Showing posts with label Obsolescence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obsolescence. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Record breaking cold weather blankets U.S. - 85% surface area at or below freezing

© Weatherbell.com
SOTT | Nov 19, 2014 | Dr. Ryan Maue

Tuesday morning, America 'as a whole' awoke to the coldest it has been in November since 1976 -- 38 years ago. The Lower-48 or CONUS spatially average temperature plummeted overnight to only 19.4°F typical of mid-winter not November 18th! Data

An astounding 226-million Americans will experience at or below freezing temperatures (32°F) on Tuesday as well -- if you venture outdoors.

More than 85% of the surface area of the Lower-48 reached or fell below freezing Tuesday morning. All 50-states saw at or below freezing temperatures on Tuesday.

Record lows from Idaho to Nebraska and Iowa south to Texas and east through the Great Lakes, the eastern 2/3 of the US will shatter decades-long and in some cases, century-long records. Temperatures east of the Rockies will be 20-40°F below climate normals.

Compared to normal, temperatures over the past several days have dropped off a cliff -- to 10°C below climate normal -- more anomalous than even during the polarvortex of early January. Anomaly Chart. November is shaping up to be a colder-than-normal month by a lot.

Read more..

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Antarctic Sea Ice Extent sets new record, pierces 20 million square kilometer barrier


Watts Up With That | Sep 20, 2014 | Anthony Watts

Sunshine hours reports that the Antarctic Sea Ice Extent for September 19th, 2014 is 20.11297 million square kilometers, which is 1,535,000 sq km above the 1981-2010 climatological mean.

Another 58,000 sq km. was added since yesterday, making it the 7th All-Time Record in 7 Days.

This new record is 610,000 sq km higher than the previous daily record. The red line represents 2014 data.

Read more..

Friday, December 20, 2013

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): Assault on Our Sovereignty, Our Constitution, Our Liberty (Video)

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): Assault on Our Sovereignty, Our Constitution, Our Liberty (Video)
Dec 19, 2013 | The new American | William F. Jasper

Over the past couple of years, The New American has presented many articles, including a special “Free Trade Agenda” issue of the print publication (PDF), exposing the dangers of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. It is a regional trade agreement aimed at integrating the economic, legal, and political systems of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam — and the United States. As such, it proposes a radical, unconstitutional transformation of our republic and of the entire governing structure of our nation.

The architects of the TPP admit that they plan to expand the outrageous ambitions of the TPP to an even larger group of nations, which they have dubbed the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP). The Peterson Institute for International Economics is one of the premier globalist think tanks and a key promoter of the TPP. A Peterson Institute study states that “the TPP is regarded as an interim arrangement or stepping stone toward a broader, regionwide Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific.”

The TPP and FTAAP promoters are consciously using the same formula of lies, deception and subversion that globalist leaders in Europe have been employing for decades to convert formerly independent nations into obedient “member states” of the European Union.


The TPP, if accepted, will transfer increasing legislative, executive and judicial powers to regional entities, and to the World Trade Organization, which claims ultimate jurisdiction over all matters covered by the agreement.

And what kind of matters are those?

Since all negotiations have been held in secrecy, we can only report on the issues the U.S. Trade Representative’s office admits the TPP covers, which include: customs, telecommunications, investment services, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, intellectual property, regulatory coherence, development, non-conforming measures and cross-border trade in services, rules of origin, competition, agriculture, textiles, and environment.

One can only speculate the consequences when surrendering sovereignty on any of these important issues.

Wikileaks, an Internet whistleblower site, leaked one chapter of the text in late 2013. It showed the dangers the TPP presents to alternative, independent media and the right of citizens to communicate via the Internet.

The TPP would, in effect implement the anti-freedom measures of two badly misnamed bills that failed to pass Congress: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). These bills would have drastically affected Internet freedom, allowing virtually anyaone — but especially the ruling powers — to stop publication of anything they find objectionable by claiming copyright infringement.

My colleague at The New American, constitutional attorney Joe Wolverton, points out that “such procedures bypass the U.S. court system and the Constitution by abolishing the due process owed to those accused of crimes.” And notes Wolverton, “The TPP is an attack on our laws, our courts, our freedom of expression, our Constitution, and our sovereignty.”

Contact your representatives now to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and see the additional articles listed below that we’ve published detailing the dangers of the TPP.

Related articles:

WikiLeaks Publishes Key Chapter of Secret TPP Agreement
Regional Scheme for the Pacific Rim
Trans-Pacific Partnership Ready for Christmas Delivery?
TPP Secret Trade Agreement Puts International Tribunal Above U.S.
The “Free Trade” Agenda Threatens Our Rights
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Secret Surrender of Sovereignty

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Toxic World Exposing Hundreds of Millions to Deadly Chemicals: Report

Fires are set to wires and other electronics to release valuable
cooper and other materials. The fires blacken the landscape,
releasing toxic fumes. (Photo: Blacksmith Institute/Flickr)
Toxic World Exposing Hundreds of Millions to Deadly Chemicals: Report
Nov 5, 2013 | Common Dreams | Jon Queally

The rise of computers, advanced electronics and large-scale manufacturing systems have serious down sides that much of the developed world and the beneficiaries of those technologies have proven eager to ignore.

And on Monday, highlighting the ten worst places in the world for industrial pollution, a new report claims that more than 200 million people living in low- and middle-income countries are having their health dramatically impacted by their exposure to dangerous levels of toxic materials.

According to the report, produced by the U.S.-based Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross Switzerland in Europe, the new list of the top ten polluted places shows that a range of pollution sources and industrial contaminants—including hexavalent chromium from tanneries and heavy metals released from smelting operations—continue to plague populations already suffering from poverty and poor health systems.

"In this year's report, we cite some of the most polluted places we've encountered. But it is important to point out that the problem is really much larger than these ten sites," says Richard Fuller, president of Blacksmith Institute. "We estimate that the health of more than 200 million people is at risk from pollution in the developing world."

As the report shows, the world's ten most polluted places include:
Agbogbloshie, Ghana
Chernobyl, Ukraine
Citarum River, Indonesia
Dzershinsk, Russia
Hazaribagh, Bangladesh
Kabwe, Zambia
Kalimantan, Indonesia
Matanza Riachuelo, Argentina
Niger River Delta, Nigeria
Norilsk, Russia
The groups released a similar report in 2007 and though many of the same areas remained on their top ten list, they were joined by an unfortunate number of newly polluted areas that have succumbed to the perils of electronic manufacturing and the growing quantities of e-waste produced by the digital revolution.

As Agence France-Presse reports:
West Africa's second largest processing area for the world's swelling piles of electronic waste, at Agbogbloshie in Ghana's capital Accra was among new additions.

Each year, Ghana imports around 215,000 tonnes of secondhand consumer electronics, mainly from Western Europe -- a number that is expected to double by 2020, according to the report.

The main health concern linked to e-waste processing in Ghana is the burning of sheathed cables to recover the copper inside, the report said, pointing out that the cables can contain a range of heavy metals, including lead.

Soil samples from around Agbogbloshie have shown concentrations of that toxic metal that are 45 times more than accepted levels, the report said.

"E-waste is really going to be a challenge. It's growing exponentially. Everybody wants a computer, a laptop, the modern devices, so I think we're seeing the tip of the iceberg," Blacksmith research director Jack Caravanos told reporters in a conference call.
Read the full report, The Top Ten Toxic Threats: Cleanup, Progress, and Ongoing Challengeshere.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Exceptionalism: A film that studies the origins of American exceptionalism

Exceptionalism: A film that studies the origins of American exceptionalism
Oct 14, 2013 | Sott.net / RT

What is American exceptionalism? Where does the US's world monopoly on democracy come from? How does the US give itself license to do as it pleases?

"Exceptionalism" is a film by RT correspondent Anissa Naouai.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Strangling the City: How ‘Sustainable’ is Boxing in Freedom

Strangling the City: How ‘Sustainable’ is Boxing in Freedom
July 26, 2013 | TruthStream Media / Aaron Dykes

Is the city building up or closing in?

At least in Austin, it is thus: The city is moving in all around us; but look carefully, those amenities are boxing us in, not setting us free.

We made some comments about the Texas capital’s heavy dose of Agenda 21 in this mostly informal video that shows some of the city’s recent development:



So goes the nation, or is this just our local issue? By the appearances of America2050.org (driven by the Regional Plan Association and funded by both the Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation) effort to create densely populated Megaregions across the country, I would wager the answer to be ‘yes.’ The plan would essentially double the population of existing metropolitan areas.

The federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants given to local communities, in turn partnered with the Dept. of Traffic and EPA, correspond with this agenda.

“Sustainability” is one of the key phrases used to justify this huge consolidation, not just of populations, but of power. But who elected regional planners to redesign the nation? No one, that’s who.

In Central Texas, vast authority was handed over to an organization called CAPCOG, the Capital Area Council of Governments, which is comprised of appointed leaders and which overseas a number of key development projects related to transportation, housing, zoning, economic re-development and etc. Similar organizations – lacking elected leaders, sufficient accountability or even general public awareness – exist across the nation.

As Melissa Melton previously reported, for Austin, as in other locales, this includes implementation of the “smart grid,” the adoption of international building codes, control over thermostat data, greater emphasis on mixed-use building structures, more multifamily units, and the like.

As a growing metropolitan city, Austin stands out as a prime example, in fact. Not only has Austin received HUD Sustainable Communities grants, but it has been designated by ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA (who have been integral since 1992 in the implementation of the United Nations’ Agenda 21 goals) as one of ten STAR Beta Communities across the United States. Emblematic of this is the Mueller Community, which has been developed by regional planners to incorporate the sanitized, vision of a ‘sustainable urban’ Stepford Wives lifestyle in an ‘advanced smart grid’ model.

Unlike the East Coast, Texas is mostly new to super dense population zones. While buses exist, trains are sparse even in Houston and Dallas, and few are accustomed to mass transportation as a way of life. But with the politically shady imposition of toll roads, light rail (a taxpayer funded inner-city rail scheme) and an attempt to link urban living with “emerging Megaregions” like the “Texas Triangle,” that is changing.

For years, I passed by the Plaza Saltillo Metro Rail stop just a few blocks East of the famed 6th Street downtown area vibrant with the city’s night life and plenty of intoxicated patrons who could probably use a lift. But never have I seen anyone waiting at that rail station, day or night. And over the course of years, I never spotted the actual train – not once. Did it even exist?

I never got a direct answer to that rhetorical question floating around in my head, but I was delayed in my (rather despicable) automobile travel activities by a related end just a few weeks ago.

It was rush hour on North Lamar, and things were already busy and stressful on the road. The rail road barriers came down and things came to grinding halt. I assumed a freight train was hauling through and I wondered how many cars it would be and how long it would take. Instead, for a solid two or three minutes nothing at all came by.

Still the barriers impeded the busy flow of traffic. But nothing. It was another minute, maybe even two before the train finally crossed over what is a major road through the city of Austin.

When it finally came, the train was not a freighter hauling industrial products or commercial goods, but a two car metro rail ‘train’. Little had I noticed that over in the corner was a station dubbed Crestview, officially ‘west of Lamar between Justin St. and St. John’s Ave.’ And as surely as I was eager to get moving on those taxpayer roads, I realized that no one – not a soul – was visibly in that train. Not one passenger, yet the metro rail stop had blocked hundreds of cars for a full 4 or maybe even 5 minutes.

Is that outrageous? Or just what Texans can expect to face in coming years, along with higher taxes to cover new infrastructure and a fresh push for more trains and toll roads (encircling cities like Austin and typically built on top of, or taking over, taxpayer-funded roads), alongside the literal rise of dozens of new skyscrapers, and more and more “mixed use” buildings that include trendy shops, overpriced condos short on floor space, and a growing population of metro-minded dupes.

Subways and trains make plenty of sense in New York City and other East Coast metro areas, and quite a few European cities I’ve visited, however briefly. But this kind of transition in Texas and other areas of heartland America will not come without significant growing pains, plenty of cost, and a drastic but understated loss of sovereignty.

It is already being reported that California’s high speed rail is ‘collapsing’ under the strain of corruption. At a minimum, it is burdening West Coast dwellers with the high cost of graft and over-budgeted boondoggles.

Again, all this ‘concentrated growth’ is sold in the name of “sustainability” or protecting the environment. But consider for one moment what would happen in the event of economic collapse, civil unrest, food shortages, natural disasters/terror attacks, or even temporary shortages (for whatever reason). The biggest cities in the country would quickly become the worst possible places to be. Statistically, the average home only holds a few days worth of food before they run out, while grocery stores hold only a three or four days worth of food. Electricity outages or the like could potentially cause panic even quicker than food.

Without going into all the details, that picture should get across one simple concept: an urban zone like this is not “sustainable” in any real sense.

That kind of sustainability is a myth.

Related:

25 Facts About The Fall Of Detroit That Will Leave You Shaking Your Head

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Mass Poverty, Social Inequality and the Thirdworldization of America

Mass Poverty, Social Inequality and the Thirdworldization of America
May 12, 2013 | Global Research | Stephen Lendman

Center for Economic and Policy Research co-director Dean Baker calls poverty America’s “new growth industry.” The state of today’s America is deplorable.

In his latest May 3 analysis, economist John Williams said “April “employment and unemployment data were nonsense: the economy remains in serious trouble.”

About 23% of Americans wanting work can’t find it. Most jobs are temp or part-time low pay/poor or no benefit service ones with no futures. Conditions are getting worse, not better.

Federal, state and local government jobs were lost. Construction shed 6,000 jobs. Zero manufacturing jobs were created. Most good ones are overseas. They’ve been offshored to low-wage countries.

Economist David Rosenberg called April a “potemkin payroll report. Where’s the income hiding,” he asked? Average wage-based income declined 0.4%. It was the biggest drop since last October.

Market analyst Graham Summers discussed “a truly horrible economic reality” beneath April’s headline job numbers. The average workweek declined by 0.2 hours. The average manufacturing workweek was down 0.3%.

Fewer overall hours worked subtracts 15 minutes per week. Applied to private sector employment, it’s “the equivalent of over 21 million work hours lost in one month.”

It’s the biggest decline since April 2009. At that time, the economy was “absolutely imploding. It’s numerical equivalent of firing 718,000+ people.”

It’s how companies begin dealing with downturns. “They don’t start laying people off en masse….they start cutting work hours bit by bit.”

Mass layoffs arrive during “full-blown recessions. The first stage “is already happening.” Clear signs show it.

Markets are euphoric. They’re hitting new highs. Economic contraction is ignored. It happened in 2000 and 2008. Warning signs look ominously like earlier.

Peter B. Edelman co-directs Georgetown University’s Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy. He calls “low-wage work” in America “pandemic.”

America “descended into poverty,” said Paul Craig Roberts. Growing millions struggle to get by. Many are “one medical problem or lost job away from homelessness.”

Some colleges and universities offer adjunct professorships. They pay “$10,000 per year or less.” Education was once “touted as the way out of poverty.” Increasingly it reflects it. So do military enlistments. They’re a desperate way to find work.

America’s wealth disparity is deplorable. The top 1% owns over half the nation’s wealth. The bottom 90% has a decreasing share. Social inequality defines today’s America. It’s unprecedented or close to it.

It matches or exceeds 19th century harshness. Protracted Depression conditions affect growing millions. Poverty, unemployment, homelessness and hunger approach record levels.

Socially destructive government policies bear full responsibility. Wealth and privilege alone matter. Ordinary households are sacrificed. Popular needs go begging.

Inequality is institutionalized. Around 100 million working age Americans are jobless. Most others are underemployed. Millions struggle to pay rent, service mortgages, cover medical bills, heat homes, and manage other daily expenses.

America’s 1% has more wealth than the bottom 95%. Income inequality is greater than in all other developed countries. Over three-fourths of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck.

Neoliberal harshness is policy. Bipartisan complicity force-feeds it. It’s institutionalized when vital aid is needed. Doing so wages financial war on millions.

Obama exceeds the worst of George Bush. He’s wrecking growing millions of households. He’s doing so to serve monied interests. They own him. Whatever they want they get.

Obama’s thirdworldizing America. He’s ideologically over-the-top. He’s waging war living standards. He’s targeting the nation’s social contract.

He’s dismissive of growing needs. He’s heading America for tyranny and ruin. He’s banana republicanizing it.

It’s already a kleptocracy. It’s run by corporate crooks. Bipartisan complicity lets them have things their way. Profits are privatized. Losses are socialized. Bankers are at the top of the pecking order.

Ordinary people are exploited. A democratic facade masks New World Order harshness. Its holy trinity is eliminating public services, predatory capitalism writ large, and cracking down hard on non-believers.

Freedom’s fast disappearing. Inside the bubble, it’s paradise. Outside it’s dystopian hell. America never was beautiful. It’s worse than ever now in modern times.

Monied interests run things. Electoral politics doesn’t work. Washington is too pernicious, corrupt and dysfunctional to fix. Privilege is institutionalized. Beneficial social change isn’t tolerated. Police state harshness prevents it.

Force-feeding inequality defines immorality. It’s also destructive economics. America’s been declining for years. Private wealth is pitted against popular interests. It’s been winning for decades.

Younger generations are worse off than older ones financially. Wages haven’t kept up in real terms. High-paying jobs disappeared. Low-paying ones replaced them.

Deplorable social inequality exists. A race to the bottom continues. Future prospects look grim. America appears headed for what most of humanity faces.

At least 80% live on less than $10 a day. Over three billion people live on less than $2.50 a day. More than 80% live in countries where income disparity is increasing.

The poorest 40% of world population has 5% of global income. The bottom fifth has $1.5%. The top 20% has 75%.

According to UNICEF, 22,000 impoverished children die daily. They “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

An estimated 28% of children in developing countries are underweight, malnourished and/or stunted.

Tens of millions of impoverished children aren’t in school. At the start of the new millennium, nearly a billion people were illiterate.

Less than 1% of what’s spent on weapons globally can provide universal primary education.

Preventable infectious diseases claim millions of lives annually. Unsanitary water and lack of basic sanitation affect half the world’s population.

Diarrhea and other water-related illnesses claim at least 1.8 million child deaths annually.

Nearly half the population in developing countries, at any given time, experience water and/or sanitation related health problems.

Around one-third of children in developing countries have inadequate shelter. One in seven have no access to health care. Most with it get too little.

In 2003, 10.6 million children died before age five.

Rural areas account for 75% of people living on less than $1 dollar a day. About half the world’s population live in urban communities. In 2005, about one-third lived in slum conditions.

Around 1.6 billion people have no electricity. Billions lack basic necessities overall. It’s reflected in lower than average life expectancy, as well as high infant and child mortality rates.

America’s future may resemble what most of the world now faces. Its race to the bottom assures it for growing millions.

Force-fed austerity increases their numbers annually. Things keep getting worse, not better.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book is titled “Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.” 

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html 
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

http://www.dailycensored.com/thirdworldizing-america/

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

More Than 101 Million Working Age Americans Do Not Have A Job

More Than 101 Million Working Age Americans Do Not Have A Job
Apr 7, 2013 | Economic Collapse Blog | Michael Synder

The jobs recovery is a complete and total myth.  The percentage of the working age population in the United States that had a job in March 2013 was exactly the same as it was all the way back in March 2010.  In addition, as you will see below, there are now more than 101 million working age Americans that do not have a job.  But even though the employment level in the United States has consistently remained very low over the past three years, the Obama administration keeps telling us that unemployment is actually going down.  In fact, they tell us that the unemployment rate has declined from a peak of 10.0% all the way down to 7.6%.  And they tell us that in March the unemployment rate fell by 0.1% even though only 88,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy.  But it takes at least 125,000 new jobs a month just to keep up with population growth.  So how in the world are they coming up with these numbers?  Well, the reality is that the entire decline in the unemployment rate over the past three years can be accounted for by the reduction in size of the labor force.  In other words, the Obama administration is getting unemployment to go down by pretending that millions upon millions of unemployed Americans simply do not want jobs anymore.  We saw this once again in March.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 600,000 Americans dropped out of the labor market during that month alone.  That pushed the labor force participation rate down  to 63.3%, which is the lowest it has been in more than 30 years.  So please don't believe the hype.  The sad truth is that there has been no jobs recovery whatsoever.

If things were getting better, there would not be more than 101 million working age Americans without a job.

So exactly where does that statistic come from?  Well, the following explains where I got that number...

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 11,742,000 working age Americans that are officially unemployed.

In addition, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that there are 89,967,000 working age Americans that are "not in the labor force".  That is a new all-time record, and that number increased by a whopping 663,000 during the month of March alone.

When you add 11,742,000 working age Americans that are officially unemployed to the 89,967,000 working age Americans that are "not in the labor force", you come up with a grand total of 101,709,000 working age Americans that do not have a job.

When you stop and think about it, that is an absolutely staggering statistic.

And anyone that tells you that "a higher percentage of Americans are working today" is telling you a complete and total lie.  During the last recession the percentage of working age Americans with a job fell dramatically, and since then we have not seen that number bounce back at all.  In fact, this is the very first time in the post-World War II era that we have not seen the employment-population ratio bounce back after a recession.  At this point, the employment-population ratio has been under 60 percent for 49 months in a row...




Since the end of 2009, the employment-population ratio has been remarkably steady.  Just check out these numbers...

March 2008: 62.7 percent

March 2009: 59.9 percent

March 2010: 58.5 percent

March 2011: 58.4 percent

March 2012: 58.5 percent

March 2013: 58.5 percent

We should be thankful that the percentage of working age Americans with a job did not continue to decline, but we should also be quite alarmed that it has not bounced back at all.

If there was going to be a recovery, there would have been one by now.  The next major economic downturn is rapidly approaching, and that is going to push the employment-population ratio down even farther.

So why is the U.S. economy not producing as many jobs as it used to?  Well, certainly the overall decline of the economy has a lot to do with it.  We are a nation that is drowning in debt and that is getting poorer by the day.

But since the end of the last recession, corporate profits have bounced back in a big way and are now at an all-time high.  So you would figure that the big corporations should be able to hire a lot more workers by now.

Unfortunately, that is not the way things work anymore.  Big corporations are trying to minimize the number of expensive American workers that they have on their payrolls as much as possible these days.

One way that they are doing this is through the use of technology.  Thanks to robots, computers and other forms of technology, big corporations simply do not need as many human workers as they used to.  In future years, this trend is only going to accelerate.  I wrote about how this is changing the world of employment in one of my previous articles entitled "Rise Of The Droids: Will Robots Eventually Steal All Of Our Jobs?"

Another way that big corporations are replacing expensive American workers is by shipping their jobs off to the other side of the globe.  Big corporations know that they can make bigger profits by making stuff in foreign countries where they can pay workers less than a dollar an hour with no benefits.  How in the world are American workers supposed to compete with that?

For much more on how U.S. jobs are being killed by offshoring, please see this article: "55 Reasons Why You Should Buy Products That Are Made In America".

And of course immigration is having a dramatic impact on the labor market in some areas of the country as well.  Cheap labor has dramatically driven down wages in a lot of professions.  For example, once upon a time you could live a very nice middle class lifestyle as a roofer.  But now many roofers really struggle to make a living.

When you add everything up, it paints a very bleak picture for the future of the American worker.

The cost of living keeps rising much faster than wages do, and the competition for good jobs has become incredibly fierce.

Meanwhile, the government continues to make things even easier for those that are not working.  This has caused some Americans to give up completely and to be content with letting the government take care of them.  The following is from a recent article by Monty Pelerin...
As we make it easier to get unemployment benefits for longer time periods, more people take advantage of the system. So too with food stamps and disability. All programs are at or near record levels in what is supposed to be four years into an economic recovery. For many, the benefits of becoming a government dependent exceed what they can earn. One study reported that a family of four, collecting all the benefits for which they were entitled, would have to earn $65,000 per annum to have the same after-tax purchasing power.

If you are a product of the government schools and are legal to work (i.e., have skills enough that you are affordable at the minimum wage or higher), at what point do you realize that there is no need to go through the hassle of actual work. You can live pretty well by staying home and taking advantage of the entitlements available to you. That is exactly what a larger and larger percentage of the population are realizing. In many cases, it is economically irrational to work.

This behavior creates a social pathology that only worsens over time. Kids learn from their parents that work is not necessary and the many ways to game the system. In this regard, look for this problem to become worse over time unless these programs are cut back.
In some areas of the country, it actually pays not to work very hard.  According to Gary Alexander, the Secretary of Public Welfare for the state of Pennsylvania, a "single mom is better off earnings gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income & benefits than to earn gross income of $69,000 with net income and benefits of $57,045."

But the truth is that most Americans still want to work hard and would gladly take a good job if they could just find one.  The following is one example that was featured in a recent Fox News article...
After a full year of fruitless job hunting, Natasha Baebler just gave up.

She'd already abandoned hope of getting work in her field, working with the disabled. But she couldn't land anything else, either — not even a job interview at a telephone call center.

Until she feels confident enough to send out resumes again, she'll get by on food stamps and disability checks from Social Security and live with her parents in St. Louis.

"I'm not proud of it," says Baebler, who is in her mid-30s and is blind. "The only way I'm able to sustain any semblance of self-preservation is to rely on government programs that I have no desire to be on."
And that is how most Americans feel.

Most Americans do not want to be dependent on the government.

Most Americans want to work hard and take care of themselves.

Unfortunately, our economy is not producing nearly enough jobs for everyone and it never will again.

So there will continue to be millions upon millions of Americans that find that they cannot take care of themselves and their families without government assistance no matter how hard they try.

And this is just the beginning - things are going to get much worse during the next major wave of the economic collapse.

Yes, at the moment there are more than 101 million working age Americans that do not have a job, but that number is actually going to go much higher in the years ahead.  The anger and frustration caused by a lack of employment opportunities is going to shake this nation.

That is why it is important to try to become less dependent on your own job.  In this economic environment, a job can disappear at literally any moment.  Anything that you can do to become less dependent on the system would be a good thing.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Talk Nation Radio: Richard Wolff on Putting Workers in Charge at Work

Talk Nation Radio: Richard Wolff on Putting Workers in Charge at Work
Apr 3, 2013 | DavidSwanson.org



Richard Wolff is a professor of economics emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the author of Democracy at Work.  See http://democracyatwork.info

Total run time: 29:00

Host: David Swanson.

Producer: David Swanson.

Music by Duke Ellington.

Download or get embed code from Archive or  AudioPort or LetsTryDemocracy.

Syndicated by Pacifica Network.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Mass Bird Deaths Linked to USDA and Big Agra

image source
Mass Bird Deaths Linked to USDA and Big Agra
Apr 3, 2013 | Activist Post | Brandon Turbeville

With the recent passage of the legislative rider commonly known as the Monsanto Protection Act, many previously-uninformed observers may now be asking themselves just how much control over the United States government and regulatory bureaucracy the multinational corporation has. Of course, long-time Monsanto opponents have been asking this question and pointing out the related connections for some time.

From the environmental contamination as a result of the proliferation of genetically modified food to the destruction of the independent family farmer due to absolutely erroneous lawsuits filed by Monsanto against them, or low crop yields due to deceptive marketing, Monsanto is internationally recognized as one of the world’s worst and most ruthless corporations.

When Monsanto's ruthless practices combine with the blatant corruption of government officials, the global regulatory agencies - especially those in the United States - have been rendered entirely bankrupt. Indeed, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are two of the most obviously bought-and-paid-for government wings of treacherous multinational corporations like Monsanto, Cargill, Southern States, and many others.

Over the last few years, there have been a number of unexplained mass animal deaths which have spawned a variety of theories hoping to explain the causes. While most remain unexplained, there is, in fact, a clear explanation regarding many of the bird deaths occurring in locations across the United States. The cause of the deaths? The USDA and toxins introduced by Big Agra.

Before catcalls of conspiracy theory are hurled about in order to discredit such a statement, bear in mind that the USDA has actually admitted murdering the birds on numerous occasions.

 Take, for instance, the 2011 bird die-off in Yankton, South Dakota. As a result of citizen action and investigation into the die-off in Yankton Riverside Park, the USDA actually contacted the local police and informed the officers that it was, in fact, the USDA who was responsible for the bird deaths. As Yankton Animal Control Officer Lisa Brasel stated in an interview with KTIV, "They say that they had poisoned the birds about ten miles south of Yankton and they were surprised they came to Yankton like they did and died in our park.”

After the story was reported KTIV, the USDA then confirmed the mass poisoning yet again, stating that it was “part of a large killing” in Nebraska. Apparently, some of the birds who had been poisoned managed to fly all the way to Yankton before dying.

In this instance, it was reported that a Nebraska farmer had complained that the Starlings were defecating in his feed meal. As Mike Adams wrote, “The answer to this conundrum apparently isn't to cover your feed meal but rather call the USDA and ask them to poison thousands of birds.”

 Thus, the USDA put out a poison called DRC-1339 which the birds then fed on, resulting in thousands of bird deaths. Carol Bannerman of the USDA Wildlife Services claimed that the reason for the bird poisoning was the desire to protect human health. "We're doing it to address, in this case, agricultural damage as well as the potential for human health and safety issues," she said.

To date, we are publicly aware of the results of the USDA’s human health protection program as being over 4 million dead birds in 2009 alone.

The USDA’s ornithological genocide even has a name, Bye Bye Blackbird, a program which began in the 1960s and was later placed under the control of the USDA and housed at a NASA facility in the late 1960s.

And there’s more. As Patrik Jonsson of Truthout writes:

In addition to the USDA program, a so-called depredation order from the US Fish and Wildlife Service allows blackbirds, grackles, and starlings to be killed by anyone who says they pose health risks or cause economic damage. Though a permit is needed in some instances, the order is largely intended to cut through red tape for farmers, who often employ private contractors to kill the birds and do not need to report their bird culls to any authority.
Greg Butcher, Bird Conservation Director at the National Audubon Society, stated,
Every winter, there's massive and purposeful kills of these blackbirds. These guys are professionals, and they don't want to advertise their work. They like to work fast, efficiently, and out of sight.
. . . . .
My biggest concern is we don't know how many birds are being killed, and we don't have a sense of how at risk the rusty blackbird is because of depredation events in their range.
The Yankton kill was not the only mass bird death traced back to the USDA. The Niagara Gazette recently reported in glowing terms that a bird kill in the area was directly related to the poison “Starlicide.” Starlicide, Bob Confer writes, is fed to the bird via tainted seed, after which the birds begin to die from 24 to 36 hours after eating the poison as their organs begin to congest.

Starlicide ironically is marketed by Purina, the dog food manufacturer owned by Nestle, which has itself been implicated in the sickness and death of a large number of dogs.

With this in mind, it is important to point out that the documented deaths of birds alone, which are published by the USDA in a spreadsheet, number over 4 million. Remember, privately contracted kills do not require reporting, so the numbers presented by the USDA may potentially be much lower than the actual number of bird deaths.

What is interesting also is that, despite the constant propaganda regarding the environmental, human, and economic dangers of the Starling, it is not just the Starling that has succumbed to the mass poisonings. As Alan Watt of CuttingThroughTheMatrix stated, “The Starlicide doesn’t have signs that say, oh, 'Starlings Only. Please Eat Here.'”

Obviously, Starlicide is not Starling specific. It does not have some genetic coding that turns off if consumed by other birds. Thus, any mass poisoning will have some amount of “collateral damage.” But, while the published damage is bad enough, we simply do not know the extent to which it exists because privately contracted kills are not required to be reported.

For instance, the mass bird kill orders, endorsed and undertaken by both the USDA and private contractors have been implicated in the decline of the population of the rare rusty blackbird, which roosts with many other species. Undoubtedly, this is the case with many other types of birds and may be the root cause behind the anecdotal reports of declining numbers of songbirds across the United States and Canada.

 While the names of the “farmers” requesting and contracting the bird kills were not provided in any reports seen by this writer, one would have reason to assume that the issue was forced not by the independent family farmer, but by Big Agra. Considering the drastic decline and borderline extinction of the independent family farm, sheer odds would be enough to finger the multinationals in the murder contract taken out on the lives of the Starlings.

After all, Big Agra has been directly responsible for the death of large numbers of birds before. For those who may not have heard, on March 13, 2012, the world's largest marketer of lawn and garden care products, Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, plead guilty to all charges related to the corporation’s manufacturing and selling poisoned birdseed. The poisons added to the seed were allegedly added to prevent insects from eating the seed while in storage and the practice continued for two years, all the while unwitting consumers fed the seed to their pet birds and wildlife. Much like the privately contracted mass killings of birds by big farmers, there is no real way to determine how many birds died as a result Scotts Miracle-Gro Company’s actions.

Nevertheless, clearly ignorant of the irony, it is interesting to note that Carol Bannerman’s response to questions about the bird kills was as follows: "It's not that we have anything against starlings, but our charge is to help protect agriculture ... and protect property and human health or safety."

Citizens residing anywhere in North America could only wish that Bannerman’s determination to “protect agriculture, property, and human health or safety” could be extended to the effects of GM contamination and factory farming as doggedly as it is to the scary Starling.

Perhaps after Bannerman and the USDA have rid the continent of such frightening tiny birds and their resulting nuisance (to some major farmers), she and her agency might be able to devote a little of her time to the real danger of multinational food corporations that appear to exist for the sole purpose of destroying agriculture, property and human health and safety.”

In the meantime, it’s nice to know that the USDA has its priorities in order.

Read other articles by Brandon Turbeville here.

Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Florence, South Carolina. He has a Bachelor's Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of three books, Codex Alimentarius -- The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, and Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident. Turbeville has published over 200 articles dealing on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville's podcast Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV.  He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

The Worldwide FRACKING Nightmare: Natural gas extraction causing frequent quakes, property damage in northern Netherlands

The Worldwide FRACKING Nightmare: Natural gas extraction causing frequent quakes, property damage in northern Netherlands
Mar 31, 2013 | Raw Story | Agence France-Presse

Farmers living atop Europe’s largest gas field in the isolated northern Netherlands are angry at increasingly frequent earthquakes caused by extraction.

Freezing winds and a glimmer of cold light pass through the three-foot by two-inch (one metre by five centimetre) crack in Martha and Jan Bos’s stable in Middelstum, a few miles (kilometres) from the Netherlands’ most northern point.

Their farmhouse, built in the early 20th century, has around 15 large cracks and part of the floor inside the entrance has dropped around three inches.

“We’ve been living here for 25 years and for the last five years we’ve had regular earthquakes,” Martha Bos, 48, told AFP.

Her husband Jan, wearing traditional wooden clogs, is tending to the sheep: “We don’t want to leave, we’ve built our lives here but we’re really very afraid of a big earthquake,” she said.

Their home in the northern province of Groningen is built on top of the biggest gas field in the EU, which gives the Netherlands — the world’s 10th-biggest gas producer — two-thirds of its gas, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

In February of this year alone, four earthquakes above magnitude 2 have hit the region.

The relatively low magnitude is nevertheless felt more because the quakes happen just two miles (three kilometres) beneath the ground, experts say.

The earthquakes are a “natural” result of huge pockets of air left underground by massive gas extraction.

But the earthquakes have become increasingly frequent after the Netherlands more than doubled its gas production since 2000, hitting 50 billion cubic metres annually, according to a report published earlier this year by Jan de Jong, the inspector general of the State Mines Surveillance (SoDM) service.

There were 110 earthquakes here between 1991 and 2000, SoDM figures say, but the frequency has risen more than six-fold to hit 500 between 2000 and 2013.

The Dutch Oil Company (NAM), a joint enterprise between energy giants Shell and Exxon, which is in charge of the extraction admits that the earthquakes are linked to its activities and has set up a 100-million-euro (130-million-dollar) compensation fund.

“That’s good, but it’s not enough,” said Corina Jansen, who heads the 1,000-member Groninger Bodem Beweging (Groningen Earth Movement), set up because of “the tumult created by the earthquakes.

“Some damage is paid for but besides the fact that the procedure taks a long time, old cases of cracks or land subsidence are not covered,” Jansen told AFP.

“People have had it up to here and if necessary we won’t be afraid to go to the courts to defend everyone’s safety,” she said.

The SoDM’s De Jong wrote that if gas extraction carries on at its current rate, there’s a one in 50 chance that an earthquake of 4.5 magnitude or higher will hit the area in the next 12 months.

“It’s not only fear, but also the uncertainty and anger at not being listened to by the government,” said Marijke Bronskema, who lives in the nearby village of Usquert, among the flat fertile fields of the northern Netherlands.

Almost every window or doorframe of her one-storey house has been weakened by a network of cracks about six inches long.

“We’re supposed to sell the house because my husband just lost his job, and we had just renovated everything, but who would want to buy a house where you’re regularly hit by earthquakes?” she said, accusing the government of not listening.

The Dutch government has reaped around 250 billion euros from its gas fields since the 1960s, according to Finance Ministry figures.

In 2011, the state raked 12 billion euros of gas cash into its coffers, representing around 8 percent of state revenues, and that is set to hit 14 billion euros when 2012 figures are released.

Without the gas, the Netherlands’ deficit would have been around 6.2 percent in 2011, or around the same as that of crisis-hit Cyprus.

Faced with the huge challenges of the eurozone crisis, the damage and worry in the north of the country, far from the capital Amsterdam and seat of government at The Hague, don’t carry much weight, according to the area’s inhabitants.

“This is a real cash cow for the government,” said Bronskema.

In his report, De Jong suggested the government reduce its gas extraction “as quickly as possible to avoid a big earthquake,” but his call was quickly rejected by Economic Affairs Minister Henk Kamp as “economic irresponsibility”.

“I need further information,” he said during a debate on the subject in parliament in January during which some opposition parties accused the government of putting national economic interest ahead of citizens’ wellbeing.

“On an economic level, it makes no sense to take a decision immediately,” Kamp said.

The NAM, which failed to respond to repeated interview requests from AFP, wrote to De Jong to say it would “take measures which according to us are reasonable to reduce as much as possible the damage caused by the earthquakes” but declined to reduce gas extraction.

Meanwhile, some Dutch northerners are more stoical than others.

“Economic interests are important and that’s how it is,” said mechanic Elze Schollema.

“But it’s true that if I had a choice, I’d rather the earthquakes stopped,” he said.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

World's largest pyramid discovered - Lost Mayan city of Mirador

World's largest pyramid discovered - Lost Mayan city of Mirador
Mar 9, 2013 | BrasscheckTV

Bigger than downtown Los Angeles

It's the tallest known pyramid in the New World and possibly the biggest pyramid by volume on earth, 2.8 million cubic meters.

For years, it was mistaken for a big hill.

Amazingly, this pyramid was unknown just a few decades ago and is part of collection of ruins covering an area bigger than downtown Los Angeles.

Stories like this are a reminder to take schoolbook archeology with a grain of salt. Not only do we not know all that there is to know, it appears that people trying to get the answers aren't getting much help figuring it out.


Tuesday, March 5, 2013

The Planned Obsolescence of Humanity

The Planned Obsolescence of Humanity
Mar 5, 2013 | Farms Wars | Barbara H. Peterson

Remember when things lasted a long time? I recall going with my dad to the hardware store, and being able to find just about everything needed to fix anything on the ranch. Need a gasket? Just get the gasket material and cut your own. Got a gadget that won’t work? Just get the part that’s broken, replace that one part, and the gadget works again. Not so, today. Today, we buy something, and if it doesn’t work, we simply throw it away and get a new one, because that is the way things are made.  They are not made to last. They are made to break and the sooner the better.



This is planned obsolescence, and it has been eroding our society ever since it was set in motion along with mass marketing and fast-tracked, courtesy of Edward Bernays, who set up the first “public relations” department for the express purpose of using propaganda as a tool to manipulate the public for profit. We are now strangling in its grip, oblivious to the reality behind the slogans and hype, and successfully programmed to think this is normal, standing proud in our ignorance.



With a need for instant gratification firmly entrenched in our nation’s psyche by an army of professional con artists out to make a buck, the concept of a throwaway society reared its ugly head to the delight of those behind the scenes, greedily rubbing their hands together in anticipation of the windfall they were about to receive – profit without end. And this is the society in which we now live. A society based on instant gratification and planned obsolescence.

I noticed that this nation’s “fix it yourself” mentality started changing years ago. Parts that were once easily obtainable became “no longer available.” Want a part to fix your whatchamacallit? Nope, can’t have it – gotta get a new one. The parts aren’t available anymore, and good luck getting your whatchamacallit open to replace anything in it. If it breaks, don’t fix it, throw it away and buy a new one.

Cars that were once made to be worked on by home mechanics now take a computer specialist to diagnose. Who cares? After all, if consumers buy a new car every couple of years or so, who needs them to last? Can’t wear the same dress to the party, gotta have a new one, along with shoes to match. Last year’s style simply will not do.

Yes, the corporations have programmed us well. We are a nation of wasteful consumers, keeping the gluttonous purveyors of gadgets, doohickeys and flash in champagne and caviar. Thank you, Edward Bernays, for your ever so helpful insight into enabling corporations to program the masses for wasteful spending in order to line the pockets of greedy, blood sucking leaches whose only purpose is to use us up and spit us out. You see, planned obsolescence does not merely apply to things. It also applies to people.

We are living in a world where very powerful people behind the scenes hold license to decide who is to live and who is to die. They get to pick and choose who the throwaway people are. The expendables. The ones who hold no worth in their eyes. Through some sort of arbitrary judgment – one lives, one dies, and the rules always change.

The rules change because the object has no say and no value – functioning merely as a piece on the grand chessboard. And if you happen to be the flavor of the month, you get to live. But only for a time, and only if you are nice. Really, really, nice and obey your masters. But it won’t be forever. Forever is much too good for the pawns. Pawns are meant to be sacrificed, just as we are being sacrificed on the altar of big business and decaying from whatever poisons the propaganda machine put forth by Bernays directs us to take.

We’re poked and prodded, drugged into submission, shot full of poisons, and fed toxic waste. We are, each and every one of us, a statistic in a planned obsolescence program. And while we are breaking down from stress, toxins, chemicals, GMOs, vaccines, and medical quackery, to name a few, we are generating a whole lotta cash for a whole lotta people, as well as providing valuable data while we serve as guinea pigs for experimental research in genetic modification.

But what the hey? After all is said and done, the puppet masters will survive! And they will garner more and more cash and power to play at immortality. The goal? Remaking the world and its inhabitants from the molecule up. We the people are living under planned obsolescence. And we don’t even know it because we are being systematically fed comfortable lies by a propaganda machine in the guise of public relations for the express purpose of profit, power and total control.

But it’s okay, our replacements are right around the corner. After all, the bodies we have can’t last forever. Let’s throw them away and get new ones. What say we make them bigger, better, smarter and more controllable than the obsolete model. The human model.

Why not build super soldiers that we can just replace when we feel like it? Expendable. Throwaways. Or factory workers, or maybe housekeepers, maids, miners, firefighters, police, truck drivers…. The possibilities are endless. One gives you trouble, just throw it away and get a new one. And when the time comes to shed this mortal shell, just hop right on into the artificial body of your dreams, courtesy of a brain transplant, or maybe your brain on a chip, implanted in that disposable body.

Natural humans would become as obsolete as last year’s iPod.



A powerful dream, eh? Complete control over life and death. Intoxicating. And also dangerous. Very dangerous. Not to mention foolish, disastrous, maniacal, insane, against nature and all that is right and natural and good. Man replacing man and nature. The same species that thinks nuclear power plants on fault lines are an okay idea. Go figure. But seriously, what could possibly go wrong?

©2013 Barbara H. Peterson

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Las Vegas Accused of Engineering Massive Water Grab: Is This the Future of the West? [With Photo Slideshow]

© Alternet
Las Vegas Accused of Engineering Massive Water Grab: Is This the Future of the West? [With Photo Slideshow]
Jan 25, 2013 | Alternet | Tara Lohan

Climate change is going to make life harder, water scarcer, and decisions about the future tougher.

 Las Vegas exudes an all-you-can-eat mentality. People walk between casinos carrying giant cups of slushy liquor; advertisements blare from speakers on the streets pitching the best shows, best food and best deals; escalators take you across streets and directly into malls. You spend your time buying something, eating something, or watching something. Either way, it’s consume, consume, consume.

But this hunger is hard to satiate and it takes its toll, revealing the city’s central dichotomy — it is a destination of both the high-brow and the down and out, the high rolling and the thrifty, a megaphone of riches and poverty. And nowhere is this more apparent then in one of Las Vegas’ most contentious relationships — with water. If you walk the Strip, you’ll see gondolas floating on canals of aqua pool water, misters spraying overheated tourists in the hot sun, pirate ships docked in rocky coves, and fountains everywhere you look.

The abundant water is a mirage, although it wasn’t always. Las Vegas got its name, meaning “the meadows,” after Spanish explorers found artesian springs in the area. And long before that, in the Pleistocene, much of Nevada was plunged under the depths of massive Lake Lahontan. There are only vestiges of that great lake left, and the early artesian wells found near Las Vegas have long ago quenched the thirsty, but nevertheless, the thirsty keep on coming.

When groundwater reserves ran low in the 1940s, the region turned to Lake Mead. Today, the Las Vegas area gets 90 percent of its water from the no-longer-very-mighty Colorado River as it is corralled behind Hoover Dam in Lake Mead. And now that’s threatened. A new federal study released in December found that the over-allocated Colorado River will be further stretched by climate change, drought and climbing populations. By 2060, the river will be short of what its dependents in seven U.S. states need by 3.2 million acre-feet a year. (An acre-foot of water is roughly enough for one suburban family per year.)

So what’s a city -- or really, its water manager -- to do? A smart gambler wouldn’t bet on the Colorado.

Read more..

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Your smartphone's dirty, radioactive secret

© Jean-François Podevin
Your smartphone's dirty, radioactive secret
Jan 2, 2013 | Mother Jones | Kiera Butler

It's a sweltering late February afternoon when I pull into the Esso gas station in the tiny town of Bukit Merah, Malaysia. My guide, a local butcher named Hew Yun Tat, warns me that the owner is known for his stinginess. "He's going to ask you to buy him tea," Hew says. "Even though he owns many businesses around here, he still can't resist pinching pennies."

An older man emerges from the station office. His face and hands are mottled with white patches, his English broken.

"I'll talk to you," the man says, "but only if you buy me tea." He grins.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," says Hew, laughing. "A rich man like you."

At a bustling open-air café nearby, we order tea and ais kacang, giant shaved-ice desserts laden with chopped-up jello and sweet, sticky red beans. I dig in, but the station owner - I'll call him Esso Man, since he doesn't want me to use his real name - is moodily stirring his into a slushy puddle. We're here to ask him about something he doesn't like to talk about: a job he did 30 years ago, when he owned a trucking company. He got a contract with a local industrial plant called Asian Rare Earth, co-owned by Mitsubishi Chemical, that supplied special minerals to the personal electronics industry.

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Esso Man couldn't believe his luck. He wasn't a rich man back then, and Asian Rare Earth offered three times as much as his usual gigs, just for trucking waste away from the plant. They didn't say where or how to dump the waste, and he and his three drivers were paid by the load - the quicker the trip, the more money they earned. "Sometimes they would tell us it was fertilizer, so we would take it to local farms," Esso Man says. "My uncle was a vegetable farmer, so I gave some to him." Other times, the refinery officials said the stuff was quicklime, so one driver painted his house with it. "He thought it was great, because it made all the mosquitoes and mice stay away."

In fact, Esso Man and his drivers were hauling toxic and radioactive waste, as they'd discover a year later, when Asian Rare Earth tried to build a dump in a neighboring town. Residents there began to protest, and a few activists took a Geiger counter to the plant, where they found levels of radiation that were off the charts - up to 88 times higher than those allowed under international guidelines. In 1985, after residents sued, the government ordered the plant to be closed until Asian Rare Earth cleaned up its mess.

Two years later, the site still wasn't completely clean, but Asian Rare Earth got permission to reopen the plant. The protests began anew, and Hew, one of the leaders of the opposition, was jailed for two months. When he got out he snuck back to the protests, which grew in size and popularity. In 1992, the residents who'd sued Asian Rare Earth won a permanent injunction against the plant. It was overturned by the Supreme Court, but Asian Rare Earth had had enough, and it pulled out of Bukit Merah and shut down operations entirely.

But by then, Hew says, the villagers were anxious. Pregnant women living near the plant had miscarried; some gave birth to children who were sickly, or mentally disabled, or blind. Other children in the village developed leukemia.

Read complete report..

Monday, December 31, 2012

The moral roots of liberals and conversatives - Jonathan Haidt

The moral roots of liberals and conversatives - Jonathan Haidt
Dec 31, 2012 | TEDEducation




Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we're left, right, or center. In this eye-opening talk, he pinpoints the moral values that liberals and conservatives tend to honor most. Jonathan Haidt studies how -- and why -- we evolved to be moral. By understanding more about our moral roots, his hope is that we can learn to be civil and open-minded.

Talk by Jonathan Haidt.