| Jump to bottom |
An American Tragedy -or- Obama's Job Stimulus Failures
Here Read
+ Stimulus Funds for Green Energy Projects Going Offshore along with Other U.S. Manufacturing / Canada Free Press:
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/16615
"... with wind and solar projects ... the majority of the manufactured components are being built offshore in either Asia or Europe ..."
+ 84% of Green Job Stimulus Money is Going Offshore / The Economic Populist:
http://www.economicpopulist.org/cont...going-offshore
"Of the $1.05 billion in clean-energy grants handed out by the government ... a total of $849 million â€" has gone to foreign wind companies."
+ Expert: Stimulus Job Creation Hits Wall of Red Tape / Newsmax:
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/sti...06/189329.html
"... a brick wall of bureaucracy and business as usual â€" dangerously delaying the job creation touted to be at the heart of the recovery."
+ Florida's federal stimulus cash in red tape / GoSun Solutions:
http://gosunsolutions.com/home/content/view/344/1/
"'It's a struggle right now just getting the funding down to where it needs to be spent. It seems we have a logjam or a bottleneck,'..."
+ The Phantom Jobs Stimulus / Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...776158046.html
"How many Americans does it take to make nine pairs of work boots? ... an $890 shoe order for the Army Corps of Engineers, courtesy of the stimulus package, created nine new jobs at Moore's Shoes & Services ..."
"Up to $6.4 billion went to imaginary places in America ..."
+Stimulus job boost in state exaggerated, review finds / Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/business/artic..._review_finds/
"... federal money that recipients already receive annually - subsidies for affordable housing, for example - was reclassified this year as stimulus spending, and the existing jobs already supported by those programs were credited to stimulus spending."
+ Obama Stimulus Job Count Under New Criticism / ABC News:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/scrut...9075257&page=1
"... a sanitation department in Douglas County, Wis., that admitted to a typo that resulted in an estimate of 100 jobs saved or created, when the actual number was five."
"... the Texas recipient of a $26,174 roofing contract reported erroneously that 450 jobs were created or saved when, in fact, six were."
+ Where's the Truth? Stimulus Jobs Reporting More Slippery than Greased Eel / North Carolina Capitol Monitor:
http://www.capitol-monitor.org/nc-st...mulus-jobs.php
"... of the 30,383 jobs attributed to federal contracts (300 in North Carolina), 'some counts were more than 10 times as high as the actual number of jobs; some jobs credited to the stimulus program were counted two and sometimes more than four times; and other jobs were credited to stimulus spending when none was produced.'"
+ Cities, towns find limits on stimulus cash / MSNBC:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30269030...s-life/page/2/
"There's some money to hire police officers, but no money to rebuild the stations they work in. The opposite's true for firefighters. No money to hire more, but at least some funding to improve firehouses."
"... Congress opted to funnel much of the money through existing federal channels and created a confusing hodgepodge of rules ..."
UPDATE: OH (The Atmospheric Scrubber)
It's come to my attention that:
1./ The First Link is broken (new link: http://www.tetontectonics.org/Climate.html) ,
2./ The NASA Article is contrived (bogus).
Dr. Shindell (NASA) says:
"Reducing sulfate unmasks methane's warming by 20 to 40 percent over current estimates..."
Yet Dr. Ward explains:
"Global temperatures increased more rapidly after 1950 as the rate of anthropengic sulfur emissions increased."
Shindell claims that Sulfur Dioxide is good because it temporarily blocks sunlight.
Yet Ward explains how:
"All major historic volcanic eruptions have formed sulfuric acid aerosols in the lower stratosphere that cooled the earth's surface ...", however, "Large volumes of Sulfur Dioxide ... overdrive the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere resulting in very rapid warming."
""Massive reduction of SO2 should be a top priority in order to reduce both global warming and acid rain."
Feeling Stronger Every Day -or- Arming Somalia
Here Read:
+ Somalia Foreign Military Assistance / Country Studies, Library of Congress:
http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-12055.html
"During ... the 1960s, the Soviet Union provided Somalia with a substantial number of T-34 tanks, armored personnel carriers, MiG-15 and MiG-17 aircraft, small arms, and ammunition."
"After signing the 1974 Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with Moscow, Mogadishu started taking delivery of numerous sophisticated weapon systems, including MiG-21 jet fighters, T-54 tanks, a SAM-2 missile defense system for Mogadishu, and modern torpedo and missile-armed fast attack and landing craft for the navy."
"After the 1982 renewal of hostilities between Somalia and Ethiopia, Egypt delivered T-54 and T-55 tanks, 37mm antiaircraft guns, and ammunition."
"When Somalia broke with the Soviet Union in 1977, Saudi Arabia rewarded Somalia by paying for old stocks of Egyptian and Sudanese weapons, which were then sent to Mogadishu. Until Siad Barre's downfall, Riyadh provided Mogadishu with a variety of weapons, including armored and reconnaissance vehicles, small arms, and ammunition."
"During the Ogaden War ... Iraq, Iran, and Jordan provided small arms and ammunition ... In 1982 Kuwait delivered forty Centurion tanks to Somalia. The United Arab Emirates and Oman equipped the SAF with Hawker Hunter fighters and Britten Norman Defender transports. Furthermore, funds from Islamic states enabled the acquisition of numerous weapons, the most notable of which was China's F-6 fighter-bomber in 1981."
"In August 1980, Washington and Mogadishu signed an agreement whereby the former received access to Somali ports and airfields in Berbera, Mogadishu, and Chisimayu in exchange for providing US$40 million in defensive military equipment over the next two years."
"In 1983 United States military aid totaled US$21.2 million; in 1984 US$24.3 million; in 1985 US$80 million, a large amount of which included air-transportable 155mm M-198s; in 1986 US$40 million; and in 1987 approximately US$37.1 million."
"Starting in 1978, Italy furnished more military aid to Somalia than any other Western country."
"Fiat also sold light tanks and armored cars to the SNA. By 1980 Italian exports to Somalia amounted to US$124 million."
"Subsequently, Italy furnished an array of military equipment to Somalia, including armored vehicles, trucks, tanks, helicopters, small arms, and ammunition."
"... China supplied Somalia with an array of weaponry, including F-6 fighter-bombers in 1981, F-7 fighter- bombers in 1984, artillery, antiaircraft guns, rocket launchers, mortars, small arms, and ammunition."
Also Read:
+ U.S. Exports Arms to the World / Third World Traveler (1999):
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Pe...rts_World.html
"Since the demise of the Soviet Union, the United States has dominated the global arms market."
"During 1994-1996, the United States exported $67.3 billion dollars worth of armaments: 55% of global arms exports, quadruple the share of its closest competitor."
"Of the 24 countries which experienced at least one major armed conflict in 1997,3 the United States sold arms or provided military training to 21 of them at some point during the l 990s. In exceptions such as Iran and Afghanistan, plenty of U.S. hardware no doubt remains from previous decades."
+ Arming Iraq and the Path to War / UN Observer:
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/...qP2W.html#fn14
"It reveals our ambitions in Iraq to be just another chapter in the attempt to regain a foothold in the Mideast following the fall of the Shah of Iran."
+ Ted Koppel ABC News (Nightline):
"It is becoming increasingly clear that George Bush Sr., operating largely behind the scenes throughout the 1980s, initiated and supported much of the financing, intelligence, and military help that built Iraq into an aggressive power. Reagan/Bush administrations permitted--and frequently encouraged--the flow of money, dual-use technology, chemicals and weapons to Iraq."
+ Iraqgate: What Went Wrong / Newsweek:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/147314
"The scandal began in August 1989 with a raid on BNL's Atlanta offices, where the FBI and federal bank examiners, acting on a tip, discovered that Drogoul had been keeping two sets of books. Drogoul's private books recorded very large unreported loans to the government of Iraq, which even then was hard at work building up the military might that would conquer Kuwait."
+ EFFORTS TO THWART INVESTIGATION OF THE BNL SCANDAL / Congressional Record:
http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/cong...2/h920330g.htm
"Attorney General Thornburgh repeatedly tried to have the investigation of the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs curtailed, under the false pretense that the committee's investigation of BNL could be harmful to the national security interests of the United States."
+ China: Secretive arms exports stoking conflict and repression / Amnesty International (2006):
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA17/033/2006
"China is fast emerging as one of the world's biggest, most secretive and irresponsible arms exporters, according to a new report issued today by Amnesty International."
"The report shows how Chinese weapons have helped sustain brutal conflicts, criminal violence and other grave human rights violations in countries such as Sudan, Nepal, Myanmar and South Africa. It also reveals the possible involvement of Western companies in the manufacture of some of these weapons."
"China's arms exports, estimated to be in excess of US$1 billion a year, often involve the exchange of weapons for raw materials to fuel the country's rapid economic growth. But it is a trade shrouded in secrecy; Beijing does not publish any information about arms transfers abroad and hasn't submitted any data to the UN Register on Conventional Arms in the last eight years."
+ China Storms Africa / Fast Company (2008):
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/...tml?page=0%2C0
"... four African countries central to China's overall strategy: Mozambique (a key source of timber for China), Zambia (copper), Congo (a wide range of minerals), and Equatorial Guinea (oil). ... cash-flush Chinese firms -- many with state-directed financing -- are cutting deals at a dizzying pace, securing supplies of oil, copper, timber, natural gas, zinc, cobalt, iron, you name it."
"But the secrecy and elitism that already define the government of China, and many of those in Africa, are poised to usher in a toxic intercontinental corruption we can hardly yet imagine."
"China is also the world's No. 1 source of counterfeit products -- and Africa is now the No. 1 transit point for fake goods entering the United States and Europe."
"Chinese companies are the second-most likely (after India) to use payola abroad, according to Transparency International's Bribe Payers Index. Similarly, a World Bank survey of 68 countries last year found that the sub-Sahara leads in the "percentage of firms expected to give gifts" to secure government contracts (43%)."
We're Not In Kansas Anymore -or- Taliban In Texas (Plus Warlords)
Here Read:
+ Taleban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline / BBC (1997):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/west_asia/37021.stm
"A senior delegation from the Taleban movement in Afghanistan is in the United States for talks with an international energy company that wants to construct a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan."
+ US policy on Taliban influenced by oil - authors / Asia Times (2001):
http://www.atimes.com/c-asia/CK20Ag01.html
"Under the influence of United States oil companies, the government of President George W Bush initially blocked intelligence agencies' investigations on terrorism ..."
"'the main obstacles to investigate Islamic terrorism were US oil corporate interests and the role played by Saudi Arabia in it'."
"... the US government's main objective in Afghanistan was to consolidate the position of the Taliban regime to obtain access to the oil and gas reserves in Central Asia."
"... confronted with Taliban's refusal to accept US conditions, 'this rationale of energy security changed into a military one' ..."
+ The warlords casting a shadow over Afghanistan / The Independent (2009):
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...n-1682660.html
"One of the most feared of the Afghan warlords, Faryadi Zardad, was notorious for robbing, raping, torturing and killing travellers on the road between Kabul and Jalalabad."
"In 1998, as the Taliban overran Afghanistan, he fled to Britain on a fake passport. He was running a pizza restaurant in south London in 2000 when he was unmasked by the BBC, and in 2005 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Britain."
"Other warlords, who were once his comrades in arms, are now part of the political elite in Kabul, prominent members of the government or multimillionaire owners of palatial houses in the capital."
"At the time Zardad was torturing and killing at his much-feared checkpoint at Sarobi on the Kabul-Kandahar road in 1992-96, he was a valued military commander in the forces of Gulbuddin Hekmetyar, the leader of the fundamentalist Hizb-e-Islami party."
"... Hekmetyar is reportedly about to start negotiations to join the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai. Under a power-sharing deal, his party would supposedly fill several ministerial posts and governorships in return for abandoning the Taliban."
"Just before Mr Karzai went to Washington to see President Barack Obama last week, he neatly divided the opposition, and almost certainly ensured his re-election as President, by selecting as his vice-presidential running-mate Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a powerful Tajik former warlord."
"One reason the Taliban had been able to conquer most of Afghanistan in the 1990s, aside from the support of Pakistan, was by taking advantage of a popular reaction against warlords."
"At the time of the terrorist attacks on the US in 2001, warlords including General Dostum and General Fahim were fighting for their lives or were in exile. But within hours of 9/11, the US was looking for local allies to provide the ground troops which, backed by US airpower, advisers and money, would overthrow the Taliban in Kabul."
Also Good Reads:
+ Afghanistan's future threatened by ex-warlords / MSNBC (2009)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33865380..._central_asia/
+ Warlords Toughen US Task in Afghanistan / Time (2008)
http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...865255,00.html
+ Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords and the Propaganda of Silence / Democracy Now (2008)
http://www.democracynow.org/2006/10/...rlords_and_the
OH (The Atmospheric Detergent)-or-You Can't Talk To A Man With A Shotgun In His Hand!!!
Here Read:
+ Primary Cause of Global Warming Discovered
http://www.tetontectonics.org/Climat...1Web.pdfovered /
"Too much sulfur dioxide ... causes warming."
...What happens is that Sulfur Dioxide affects the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere.
There's a natural element which cleans the atmosphere of GreenHouses Gases (OH)--however it's in short supply.
Sulfur Dioxide reacts most swiftly with OH: "Too much sulfur dioxide uses them all up, causing methane and other pollutants to accumulate."
+ Interactions with Aerosols Boost Warming Potential of Some Gases / NASA:
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20091029/
"When vehicles, factories, landfills, and livestock emit methane and carbon monoxide into the atmosphere ..."
"The release of these gases also have indirect effects ... including reducing the production of particles called aerosols that can influence both the climate and the air quality."
"These two gases, as well as others, are part of a complicated cascade of chemical reactions that features competition with aerosols for highly reactive molecules that cleanse the air of pollutants."
"... coal power production and other industrial processes release sulfur dioxide â€" the same gas that billows from volcanoes â€" that later reacts with atmospheric molecules called hydroxyl radicals to produce sulfates as a byproduct."
"Hydroxyl is so reactive scientists consider it an atmospheric 'detergent' ..."
"'Our calculations suggest that all the non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases together have a net impact that rivals the warming caused by carbon dioxide.'"
"'Since we already know how to capture methane from animals, landfills, and sewage treatment plants at fairly low cost, targeting methane makes sense,'..."
OH is produced by a reaction of sunlight with Ozone...
+ Uranium Plants Harm Ozone Layer / Mindfully.org:
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/Uraniu...zone-Layer.htm
"The uranium enrichment plant in Paducah, Ky., and its sister facility in Ohio have been by far the country's largest industrial emitters of a chemical that eats the Earth's protective ozone layer."
+ Clean Air Reports / Environment Illinois:
http://www.environmentillinois.org/r...lant-emissions
"From 1995 to 2000, over which time the national SO2 cap took effect, 300 of the dirtiest 500 power plants increased their SO2 emissions ..."
"One plant, the EC Gaston plant in Alabama, increased its SO2 emissions by 62,000 tons per year ..."
+ China's anti-pollution efforts stink / Asian Times:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_B.../HH16Cb01.html
"So what might look great on paper will in the end probably produce no real gain."
Move Those Doggies--ROUNDUP Danger!!!
Here Read:
+ Monsanto's Herbicide Roundup Linked to Birth Defects / Organic Consumers Association:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/arti...icle_17565.cfm
"... the situation 'is much more serious' that the study suggests because 'glyphosate does not degrade,'..."
+GM Soy Herbicide Linked to Birth Defects / Nature News:
http://www.naturalnews.com/027228_so...e_Roundup.html
"The active ingredient of the popular herbicide Roundup ... causes birth defects of the brain, heart and intestines even in minuscule doses, Argentinean researchers have found."
+ Roundup / Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup
"As of 2009 the Roundup line of products represents about half of Monsanto's yearly revenue."
Be Warned--these men are desperate!!!!
God, The NY Times, The Birds & The Bees
Here Read:
+ Bad Buzz For Bayer / Forbes (Oct. 2009):
http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/16/bay...dia-bayer.html
"A documentary on the declining population of bees worldwide is causing a migraine for German drug company Bayer."
"In Vanishing of the Bees ... beekeepers blame neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides produced by Bayer for so-called Colony Collapse Disorder."
+ Saving Bees: What We Know Now / NY Times (Sept. 2009):
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.c...t-we-know-now/
--Articulates how Bee Colony Collapse Disorder is mainly due to modern-day stress...
"If bees lived in an utterly non-stressful world, they could go on despite the viruses. But of course they don't live in a world anything like that."
+ Bat DieOff And Bee Colony Collapse / suite 101 (Feb. 2008):
http://wildlife-conservation.suite10...olony_collapse
"The role of pesticides in weakening the immune system is well documented in many species so the effect on bee colonies would not be unexpected."
+ Carbofuran / toxipedia:
"Carbofuran is one of the most toxic carbamate pesticides and is most often marketed under the trade names Furadan and Curater. It is extremely toxic to birds, fish, and bees."
+ EPA bans pesticide's use on food crops, citing risks to health / Boston Globe (May 2009):
http://www.boston.com/business/artic...sks_to_health/
"The Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule yesterday to ban use of the pesticide carbofuran on food crops because it poses an unacceptable health risk, especially to children."
"... and in coming months will move to ban its use altogether, including on nonfood crops, because of risks to farm workers and the environment."
And so..., why didn't the EPA ban all uses of Carbofuran? We should trust the EPA to extend the ban "in coming months"???
Here read:
+ School drinking water contains toxins / The Guardian (Sept. 2009):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8726266
"An Associated Press investigation found that contaminants have surfaced at public and private schools in all 50 states and in small towns and inner cities alike."
"But the problem has gone largely unmonitored by the federal government, even as the number of water safety violations has multiplied."
"In California's farm belt, wells at some schools are so tainted with pesticides that students have taken to stuffing their backpacks with bottled water for fear of getting sick from the drinking fountain."
+ Monsanto's Friends / Political Friendster:
http://www.politicalfriendster.com/s...p?id=238&name=...
Fee Fi Fo Fum--The Truth About China's Wind Energy!!!
Here Read:
+ Rich nations trying to kill Kyoto pact, says China / Reuters (Oct. 2009):
http://www.reuters.com/article/lates...s/idUSSP280493
"... developing nations are not obliged to meet hard, economy-wide targets and won't agree to such targets in any new agreement."
"... they fear ... wealthy states wriggling out of meeting tough, binding emissions cuts."
+ China Outpaces U.S. in Cleaner Coal-Fired Plants / NY Times (May 2009):
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/wo...ia/11coal.html
"China now uses more coal than the United States, Europe and Japan combined ..."
"... China has emerged in the past two years as the world's leading builder of more efficient, less polluting coal power plants ..."
"Even among China's newly built plants, not all are modern. Only about 60 percent of the new plants are being built using newer technology ..."
"The most efficient plants ... cut global warming emissions by more than a third compared with the weakest plants."
"... the I.E.A. cut its forecast of the annual increase in Chinese emissions of global warming gases, to 3 percent from 3.2 percent ..."
+ China CO2 Emissions Growing Faster Than Anticipated / National Geographic News (March 2008):
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...a-warming.html
"... the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had predicted that China's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions would rise by about 2.5 to 5 percent each year between 2004 and 2010.
"But the estimates are two to four times too low, according to new research ... the University of California, Berkeley."
+ Weaknesses In Chinese Wind Power / Forbes (July 2009):
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/20/chi...rgy-china.html
"... about 30% of its wind power assets are not in use--much of that not even connected to the transmission grid--a result of Chinese power companies turning to wind ... to satisfy on paper ..."
"Whether the massive new building push will be any more efficient is an open question, given that much of it is slated for out of the way places, mainly in the north, making it uneconomical to build the lengthy extensions to China's grid that would be required to transmit the power to distant population centers."
+ Can China Catch a Cool Breeze? / Nation (April 2009):
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090504/parenti/3
"One of the ways rich economies can meet some of their reduction targets is by paying for green energy projects in poor economies. This North-to-South subsidy scheme is the CDM."
"'In China about 100 percent of wind projects get CDM subsidies,' ... China accounts for about one-quarter of the program's total capacity, which transfers about $5 billion a year from wealthy industrialized economies to developing economies."
+ A wary respect / The Economist (Oct. 2009):
http://www.economist.com/specialrepo...ry_id=14678579
"With America's economy in tatters and China's still growing fast (albeit not as fast as before last year's financial crisis), many politicians and intellectuals in both China and America feel that the balance of power is shifting more rapidly in China's favor."
+ What recession? China has second-highest number of billionaires as nation's super-rich buck financial crisis / Daily Mail (Oct. 2009):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl....html?ITO=1490
"China now has more known dollar billionaires than any other country except the United States, according to a report released today."
Fancy trading your cow for five magic beans??? WHAT???!!!
Coal & Nuclear = Going Off The Rails On A Crazy Train!!!
Here Read:
+ The True Cost of Coal Revealed / L. Berliant:
http://www.sehn.org/tcccostofcoal.html
--"... adds $451 billion in annual costs to the simple buying price. Not included in that dollar amount are damage estimates for acid mine drainage, mercury pollution or ground water contamination... "
+ The Cost Of Coal On The Environment / ScienceDaily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0504151722.htm
"'Coal is an extremely dirty source of power, and imposes huge costs on people's health, the environment and the economy,'..."
+ A Comparison of the Monetized Impact of IQ Decrements from Mercury Emissions / US EPA
http://www.sehn.org/tccpdf/mercury cost estimates compared.pdf
"... American power plants impose an economic cost of $1.3 billion due to mercury emissions."
+ How Much Do Environmental Diseases and Disabilities Cost / Northwest Public Health:
http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:MAQK1ATldW4J:www.nwpublichealth.org/docs/nph/f2005/web_ex_davies_f2005.pdf+forbes+economic+costs+of+environmental+diseases+%26+disabilities&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgrQvlc6VfuroGuQvBjJ5Bz9ryncTxleqaUqXZnv-IwF5KM26VPtPNOkLCFkBZ3CDHmTpMWVk1eG2HBkL-YYgWA8NX-jRRE4fqj8CoMf2wb-_1SqsjNfk9cIvW_OXxGGAB1qsKM&sig=AFQjCNHxoO66Rct6fu9Va8_w6NftHzoqQQ
"... there is now strong or good scientific evidence that about 22 types of cancer and about 24 reproductive, birth, developmental, and neurobehavioral disorders are linked with exposure to environmental contaminants."
+ Preventing Disease Through Healthy Environments: Towards an Estimate of the Environmental Burden of Disease / World Health Organization:
http://www.sehn.org/tccpdf/environment disease burden WHO.pdf
"Environmental risk factors play a role in more than 80% of the diseases regularly reported by the World Health Organization."
+ Dirty King Coal / The Economist
http://www.sehn.org/tccdirtykingcoal.html
"Scrubbing carbon from coal-fired power stations is possible but pricey. ... If 60% of the 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2 that America produces every year from coal-fired power stations were liquefied for storage, it would take up the same amount of space as all the oil the country consumes."
+ Nuclear power's new debate: cost / Christian Science Monitor:
http://features.csmonitor.com/innova...w-debate-cost/
"... nuclear power will cost more per kilowatt hour than other energy sources."
+ European Heat Wave Shows Limits of Nuclear Energy / OneWorld.net:
http://www.sehn.org/tcclimitsofnuclearenergy.html
"Nuclear power depends on a lot of water for cooling. But as the weather gets hotter, so does the waterâ€"and it gets scarcer, too."
+ Elevated childhood cancer incidence proximate to U.S. nuclear power plants / Environmental Health
http://www.c-10.org/pdf/Elevated childhood cancer incidence proximate to U.pdf
"This study determined that cancer incidence for children younger than 10-years of age who live within 30 miles of each of 14 nuclear plants in the eastern United States exceeds the national average."
+ Offshore Wind Energy Potential for the United States / National Renewable Energy Laboratory
http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/p...mit/musial.pdf
"Load centers are close to the offshore sites." Offshore potential = current demand!!!
+ THE MAGLEV: The Super-powered Magnetic Wind Turbine / inhabitat
http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/11/26/...urbine-maglev/
Simply using Permanent Magnets = 20% more power & 50% less cost = low-center-of-gravity = perfect for offshore!!!
+ Popular Science's 20th Annual Best of What's New Awards / Nanosolar Homepage:
http://www.nanosolar.com
"Nanosolar has created an ink that takes sunlight and converts it into electricity. The ink is coated onto metal sheets as thin as aluminum foil with a printing-press-like device. The sheets are lighter, inexpensive and as efficient as traditional solar panels."
+ Hydrogen Power on the Cheap--Or at Least Cheaper / Scientific American:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hydrogen-power-on-the-cheap
"Chemists have devised less expensive methods for tapping the energy potential of this ubiquitous element."
+ Cheap Hydrogen / Technology Review (MIT):
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/20134/?a=f
"A new process uses sunlight and a nanostructured catalyst to inexpensively and efficiently generate hydrogen for fuel."
+ Nanoparticles could make hydrogen cheaper than gasoline / EETimes:
http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206801669
"... highly reactive catalytic nanoparticle coatings that could up the efficiency of electrolysis, the technique that generates hydrogen from water."
Wind & Solar can make Clean Hydrogen for back-up in Power Plants...
Senator Inhofe & His Global Warming Deniers
U.S. Senator Inhofe is the "weightiest" critic of "man-made global warming alarmism"--read his speech:
+ 'Consensus' Continues Freefall: Science and Scientists Challenge Man-Made Global Warming Fears / Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Ranking Member Environment and Public Works Committee
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=fc6818d6-802a-23ad-4803-b2ed231c1d7d
Inhofe names the most important voices decrying alarmism:
1./ Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic and of the European Union:
"I don't see any ruining of the planet, I have never seen it, and I don't think that a reasonable and serious person could say such a thing."
2./ Climate scientist Dr. Richard Lindzen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology:
"... water vapor feedback could act to nullify future warming."
...Of course, Inhofe's first two experts are contradicting each other...
3./ William Gray of Colorado State University:
"But this warming trend is not going to keep on going."
4./ Stephen McIntyre is the primary author of Climate Audit:
"He discovered a small discontinuity ... about 0.15 °C during the years 2000-2006."
5./ Chemist Dr. Arthur Robinson ... petition signed by more than 32,000 American scientists:
"... consensus does not exist on the subject of global warming"
"Robinson's paper--'Science Has Spoken: Global Warming Is a Myth'--claimed to show that pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is actually a good thing."
6./ Dr. Willie Soon, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics:
"... 'the 20th century is probably not the warmest nor a uniquely extreme climatic period of the last millennium.'"
"... 13 authors ... disputed that interpretation of their work."
7./ NASA Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Roy Spencer:
Wrote: "When is Global Warming Really a Cooling?"
Here Read:
+ Is the globe warming or cooling / USA Today (2009)
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2009-05-08-global-cooling-or-warming_N.htm
"... the 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998 and that even though 2008 was the coolest year since 2000, it was still the 8th-warmest year on record."
Inhofe goes on:
"Here is a very small sampling of recent inconvenient climate developments and news:"
"NYT: Prominent Geologist Dr. Don Easterbrook warns we are in 'decades-long global cooling spell'"
"NASA Warming Scientist Under Fire--From Former Supervisor"
--"...Hansen received a $250,000 Heinz Environment Award for his research on global warming... Hansen later publicly endorsed Kerry for the presidency... 'Yes, that is absolutely illegal,' Theon said. That alone is grounds for firing ..."
Is it Batman or The Joker???!!!
Banks Gone Wild (NY Times) --or-- A 30-50% Hike Into The Red
"...Merrill Lynch made its biggest purchases of bad debt ... after the subprime crisis had already become public knowledge."
+ Banks Gone Wild / NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/opinion/23krugman.html
"Most subprime loans are based on floating interest rates ... many homeowners ... are now facing 30-50% increases in their monthly payments."
"... subprime loans made up as much as 23% of the housing market in 2006. The increasing number of defaults and delinquencies means more than just homeowners in trouble."
+ Subprime Mortgage Market Collapse: A Primer / ERATE
http://www.erate.com/subprime-mortgage-market-collapse.htm
"When Obama launched his mortgage rescue plan, he promised that it would help 5 million households."
"... President Obama's plan to rescue those facing mortgage foreclosure is a dismal failure."
"Only 19,041 â€" a paltry 6 percent â€" were modified ..."
"And of those modified, only 11,200 involved any reduction in the monthly payments!"
"Only 12 percent involved any write-off of interest, fees, or principal, and 27 percent of the loan modifications actually increased the monthly payments due."
+ Obama's Mortgage Rescue Plan Fails Miserably / Newsmax
http://www.newsmax.com/morris/Obama_mortgage_rescue/2009/06/09/223238.html
"But with the foreclosure rate hitting a new record in the third quarter, the government's ability to put a meaningful dent in the tally of housing-crisis victims faces renewed skepticism."
+ Why Obama's Housing Rescue Hasn't Prevented Record Foreclosures / US News
http://www.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-home-front/2009/10/15/why-obamas-housing-rescue-hasnt-prevented-record-foreclosures
So...--drastically hike-up sub-prime rates, pull the rug out from beneath people's feet, and drive yourself right out of business--WHAT'S THE DEAL???
Money & Lobbyists Hurt European Efforts to Curb Gases (NY Times) + Tundra & Coal Fires = Obama & Co!!!
"... that plan unleashed a lobbying free-for-all that led politicians to dole out favors to various industries, undermining the environmental goals."
"Four years later, it is becoming clear that system has so far produced little noticeable benefit to the climate â€" but generated a multibillion-dollar windfall for some of the Continent's biggest polluters."
+ Money and Lobbyists Hurt European Efforts to Curb Gases / NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/business/worldbusiness/11carbon.html?_r=1
"Projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) likely underestimate the scale and rapidity of climate change, warned a Stanford University scientist ..."
"... industrial emissions are well out-pacing even the most aggressive forecasts ... ... the IPCC's 2007 climate assessment failed to account for potentially devastating feedback cycles that could be triggered by rising temperatures, including large-scale ignition of tropical forests and catastrophic melting of Arctic tundra ..."
+.Burning rainforests, melting Tundra could accelerate global warming well beyond current projections / mongabay.com
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0216-climate.html
"... the Chinese fires alone consume 120 million tons of coal annually. That's almost as much as the annual coal production in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois combined."
"The Chinese fires also make a big, hidden contribution to global warming through the greenhouse effect, scientists said. Each year they release 360 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as much as all the cars and light trucks in the United States."
+ Underground coal fires called a 'catastrophe' / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/20030215coalenviro4p4.asp
Colossal Magnetic Levitation Wind Turbine = Permanent Magnets = 20% more power + 50% less cost = low-center-of-gravity = perfect for offshore = US Dept. of Energy states could meet current demand = areas surrounding the US = 24/7
http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/11/26/super-powered-magnetic-wind-turbine-maglev/
Senator Reid & Co (Public Option) = Reformers or Con Artists???
Caps on Health Coverage cause 2/3 of bankruptcies; what small % hires a lawyer to file anyway; so..., who'd choose bankruptcy over CHEAPER Public Option?
Big Industrial States w/ High-Risk people = Insurers don't even want High-Risk policies!!!
Consider:
"... a smart card ... The doctor puts it in a reader and the patient's history and medications all show up on the screen."
"So Taiwan has the lowest administrative costs in world: less than 2 percent."
(Taiwan Takes Fast Track to Universal Health Care / NPR -- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89651916 )
Smart Card = combat $60 BILLION annual Medicare Fraud--OR, current $1,000 reward system -- http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/rmf.pdf
The Disproportionate Share Hospital Payment Program = funding for hospitals treating numerous illegal aliens...
"...charging people without insurance significantly more than they charge those insured ..."
(Suits Challenge Hospital Bills Of Uninsured / NY Times -- http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/17/business/suits-challenge-hospital-bills-of-uninsured.html )
In other words..., Hospitals not plagued with illegal aliens = also profit from inflated rates!
"... in the six months after ... pharmaceutical industry profits increased by over $8 billion."
(Pharmaceutical Industry Profits Increase by Over $8 Billion After Medicare Drug Plan Goes Into Effect / US Govt. -- http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20060919115623-70677.pdf )
"Both sides claim the deal will save consumers ... $80 billion over the next decade."
"A close look ... precisely the opposite effect by substantially raising spending on pharmaceuticals."
(White House drug deal won't save money / CNN -- http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/31/news/economy/drug_donut_medicare.fortune/index.htm )
"... top ten drug companies make more in profits than the rest of the Fortune 500 combined..."
(The Truth About Drug Companies / Mother Jones)
"'... nearly one-fourth of every dime raised by Baucus ... has come from groups and individuals associated with drug companies, insurers, hospitals, medical-supply firms, health-service companies and other health professionals.'"
"The Washington Post revealed almost thirty key lawmakers helping draft landmark healthcare legislation have financial holdings in the industry ..."
(Report: Senator Max Baucus Received More Campaign Money from Health and Insurance Industry Interests than Any Other Member of Congress / Democracy Now--
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/16/report_senator_max_baucus_received_more )
"Nearly two out of three bankruptcies stem from medical bills, and even people with health insurance face financial disaster if they experience a serious illness, a new study shows."
(Medical Bills Cause Most Bankruptcies / NY Times)
It's not REFORM--it's RIP-OFF!!!
(DUH!!!)
All Along The Watchtower -or- Which Health Insurance Crisis???
Go Figure:
60% Employer-Paid-Insurance,
27% Govt. Care,
*
____________________
87% of Americans have Health Insurance...
Here Consider:
20% of the uninsured aren't US citizens!!!
27 million uninsured made more than $50,000!!!
14 million uninsured qualify for govt. programs but never enrolled!!!
**
11 million are children now covered under CHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program)
***
Obama & Co REFORM = Increased Rates, Longer Waits!!!
Meanwhile, virtually all other Developed Countries have Single-Payer Health Insurance!!!
Single-Payer with $50 deductible (about $1 per month for 5 years) after annual check-up is just what the Doctor Ordered!!!
--OR--
"... Massachusetts ... require all residents to buy health insurance."
"Just a year after ... The New York Times reported, state insurers were already jacking up rates to twice the national average."
****
"... rather than creating a utopia of high-quality affordable health care, the result has been the exact opposite â€" skyrocketing costs, worsened access, and lower quality health care."
*****
_____________________________________________________________________________
* Risk pools for the medically uninsurable ( http://www.healthinsurance.org/risk_pools/ )
**The Myth of the 46 Million / American Spectator ( http://spectator.org/archives/2009/03/20/the-myth-of-the-46-million )
*** Obama signs bill insuring more children / SF Chronicle ( http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/05/MNAS15NE9A.DTL
****Universal coverage? First, look at the disaster in Massachusetts / Washington Examiner
( http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Universal_coverage_First_look_at_the_disaster_in_Massachusetts_011109.html )
*****Mandating health care coverage is a costly mistake / Denver Post ( http://www.denverpost.com/guestcommentary/ci_8854133 )
Kid In A Candy Store (Single-Payer)
"... Obama promised that he would freeze out the lobbyists ... "
The Truth = "... a lobbying feeding frenzy, with health insurers, drug makers and employers all poised to benefit ..."
"Requiring insurers to charge one price and accept all comers would boost prices ..."
+ Insurers, drug makers poised to profit from Obama health plan / Washington Examiner
( http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Insurers-drug-makers-poised-to-profit-from-Obama-health-plan_02_25-40257852.html )
"Many experts say the high-risk pools already available in 35 states are plagued by high costs and inadequate coverage."
"Premiums paid by individuals would be supplemented by $5 billion in government subsidies."
+ Pre-existing Conditions and Insurance Pools / NY Times
( http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/pre-existing-conditions-and-insurance-pools/ )
"The Los Angeles Times has a two-part series on patients who have sued their insurers for denying potentially life-saving transplants."
+ Patients Sue Insurers For Denying Transplants / Kaiser
( http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2009/October/09/Denials.aspx )
"Tales of frustration with insurers abound. In an Internet survey that included 1,000 consumers, nearly one out of four said he or she had had a legitimate claim denied by their health insurance ..."
+Tips to effectively battle your insurance company / CNN
( http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/07/19/patient.insurance/index.html )
| Jump to top |
