant portion of net employment gains during recoveries, limited credit could hinder job growth." Bernanke predicted that the unemployment rate will get worse before it gets better.
Christian Bootcamp Seeks to Arm Home-Schooled Youths for "Spiritual Warfare"
As Thomas sees it, the crisis facing today’s young people is a direct result of American secularism-- you know, those pesky rules separating religion and government. In his telling, the lead culprit is the Supreme Court which has usurped God’s legal authority, outlawing prayer in schools, sanctioning abortion and gay rights, and allowing infidels -- AKA Muslims -- to live freely among us.
Sarah Palin Thinks That You're Stupid
Her book is hardly out the gates, and it's already facing a torrent of criticism from mainstream news sources for including various untruths and flat out lies. It appears that everyone's favorite vice presidential candidate has gone rogue with some of the facts.
Health Care Passes House
In a victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed landmark health care legislation Saturday night to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry. Republican opposition was nearly unanimous. The 220-215 vote cleared the way for the Senate to begin debate on the issue that has come to overshadow all others in Congress.
Michigan's Bart Stupak Amendment, Threatening Women's Rights
The amendment, named for Representatives Bart Stupak, D-Mich, and Joe Pitts, R-Penn. Stupak is a so-called "Democrat for Life;" Pitts has been a dogged supporter of failed abstinence-only policies, domestically and internationally, and was among those who succeeded in adding language forbidding the provision of contraceptive supplies for HIV-positive women in US global AIDS funding.
Our Economy Was a Scam and Now We're Dead Broke
With peak oil, population pressure, vanishing world resources and global warming, we can never again be what we once were -- a civilization occupying a relative material paradise through a danse macabre of planetarily unsustainable growth. Somewhere in the smoking wreckage lie the solutions. The solutions we aren't allowed to discuss: adoption of a Wall Street securities speculation tax; repeal of the Taft-Hartley anti-union laws; ending corporate personhood; cutting the bloated vampire bleeding the economy, the military budget; full single payer health care insurance, not some "public option" that is neither fish nor fowl; taxation instead of credits for carbon pollution; reversal of inflammatory U.S. policy in the Middle East (as in, get the hell out, begin kicking the oil addiction and quit backing the spoiled murderous brat that is Israel.
Our Free Market Makes Economic Collapse Inevitable
Americans are mad at bankers. Just Google the three words "I hate banks," and see what comes up. But nowhere has the anger been more palpable than outside the annual convention of the American Bankers Association in Chicago this week. There's some historical irony in the timing of this meeting and the protests. 80 years ago this week, on October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed, bringing the Roaring Twenties to a screeching halt. The Roaring Twenties -- that era of flappers, bathtub gin, and dancing 'til dawn, of reckless speculation and living it up while raking in money from the stock market and buying on credit as if there were no tomorrow. The ultimate judgment came from Al Capone, the city's celebrated gangster. The market's "a racket," he said. "Those stock market guys are crooked."
Conservatives Are Rewriting the Bible to Free It From "Liberal Bias"
While the Conservative Bible Project (CBP) has so far been regarded largely as a joke, it does raise some interesting questions. The idea of writing a sacred text through a wiki is largely unprecedented. The CPB also marks an escalation in what Robert S. McElvaine has called “Grand Theft Jesus”—the appropriation of the Christian tradition for political ends.
Equal Rights - Not Special Rights - for Christians
At first glance, I thought this story was good news: Oklahoma is going to build a Christian prison! About time, I thought, I can think of a few Christians who deserve a few years for faith-abuse. But no…it's a prison to be administered by Christians to give Christian criminals special privileges. Not quite as appropriate, but more in line with what we've gotten used to from our dominant faith tradition.
Who's Really Behind Organic Food Brands
Over the past decade many small organic food brands have been snapped up by giant corporations. Clearly, this can be bad for standards and quality.
The 10 Weirdest, Grossest Ingredients in Processed Food
Everyone now knows that processed and fast foods are not the bastions of nutrition, but that shouldn’t make these ingredients found inside them any less revolting. This list sends a clear message: when a packaged food contains more than five ingredients and includes some that are difficult to pronounce, stay away. Make a b-line straight to the organics aisle
Meat is Murder ... and worse
Foer writes in his new book, Eating Animals, that he struggled with ambivalence over eating meat for most of his life, but never committed until he adopted his dog, George. "She changed things for me," Foer tells Guy Raz. "This dog opened up the way that I thought about animals." Foer argues that there's no difference between the value of the lives of pets and the lives of the animals that we eat every day. "If our next-door neighbor kept a dog in the conditions that well more than 90 percent of pigs are kept in, we would call the police. We wouldn't just be offended. We wouldn't just think it was wrong. We would be compelled to take action," Foer says.
How You Can Fight Global Climate Change by Buying Pollution Permits
Here’s a revolutionary plan from Sandbag that enables you and me to end carbon emissions by simply buying up and destroying European pollution permits by retiring them off the market, at $40 per permit or ton of CO2. Sandbag buys up carbon credits from those who have already made energy efficiency investments and as a result have cut their pollution to below their previous level. We buy these clean companies’ credits through Sandbag, and then destroy them so dirty companies can’t buy them.
In Battle Over Gay Marriage
October 26, 2009—In a San Francisco courtroom two weeks ago, a prominent lawyer opposed to same-sex marriage made a concession that could mark a turning point in the legal wars over the purpose and meaning of marriage. The lawyer, Charles J. Cooper, has studied the matter deeply, and his erudite briefs are steeped in history. He cannot have been blindsided by the question Judge Vaughn R. Walker asked him: What would be the harm of permitting gay men and lesbians to marry? “Your honor, my answer is: I don’t know,” Mr. Cooper said. “I don’t know.” [EDITOR: The truth is stable gay and lesbian relationships add strength and integrity to a community. The argument that we need to procreate is ridiculous when we are already facing the threat of global climate change brought about by two many people operating to many polluting devices. In short we are already over-populated beyond the carrying capacity of the planet. We must lower birth rates, and achieve negative population growth if we are to survive as a species.]
Senate passes gay hate-crimes bill
A bill to make violence against gays and lesbians a federal crime cleared the Senate Thursday and is headed to the White House for final approval. The 68-29 vote was a victory for civil rights groups that have been fighting for years to expand the federal hate-crimes law beyond attacks motivated by bias based on religion, race, national origin or color. The new bill, which President Obama is expected to sign, includes penalties for assaults based on a victim's sexual orientation, gender, disability or gender identity.
Meet the Senators in the Creepy Right-Wing Cult Trying to Defeat Health Care Reform
They are the nation's powerful: senators, congressmen, business executives and the strong-armed leaders of Third World countries. Together, in secret, they worship a Jesus unrecognizable to most practicing Christians. (In their secret theology, the leadership model of Adolf Hitler is one of which Jesus would approve.) He is Jesus the power broker, who works his will through well-situated men committed to free enterprise of a most unregulated sort. Things are as they are in the world because that's the way God wants them.
Tri-Centennial State Park and Harbor to be Renamed for Former Gov. William G. Milliken
The William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor, seen as a portal for the state park system and tourism opportunities in Michigan, is located in the heart of downtown Detroit along the riverfront. It is 31 acres in size, located on a reclaimed brownfield that had been impacted by 300 years of industrial use.
Plan to Ditch the U.S. Dollar's Dominance Uncovered
The decline of American economic power linked to the current global recession was implicitly acknowledged by the World Bank president Robert Zoellick. "One of the legacies of this crisis may be a recognition of changed economic power relations," he said in Istanbul ahead of meetings this week of the IMF and World Bank. But it is China's extraordinary new financial power – along with past anger among oil-producing and oil-consuming nations at America's power to interfere in the international financial system – which has prompted the latest discussions involving the Gulf states.
5 Reasons the Baucus Health Bill Fails
The Baucus health care proposal is a terrible bill. And the Senate's foremost health care expert is having none of it.
Health Ills Abound as Farm Runoff Fouls Wells All it took was an early thaw for the drinking water here to become unsafe. Agricultural runoff is the single largest source of water pollution in the nation’s rivers and streams, according to the E.P.A. An estimated 19.5 million Americans fall ill each year from waterborne parasites, viruses or bacteria, including those stemming from human and animal waste, according to a study published last year in the scientific journal Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.
Great Lakes toxic cleanups lagging badly
Cleanup of the most polluted sites in the Great Lakes is moving so slowly it will take 77 more years to finish the job at the existing pace, according to a federal report. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency still does not know the full extent of the problem even though the highly contaminated spots were identified two decades ago, said the report by the agency's inspector general. "Without improved management, coordination and accountability, EPA will not succeed in achieving the results intended" for the recovery program
Nadler introduces bill to overturn DOMA
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) introduced on Tuesday the Respect for Marriage Act, which would overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. At a Capitol Hill press conference, Nadler called the Respect for Marriage Act “the first step to overturning the Defense of Marriage Act and sending that ugly law into the history books where it belongs.” “Our bill ensures that all married couples, including lawfully married same-sex couples, will have the same access to federal responsibilities and benefits, including critical programs like Social Security that are intended to ensure the stability and security of American families,” Nadler said.
Obama Is Leading the U.S. Into a Hellish Quagmire
Obama is doubling down in Afghanistan with more troops deployed now than the Soviets ever had, at a time when public support for it is sinking like a rock.
Bill would declare Mich. waters a public resource
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - A state lawmaker wants to designate all Michigan waters -- including groundwater -- as a resource held in trust for the public. Rep. Dan Scripps, a Democrat from Leland, introduced a bill Wednesday to amend Michigan's Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. The new provision would direct state agencies to protect waters and other public natural resources for the benefit of present and future generations.
Former national security officials criticize Peter Hoekstra
A group of former national security officials and military officers who have worked on the Guantanamo Bay military tribunals have written a letter to Rep. Pete Hoekstra criticizing him for “politicizing” the debate over a possible plan to transfer Gitmo detainees to a maximum security prison in Standish, Michigan. The writers of the letter include Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, a highly decorated retired military intelligence officer and JAG attorney who was assigned to the military tribunals at Gitmo and blew the whistle on what he called trumped up charges against many being held there; Vice Admiral Lee Gunn, former deputy national security adviser; and Michael Kraft, a former senior adviser to the State Department Counterterrorism Office. Click here to read the full text of the letter
Thanks to EPA You May Be Unknowingly Drinking Water Contaminated With Weed Killer
August 24, 2009—One of the nation's most widely-used herbicides has been found to exceed federal safety limits in drinking water in four states, but water customers have not been told and the Environmental Protection Agency has not published the results. Records that tracked the amount of the weed-killer atrazine in about 150 watersheds from 2003 through 2008. In 2004, the European Union banned atrazine because it was consistently showing up in drinking water and health officials, aware of ongoing studies, said they could not find sufficient evidence the chemical was safe. [EDITOR: Isn't it interesting that in Europe products must be proven to be "safe", where in the U.S. products must be proven to be "unsafe". Europe seems to have a much higher standard of safety when it comes to chemicals the human organism consumes via food and water.]
Mancelona plant source of tainted water
A six-mile-long plume of contaminated groundwater from a polluted northern Michigan factory site is threatening the Cedar River, one of two sources for the area's drinking water. "I would have to say this is one of the largest contaminations we've ever seen," Janice Adams, a senior geologist with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, told The Detroit News for a Monday story. The state has spent more than $14 million battling the tainted groundwater generated at the Mancelona plant, which made auto parts in southern Antrim County. Dura Automotive Systems Inc., which operated there most recently, closed the factory in February. The now-defunct Mount Clemens Industries Inc. operated the plant from 1947 to 1967, when workers used trichloroethylene, or TCE, to degrease the machinery. To dispose of the chemical, workers poured it on the ground or dumped it into seepage pits.
Alba well blocked indefinitely
A new deep-injection disposal well won't be drilled near this Antrim County community, at least not anytime soon. A circuit court judge indefinitely blocked an energy company from drilling such a new well in Antrim County's Star Township. By doing so, he closed the book on a lawsuit filed by the county, township and environmental group Friends of the Jordan River Watershed.
Is Baucus Destroying Health Care the Way Phil Gramm Wrecked Banking?
Sen. Max Baucus appears set to derail health care reform the same way Republican Sen. Phil Gramm stymied banking reforms and sparked today's economic catastrophe. Will somebody stop Baucus -- and save the country? Is Max Baucus about to do to America’s health care system what Phil Gramm already did to the nation’s banking system? Let’s hope someone stops Baucus before it’s too late. Just as Gramm argued that the banking industry could police itself without government rules and safeguards, Baucus is tying the hands of Congressional reformers who understand that we can’t trust the insurance and drug companies to protect consumers and control costs. If Baucus is successful, health care costs will continue to skyrocket and hurt the nation’s economic well-being, compounding the damage caused by Gramm’s reckless role in stifling banking reform.
7 Ways We Can Fight Back Against the Rising Fascist Threat
It only takes a small handful of thugs to terrorize people into giving up their civil rights, abandoning democracy and doing what they're told, just so they can keep their jobs, windows and families intact. The main imperative in life becomes staying off the goons' radar. All the enforcers need to do is make an horrific example out of one or two troublemakers every now and then -- and the resulting fear will keep everybody else quietly in line. Conservatives have tried to subdue other Americans this way for centuries, so there's nothing new going on here. And this is the way they've always done it: they used race (and yes, the birthers and anti-health care rioters are, at root, all about race) and economic calamity to whip up a posse of terrified, well-armed vigilantes, and then turned them loose on society to "enforce order."
Whitehouse Reality Check
With the outrageious fear tactics created by the right wing, it has become necessary to create a web site at WhiteHouse.gov/RealityCheck to help you separate fact from fiction and share the truth about health insurance reform. Other than that, we urge our readers to exercise common sense. If it sounds to outrageous to be true, it probably is a lie.
Town Hall Riots: Right-Wing Shock Troops Do Corporate America's Dirty Work
The recent spate of town hall dustups may look like an overnight sensation, but they've been years, even decades, in the making. Since the days in the late 1970s, when the Neoconservative movement began its takeover of the Republican Party, it has cultivated a militia of white people armed with a grudge against those who brought forth the social changes of the '60s. These malcontents have been promised their day of retribution, a day for which they are more than ready. Few seem to understand that they are merely dupes for a corporate agenda that will only worsen the conditions in which they live. Why, you may ask, would men of power and fame shake the rough, unmanicured hands of gun enthusiasts, conspiracy theorists, gay-haters, misogynists and racists? Because somebody's got to do the dirty work. Magnates don't like to soil their French cuffs, and it's hard for a bunch of rich guys to garner sympathy for threats to their bottom lines. It's the classic inside-outside game that the right wing of the GOP has played for the last two decades.
Food processors' spraying leaves west Michigan wells contaminated
John Dekker feels like he's camping out in his own home. He showers with bottled water and drags his laundry to a Laundromat. He can't sell his house without disclosing its glaring flaw -- his well is contaminated. Neighbor Kari Craton's fingernails turned orange; her appliances were destroyed. Diana Bennett's garden is useless. Some 50 families live near a plume of groundwater contaminated with metals that spread from the local Birds Eye processing plant. At a nearby Minute Maid juice plant, there's another plume. In rural west Michigan, food processors have sprayed so much wastewater onto fields that heavy metals seeped into groundwater, contaminating wells. The list of tainted sites keeps growing. And the contamination plumes continue to spread as the Department of Environmental Quality and companies argue behind closed doors over what must be done.
10 Amazing Truths You Already Suspected
Go ahead, pretend you didn't know. Pretend it wasn't obvious. Are you sure? by Mark Morford Let's start out easy. How about a big, dumb, obvious, forehead-slapper of an of-course-you-already-knew, shall we?
US Still Paying Blackwater Millions - Outcry Grows From Veterans, Elected Officials
Just days before two former Blackwater employees alleged in sworn statements filed in federal court that the company's owner, Erik Prince, "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," the Obama administration extended a contract with Blackwater for more than $20 million for "security services" in Iraq. "These contracts with Blackwater need to stop," says Representative Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat and a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence. "There's already enough evidence of gross misconduct and serious additional allegations against the company and its owner to negate any possibility that this company should have a presence in Iraq, Afghanistan or any conflict zone--or any contract with the US government."
Right-Wing Turncoat Gives the Inside Scoop on Why Conservatives Are Rampaging Town Halls
The GOP is willing to disrupt the health care debate if they can't win it. It's time that this whole shabby (and insane) business be exposed, vilified in run out of town on a rail by whatever responsible Republicans -- if any -- that are still in the party and who want to see the fortunes of their party revived. Republican leaders taking insurance industry money via lobbying firms and using it to organize what amounts to roving bands of thugs not only need to be exposed but thrown out of the public debate forever. They should become absolute pariahs. It's time to give this garbage in name: insurance industry funded fascism.
Is the U.S. on the Brink of Fascism?
It's so easy right now to look at the melee on the right and discount it as pure political theater of the most absurdly ridiculous kind. It's a freaking puppet show. These people can't be serious. Sure, they're angry -- but they're also a minority, out of power and reduced to throwing tantrums. Grown-ups need to worry about them about as much as you'd worry about a furious five-year-old threatening to hold her breath until she turned blue. Unfortunately, all the noise and bluster actually obscures the danger. These people are as serious as a lynch mob, and have already taken the first steps toward becoming one. And they're going to walk taller and louder and prouder now that their bumbling efforts at civil disobedience are being committed with the full sanction and support of the country's most powerful people, who are cynically using them in a last-ditch effort to save their own places of profit and prestige. We've arrived. We are now parked on the exact spot where our best experts tell us full-blown fascism is born.
Right-Wing Turncoat Gives the Inside Scoop on Why Conservatives Are Rampaging Town Halls
Conservatives now know they were wrong: about the country, the free market, war for fun and profit, and what the American people really want. They made their best case and were rejected by the American people -- and by history. Bush was their man and he turned out to be a fool. So now all the the Republican gurus have left is what the defeated Germans of World War Two had: a scorched earth policy. If they can't win then everyone must go down. Obama must fail! The country must fail!
40 Reasons to Abstain from Having Children
People who don't have kids have more sex, more career success and a far smaller environment footprint than people who do. The truth is the more your fecundity increases, the fewer there are of you who can call yourselves happy... Becoming a parent means giving up everything else: your life as a couple, your leisure time, your sex life, your friends, and if you're a woman, your career success.
Food Miles & Your Carbon Footprint
The number of miles your food travels from farm to plate makes a difference in your personal climate-change footprint. But not as much as eating red meat and dairy, which are responsible for nearly half of all food-related greenhouse gas emissions for an average U.S. household. New research published in Environmental Science & Technology finds it's how food is produced, not how far it's transported, that matters most for global warming.
What's your water footprint
How much water is consumed in the production of common everyday items, and why you should care.
Corn Syrup's Mercury Surprise
Are grape jelly and chocolate milk bad for kids' brains? If the specter of obesity and diabetes wasn't enough to turn you off high- fructose corn syrup (HFCS), try this: New research suggests that the sweetener could be tainted with mercury, putting millions of children at risk for developmental problems.
Assassinations, Weapons Smuggling, Wife-Swapping—The Latest Accusations Against Erik Prince and Blackwater
Grand Rapids—These eye-raising allegations, among others, are contained in the anonymous declarations of two individuals claiming to be ex-Blackwater employees, which were filed in federal court yesterday and first reported by the Nation's Jeremy Scahill. (Find their sworn statements here and here.) Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades.
Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder
Michigan—A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."
Climate-Change Calculus
Among the phrases you really, really do not want to hear from climate scientists are: "that really shocked us," "we had no idea how bad it was," and "reality is well ahead of the climate models." Yet in speaking to researchers who focus on the Arctic, you hear comments like these so regularly they begin to sound like the thumping refrain from Jaws: annoying harbingers of something that you really, really wish would go away.
Ten Ways Banks Take Your Money
Consumers need to keep their guard up as financial institutions increasingly impose new fees and charges. Banks and credit-card companies have gone on the offensive and for many consumers, that could mean an unexpected financial sting. Late fees, loan-origination fees, over-the-limit and overdraft charges helped generate 53% of banking-industry income in 2008, according to R.K. Hammer, up from 35% of income in 1995. At $19 billion, credit-card penalties for late payments and over-limit charges were up 80% between 2003 and 2008.
Meijer, Acme Twp. group sign no-lawsuit agreement
Meijer Inc. and a developer have agreed to pay $75,000 to a group that fought their proposed superstore in a rural Michigan community. Under a deal signed Wednesday, Concerned Citizens of Acme Township agreed not to sue Meijer or the Village at Grand Traverse LLC. Also released from liability were a law firm and a public relations firm that represented the companies. The state of Michigan also fined Meijer more than $190,000 last year for violating campaign laws.
Chamber of Commerce Launches $100 Million Campaign to Protect Wall Street's Power at Our Expense
Perhaps the greatest public deception surrounding today's financial meltdown is the notion that it is unique -- a once-in-a-lifetime crisis that reflects bad luck rather than any fundamental problem with the U.S. banking system's sway in global politics. The truth is that throughout the 1980s, the major money center banks were in much the same situation they find themselves in today. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to spend $100 million on a lobbying push to tell you the otherwise. It's a very careful strategy designed to ensure that Wall Street maintains the power to hijack the economy and demand epic bailouts from ordinary citizens as a reward for its own greed.
Former Evangelist Fears Right-Wing Lunacy Will Lead to More Murder
What are the Republicans in Congress and the other "respectable" leaders on the far right -- from Focus on the Family's James Dobson to Rush Limbaugh, from Laura Ingraham to the leaders of the NRA -- doing to stop the right-wing domestic wave of terrorism exploding in the aftermath of President Barack Obama's election? I ask this as a former evangelical right-wing and "pro-life" leader who quit the right and the Republicans in disgust over their extremism. Who on the right-wing radio shows, among the Republicans in Congress and in far-right media such as Fox News, will now try to cure the sickness of their right-wing followers -- before it explodes again? If the mainstream right doesn't stand up to try to tamp down the fear levels in its very own lunatic fringe, and if it doesn't lower the pitch of its anti-Obama rhetoric, then it is complicit in whatever comes next.
Michigan voters shifting views on gay couples
Michiganders are increasingly supportive of gay-friendly policies, supporting a range of issues from inheritance rights to civil unions but continuing to balk at gay marriage, a new poll suggests. The shift in opinion was evident in almost every demographic group, including self-identified Republicans. He attributed much of the change to the sharply higher number of poll respondents who said they know a gay or lesbian person in 2009 (80.2%) compared with in 2004 (56%).
Kalamazoo poised to pass anti-discrimination ordinance
In Kalamazoo, the City Commission appears poised to approve a gay rights bill Monday night. 15 cities in Michigan already have local ordinances like the one being considered in Kalamazoo, cities like Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor and Lansing. Monday night, Kalamazoo could become the 16th.
Traverse City, Mich., up-and-coming foodie haven
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.—Attention, traveling foodies: Something yummy is happening in the Traverse City area, and it's even grabbed the attention of luminaries such as celebrity chef Mario Batali, who has a summer home on the scenic Leelanau Peninsula just northwest of town. Long a top Midwestern tourist draw for its lakes, rivers, forests, beaches—and the orchards that inspire the self-proclaimed moniker "cherry capital of the world"—the Traverse City area is now home to an increasingly varied and sophisticated culinary culture with a strong emphasis on local ingredients. The Lake Michigan resort town is awash in award-winning restaurants and wineries, artisan bakeries, dairies and farm markets. The area's food scene "has just exploded" in the past decade, Batali said in a phone interview: "What you're seeing up there is a renaissance, the rise of a gastronomic subculture that makes it a fascinating place to be."
Gas Pump Thievery: Who's Really Behind the Rising Prices at the Pumps?
What's going on here is not the "magic of the marketplace," but some hocus-pocus by brand-name dealers. What might surprise you, though, is that the wheeler-dealers now jacking up our pump prices don't operate under the BPExxonMobilShellChevron brands -- but the logos of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and other Wall Street traders that have been placing vast, unregulated, secretive bets on the future price of oil. They're playing an electronic casino game in a global "dark market" of exotic derivatives and credit swaps. If this sounds vaguely familiar to you, it's because this is the same game that Wall
Taking Down the Corporate Food System Is Simple
The time has come for people who are ready to challenge the paradigm of factory-produced food and to return to a more natural, wholesome and sustainable way of eating (and living) to make that declaration to the powers that be, in business and government, that established the existing system and continue to prop it up. It's time to opt out and simply start eating better -- right here, right now. Impractical? Idealistic? Utopian? Not really. As I'll explain, it's actually the most realistic and effective approach to transforming a system that is slowly but surely killing us. All the food staples that our great-grandparents relished and grew healthy on have been banished from today's supermarkets. They've been replaced by an array of pseudo-foods that did not exist a mere century ago.
US Climate Report Details Energy, Agriculture Harm
Climate change has already caused "visible impacts" in the United States and poses particular risks to the U.S. "Human induced climate change is a reality, not only in remote polar regions (and) in small tropical islands, but every place around the country -- in our own backyards." The House climate bill aims to reduce carbon emissions 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050. Its success is considered crucial to U.S. legitimacy at international talks on climate change in December, but chances of passage in the U.S. Senate are unclear. The United States is the biggest per capita emitter of the climate-warming gas carbon dioxide. "The White House report on climate change is a stark confirmation of what scientists have been saying for years: unless we dramatically curb our emissions, the world will face unprecedented climate disruptions that will lead to drought, flooding, rising seas, food insecurity and mass displacement,"
The American Empire Is Bankrupt
This week marks the end of the dollar’s reign as the world’s reserve currency. It marks the start of a terrible period of economic and political decline in the United States. And it signals the last gasp of the American imperium. That’s over. It is not coming back. And what is to come will be very, very painful.
Eating Meat Is Not Natural
Eating meat is a relatively recent phenomenon in human evolution. And our bodies have never adapted to it. I noticed the frequently stated notion that eating meat was an essential step in human evolution. While this notion may comfort the meat industry, it’s simply not true, scientifically. “The birth of agriculture only started about 10,000 years ago at a time when it became considerably more convenient to herd animals. This is not nearly as long as the time [that] fashioned our basic biochemical functionality (at least tens of millions of years) and which functionality depends on the nutrient composition of plant-based foods.” That jibes with what Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine President Dr. Neal Barnard says in his book, The Power of Your Plate, in which he explains that “early humans had diets very much like other great apes, which is to say a largely plant-based diet, drawing on foods we can pick with our hands. To this day, meat-eaters have a higher incidence of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other problems.” When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us, because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for human beings, who are natural herbivores.”
Wolverine Mum On Coal Plant’s Price
When Wolverine Power Cooperative announced plans to build a new, coal-burning power plant near Rogers City, the company said it would cost about $1.2 billion. But although a lot has changed in the coal and utility industries since Wolverine’s announcement three years ago, the co-op refuses to publicly discuss how those changes affect its proposed plant’s 2006 price tag. Many financial experts familiar with the energy and coal industries say that those changes have made the cost of new coal power very high, and made investing in new coal plants very risky. That, they say, is why utilities around the United States cancelled approximately 100 new coal plants in recent years, often in favor of less risky, cheaper energy efficiency and renewable energy plans.
FOX Propaganda Network Goes to New Lengths to Distort Reality
In the two months that followed the website's launch, The Fox Nation has displayed an uncanny ability to mislead readers, twist the truth, spread wild conspiracy theories, and misrepresent the reporting of legitimate journalists and media outlets. At times, the website has been downright frightening. In early May, it ran a photo of a rifle pointed in the direction of a photo of Obama's head. Debunked conspiracy theories are also finding new life on the website. Fox News, often employs the use of questions for its headlines rather than straightforward assertions. It's as if they are pre-emptively saying, "We made no such statement. We simply asked a question." So, is TheFoxNation.com simply the seedy underbelly of Fox News parent company chairman Rupert Murdoch's evil, right-wing media empire?
UN Human Rights Council Blasts US
The UN Human Rights Council has issued a report blasting the US for killing civilians, violating human rights and creating a “zone of impunity” for unaccountable private contractors to fight its wars. The UN group also criticized the US use of drones to attack Pakistan. The report, released this week was authored by Philip Alston, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
Our Economy Is Going to Keep Tanking Until We Stop Shoveling Billions to Rich People
There's a cycle going on here: if you don't put money in consumers' hands, you get repetitive cycles of layoffs and growing unemployment. For the past ten years, we have been a nation ignoring massive wealth transfer and wealth concentration through a rigged Wall Street. As simple and clear as this picture is, some of the brightest minds in this country are unwilling to connect the cause and effect of wealth in too few hands to bankruptcies and a tanking economy.
Face-Off Over 'Fracking': Water Battle Brews On Hill
Environmentalists and the natural gas industry are getting ready for a battle in Congress over something known as "hydraulic fracturing." "Fracking," as the industry calls it, involves injecting a million gallons or more of water and chemicals deep underground to pry out gas that's locked away in tight spaces. Environmentalists want the federal government to regulate the practice because, fracking may be harming nearby water wells.
President Proclaims June Gay and Lesbian Pride Month
In the Proclamation, the President states, “As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Studies indicates that significantly more American's are progressive (despite Republican claims to the contrary)
Significant majorities of Americans favor progressive solutions to the nation's problems and reject the right's worldview. That's true whether the issue at hand is taxes, war and peace, the role of government in the economy, health care, and on and on. Republican and conservative activists repeat the assertion that America is right leaning ad nauseum -- as it's in their interest to do -- and most of the political press corps swallows it whole. The idea is like a zombie -- you can bludgeon it, burn it or get Dick Cheney to shoot it in the face, but it keeps coming -- it will not die. The persistence of the center-right narrative, even in the face of piles of evidence suggesting it's little more than a myth, has very real consequences on our political discourse.
GREEN IS THE NEW “GREEN”
Green is the color and the future of Jobs and Energy in America. “Smart” Money today is investing in renewable energy and energy conservation technology.
37 Million Green Jobs Possible In U.S. By 2030
The renewable energy and energy efficiency (RE&EE) industries represented more than 9 million jobs and $1,045 billion in U.S. revenue in 2007, according to a new report from the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) and Management Information Services Inc. The renewable energy industry grew three times as fast as the U.S. economy, with the solar thermal, photovoltaic, biodiesel and ethanol sectors leading the way, each with 25%-plus annual revenue growth.
Governor wants utilities to rethink coal and balance energy production in Michigan
February 3, 2009 LANSING, Mich. - Gov. Jennifer Granholm wants to make it harder for utilities to justify building new coal-fired power plants, encouraging them to instead rely on more energy conservation. Speaking Tuesday in her seventh annual State of the State speech, Granholm called for reducing the state's reliance on electric plants powered by coal and natural gas 45 percent by 2020. The Democrat said she wants to see 100,000 homes and 1,000 schools in the state weatherized to reduce energy consumption, and get more homes and schools to install solar and wind energy systems. She suggested the monthly savings would pay for the cost of the improvements. Some of that weatherization work can be done by people who have lost their jobs, she added. Four companies have requests before the state Department of Environmental Quality to build new coal-fired power plants, the most requests for new coal plants anywhere in the country. The state already has 19 coal-fired plants. In making it harder for companies to build new power plants that rely on coal, Michigan is following the example of other states. Wisconsin officials recently rejected a request for a new coal-fired power plant, and Kansas officials have rejected proposals to build two plants in the southwest corner of the state.
Mich. governor wants utilities to rethink coal
February 3, 2009 LANSING, Mich. - Gov. Jennifer Granholm wants to make it harder for utilities to justify building new coal-fired power plants, encouraging them to instead rely on more energy conservation. Speaking Tuesday in her seventh annual State of the State speech, Granholm called for reducing the state's reliance on electric plants powered by coal and natural gas 45 percent by 2020. The Democrat said she wants to see 100,000 homes and 1,000 schools in the state weatherized to reduce energy consumption, and get more homes and schools to install solar and wind energy systems. She suggested the monthly savings would pay for the cost of the improvements. Some of that weatherization work can be done by people who have lost their jobs, she added. Four companies have requests before the state Department of Environmental Quality to build new coal-fired power plants, the most requests for new coal plants anywhere in the country. The state already has 19 coal-fired plants. In making it harder for companies to build new power plants that rely on coal, Michigan is following the example of other states. Wisconsin officials recently rejected a request for a new coal-fired power plant, and Kansas officials have rejected proposals to build two plants in the southwest corner of the state.
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Fed Chairman Blames Banks For Continued High Unemployment
