Saturday, March 31, 2012

Zanfona Sen Palabras (Hurdy Gurdy Without Words)



Zanfona Sen Palabras (Hurdy Gurdy Without Words) / 1



Exercicios para Zanfona sen usar unha soa palabra, so a mmica e a demostracin.
Technique exercices for hurdy gurdy without words. Only mimic, example and demonstration.

Captulo 1.
Comps /Bar 4/4 (X4)
patrn rtmico / Rhythmic Pattern:
golpes/ strokes : /1 . . 4 . . 3 . . 2 . . 1 . 3 . /


Zanfona Sen Palabras (Hurdy Gurdy Without Words) / 1 - YouTube


Zanfona Sen Palabras (Hurdy Gurdy Without Words) / 2 (7/8)



Exercicios para Zanfona sen usar unha soa palabra, so a mmica e a demostracin.
Technique exercices for hurdy gurdy without words. Only mimic, example and demonstration.

Captulo 2.
Comps /Bar 7/8 (X2)
patrn rtmico / Rhythmic Pattern:
golpes/ strokes /1 . 1 . 1 . . 3 . 3 . 3 . . /


Zanfona Sen Palabras (Hurdy Gurdy Without Words) / 2 (7/8) - YouTube



Encontro Zanfona Contemporánea


Encontro Zanfona Contemporánea (1/2) - YouTube: Reportaxe feita sobre os Encontros de Zanfona Contemporánea de Narón que organiza o Patronato de Cultura do Concello de Narón e aCentral Folque anualmente en marzo con concertos, curso intensivo, actividades paralelas, convivencia,...



Encontro Zanfona Contemporánea (2of2) - YouTube: 2ª parte da reportaxe sobre o Encontro de Zanfona...



links | see also

fraioscar's channel - YouTube

Oscar Fernández (facebook)

what next - label: Hurdy Gurdy


Sunday, March 25, 2012

Some Gulf Dolphins Severely Ill | Gulf Spill



Barataria Bay


Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, numerous dolphins were documented encountering oil, such as those in this photo from July 2010.

Bottlenose dolphins in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, are showing signs of severe ill health, according to NOAA marine mammal biologists and their local, state, federal and other research partners.

Barataria Bay, located in the northern Gulf of Mexico, received heavy and prolonged exposure to oil during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Based on comprehensive physicals of 32 live dolphins from Barataria Bay in the summer of 2011, preliminary results show that many of the dolphins in the study are underweight, anemic, have low blood sugar and/or some symptoms of liver and lung disease. Nearly half also have abnormally low levels of the hormones that help with stress response, metabolism and immune function.



a dolphin called Y12


Aug 2011: Veterinarians collect a urine sample from Y12, a 16-year-old adult male bottlenose dolphin caught near Grand Isle, LA. Y12’s health evaluation determined that he was significantly underweight, anemic, and had indications of liver and lung disease. After the evaluation and attachment of VHF and satellite-linked tags, Y12 was released.


Body mass index (BMI), a function of mass and length, is plotted against dolphin age. Solid lines classify BMI as normal (between lines) or underweight (below lower line). Blue squares represent male dolphins sampled in Sarasota Bay, FL; red circles represent male dolphins sampled in Barataria Bay and surrounding waters.

Researchers fear that some of the study dolphins are in such poor health that they will not survive. One of these dolphins, which was last observed and studied in late 2011, was found dead in January 2012.


Jan 2012: The carcass of Y12, one of the Barataria Bay dolphins closely studied by NRDA researchers, was recovered on Grand Isle Beach, January 31, 2012. The visible ribs, prominent vertebral processes and depressions along the back are signs of extreme emaciation. A necropsy was performed and samples were collected to help determine cause of death and potential contributing factors.

NOAA and its local, state and federal partners started the Barataria Bay dolphin study in 2011 as part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), the process for studying the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

NOAA is sharing the preliminary results from the study so that stranding responders and veterinarians can better care for live stranded dolphins and look for similar health conditions.


Investigation of Dolphin Strandings in the Northern Gulf Continues


Number of strandings by region compared to 10 year historical average with 95% confidence limits (the historical averages include data from previous Gulf of Mexico UMEs). The Florida Panhandle includes Franklin through Escambia counties, and the Florida west coast includes Wakulla through Monroe counties.

Since February 2010, more than 675 dolphins have stranded in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Franklin County, Florida, to the Louisiana/Texas border)–a much higher rate than the usual average of 74 dolphins per year, prompting NOAA to declare an Unusual Mortality Event (UME) and investigate the cause of death for as many of the dolphins as possible. The vast majority of stranded dolphins have been found dead; however, 33 have stranded alive and seven have been taken to facilities for rehabilitation.

In the spring, it is typical to see some newborn, fetal and stillborn dolphins strand, and there has been an increase in strandings of this younger age class during this UME in 2010 and 2011. Yet all age classes continue to strand at high levels. NOAA is working with a team of marine mammal health experts to investigate the factors that may be contributing to the dolphin mortalities.


Gulf Seafood Safety

Since the 2010 oil spill, the Food and Drug Administration, NOAA and the Gulf Coast states have used an agreed-upon protocol to test seafood and ensure that it is free of harmful oil and dispersant residues. NOAA opened federal waters to fishing after extensive testing, and the Gulf states continue to use the protocol to routinely test finfish and shellfish to ensure all seafood reaching the consumer is safe. Some waters in the northern Barataria Basin, a larger area that includes Barataria Bay, remain closed to commercial fishing, as visible oil is still present along the shoreline where the closures are in place. The joint protocol directs seafood safety testing to begin only after visible oil is gone.
NOAA and its state and federal partners are researching multiple ways Gulf dolphins may have been exposed to oil, including through ingestion, inhalation or externally. Dolphins could have routinely ingested oil from sediments or water while feeding or by eating whole fish, including internal organs and fluids such as liver and bile, which can harbor chemical contaminants. These are not likely routes of exposure for most people.


Study by NOAA and Partners Shows Some Gulf Dolphins Severely Ill : NOAA Gulf Spill Restoration (current as of this date)

> Read more about the Gulf dolphins



see also | links

what next: Sentinels of the Seas | pollution & dolphin immune system dysfunction and disease

whats up - label: dolphins
what next: marine mammals
whats up - label: seals
whats up - label: whales

NOAA Gulf Spill Restoration | Gulf Dolphins Questions & Answers


Saturday, March 24, 2012

The Occupation | Police Brutality Increasing




Bert McKinley / Creative Commons License

In early October 2011 I went down to New York City to spend a long weekend at Zuccotti park - Campsite for Occupy Wall Street. This is what I saw and some of people I talked to in my 3 days spent at Occupy.


The Occupation on Vimeo


Police Brutality Increasing Against Occupy
23 Mar 2012


Police across the country are increasingly using extreme violence against occupiers. The weekly SF Bay Guardian recently revealed that Oakland police have received numerous complaints of excessive force. In a complaint from Oct. 25, an occupier says that “officers found a person alone, beat him, and broke his knee.” A complaint from a Jan. 7 march says that a police officer kneed an occupier in the back “causing his spine to break.” In New York City, media reports that an occupier’s rib was broken on the six-month anniversary of OWS. When the wounded occupier began having a seizure, she was denied medical attention while a crowd watched in horror. When occupiers from across the middle of America gathered in St. Louis, Missouri for the Occupy the Midwest regional summit, they too were also brutally beat back. Tazers were used, a dozen arrests were made, and several occupiers were led away with their faces covered in blood.


more > Police Brutality Increasing Against Occupy | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters | Journal of the mental environment


Thursday, March 22, 2012

America's Authoritarian Turn - Speaking truth becomes a crime



Speaking truth to power becomes a crime.


JOHN MINCHILLO

Ever since the rise of Occupy, corporatist authorities have been trying to figure how to squash our emerging social movement. First they tried a media blackout, but when over 700 nonviolent meme warriors were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge our Gandhian ferocity catalyzed a thousand encampments and the 1% could ignore us no more. Next elites tried the Bloomberg model of midnight paramilitary raids backed up by excessive force and sometimes-lethal munitions. That worked well to evict encampments in New York City, Oakland and nationwide … but it backfired when occupiers became diffuse, appearing at scripted events and interrupting the spectacle of corporate-funded politics with mic checks of truth. Now they are trying the new tactic of “lawfare” – using draconian laws to squash free speech in a last ditch effort to put an end to people power.

A week before the G8 Backdown, the US House of Representatives voted in near unanimous consensus in favor of an authoritarian law, H.R. 347, that makes it a federal crime to disrupt “Government business or official functions” or to enter any building where a “person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting.” In other words, to mic check Obama is now a federal crime punishable by a year in prison. And so too is the banner drop if it takes place in any building that a “protected” person might be visiting in the future, even if jammers don’t know it. And so is the anti-globalization tactic of blocking road access to a meeting of world elites, there is a special clause about that too. Obama signed the bill into law on March 9.

History shows that using authoritarian laws to silence the authentic, legitimate concerns of the people always boomerangs into a fatal loss of legitimacy. Governments derive their authority and right to exist from the people and when the people are ignored and beaten back regimes fall.


more > America's Authoritarian Turn | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters


Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Exposed: Inside the NSA’s Largest and Most Expansive Secret Domestic Spy Center in Bluffdale, Utah





Democracy Now! - A new exposé in Wired Magazine reveals details about how the National Security Agency is quietly building the largest spy center in the country in Bluffdale, Utah, as part of a secret NSA surveillance program codenamed "Stellar Wind." We speak with investigative reporter James Bamford, who says the NSA has established listening posts throughout the nation to collect and sift through billions of email messages and phone calls, whether they originate within the country or overseas. The Utah spy center will contain near-bottomless databases to store all forms of communication collected by the agency. This includes the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls and Google searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trails — parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases and other digital "pocket litter." "The NSA has constantly denied that they’re doing things, and then it turns out they are doing these things," Bamford says in response to NSA Director General Keith Alexander’s denial yesterday that U.S. citizens’ phone calls and emails are being intercepted. "A few years ago, President Bush said before camera that the United States is not eavesdropping on anybody without a warrant, and then it turns out that we had this exposure to all the warrantless eavesdropping in the New York Times article. And so, you have this constant denial and parsing of words." [includes rush transcript]


Exposed: Inside the NSA’s Largest and Most Expansive Secret Domestic Spy Center in Bluffdale, Utah


The NSA Is Building the Country's Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)
By James Bamford
Wired.com | March 15, 2012 | Categories: Crypto, Cybersecurity, Miscellaneous, NSA, Paranoia, privacy, Surveillance


Photo: Name Withheld; Digital Manipulation: Jesse Lenz

...new pioneers have quietly begun moving into the area, secretive outsiders who say little and keep to themselves. Like the pious polygamists, they are focused on deciphering cryptic messages that only they have the power to understand. Just off Beef Hollow Road, less than a mile from brethren headquarters, thousands of hard-hatted construction workers in sweat-soaked T-shirts are laying the groundwork for the newcomers’ own temple and archive, a massive complex so large that it necessitated expanding the town’s boundaries. Once built, it will be more than five times the size of the US Capitol.

Rather than Bibles, prophets, and worshippers, this temple will be filled with servers, computer intelligence experts, and armed guards. And instead of listening for words flowing down from heaven, these newcomers will be secretly capturing, storing, and analyzing vast quantities of words and images hurtling through the world’s telecommunications networks. In the little town of Bluffdale, Big Love and Big Brother have become uneasy neighbors....



more > The NSA Is Building the Country's Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say) | Threat Level | Wired.com

Threat Level - Privacy, Crime and Security Online | Wired.com


NSA Whistleblower Thomas Drake Prevails Against Charges in Unprecedented Obama Admin Crackdown



We speak with Thomas Drake, who was targeted after challenging waste, mismanagement and possible constitutional violations at the National Security Agency, but the case against him later collapsed. Drake was one of several sources for a Baltimore Sun article about a $1.2 billion NSA experimental program called "Trailblazer" to sift through electronic communications for national security threats. "My first day on the job was 9/11. And it was shortly after 9/11 that I was exposed to the Pandora’s box of illegality and government wrongdoing on a very significant scale," Drake says. He alleged that the program was inefficient compared to a rival program called "ThinThread" and also violated Americans’ privacy rights. As a result, he faced 35 years in prison for charges under the Espionage Act, but was not ever actually accused of spying. Instead, he was accused of holding on to classified documents in his basement that he says he did not even know were classified.

In a major embarrassment for the Department of Justice, his case ended last year in a misdemeanor plea deal. Now the former top spokesman for the Justice Department, Matthew Miller, seems to be reversing his stance on the prosecution of Drake, saying the case may have been an "ill-considered choice for prosecution."

All of this comes amidst the Obama administration’s unprecedented attack on whisteblowers. "It’s a way to create terrible precedent to go after journalists and a backdoor way to create an Official Secrets Act, which we have managed to live without in this country for more than 200 years. And I think it’s being done on the backs of whistleblowers," says Drake’s attorney, Jesselyn Radack, a former ethics adviser to the Justice Department. She is currently the director of National Security & Human Rights at the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower organization. Her new book is called "TRAITOR: The Whistleblower and the 'American Taliban.'" [includes rush transcript]


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Fracking like there's no tomorrow - petitions



Protect Your Drinking Water


Sign the Petition for a National Ban on Fracking!

Fracking is a type of gas drilling that injects millions of gallons of hydraulic fluids - a mixture of chemicals, water and sand - into a well to create pressure that cracks open rock underground, releasing natural gas. This process can deplete and contaminate local water, damage the environment and threaten public health.



Petition to Congress
I urge you to protect our drinking water by implementing a federal ban on hydraulic fracturing, or natural gas fracking.

The toxic results of using hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas have led to the contamination of drinking water, cattle being quarantined in Pennsylvania, and dangerous explosions in states across the country, among other issues. In order to protect our essential water resources, we need a national ban on fracking.

I urge you to protect your constituents by calling for a national ban on hydraulic fracturing.


Protect Your Drinking Water. Sign the Petition for a National Ban on Fracking!


Why Ban Fracking? | Food & Water Watch

To frack an oil or gas well, a massive volume of water, sand, and chemicals is injected underground at high pressure to break up rock formations, allowing oil or gas to flow up the well.

Fracking threatens the air we breathe, the water we drink, the communities we love and the climate on which we depend.


Fracking is a form of natural gas drilling that involves the injection of millions of gallons of "frack fluid" into dense shale rock in order to crack the rock and release the gas. Frack fluid contains any combination of up to nearly 600 chemicals along with millions of gallons of water and sand. People who live in areas where fracking occurs experience contaminated water, reduced property value, increased truck traffic, loud noise, explosions and even illness.

You can find reports and fact sheets on the Food And Water Watch site here.



"An America Built to Last" Needs Clean Water!

January 26th, 2012
“An America Built to Last” Needs Clean Water!

By Emily Wurth


President Obama: “I will not walk away on the promise of clean energy.”

Tell him that fracking for shale gas is not clean; America must walk away from dirty energy.

As I watched President Obama’s State of the Union address this week, I thought he had some good ideas about how to address some of our country’s serious problems, but I think he really got it wrong on energy policy.

In his speech, President Obama lauded natural gas from shale as a key part of his clean energy plan, but the truth is there is nothing clean about it. Fracking shale for natural gas is an intensive extractive process that has polluted the water and air of communities across the country.

Unfortunately, the energy portion of President Obama’s speech sounded like it could have been written by the oil and gas industry. He cited the industry’s deceptive claims and grossly inflated the jobs numbers, rather than actual labor statistics. President Obama needs to hear the truth about shale gas.

While we agree with the President that gas companies should disclose the chemicals they use in fracking, simply telling us which chemicals gas companies use will not prevent contamination from happening in nearby communities. It falls far short of removing the oil and gas industry’s exemption from key environmental regulations like the Safe Drinking Water Act, which the President should agree would be “regulations to prevent irresponsible behavior” by the oil and gas industry.

President Obama believes we can “develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk,” but the research increasingly shows that it is not possible. Please ask President Obama to walk away from fracking and toward an energy efficient future powered by renewable sources.


Tell President Obama to Walk Away from Empty Promises of Fracked Shale Gas

In his State of the Union speech, President Obama lauded natural gas from shale as a key part of his clean energy plan. Fracking shale for natural gas is an intensive extractive process that has polluted the water and air of communities across the country. There is nothing clean about it.

TAKE ACTION > President Obama said that he "will not walk away on the promise of clean energy." Tell him that the gas industry's promises are deceptive.


Ban Fracking in California!

Fracking has come to California, and if the oil and gas companies have their way they'll frack every possible inch of our state. Fracking, a type of oil and gas drilling that injects millions of gallons of chemicals, water and sand into the ground, has been proven to cause damage in communities around the country. This process can cause earthquakes, deplete and contaminate local water, lower property values and threaten public health. Californians can't afford to pay the heavy toll fracking will take on our state, which is why we need our legislators to enact a statewide ban on this practice.


TAKE ACTION > Sign the Petition to let the Governor and members of the California Legislature know that you want to Ban Fracking Now!


Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers - NYTimes.com


Wells for extracting natural gas, like these in Colorado, are a growing source of energy but can also pose hazards. | Kevin Moloney for The New York Times

...the relatively new drilling method — known as high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking — carries significant environmental risks. It involves injecting huge amounts of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, at high pressures to break up rock formations and release the gas.

With hydrofracking, a well can produce over a million gallons of wastewater that is often laced with highly corrosive salts, carcinogens like benzene and radioactive elements like radium, all of which can occur naturally thousands of feet underground. Other carcinogenic materials can be added to the wastewater by the chemicals used in the hydrofracking itself.

While the existence of the toxic wastes has been reported, thousands of internal documents obtained by The New York Times from the Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators and drillers show that the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood.

The documents reveal that the wastewater, which is sometimes hauled to sewage plants not designed to treat it and then discharged into rivers that supply drinking water, contains radioactivity at levels higher than previously known, and far higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for these treatment plants to handle...

...In fact, federal and state regulators are allowing most sewage treatment plants that accept drilling waste not to test for radioactivity. And most drinking-water intake plants downstream from those sewage treatment plants in Pennsylvania, with the blessing of regulators, have not tested for radioactivity since before 2006, even though the drilling boom began in 2008.

In other words, there is no way of guaranteeing that the drinking water taken in by all these plants is safe.

That has experts worried.

“We’re burning the furniture to heat the house,” said John H. Quigley, who left last month as secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “In shifting away from coal and toward natural gas, we’re trying for cleaner air, but we’re producing massive amounts of toxic wastewater with salts and naturally occurring radioactive materials, and it’s not clear we have a plan for properly handling this waste.”

The risks are particularly severe in Pennsylvania, which has seen a sharp increase in drilling, with roughly 71,000 active gas wells, up from about 36,000 in 2000. The level of radioactivity in the wastewater has sometimes been hundreds or even thousands of times the maximum allowed by the federal standard for drinking water. While people clearly do not drink drilling wastewater, the reason to use the drinking-water standard for comparison is that there is no comprehensive federal standard for what constitutes safe levels of radioactivity in drilling wastewater...

more


Sunday, March 18, 2012

Flood Congress with Support for Climate Action | Union of Concerned Scientists



TAKE ACTION
> Union of Concerned Scientists: Flood Congress with Support for Climate Action



Got Science?


Take the true or false quiz that pits your knowledge of climate change against public officials, media personalities, and political hacks. See if you can tell who's "Got Science" versus who's spreading propaganda that's "Not Science" about global warming. Complete the quiz and we'll send you a free "Got Science?" sticker.


Union of Concerned Scientists

The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world. UCS combines independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.

What began as a collaboration between students and faculty members at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1969 is now an alliance of more than 250,000 citizens and scientists. UCS members are people from all walks of life: parents and businesspeople, biologists and physicists, teachers and students. Our achievements over the decades show that thoughtful action based on the best available science can help safeguard our future and the future of our planet.


All Things Nuclear
A project of Union of Concerned Scientists

The Equation - a blog on independent science practical solutions

UCS Action Center | Union of Concerned Scientists



Global warming effect on Himalayan glaciers!! | The Candid Eye


water scarcity, which could affect more than a billion people, was the most serious threat that Asia faced from climate change



see also

what next: climate deniers get my goat

what next: Got Science? | climate deniers get my goat


Saturday, March 17, 2012

Sentinels of the Seas | pollution & dolphin immune system dysfunction and disease




Bottlenose dolphins are a beloved Florida icon. But, recent studies show disturbing signs of immune system dysfunction and disease plaguing this charismatic mammal. These problems might be linked to legacy contaminants and other pollutants which bio-accumulate up the ocean food chain. For decades, toxic chemicals have made their way into the oceans, leaving fish and marine mammals vulnerable.

As sentinels of ecosystem health, dolphins potentially hold clues to environmental hazards that could impact humans. Changing Seas visits the world’s longest running dolphin research program and other marine mammal centers for a better understanding of the silent threats lurking beneath the waves.


Sentinels of the Seas - Episode 202 - Changing Seas - WPBT2 Public Television Series | Summary of Episodes - Changing Seas - WPBT2 Public Television Series

Watch Sentinels of the Seas on PBS. See more from Changing Seas.

Video: Sentinels of the Seas | Watch Changing Seas Online | WPBT2 Video

full video - mentions mercury from coal-fired power plants & more about toxics building up in this apex predator - the first born of the young females get an especially concentrated dose and usually die...



see also

what next: Some Gulf Dolphins Severely Ill | Gulf Spill

whats up - label: dolphins
what next: marine mammals
whats up - label: seals
whats up - label: whales

what next: whales - PBS | US Navy | whale story

Marine Mammal Resources | Nature | PBS (Ocean Giants | Additional Resources)


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Alberta Oilsands: Researchers Doubt Damaged Land Can Be Restored To What It Was



In this file picture taken on October 23, 2009 An aerial view of an oil sands mine near the town of Fort McMurray in Alberta. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON

"It makes us angry because they will put some kind of plants back on the landscape, but it will not look the way it was and it will not have the same type of functions," said Suzanne Bayley, a University of Alberta biologist who has been studying the region for nearly two decades.

"Thinking that wetlands, or in (the oilsands) case, those peatlands are going to go back to natural states, it's basically unlikely," said David Moreno-Mateos, a biologist at the University of California Berkeley who recently published an analysis of 621 restored wetlands around the world.

"We don't know the right way to bring them back."
EDMONTON - In a small corner of the vast scrape the oilsands have left on northern Alberta, a small sampling of seeds is gradually warming up in the slow boreal spring.

Painstakingly hand-gathered last fall from sedges, grasses and shrubs at undisturbed marshes and bogs, the seeds were carefully strewn atop a former Syncrude tailings pond, now a crucial pilot project in wetland reclamation. If they sprout, much will rest on those slender shoots of water sedge, slough grass, marsh cinquefoil and bog birch.

There's the fate of a huge ecosytem being disrupted at an increasing pace. There're the millions of dollars companies have spent studying how to rebuild wetlands destroyed by oilsands mining. And there's the social licence of an industry that promises to restore land — in the words of one ad — to "where you'd never know there'd been a mine in the first place."

"The probability of success is extremely high," said Warren Zubot, a Syncrude senior engineer who's working on the Sandhills project, the rebuilt fen that is home to those scattered seeds.

"I'm very confident that we have the ability to create reclaimed wetlands," said Christine Daly, wetland reclamation director for Suncor, which has restored a marsh and is working on a fen project of its own.

But academic reseachers point out at least half the region's wetlands will be permanently lost. They say millions of tonnes of carbon will be released.

Stable ecosystems may take generations to develop and their final state is unpredictable, while hundreds of square kilometres of pristine bogs, marshes and fens are slated to be torn up at a pace that far outstrips reclamation...


more > Alberta Oilsands: Researchers Doubt Damaged Land Can Be Restored To What It Was


Is Your iPhone Nuclear Powered? - thinking...




idea for an upcoming article (not sure of the title yet, but it might be the following): "Is Your iPhone Nuclear Powered?"

i might switch that to something about electric cars... maybe: "Is Your Hybrid Nuclear Powered?"

will reference stuff like what percentage of electricity in "your area" is generated using nuclear power; and, what percentage of electricity used to manufacture the product was generated using nuclear power.

anyone know how to pull up that kind of stuff using google maps, or google earth or something? - any other ideas?

please email rc :) me or, better yet, leave comments below :)

PEACE!



cross-posted to whats up: RC's NUCLEAR BLOG




see also

whats up: #OccupyNuclear

got nukes?
who is nuking in your back yard ???


View Larger Map

try a google map search, use the name of your state & see what comes up

follow links, email rc, comment below...


NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW
whats up: RC's NUCLEAR BLOG
whats up: #OccupyNuclear
whats up: Links | Twitter - #OccupyNuclear

< #OccupyNuclear #nuclear #nukes #nonukes #occupy


Saturday, March 10, 2012

whats up: Remembering Fukushima And What You Can Do | Risky Reactors & Deadly Waste



the March 11 one-year anniversary of the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami and Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe is upon us. Nature on that day reminded us how vulnerable we truly are; and, even though nuclear power is deemed "safe" by those in power, we clearly see otherwise.

we now know that the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi began to melt down almost immediately. they soon starting blowing up, sending shockwaves around the world as radiation spread and governments lied.

one year later, the reactors are not yet under control and continue to release radiation into the environment. the land is poisoned, the sea is poisoned... thousands will be unable to ever return home, and many will ultimately die as a result of this ongoing catastrophe - the story is far from over!



more > whats up: Remembering Fukushima And What You Can Do | Risky Reactors & Deadly Waste


whats up: RC's NUCLEAR BLOG
NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW
#OccupyNuclear #fukushima #nuclear #nukes #nonukes #occupy

Thursday, March 8, 2012

BP Oil Still Tars the Gulf | The Progressive




A Brown Pelican is seen on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast on Thursday, June 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)


For many Americans, the story of the BP disaster began on April 20, 2010, and ended on August 15 of that year, when the Obama Administration declared that “the majority of the oil is gone,” though the opposite was true.

For those on the Gulf Coast, the disaster remains, and life continues to be measured in terms of “before” and “after” the BP oil spill. They are tired of it all: BP, the government, the lies and the lawyers, the hardship and the illness, the oil on the beach and in the water, the dead dolphins and the disfigured fish, the ever-shrinking hauls of oysters, crab, and shrimp, and the rest of the nation’s cold shoulder. They still don’t know the answers to many life-and-death questions. But they keep going, hoping for life to return to the way it was before.

more > BP Oil Still Tars the Gulf | The Progressive



Vessels combat the fire on the Deepwater Horizon while the United States Coast Guard searches for missing crew


By July 9, 2011, roughly 491 miles (790 kilometers) of coastline in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida remained contaminated by BP oil, according to a NOAA spokesperson. In October 2011, a NOAA report stated that dolphins and whales continue to die at twice the normal rate.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the BP oil disaster, or the Macondo blowout)[5][6][7] is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed unabated for three months in 2010. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.[8][9][10] The spill stemmed from a sea-floor oil gusher that resulted from the April 20, 2010, explosion of Deepwater Horizon, which drilled on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. The explosion killed 11 men working on the platform and injured 17 others.[11] On July 15, 2010, the leak was stopped by capping the gushing wellhead,[12] after it had released about 4.9 million barrels (780,000 m3) of crude oil.[3] An estimated 53,000 barrels per day (8,400 m3/d) escaped from the well just before it was capped.[10] It is believed that the daily flow rate diminished over time, starting at about 62,000 barrels per day (9,900 m3/d) and decreasing as the reservoir of hydrocarbons feeding the gusher was gradually depleted.[10] On September 19, 2010, the relief well process was successfully completed, and the federal government declared the well "effectively dead".[13] In August 2011, oil and oil sheen covering several square miles of water were reported surfacing not far from BP’s Macondo well.[14] Scientific analysis confirmed the oil is a chemical match for Macondo 252.[15][16] The Coast Guard said the oil was too dispersed to recover.[17]


Oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill pools against the Louisiana coast along Barataria Bay Tuesday, June 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

The spill caused extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats and to the Gulf's fishing and tourism industries.[18][19] Skimmer ships, floating containment booms, anchored barriers, sand-filled barricades along shorelines, and dispersants were used in an attempt to protect hundreds of miles of beaches, wetlands, and estuaries from the spreading oil. Scientists also reported immense underwater plumes of dissolved oil not visible at the surface[20] as well as an 80-square-mile (210 km²) "kill zone" surrounding the blown well.[21] In late November 2010, 4,200 square miles (11,000 km²) of the Gulf were re-closed to shrimping after tar balls were found in shrimpers' nets.[22] The amount of Louisiana shoreline affected by oil grew from 287 miles (462 km) in July to 320 miles (510 km) in late November 2010.[23] In January 2011, an oil spill commissioner reported that tar balls continue to wash up, oil sheen trails are seen in the wake of fishing boats, wetlands marsh grass remains fouled and dying, and crude oil lies offshore in deep water and in fine silts and sands onshore.[24] A research team found oil on the bottom of the seafloor in late February 2011 that did not seem to be degrading.[25] On May 26, 2011, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality extended the state of emergency related to the oil spill.[26] By July 9, 2011, roughly 491 miles (790 kilometers) of coastline in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida remained contaminated by BP oil, according to a NOAA spokesperson.[27] In October 2011, a NOAA report stated that dolphins and whales continue to die at twice the normal rate.[28]


The oil slick as seen from space by NASA's Terra satellite on May 24, 2010

In January 2011 the White House oil spill commission released its final report on the causes of the oil spill. They blamed BP and its partners for making a series of cost-cutting decisions and the lack of a system to ensure well safety. They also concluded that the spill was not an isolated incident caused by "rogue industry or government officials", but that "The root causes are systemic and, absent significant reform in both industry practices and government policies, might well recur".[29] After its own internal probe, BP admitted that it made mistakes which led to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.[30] In June 2010 BP set up a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the oil spill. To July 2011, the fund has paid $4.7 billion to 198,475 claimants. In all, the fund has nearly 1 million claims and continues to receive thousands of claims each week.[31]

In September 2011, the U.S. government published its final investigative report on the accident. In essence, that report states that the main cause was the defective cement job, and Halliburton, BP and Transocean were, in different ways, responsible for the accident.[32]


more > Deepwater Horizon oil spill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




NOAA Deepwater Horizon/BP Oil Spill Archive | response.restoration.noaa.gov

The NOAA Deepwater Horizon Archive serves as a centralized location online for much of the information NOAA gathered during the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill response and restoration activities.

As the nation's experts on oceanic and atmospheric science and the lead science agency for oil spills, NOAA was on the scene of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill since the earliest moments of the crisis. Our scientists used data from satellites, aircraft, ships, buoys, and gliders to collect and provide mission-critical information to guide the emergency response to the spill and now the long-term restoration of the Gulf Coast.



Russell Means




Russell Means Interview


about Russell Means

Russell Means has lived a life like few others in this century - revered for his selfless accomplishments and remarkable bravery. He was born into a society and guided by way of life that gently denies the self in order to promote the survival and betterment of family and community. His culture is driven by tradition, which at once links the past to the present.

The L.A. Times has called him the most famous American Indian since Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. His indomitable sense of pride and leadership has become embedded in our national character. Today, his path has brought him to Hollywood, thus enabling him to use different means to communicate his vital truths. Through the power of media, his vision is to create peaceful and positive images celebrating the magic and mystery of his American Indian heritage. In contemplating the fundamental issues about the world in which we live, he is committed to educating all people about our most crucial battle - the preservation of the earth.


Russell Charles Means (born November 10, 1939) is an Oglala Sioux activist for the rights of Native American people. He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) after joining the organisation in 1968, and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage. The organization split in 1993, in part over the 1975 murder of Anna Mae Aquash, the leading woman activist in AIM.

Means has been active in international issues of indigenous peoples, including working with groups in Central and South America, and with the United Nations for recognition of their rights. He has been active in politics at his native Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and at the state and national level.

Since 1992, he has acted in numerous films and released his own music CD. He published his autobiography Where White Men Fear to Tread in 1997.


Russell Means - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thirty years ago, reflecting the consciousness of the sixties, he captured national attention when he led the 71-day armed takeover on the sacred grounds of Wounded Knee, a tiny hamlet in the heart of South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation. Means joined “The Longest Walk” in 1978 to protest a new tide of anti-Indian legislation including the forced sterilization of Indian women. Following the walk, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution saying that national policy was to protect the rights of Indians, “to believe, express and exercise their traditional religions, including but not limited to access to sites, use and possession of sacred objects, and the freedom to worship through ceremonials and traditional rites.”

Today, with the same passionate determination, he has directed his energy towards the entertainment industry. In a record period of time, this famed political activist and early leader of the American Indian Movement (AIM) has become immersed in all five corners of the business, with projects including: Lead roles in major feature films, (The Last of the Mohicans, Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers, as a chief in John Candy's comedy Wagons East and as the ghost of Jim Thorpe in Wind Runner); Disney's third highest ever selling video (Pocahantas) in which he was the voice of Pocahontas' father, a television documentary for HBO (Paha Sapa), (Indian Father and Son) a pilot he created; Two albums of protest music with lyrics he wrote (Electric Warrior and The Radical). On the technological side, he stars in a CD-ROM (Under A Killing Moon) and has created his own website www.russellmeans.com. The website features information regarding the A.I.M. club, his recordings via the American Indian Music Company, his art, book, current events, biography and upcoming appearances and direct e-mail to Russell. Born on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation in 1939, Russell Means is the eldest son of Hank Means, an Oglala Sioux, and Theodora (Feather) Means, a full-blooded Yankton Sioux. Shortly after the outbreak of WWII, his family moved to California, where he graduated from San Leandro High in 1958 and continued his formal education at Oakland City College and Arizona State.

Russell's commitment to uplift the plight of his people escalated when he served as director of Cleveland's American Indian Center. It was there he met Dennis Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, and embarked upon a relationship that would rocket them both into national prominence. During this period, Russell staged numerous events designed to bring dignity to the American Indian. His most famous act of defiance, however, occurred at Wounded Knee on February 27, 1973. Responding to the numerous murders perpetrated by puppet tribal governments and the extreme conditions of oppression, the takeover at Wounded Knee revisited the sight of the American Indian massacre at the hands of U.S. soldiers in 1890. Ever vigilant for his cause, Russell has been lauded by the international community for his tireless efforts.

Russell splits his time between San Jose, NM, his ranch on the Pine Ridge Sioux Indian reservation, Porcupine, SD and his office in Santa Monica, CA. He takes pride in having instituted programs for the betterment of his people: notable, the Porcupine Health Clinic (the only non government funded clinic in Indian Country) and KILI radio, the first Indian owned radio station. Today, one of his principle goals is the establishment of a “Total Immersion School”, which is based on a concept created by the Maori people of New Zealand, where children are immersed in the language, culture, science, music and storytelling of their own people. Russell will adapt this total immersion concept to the Indian way of life and philosophy which is taught from a perspective that will nurture a new generation of proud children educated in the context of their own heritage.

Russell Means has devoted his life to eliminating racism of any kind, and in so doing he leaves a historical imprint as the most revolutionary Indian leader of the late twentieth century. An inspirational visionary, Russell Means remains one of the most magnetic voices in America today. Whether leading a protest, fighting for constitutional rights, starring in a motion picture, or performing his “rap-ajo” music, the message he delvers is consistent with the philosophy he lives by, which states:

The Universe which controls all life, has a female and male balance that is prevalent throughout our Sacred Grandmother, the Earth.

This balance has to be acknowledged and become the determining factor in all of one's decisions, be they spiritual, social, healthful, educational or economical.

Once the balance has become an integral part of one's life, all planning, research, direct action and follow-up becomes a matter of course. The goals that were targeted become a reality on a consistent basis. Good things happen to good People; remember time is on your side.

Mitaku Oyasin (we are all related)
Russell Means 1997


Russell Means


see also

Russell Means Freedom

RussellMeansFreedom's Channel - YouTube


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Make Joseph Kony Famous



KONY 2012


KONY 2012

KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.


make kony famous



Invisible Children

Cover the Night (Make Kony Famous 2012) Worldwide (facebook)

Invisible Children (facebook)


Joseph Kony


Joseph Kony (born 18 September 1964[4] in Odek, Uganda) is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments throughout Uganda. The LRA say that spirits have been sent to communicate this mission directly to Kony.

Directed by Kony, the LRA has earned a reputation for its actions against the people of several countries, including northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Sudan. It has abducted and forced an estimated 66,000 children to fight for them, and has also forced the internal displacement of over 2,000,000 people since its rebellion began in 1986. As a result, in 2005 Kony was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, but has evaded capture since.


Joseph Kony - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Lokeria Aciro, 40, rests at Saint Joseph’s Hospital near Kitgum after an LRA attack in which a boy of about 11 cut off her lips and ears. She had been collecting firewood outside a camp.


The LRA is accused of widespread human rights violations, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children and forcing children to participate in hostilities.


LRA -
some call it a cult



To avoid abduction by the LRA, every night as many as 40,000 children flee their homes in the countryside to sleep in the relative safety of towns. Known as "night commuters", they seek refuge overnight at churches, hospitals, bus stations and temporary shelters before returning home again each morning.


The Lord's Resistance Army (also Lord's Resistance Movement or Lakwena Part Two) is a militant group with a syncretic Christian extreme religious ideology, known for the extreme atrocities they commit against civilians, including killings, mutilations, rape, and in some accounts even cannibalism. The group operates in northern Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

The Lord's Resistance Army was formed in 1987 in the Acholi region of Northern Uganda. Initially, the LRA was an outgrowth and continuation of the larger armed resistance movement waged by some of the Acholi people against a central Ugandan government which they felt marginalized them. Over 25 years, the LRA's political goals have become much harder to decipher. In the past decade, the group has spent much of its energy attacking, killing and enslaving unarmed Acholis of its own tribe (including many women and children). It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the "spokesperson" of God and a spirit medium, primarily of the Holy Spirit, which the group believes can represent itself in many manifestations.

The group is based on a number of different beliefs including local religious rituals, mysticism, traditional religion, Acholi nationalism, and Christianity,[ and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments and local Acholi tradition. The LRA is accused of widespread human rights violations, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children and forcing children to participate in hostilities.



Lord's Resistance Army - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
about
INVISIBLE CHILDREN



INVISIBLE CHILDREN USES FILM, CREATIVITY AND SOCIAL ACTION TO END THE USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS IN JOSEPH KONY'S REBEL WAR AND RESTORE LRA-AFFECTED COMMUNITIES IN CENTRAL AFRICA TO PEACE AND PROSPERITY.


WE ARE STORY TELLERS

We use the power of media to inspire young people to help end the longest-running armed conflict in Africa. We make documentaries, tour them around the world, and lobby our nation’s leaders to make ending this conflict a priority.


WE GET OUR HANDS DIRTY

We implement and maintain education programs and economic initiatives on the ground in Central Africa. Recovering communities require stability when it comes to education and economic initiatives, but the ever-changing conflict demands innovative solutions and quick mobilization. Our initiatiatives attempt to meet the region's need for both stability and flexibility.



INVISIBLE CHILDREN


watch the film (30 minutes well spent): KONY 2012

Monday, March 5, 2012

The Right Side: Let's Get Deep



How much time did you spend on facebook last week? Be honest with yourself. I’ll be honest with myself too. Between updating statuses, posting pictures, sending tweets and watching youtube videos the minutes really begin to add up. It’s no question that today’s society has become preoccupied with a technological revolution. And unfortunately part of that revolution includes a growing deficit in real human interaction.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for social networking. Just today I was talking online with friends from elementary school that I would have otherwise lost touch with. And you wouldn’t be reading these words right now without it. But I think we all need to be reminded about what’s real and most important in life: personal connection. It’s one thing to text your best friend that you’re thinking of them but it’s a whole different story when you can give them a hug, look them in the eye and tell them you love them to their face.

Living in such a fast-paced society we often only skim the surface of our relationships with quick hellos and superficial conversation. To really connect with someone, heart to heart and soul to soul, requires us to open ourselves up and allow other people into a deeper place within us. There’s a lot going on in there that even you might not be aware of. Having a real, authentic connection with another person involves an exchange of energy that can help bring out a lot of new discoveries about yourself. It’s exciting. It’s growth. It’s life.

So next time you go out on a lunch date with your friend, leave your blackberry in the car and give that lucky person your full attention. Listen attentively, be open and see if you can get a little bit deeper than reliving the party you went to last weekend or updating each other on celebrity drama. If you have kids, take the time to really have a connection with them. Turn off the TV, find out what they’re learning in school and who their new friends are. There’s a whole world of thoughts, desires, fears, dreams and dilemmas that exists inside of each of us and we should all have the courage to explore this world and share it with others.


The Right Side: Let's Get Deep

my son's blog -
The Right Side
"I pushed my bed against the wall so I never wake up on the wrong side" - Nik Cherwink

Friday, March 2, 2012

Extreme Weather - TORNADOES



120 tornadoes and counting...


This tornado spotted two miles west of Henryville, Ind. before it crossed I-65 around noon on March 2 | Evan Bentley | photoblog.msnbc.msn.com

On Tuesday a cold front sliding down from the Rockies collided with a mass of warm moist air rising up from the Gulf of Mexico spawning a band of violent weather—including several tornadoes—stretching across the nation's center... and on it goes

The Early March 2012 tornado outbreak is a major tornado outbreak currently ongoing over a large section of the Southern United States into the Ohio Valley region. The storms have resulted in at least 37 fatalities.[1] It is the deadliest US tornado outbreak in March since at least the 1994 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak, which killed 40.[2] - A major tornado outbreak struck the region less than 72 hours prior to this storm, killing 13 people, including 6 in Harrisburg, Illinois alone, the result of an EF4 Tornado. A moderate risk of severe weather was issued for March 2 a day in advance for a large area from near Tuscaloosa, Alabama to Dayton, Ohio as an intense storm system tracked across the region in a very high shear environment.[3] Intense tornadoes were possible.[3] On the morning of March 2, it was upgraded and a high risk of severe weather was issued for Middle Tennessee and central Kentucky, later extended into Central and Southern Indiana and southern Ohio.[4][5] The Storm Prediction Center mentioned the potential for significant tornadoes.[5] Multiple PDS tornado watches were issued shortly thereafter.[6][7] - Early March 2012 tornado outbreak - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




Storm Prediction Center Tornado Watch 66: EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY MORNING FROM 1055 PM
UNTIL 500 AM CST. (March 2 & 3)


TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.*****THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 85 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 50 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF MOBILE ALABAMA TO 5 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF LA GRANGE GEORGIA. FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU6).*****REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS


Storm Prediction Center - Current Convective Watches



NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


UPDATE
(BBC; 3 March 2012, 18:00 ET)


A school bus is crushed into a business on the east side of U.S. 31 in Henryville, Ind., after powerful storms stretching from the U.S. Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes in the north wrecked two small towns and killed at least eight people Friday, March 2. | C.E. Branham | photoblog.msnbc.msn.com

US authorities in several Midwestern states are searching for survivors and clearing damage after a string of powerful storms and tornadoes left at least 37 people dead.

A total of 90 tornadoes and 700 severe weather events were reported on Friday.

-- Correspondents say it will be impossible to make an immediate assessment of the full extent of the damage.

Tornadoes occur all year round in the US, although the strength of this week's storms was unusual for the time of year - the peak period is March to May in the southern US and later further north.

'Completely gone'

At least 18 people died in Kentucky, reports said, and another 14 in neighbouring Indiana.

The small town of Marysville, Indiana, was almost completely destroyed, with the town's water tower one of the few buildings to remain undamaged, local reports said.

Clark County Sheriff Danny Rodden said that residents had been warned of oncoming storms but added: "This was the worst-case scenario. There's no way you can prepare for something like this."

...A toddler was in a critical condition in hospital in Kentucky after being found alive and alone in a field near the town of Salem, southern Indiana... (the girl, Angel Babcock, later died)


Tell Obama: no end run for Keystone XL


SIGN THE PETITION!


Tell President Obama:
Don't 'expedite' Keystone XL


Yesterday, the White House applauded news that TransCanada would go forward with building the southern leg of Keystone XL, promising to help expedite the permits necessary to complete the pipeline's route from Cushing, Okla. to the refineries and shipping ports of Port Arthur, Texas.

Breaking up the pipeline in this way is quite simply TransCanada's latest end run around the State Department's formal review process, which is required for any pipeline that crosses an international border. It will also make it easier for the company to trample property rights and immediately seize Americans' land by eminent domain.

President Obama's support for the southern leg isn't a surprise -- he specifically mentioned this project as he was rejecting the full pipeline last month based on insufficient time to conduct a thorough review.

But it is deeply disappointing that, just a month later, he would signal a willingness to backtrack on even that minimal condition, saying he would "take every step possible to expedite the necessary federal permits."1

The southern portion of Keystone XL carries the same risks of oil spills on American water and soil, and brings the tar sands carbon bomb one big step closer to being unleashed across the world. President Obama must insure that the Department of Transportation and the Army Corps of Engineers do not cut any corners in evaluating this project, and consider it's full impacts on the climate.

Tell President Obama: Don't expedite approval of the southern leg of Keystone XL or cut any corners to force this project through.

While the southern portion of Keystone XL does not turn up the spigot of tar sands bitumen that can be transported out of Alberta, Canada, it does ultimately accomplish the biggest goal of Keystone XL -- to bring the landlocked tar sands to shipping ports and the global market so it can be burned across the globe, leading to disastrous climate impacts.

This should be enough for the President to publicly reject this project. Instead he's not only applauding it, he wants to "expedite" it.

Instead of criticizing TransCanada's bullying as it runs rough shod over the private property rights of Americans, President Obama is now acting to enable TransCanada's ability to seize land via eminent domain.

President Obama can't keep trying to have it both ways. He can't claim to want to move our nation away from fossil fuels and fight climate change while he paves the way for the dirtiest oil on earth to be shipped and burned across the globe. He can't try to appeal to environmental voters by rejecting this pipeline on an insufficient evaluation, and then turn around and allow the pipeline developer to circumvent the approval process, even accelerating the minimal process that remains.

Tell President Obama: Don't expedite approval of Keystone XL or cut any corners to force this project through.

We knew this project would be back, and we meant it when we said we'd fight it everywhere, every step of the way.

There will be many local and national opportunities in the upcoming approval fight -- but for now the least President Obama can do is maintain even the minimal commitment he made to us when he rejected Keystone XL just a few weeks ago.

Thanks for fighting Keystone XL in all it's forms.


TAKE ACTION > Tell President Obama: Don't 'expedite' Keystone XL


Obama Calls for an End to Oil Subsidies - on right track, partially


obama on right track, partially


Obama held a chart about oil usage at the school. | Doug Mills/The New York Times

NYTimes.com: NASHUA, N.H. — With his re-election fate increasingly tied to the price Americans are paying at the gas pump, President Obama asked Congress on Thursday to end $4 billion in subsidies for oil and gas companies and vowed to tackle the country’s long-term energy issues while shunning “phony election-year promises about lower gas prices...”

“You can either stand up for the oil companies, or you can stand up for the American people,” Mr. Obama said. “You can keep subsidizing a fossil fuel that’s been getting taxpayer dollars for a century, or you can place your bets on a clean-energy future.”

The president criticized Republicans who have called for the country to increase its own oil production, declaring that “anyone who tells you we can drill our way out of this problem doesn’t know what they’re talking about.” With the United States consuming more than 20 percent of the world’s oil while having only 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves, Mr. Obama said “we can’t rely on fossil fuels from the last century...”


Obama Calls for an End to Subsidies for Oil and Gas Companies - NYTimes.com


Obama administration calls for no expansion to nuclear loan guarantee program in FY2013 budget, but US is still building new nukes with taxpayer money


February 16: As reported in the Huffington Post, for the first time in three years, the Obama administration has not called for a major expansion in the nuclear loan guarantee program. In fact, it has called for no expansion at all.

In his Fiscal Year 2011 and Fiscal Year 2012 budget requests, fresh on the heels of explicitly promoting nuclear power in his State of the Union addresses, President Obama called for a major expansion of the nuclear loan guarantee program, to the tune of $36 billion. However, as a testament to people power over nuclear power, the nuclear lobbyists didn't get away with it -- we stopped them time and again on Capitol Hill, through tireless concerned citizen pressure! It's a huge grassroots environmental victory!

The program already had $22.5 billion, however, mostly authorized during the George W. Bush administration, snuck through on December 23, 2007 when most Americans were more tuned into holiday celebrations with family and friends, rather than the backroom wheeling and dealing by dirty energy industry lobbyists on Capitol Hill. Of that $22.5 billion already authorized, $18.5 billion was set aside for new atomic reactors, while $4 billion was set aside for new uranium enrichment facilities.

In Feb. 2010, President Obama announced the first nuclear loan guarantee himself -- $8.3 billion for two new atomic reactors at Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia. On December 30, 2011, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the Toshiba-Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design, despite lingering concerns about major safety flaws. Just this month, by a 4 to 1 vote (with NRC Chairman Jaczko dissenting), the NRC Commissioners approved the combined Construction and Operating License Application (COLA) for Vogtle Units 3 and 4.

Another leg up for Vogtle 3 & 4, this time at ratepayer expense, is Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) charges on ordinary family's electricity bills, making them pay for the reactors in advance. CWIP is illegal in most states. Yet another leg up, at federal taxpayer expense: the AP1000, along with the General Electric Hitachi ESBWR (so-called "Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor") has benefitted from U.S. Department of Energy "Nuclear Power 2010" research and development 50/50 cost sharing...


more > Beyond Nuclear - Loan Guarantees - Obama administration calls for no expansion to nuclear loan guarantee program in FY2013 budget!