Sunday, May 31, 2009
On Torture:
MSNBC: Ex-FBI agent questions CIA interrogations
"A former FBI interrogator who questioned al-Qaida prisoners testified Wednesday that the Bush administration falsely boasted of success from extreme techniques like waterboarding, when those methods were slow, unreliable and made an important witness stop talking.
Ali Soufan, testifying to a Senate panel behind a screen to hide his identity, said his team's non-threatening interrogation approach elicited crucial information from al-Qaida operative Abu Zubaydah, including intelligence on 'dirty bomb' terrorist Jose Padilla.
Soufan said his team had to step aside when CIA contractors took over. They began using harsh methods that caused Zubaydah to 'shut down,' Soufan said, and his team had to be recalled the get the prisoner talking again..."
MSNBC: Ex-FBI agent questions CIA interrogations
"A former FBI interrogator who questioned al-Qaida prisoners testified Wednesday that the Bush administration falsely boasted of success from extreme techniques like waterboarding, when those methods were slow, unreliable and made an important witness stop talking.
Ali Soufan, testifying to a Senate panel behind a screen to hide his identity, said his team's non-threatening interrogation approach elicited crucial information from al-Qaida operative Abu Zubaydah, including intelligence on 'dirty bomb' terrorist Jose Padilla.
Soufan said his team had to step aside when CIA contractors took over. They began using harsh methods that caused Zubaydah to 'shut down,' Soufan said, and his team had to be recalled the get the prisoner talking again..."
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Middle East:
If the U.S. were actually serious about opposing these illegal, repeat illegal, settlements, there would be very effective financial strings to pull. At best, U.S. officials are trying to act as if they deserved a shed of credibility as an 'honest broker' in the eyes of the Arab/Muslim world. Obama will not risk offending AIPAC, ever, period.
AP: Israel on edge as US presses to halt settlements
"...Using unusually strong language, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that Obama wants a halt to all settlement construction, including 'natural growth.' Israel uses that term for new housing and other construction that it says will accommodate the growth of families living in existing settlements.
Government spokesman Mark Regev responded Thursday by saying some construction would go on..."
If the U.S. were actually serious about opposing these illegal, repeat illegal, settlements, there would be very effective financial strings to pull. At best, U.S. officials are trying to act as if they deserved a shed of credibility as an 'honest broker' in the eyes of the Arab/Muslim world. Obama will not risk offending AIPAC, ever, period.
AP: Israel on edge as US presses to halt settlements
"...Using unusually strong language, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that Obama wants a halt to all settlement construction, including 'natural growth.' Israel uses that term for new housing and other construction that it says will accommodate the growth of families living in existing settlements.
Government spokesman Mark Regev responded Thursday by saying some construction would go on..."
Media: The Fourth Estate:
As if we didn't already have enough embedded corp. journalists skewing the picture the public gets of the horror & utter failure of human relations that war represents, Peters takes contempt for the public's right to know to a whole new level.
Jeremy Scahill: Neocon Group Calls for Military Strikes on Media
"In the era of embedded media, independent journalists have become the eyes and ears of the world. Without those un-embedded journalists willing to risk their lives to place themselves on the other side of the barrel of the tank or the gun or under the air strikes, history would be written almost entirely from the vantage point of powerful militaries, or - at the very least - it would be told from the perspective of the troops doing the shooting, rather than the civilians, who always pay the highest price.
In the case of the Iraq invasion and occupation, the journalists who have placed themselves in danger most often are local Iraqi journalists. Some 116 Iraqi journalists and media workers have been killed in the line of duty since March 2003. In all, 189 journalists have been killed in Iraq. At least 16 of these journalists were killed by the U.S. military, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The network that has most often found itself under U.S. attack is al-Jazeera. As I wrote a few years ago in The Nation:
'The United States bombed its offices in Afghanistan in 2001, shelled the Basra hotel where al-Jazeera journalists were the only guests in April 2003, killed Iraq correspondent Tareq Ayoub a few days later in Baghdad, and imprisoned several al-Jazeera reporters (including at Guantánamo), some of whom say they were tortured. In addition to the military attacks, the U.S.-backed Iraqi government banned the network from reporting in Iraq.'
A new report for a leading neoconservative group that pushes a belligerent 'Israel first' agenda of conquest in the Middle East suggests that in future wars the U.S. should make censorship of media official policy and advocates 'military attacks on the partisan media' (via MuzzleWatch). The report for JINSA, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, was authored by retired U.S. Army Col. Ralph Peters. It appears in JINSA's 'flagship publication,' The Journal of International Security Affairs. 'Today, the United States and its allies will never face a lone enemy on the battlefield. There will always be a hostile third party in the fight,' Peters writes, calling the media 'the killers without guns.'
'Of course, the media have shaped the outcome of conflicts for centuries, from the European wars of religion through Vietnam. More recently, though, the media have determined the outcomes of conflicts. While journalists and editors ultimately failed to defeat the U.S. government in Iraq, video cameras and biased reporting guaranteed that Hezbollah would survive the 2006 war with Israel and, as of this writing, they appear to have saved Hamas from destruction in Gaza. ...
'Although it seems unthinkable now, future wars may require censorship, news blackouts, and, ultimately, military attacks on the partisan media. Perceiving themselves as superior beings, journalists have positioned themselves as protected-species combatants. But freedom of the press stops when its abuse kills our soldiers and strengthens our enemies. Such a view arouses disdain today, but a media establishment that has forgotten any sense of sober patriotism may find that it has become tomorrow's conventional wisdom'..."
As if we didn't already have enough embedded corp. journalists skewing the picture the public gets of the horror & utter failure of human relations that war represents, Peters takes contempt for the public's right to know to a whole new level.
Jeremy Scahill: Neocon Group Calls for Military Strikes on Media
"In the era of embedded media, independent journalists have become the eyes and ears of the world. Without those un-embedded journalists willing to risk their lives to place themselves on the other side of the barrel of the tank or the gun or under the air strikes, history would be written almost entirely from the vantage point of powerful militaries, or - at the very least - it would be told from the perspective of the troops doing the shooting, rather than the civilians, who always pay the highest price.
In the case of the Iraq invasion and occupation, the journalists who have placed themselves in danger most often are local Iraqi journalists. Some 116 Iraqi journalists and media workers have been killed in the line of duty since March 2003. In all, 189 journalists have been killed in Iraq. At least 16 of these journalists were killed by the U.S. military, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The network that has most often found itself under U.S. attack is al-Jazeera. As I wrote a few years ago in The Nation:
'The United States bombed its offices in Afghanistan in 2001, shelled the Basra hotel where al-Jazeera journalists were the only guests in April 2003, killed Iraq correspondent Tareq Ayoub a few days later in Baghdad, and imprisoned several al-Jazeera reporters (including at Guantánamo), some of whom say they were tortured. In addition to the military attacks, the U.S.-backed Iraqi government banned the network from reporting in Iraq.'
A new report for a leading neoconservative group that pushes a belligerent 'Israel first' agenda of conquest in the Middle East suggests that in future wars the U.S. should make censorship of media official policy and advocates 'military attacks on the partisan media' (via MuzzleWatch). The report for JINSA, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, was authored by retired U.S. Army Col. Ralph Peters. It appears in JINSA's 'flagship publication,' The Journal of International Security Affairs. 'Today, the United States and its allies will never face a lone enemy on the battlefield. There will always be a hostile third party in the fight,' Peters writes, calling the media 'the killers without guns.'
'Of course, the media have shaped the outcome of conflicts for centuries, from the European wars of religion through Vietnam. More recently, though, the media have determined the outcomes of conflicts. While journalists and editors ultimately failed to defeat the U.S. government in Iraq, video cameras and biased reporting guaranteed that Hezbollah would survive the 2006 war with Israel and, as of this writing, they appear to have saved Hamas from destruction in Gaza. ...
'Although it seems unthinkable now, future wars may require censorship, news blackouts, and, ultimately, military attacks on the partisan media. Perceiving themselves as superior beings, journalists have positioned themselves as protected-species combatants. But freedom of the press stops when its abuse kills our soldiers and strengthens our enemies. Such a view arouses disdain today, but a media establishment that has forgotten any sense of sober patriotism may find that it has become tomorrow's conventional wisdom'..."
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Public Health:
Lucinda Marshall: Aporkalypse Now—Finding the Real Swine in the Pandemic Pandemonium
"...unlike birds that can fly pretty much anywhere, human and pig interaction is for the most part limited to farms, especially factory farms, and circumstantial evidence indicates that this outbreak may have originated at a Smithfield Foods facility in Perote, Mexico. Grist reports that, 'Smithfield operates massive hog-raising operations Perote, Mexico, in the state of Veracruz, where the outbreak originated. The operations, grouped under a Smithfield subsidiary called Granjas Carroll, raise 950,000 hogs per year.' According to Grist, 30% of the population living near the plant have become ill with flu-like symptoms which they believe is due contamination from the hog factory.
But as Narco News points out, the real culprit in swine flu may be NAFTA, which went into effect the same year that Smithfield opened its Mexican facility in the aftermath of being hit with huge fines for environmental pollution in the U.S.: 'The so-called 'swine flu' exploded because an environmental disaster simply moved to Mexico where environmental and worker safety laws, if they exist, are not enforced against powerful multinational corporations.'
The issue of whether agri-business run factory farms are the source of the problem has been all but ignored by the U.S. media. Instead we are being told to stay home if sick and seek medical care if really sick. Nice advice presuming you have paid sick leave benefits and health insurance..."
Afghanistan:
Jeremy Scahill: US Soldiers in Afghanistan Told to 'Hunt People for Jesus... So We Get Them into The Kingdom'
"New video evidence has surfaced showing that US military forces in Afghanistan have been instructed by the military's top chaplain in the country to 'hunt people for Jesus' as they spread Christianity to the overwhelmingly Muslim population. Soldiers also have imported bibles translated into Pashto and Dari, the two dominant languages of Afghanistan. What's more, the center of this evangelical operation is at the huge US base at Bagram, one of the main sites used by the US military to torture and indefinitely detain prisoners.
In a video obtained by Al Jazeera and broadcast Monday, Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Hensley, the chief of the US military chaplains in Afghanistan, is seen telling soldiers that as followers of Jesus Christ, they all have a responsibility 'to be witnesses for him.'
'The special forces guys - they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down,' he says.
'Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom. That's what we do, that's our business,'...
...Trying to convert Muslims to any other faith is a crime in Afghanistan. The fact that the video footage is being broadcast on Al Jazeera guarantees that it will be seen throughout the Muslim world. It is likely to add more credence to the perception that the US is engaging in a war on Islam with neo-crusader forces invading Muslim lands..."
Taxation:
The multi-nationals will scream bloody murder (and crank up their PR and lobbying machine)...
Reuters: Obama vows tougher overseas tax policies
"President Barack Obama vowed on Monday to overhaul tax policies that he said reward companies for shifting U.S. jobs overseas and allow wealthy people to evade taxes using offshore accounts.
The White House estimated the plan would save $210 billion over the next decade.
In one proposal businesses are poised to fight, Obama would tighten tax-code provisions that allow firms to defer paying taxes on profits they make overseas as long as those earnings are plowed back into the foreign subsidiaries.
That portion of his plan has drawn opposition from big multinational firms such as Pfizer Inc and Oracle Corp.
The president said he also would close loopholes and bolster enforcement to prevent tax avoidance by companies and individuals..."
Iraq:
The Raw Story: UK was ‘dragged’ into Iraq war, says former top MI6 official
"In a revealing speech delivered this weekend, the former deputy director of Britain’s secret intelligence service said the Iraq war 'was always against' the 'better judgment' of the agency.
Nigel Inkster was deputy director of MI6, Britain’s foreign intelligence service, during Tony Blair’s Administration. According to an article in the Telegraph Sunday, Inkster was being groomed to succeed Sir Richard Dearlove, then MI6 chief, but may have been passed over because of his opinions regarding Iraq.
In a speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research, Inkster blamed the Foreign Office — the UK equivalent of the State Department — for allowing his country to get 'dragged into' a war which intelligence officials found dubious at best.
'The Foreign Office no longer does foreign policy,' Inkster said, according to a report. 'It acts as a platform for a multiplicity of UK departments and the lack of a clearly articulated sense of our strategic location in the world explains how we got dragged into a war with Iraq which was always against our better judgment,'..."
On Torture:
Hmm, Dr. Rice sounds like Nixon, saying 'If the President does it, it's not illegal'...
The Raw Story: Rice stumbles when asked about torture by fourth-grader
"Asked by a fourth grader about the Bush administration’s torture techniques, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appeared to stumble this weekend, repeating the same phrase three times.
After taking heat last week for telling Stanford University students that waterboarding was legal 'by definition if it was authorized by the president,' Rice took questions from a bit younger students at a Washington school.
Rice spoke at the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital, speaking about her 'love of Israel,' according to The Washington Post. She then took questions — and an enterprising fourth grader from Bethesda, Maryland posed a whopper.
Paraphrased, the question was: What did Rice think about the things President Obama’s administration was saying about the methods the Bush administration had used to get information from detainees?...
...The student’s mother also said her son had effectively been censored by school officials, who’d pressed him not to use the word torture (the questions were screened in advance).
His original question, she said, was: 'If you would work for Obama’s administration, would you push for torture?'
'They wanted him to soften it and take out the word ‘torture.’ But the essence of it was the same,' Lerner quipped."
Lucinda Marshall: Aporkalypse Now—Finding the Real Swine in the Pandemic Pandemonium
"...unlike birds that can fly pretty much anywhere, human and pig interaction is for the most part limited to farms, especially factory farms, and circumstantial evidence indicates that this outbreak may have originated at a Smithfield Foods facility in Perote, Mexico. Grist reports that, 'Smithfield operates massive hog-raising operations Perote, Mexico, in the state of Veracruz, where the outbreak originated. The operations, grouped under a Smithfield subsidiary called Granjas Carroll, raise 950,000 hogs per year.' According to Grist, 30% of the population living near the plant have become ill with flu-like symptoms which they believe is due contamination from the hog factory.
But as Narco News points out, the real culprit in swine flu may be NAFTA, which went into effect the same year that Smithfield opened its Mexican facility in the aftermath of being hit with huge fines for environmental pollution in the U.S.: 'The so-called 'swine flu' exploded because an environmental disaster simply moved to Mexico where environmental and worker safety laws, if they exist, are not enforced against powerful multinational corporations.'
The issue of whether agri-business run factory farms are the source of the problem has been all but ignored by the U.S. media. Instead we are being told to stay home if sick and seek medical care if really sick. Nice advice presuming you have paid sick leave benefits and health insurance..."
Afghanistan:
Jeremy Scahill: US Soldiers in Afghanistan Told to 'Hunt People for Jesus... So We Get Them into The Kingdom'
"New video evidence has surfaced showing that US military forces in Afghanistan have been instructed by the military's top chaplain in the country to 'hunt people for Jesus' as they spread Christianity to the overwhelmingly Muslim population. Soldiers also have imported bibles translated into Pashto and Dari, the two dominant languages of Afghanistan. What's more, the center of this evangelical operation is at the huge US base at Bagram, one of the main sites used by the US military to torture and indefinitely detain prisoners.
In a video obtained by Al Jazeera and broadcast Monday, Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Hensley, the chief of the US military chaplains in Afghanistan, is seen telling soldiers that as followers of Jesus Christ, they all have a responsibility 'to be witnesses for him.'
'The special forces guys - they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down,' he says.
'Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom. That's what we do, that's our business,'...
...Trying to convert Muslims to any other faith is a crime in Afghanistan. The fact that the video footage is being broadcast on Al Jazeera guarantees that it will be seen throughout the Muslim world. It is likely to add more credence to the perception that the US is engaging in a war on Islam with neo-crusader forces invading Muslim lands..."
Taxation:
The multi-nationals will scream bloody murder (and crank up their PR and lobbying machine)...
Reuters: Obama vows tougher overseas tax policies
"President Barack Obama vowed on Monday to overhaul tax policies that he said reward companies for shifting U.S. jobs overseas and allow wealthy people to evade taxes using offshore accounts.
The White House estimated the plan would save $210 billion over the next decade.
In one proposal businesses are poised to fight, Obama would tighten tax-code provisions that allow firms to defer paying taxes on profits they make overseas as long as those earnings are plowed back into the foreign subsidiaries.
That portion of his plan has drawn opposition from big multinational firms such as Pfizer Inc and Oracle Corp.
The president said he also would close loopholes and bolster enforcement to prevent tax avoidance by companies and individuals..."
Iraq:
The Raw Story: UK was ‘dragged’ into Iraq war, says former top MI6 official
"In a revealing speech delivered this weekend, the former deputy director of Britain’s secret intelligence service said the Iraq war 'was always against' the 'better judgment' of the agency.
Nigel Inkster was deputy director of MI6, Britain’s foreign intelligence service, during Tony Blair’s Administration. According to an article in the Telegraph Sunday, Inkster was being groomed to succeed Sir Richard Dearlove, then MI6 chief, but may have been passed over because of his opinions regarding Iraq.
In a speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research, Inkster blamed the Foreign Office — the UK equivalent of the State Department — for allowing his country to get 'dragged into' a war which intelligence officials found dubious at best.
'The Foreign Office no longer does foreign policy,' Inkster said, according to a report. 'It acts as a platform for a multiplicity of UK departments and the lack of a clearly articulated sense of our strategic location in the world explains how we got dragged into a war with Iraq which was always against our better judgment,'..."
On Torture:
Hmm, Dr. Rice sounds like Nixon, saying 'If the President does it, it's not illegal'...
The Raw Story: Rice stumbles when asked about torture by fourth-grader
"Asked by a fourth grader about the Bush administration’s torture techniques, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appeared to stumble this weekend, repeating the same phrase three times.
After taking heat last week for telling Stanford University students that waterboarding was legal 'by definition if it was authorized by the president,' Rice took questions from a bit younger students at a Washington school.
Rice spoke at the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital, speaking about her 'love of Israel,' according to The Washington Post. She then took questions — and an enterprising fourth grader from Bethesda, Maryland posed a whopper.
Paraphrased, the question was: What did Rice think about the things President Obama’s administration was saying about the methods the Bush administration had used to get information from detainees?...
...The student’s mother also said her son had effectively been censored by school officials, who’d pressed him not to use the word torture (the questions were screened in advance).
His original question, she said, was: 'If you would work for Obama’s administration, would you push for torture?'
'They wanted him to soften it and take out the word ‘torture.’ But the essence of it was the same,' Lerner quipped."
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Powerful Banks' Influence:
Bill Moyers & Michael Winship: Mortgaging the White House
"...In choosing a man to manage the bailout of the banks who's so cozy with its players, and then installing as his White House economic adviser Larry Summers, who in the Clinton administration took a laissez-faire attitude toward the financial industry which would later enrich him, the president bought into the old fantasy that what's best for Wall Street is best for America.
With these two as his financial gatekeepers, President Obama's now in the position of Louis XVI being advised by Marie Antoinette to have another piece of cake until that rumble in the streets has passed on by.
In fact, other Wall Street insiders - many of them big contributors to the Obama presidential campaign, and progressive in their concern for the public interest - privately are expressing serious concerns that Geithner, Summers and their associates are leading the president and America's taxpayers down a path toward further economic disaster..."
Bill Moyers & Michael Winship: Mortgaging the White House
"...In choosing a man to manage the bailout of the banks who's so cozy with its players, and then installing as his White House economic adviser Larry Summers, who in the Clinton administration took a laissez-faire attitude toward the financial industry which would later enrich him, the president bought into the old fantasy that what's best for Wall Street is best for America.
With these two as his financial gatekeepers, President Obama's now in the position of Louis XVI being advised by Marie Antoinette to have another piece of cake until that rumble in the streets has passed on by.
In fact, other Wall Street insiders - many of them big contributors to the Obama presidential campaign, and progressive in their concern for the public interest - privately are expressing serious concerns that Geithner, Summers and their associates are leading the president and America's taxpayers down a path toward further economic disaster..."
Iraq:
Jeremy Scahill: New UN Report Shows the US Combo of Torture and Impunity Thrives in Iraqi Prisons
"...A new UN human rights report examining Iraq shows that torture of prisoners by Iraqi authorities is widespread and accountability is nonexistent. 'The lack of accountability of the perpetrators of such human rights abuses reinforces the culture of impunity,' the UN bluntly states. The 30-page report by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, which examined conditions in Iraq from July to December 2008, was just released Wednesday..."
Jeremy Scahill: New UN Report Shows the US Combo of Torture and Impunity Thrives in Iraqi Prisons
"...A new UN human rights report examining Iraq shows that torture of prisoners by Iraqi authorities is widespread and accountability is nonexistent. 'The lack of accountability of the perpetrators of such human rights abuses reinforces the culture of impunity,' the UN bluntly states. The 30-page report by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, which examined conditions in Iraq from July to December 2008, was just released Wednesday..."
Health Care:
Russel Mokhiber: Inside the Beltway Baucus
"...Again, the insurance industry is not the primary problem in this health care fight.
Health insurance corporations are fighting for their corporate lives.
Single payer health insurance would put them out of business.
It’s the corporate liberals like Baucus, Pollack and Stern that are the primary problem.
They say they are standing with the people.
But in fact they are working hand in glove with the health insurance industry to keep single payer off the table.
According to recent polls, the majority of the American people want single payer.
So do the majority of doctors, nurses and health economists.
And Max Baucus can’t give one out of 15 seats at the table to a single payer advocate?
What kind of corruption is that?"
Russel Mokhiber: Inside the Beltway Baucus
"...Again, the insurance industry is not the primary problem in this health care fight.
Health insurance corporations are fighting for their corporate lives.
Single payer health insurance would put them out of business.
It’s the corporate liberals like Baucus, Pollack and Stern that are the primary problem.
They say they are standing with the people.
But in fact they are working hand in glove with the health insurance industry to keep single payer off the table.
According to recent polls, the majority of the American people want single payer.
So do the majority of doctors, nurses and health economists.
And Max Baucus can’t give one out of 15 seats at the table to a single payer advocate?
What kind of corruption is that?"
"...too difficult for the government to prove its case..."
Too many things they can't allow to be openly discussed, I gather.
AP: Feds drop charges against pro-Israel lobbyists
"Prosecutors moved Friday to dismiss all charges against two former pro-Israel lobbyists accused of disclosing U.S. defense secrets, ending a four-year legal battle that promised to put former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other Bush administration insiders on the witness stand.
Critics of the prosecution of Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee accused the government of trying to criminalize the sort of back-channel discussions between government officials, lobbyists and reporters that are commonplace in the nation's capital.
To prove the point, Rosen and Weissman's lawyers won the right to subpoena a parade of Bush administration officials and have them testify at trial under oath. Those slated to testify included Rice, former national security adviser Stephen Hadley, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and several others..."
Too many things they can't allow to be openly discussed, I gather.
AP: Feds drop charges against pro-Israel lobbyists
"Prosecutors moved Friday to dismiss all charges against two former pro-Israel lobbyists accused of disclosing U.S. defense secrets, ending a four-year legal battle that promised to put former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other Bush administration insiders on the witness stand.
Critics of the prosecution of Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee accused the government of trying to criminalize the sort of back-channel discussions between government officials, lobbyists and reporters that are commonplace in the nation's capital.
To prove the point, Rosen and Weissman's lawyers won the right to subpoena a parade of Bush administration officials and have them testify at trial under oath. Those slated to testify included Rice, former national security adviser Stephen Hadley, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and several others..."
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Energy:
Now we're getting somewhere!
CleanTechnica: Wind Turbine Output Boosted 30% by Breakthrough Design
"Passive structure design of 'Wind Energizer' by Leviathan Energy reportedly increases wind turbine efficiency 30% in field tests..."
Now we're getting somewhere!
CleanTechnica: Wind Turbine Output Boosted 30% by Breakthrough Design
"Passive structure design of 'Wind Energizer' by Leviathan Energy reportedly increases wind turbine efficiency 30% in field tests..."
Friday, May 01, 2009
Corporate Animal Husbandry:
This video news report mentions the following 'Science' article from March, 2003...
Science: Chasing The Fickle Swine Flu
"Changes on the farm may be fostering the evolution of the swine flu virus - and if a dangerous new strain crosses back into humans, it could have deadly consequences..."
Energy:
New Scientist: Will Obama restore solar panels to the White House?
"With a new tenant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, speculation is growing about the kind of home improvements we can expect. The question doing the rounds in the blogosphere is: will Obama install new solar panels on the White House's roof?
The first presidential solar panels were actually installed in 1979, after two recent oil shocks, by Jimmy Carter to heat water. But when Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980 they were taken down and put into storage.
Last week, workers at Google took the time to track down what happened to them..."
Economics:
Charles Siegel: Shrinking Our Way Towards Happiness (Review of Tim Jackson's SDC report)
"When a British government commission publishes a report calling for an end to economic growth, it suddenly seems that our world is changing. Growth has been the central goal of economists since the beginning of the industrial revolution. But Prof. Tim Jackson, the Economics Commissioner of the UK's Sustainable Development Commission has written a book that sums up the current state of our knowledge about economic growth and shows convincingly that growth should end..."
Do please view Frank Rotering's insightful video response to the SDC report above.
This video news report mentions the following 'Science' article from March, 2003...
Science: Chasing The Fickle Swine Flu
"Changes on the farm may be fostering the evolution of the swine flu virus - and if a dangerous new strain crosses back into humans, it could have deadly consequences..."
Energy:
New Scientist: Will Obama restore solar panels to the White House?
"With a new tenant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, speculation is growing about the kind of home improvements we can expect. The question doing the rounds in the blogosphere is: will Obama install new solar panels on the White House's roof?
The first presidential solar panels were actually installed in 1979, after two recent oil shocks, by Jimmy Carter to heat water. But when Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980 they were taken down and put into storage.
Last week, workers at Google took the time to track down what happened to them..."
Economics:
Charles Siegel: Shrinking Our Way Towards Happiness (Review of Tim Jackson's SDC report)
"When a British government commission publishes a report calling for an end to economic growth, it suddenly seems that our world is changing. Growth has been the central goal of economists since the beginning of the industrial revolution. But Prof. Tim Jackson, the Economics Commissioner of the UK's Sustainable Development Commission has written a book that sums up the current state of our knowledge about economic growth and shows convincingly that growth should end..."
Do please view Frank Rotering's insightful video response to the SDC report above.
