Image via Wikipedia80pc of Christchurch without water
Deregulation in Canada: A disaster in the making
In Canada, regulations adopted by every level of government have historically helped to make this one of the safest, most desirable places to raise a family. But a slow, steady, and quiet erosion of regulations by our governments put Canadians' health, safety and well-being increasingly at risk. This primer on regulation, by the CCPA's Trish Hennessy, tells the story of Canada's slippery slide into deregulation. It also provides resource information to learn more about regulation issues in Canada. Click to read the primer in English or in French.
It's Pretty Easy Being Green in Iran:
A Photographic Rebuttal to Michael Ledeen's Lies
Claims that the Iranian government attempted to ban the color green (which had been appropriated by those opposed to the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) have yet to disappear completely from the public discourse.
The accusation that Iranian officials would feel so threatened by the protests and demonstrations which followed the June 2009 election that they would resort to chromatic censorship is completely devoid of fact.
Nevertheless, the claim was repeated again and again,.....Seemingly making it up as he went along
Ledeen, who currently lends his aggressive Islamophobia and Israel-apologia to the neoconservative D.C. think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies as its "Freedom Scholar" (whatever that means), was lying. During the debate, Ledeen referred to himself as "an historian" and claimed that "the Islamic Republic is based on hatred of America; a desire to destroy or dominate us along with all the other infidels," neither of which are true, but demonstrate clearly both Ledeen's high opinion of himself and contempt for Iran and its revolution.
( Don't you love the catch-phrases, ridiculous stories and incessant repetition ? It sounds 
Image via Wikipedialike....propaganda ! Islamophobia and Israel apologia too. This guy might as well be a Glenn Beck clone. Apologies to Rush Limbaugh et al...I just don't turn you on.
Islamophobia Watch - Documenting anti Muslim bigotry
Islamophobia Watch documents material in the public domain which advocates a fear and hatred of the Muslim peoples of the world and Islam as a religion.
www.islamophobia-watch.com
Islamophobia Today eNewspaper
Chronicling anti-Muslim expression from the webosphere and beyond
www.islamophobiatoday.com
What Is 'Islamofascism'?
What Is 'Islamofascism'? A history of the word from the first Westerner to use it.
www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/...Islamofascism refers to use of the faith of Islam as a cover for totalitarian ideology. This radical phenomenon is embodied among Sunni Muslims today by such fundamentalists as the Saudi-financed Wahhabis, the Pakistani jihadists known as Jama'atis, and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. In the ranks of Shia Muslims, it is exemplified by Hezbollah in Lebanon and the clique around President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran.Fascism is distinguished from the broader category of extreme right-wing politics by its willingness to defy public civility and openly violate the law. As such it represents a radical departure from the tradition of ultra-conservatism. Islamofascism similarly pursues its aims through the willful, arbitrary, and gratuitous disruption of global society, either by terrorist conspiracies or by violation of peace between states.
I'm not saying he's wrong...but I coloured the areas where such phrasing is past my understanding about Western Black Ops playing at 'terrorism' as coached by the CIA,SAS,Mossad and the rest of the MI acronyms. Which is not to say Iran is not infiltrated and warred on as per open U.S. admission in 2006.One silly bit is that Ahmadinejad is painted with the 'Holocaust Denier' brush. That's poignant, since he makes the point Israel denies the Holocaust in its treatment of imprisoned Jordanian refugees in Palestine's Gaza Strip and West Bank. Besides...his definition points to the lot assaulting Ahmadinejad as being...Islamofascists. ) "Iran, the Green Movement and the USA": Hamid Dabashi On the Future of the Iranian Pro-Democracy Movement
On one hand, the Iranian authorities are expressing solidarity with the democratic movement in Tunisia and Egypt and throughout the region," says Columbia University Professor Hamid Dabashi. "Then deny that very principle to their own people."
It's Only Words...
Although "The Velvet Revolution" nicely encapsulated our surprise at the lack of bloodshed accompanying Czechoslovakia's transition and the Estonians love their "Singing Revolution," I've found the other adjectives forced and superficial. Does each transition need to have its own brand?
Lawrence of Cyberia
Nobody Could Have Predicted (Part 8)
...that forcibly establishing a Jewish state in Palestine against the wishes of its pre-existing non-Jewish majority - a state which would be surrounded by 200 million Arabs and one billion Muslims who are overwhelmingly sympathetic to the plight of the pre-existing population, and which would require for its continuing existence the repeated involvement of those Western powers who engineered its creation in the first place - would turn out to be a source of perpetual grievance and escalating instability that threatens regional war involving the countries of the entire Mid East and far beyond...
Mr. DIHIGO (Cuba) (translated from Spanish): I should like to explain very briefly why the Cuban delegation feels bound to vote against the plan for the partition of Palestine recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee.
We have followed the discussions with interest, and analysed the arguments of speakers on both sides, in order to arrive at what we believe to be the fairest conclusion. Cuba has shown its sympathy for the Jews and its appreciation of their qualities by admitting into her territories thousands of Jews, who are, today, living freely and peacefully amongst us, free from discrimination or prejudice. Nevertheless, we cannot vote as the Jews would wish us to do because consider that the partition of Palestine is neither legal nor just.
In the first place, all their claims are based primarily on the Balfour Declaration, the root of the problem with which we are faced today. But the Balfour Declaration, in our opinion, is not legally valid because in it the British Government was offering something which did not belong to it and which it had no right to give. But even if we accept the Declaration as valid, the course of action that is contemplated goes far beyond its scope. The Balfour Declaration promised to the Jews a "national home" in Palestine, without prejudice to the civil rights of the Arab population; but it did not offer a free State, the creation of which must necessarily prejudice those very rights which the Declaration was trying to safeguard.
Who Are Foreign Mercenaries Fighting For Gadhafi?
The sad irony of it all – the USA and the Arab world…
This is a call on the United States to reexamine its stubborn, hypocritical and self-defeating “moral clarity” narrative that defined and severely limited American options in the Middle East, led to unnecessary confrontations and to an unhealthy sense of hopelessness among many Arabs. It prevented cooperation between the United States and leading Arab nationalists that could have facilitated solutions including a comprehensive settlement to the bitter Arab Israeli conflict. While the Arab world attempts to cleanse itself from hypocrite and failed leaderships, the United States should not pass the opportunity to proactively initiate the necessary changes on its part.
Emanuel faces big money woes as next Chicago mayor
"Not since the Great Depression have the finances of the city been this precarious," said Dominic Pacyga, a historian and author of "Chicago: A Biography." The city's next budget deficit could again exceed $500 million, mostly the result of reduced tax revenue from the recession, and could reach $1 billion if the city properly funds its pension system.
Exile in Godville: Profile of a postmodern heretic
There is one church I have ever attended willingly, and I watched it burn to the ground a number of years ago. I happened to be driving past, and watched it catch fire from the apartment above. In fact, I believe I made the 911 call. I was horrified, but at the same time, it made perfect sense to someone with such a convoluted and unconventional view of God, as I.
Plankton Key to Origin of Earth's First Breathable Atmosphere
In a paper to appear in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Ohio State University researcher Matthew Saltzman and his colleagues show how plankton provided a critical link between the atmosphere and chemical isotopes stored in rocks 500 million years ago.
This work builds on the team's earlier discovery that upheavals in Earth's crust initiated a kind of reverse-greenhouse effect 500 million years ago that cooled the world's oceans, spawned giant plankton blooms, and sent a burst of oxygen into the atmosphere.
Climate Change Extends Allergy Season in North America
A team of researchers has found that increased warming, particularly in the northern half of North America, has added weeks to the fall pollen season. It's enough to make you grab a tissue: Minneapolis has tacked 16 days to the ragweed pollen season since 1995; LaCrosse, Wisc. has added 13 days, Winnipeg and Saskatoon in Canada have added 25 and 27 days, respectively
GM crops continue spread, passing 'billion hectares'
GM use grew fastest in Brazil but fell in the EU, says the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).
Virtually all GM strains used were engineered for just two traits, disease resistance and herbicide tolerance.
About half of the global GM total is accounted for by the US - although overall, the developing world is adopting the technology faster than industrialised countries.
Greenpeace, meanwhile, has presented a petition bearing more than a million signatures to the European Commission, demanding that the executive stop approving new GM varieties.
Cell Phone Radio Waves Excite Brain Cells
Radio waves from a cell phone can affect the metabolism of a person's brain, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
But the effect has nothing to do with cancer, and researchers say there's no evidence that the increase in metabolism is harmful. The human brain relies on electrical signals to communicate, so it makes sense that the electromagnetic energy that a cell phone puts out might affect brain cells, researchers say.
Mystery Diamonds
Carbonados, black carbon formations that resemble diamonds, have been show to have a chemical spectrum that indicates they originated before the. ... > full story
- Space Physicists and Atmospheric Scientists Can Now Predict Disruptions Caused by the Sun's Coronal Mass Ejections
- Astronomers Spy Earth-like Planet Forming Around Distant Star
- Planetary Scientists Detect Strong Winds In Anticyclone On Jupiter
High Cholesterol and Blood Pressure in Middle Age Tied to Early Memory Problems
How Disordered Proteins Spread from Cell to Cell, Potentially Spreading Disease
Stanford biology Professor Ron Kopito has shown that the mutant, misfolded protein responsible for Huntington's disease can move from cell to cell, recruiting normal proteins and forming aggregations in each cell it visits.
Knowing that this protein spends part of its time outside cells "opens up the possibility for therapeutics," he said. Kopito studies how such misfolded proteins get across a cell's membrane and into its cytoplasm, where they can interact with normal proteins. He is also investigating how these proteins move between neuronal cells.
The ability of these proteins to move from one cell to another could explain the way Huntington's disease spreads through the brain after starting in a specific region. Similar mechanisms may be involved in the progress of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's through the brain.
U.S. struggles with little leverage to restrain Libyan government
Current and former officials said that American appeals are likely to have little effect on Gaddafi, a mercurial autocrat who for decades was regarded as a nemesis of U.S. presidents.
Although the United States has been able to leverage its deep ties with Egypt's armed forces, it has no significant military-to-military relationship with Libya. It also has little economic leverage: For the past fiscal year, U.S. aid to Libya has been less than $1 million, and most of that has gone toward helping the country's disarmament program.
There is not even a U.S. ambassador at the moment. Gene Cretz, the ambassador to Tripoli, was called back to Washington recently for extended "consultations" after WikiLeaks released cables in which he described Gaddafi's eccentricities.
"We don't have personal relations at a high level. As far as I know, President Obama has never even talked to Colonel Gaddafi," said David Mack, a former senior U.S. diplomat who dealt with Libya.
Libya was a pariah state for much of the past three decades. In 2003, the George W. Bush administration convinced the nation to give up its nuclear- and chemical-weapons programs. Libya also renounced terrorism, leading the U.S. government to remove it from the list of "state sponsors of terrorism."
But only in 2008 did the United States and Libya establish full diplomatic relations.
David Cameron: Britain has contributed to Middle East instability by backing autocratic regimes
The Prime Minister said that popular uprisings now flaring across the Middle East showed the West had been wrong to support dictators and oppressive regimes.
"America and Europe must leave the Middle East"
Many in the West fear the brand of Islam promulgated by the Brotherhood. Opinion about the organisation ranges from the belief it is a mere fig-leaf for militant Islam, to worries about how robust its latter-day democratic credentials would be if it ever attained power. But in an interview with Think Africa Press, senior Brotherhood members said that one of the main reasons behind these fears was that in the post-Mubarak epoch the West now stands to lose a great deal. Moreover, Dr Esam El-Erian, a member of the Brotherhood’s Executive Bureau, issued a stark warning to Western governments.
“Egypt has changed," he said. "The Americans and Europe must leave the Middle Eastern map now.”
Sitting in a cramped, bright office next to a mother-of-pearl carving of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, Dr El-Erian said Washington should know that it is “not the only power in the world”, and criticised them for being “friends of the Mubarak regime”.
“America has a chance now to deal with the people, not the regime," he said. "Egypt cannot sell her independence to anyone, and the world cannot buy our dignity.”
The Cheddar Revolution
No one is questioned, much less arrested. In Madison, the protesters are allowed to do almost anything. The police are watchful and bemused; during the foot-stomping, for example, Sgt. Brian Aubrey, who has been here for four days with capitol police, holds up his iPhone and takes a short video, then goes back to watching the crowd.
This occupation of the capitol is totally legal. During the legislative session, anyone can enter the building, from morning to midnight, without going through a security gate. In addition, police unions in Madison and Dane County oppose the governor's bill and back the protest, even though they are exempted from the legislation's ban on collective bargaining.
"Why do we deserve collective bargaining rights if no one else gets them?" asks Steve Heimsness, treasurer of the Madison Professional Police Officers Association, right after marching into the capitol with a "Cops for Labor" sign. "Also, if the collective bargaining rights are taken away from the other workers, it'll happen to us. Guaranteed. I'm sure of it."
"We Have a Fire in the House of Labor. We Are Here to Put it Out": Wisconsin Firefighters and Police Officers Join Massive Protests Against Anti-Union Bill
In the largest rally yet, an estimated 80,000 people protested in Madison on Saturday against a "budget repair" bill that would strip public workers of their collective bargaining rights. The state’s Democratic Senators—who have fled the state to stall a vote on the bill—sent a letter to Gov. Scott Walker on Friday telling him labor would accept cuts to pensions and increased contributions to health and retirement plans if he would negotiate on collective bargaining.
EU Follows US Steps, Signs 'Free Trade' Agreement With Korea That's All About IP Protectionism
They followed the lead of ACTA in keeping all the details entirely secret from the public (though you can probably assume that industry representatives were able to read it) until it was already signed. The new transparency at work.
European Commission Chickens Out: Allows Hungarian Media Censorship
China's President Wants Greater Internet Censorship; Worried About Middle East Uprisings
This Moon was Made for Mining (Helium-3)
Thanks to a critical shortage last year, the price of the isotope helium-3 has skyrocketed from $150 per liter to $5,000 per liter.
Helium wasn't technically "discovered" on Earth until about 1895, despite being abundant in the universe. Almost all of the global supply of helium is located within 250 miles of Amarillo, Texas; it's distilled from accumulated natural gas and extracted during the refining process.
Helium is used for arc welding and leak detection, mostly, although NASA uses it to pressurize space shuttle fuel tanks. Liquid helium cools infrared detectors, nuclear reactors, and the superconducting magnets used in MRI machines, too. The fear is that, at current consumption rates, that underground bunker will be empty within 20 years, leaving the earth almost helium-free by the end of the 21st century. This could be bad for US industry.
The moon's lunar soil is chock-full of helium reserves, thanks to the solar wind. In fact, every star emits helium constantly, suggesting that one day, spaceships will carry on a brisk import and export trade to harvest this critical element -- assuming we can figure out how to make such a process economically viable.
But helium-3 isn't the only resource the moon might have to offer. It could also be a source for rare earth elements, such as europium and tantalum, which are in high demand on Earth for electronics and green energy applications (solar panels, hybrid cars), as well as being used in the space and defense industries.
China is the largest exporter of rare earth elements, but there are growing concerns over supply vulnerability as China drastically reduces its rare earth exports. Scientists know that there are pockets or rare earth deposits on the moon, but as yet they don't have detailed maps of those areas. Potassium, phosphorus and thorium are other elements that lunar rocks have to offer a potential mining venture.
Remains of the Day: Firefox 4 a Few Days Away?
How to Stay Out of a Truck's Blind Spots
Islamophobia Watch - Documenting anti Muslim bigotry
Islamophobia Watch documents material in the public domain which advocates a fear and hatred of the Muslim peoples of the world and Islam as a religion.www.islamophobia-watch.com
Islamophobia Today eNewspaper
Chronicling anti-Muslim expression from the webosphere and beyondwww.islamophobiatoday.com
What Is 'Islamofascism'?
What Is 'Islamofascism'? A history of the word from the first Westerner to use it.www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/...
Islamofascism refers to use of the faith of Islam as a cover for totalitarian ideology. This radical phenomenon is embodied among Sunni Muslims today by such fundamentalists as the Saudi-financed Wahhabis, the Pakistani jihadists known as Jama'atis, and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. In the ranks of Shia Muslims, it is exemplified by Hezbollah in Lebanon and the clique around President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran.
Fascism is distinguished from the broader category of extreme right-wing politics by its willingness to defy public civility and openly violate the law. As such it represents a radical departure from the tradition of ultra-conservatism. Islamofascism similarly pursues its aims through the willful, arbitrary, and gratuitous disruption of global society, either by terrorist conspiracies or by violation of peace between states.
I'm not saying he's wrong...but I coloured the areas where such phrasing is past my understanding about Western Black Ops playing at 'terrorism' as coached by the CIA,SAS,Mossad and the rest of the MI acronyms. Which is not to say Iran is not infiltrated and warred on as per open U.S. admission in 2006.
One silly bit is that Ahmadinejad is painted with the 'Holocaust Denier' brush. That's poignant, since he makes the point Israel denies the Holocaust in its treatment of imprisoned Jordanian refugees in Palestine's Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Besides...his definition points to the lot assaulting Ahmadinejad as being...Islamofascists. )
"Iran, the Green Movement and the USA": Hamid Dabashi On the Future of the Iranian Pro-Democracy Movement
On one hand, the Iranian authorities are expressing solidarity with the democratic movement in Tunisia and Egypt and throughout the region," says Columbia University Professor Hamid Dabashi. "Then deny that very principle to their own people."
It's Only Words...
Although "The Velvet Revolution" nicely encapsulated our surprise at the lack of bloodshed accompanying Czechoslovakia's transition and the Estonians love their "Singing Revolution," I've found the other adjectives forced and superficial. Does each transition need to have its own brand?
Lawrence of Cyberia
Nobody Could Have Predicted (Part 8)
...that forcibly establishing a Jewish state in Palestine against the wishes of its pre-existing non-Jewish majority - a state which would be surrounded by 200 million Arabs and one billion Muslims who are overwhelmingly sympathetic to the plight of the pre-existing population, and which would require for its continuing existence the repeated involvement of those Western powers who engineered its creation in the first place - would turn out to be a source of perpetual grievance and escalating instability that threatens regional war involving the countries of the entire Mid East and far beyond...Mr. DIHIGO (Cuba) (translated from Spanish): I should like to explain very briefly why the Cuban delegation feels bound to vote against the plan for the partition of Palestine recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee.
We have followed the discussions with interest, and analysed the arguments of speakers on both sides, in order to arrive at what we believe to be the fairest conclusion. Cuba has shown its sympathy for the Jews and its appreciation of their qualities by admitting into her territories thousands of Jews, who are, today, living freely and peacefully amongst us, free from discrimination or prejudice. Nevertheless, we cannot vote as the Jews would wish us to do because consider that the partition of Palestine is neither legal nor just.
In the first place, all their claims are based primarily on the Balfour Declaration, the root of the problem with which we are faced today. But the Balfour Declaration, in our opinion, is not legally valid because in it the British Government was offering something which did not belong to it and which it had no right to give. But even if we accept the Declaration as valid, the course of action that is contemplated goes far beyond its scope. The Balfour Declaration promised to the Jews a "national home" in Palestine, without prejudice to the civil rights of the Arab population; but it did not offer a free State, the creation of which must necessarily prejudice those very rights which the Declaration was trying to safeguard.
Who Are Foreign Mercenaries Fighting For Gadhafi?
The sad irony of it all – the USA and the Arab world…
This is a call on the United States to reexamine its stubborn, hypocritical and self-defeating “moral clarity” narrative that defined and severely limited American options in the Middle East, led to unnecessary confrontations and to an unhealthy sense of hopelessness among many Arabs. It prevented cooperation between the United States and leading Arab nationalists that could have facilitated solutions including a comprehensive settlement to the bitter Arab Israeli conflict. While the Arab world attempts to cleanse itself from hypocrite and failed leaderships, the United States should not pass the opportunity to proactively initiate the necessary changes on its part.
Emanuel faces big money woes as next Chicago mayor
"Not since the Great Depression have the finances of the city been this precarious," said Dominic Pacyga, a historian and author of "Chicago: A Biography." The city's next budget deficit could again exceed $500 million, mostly the result of reduced tax revenue from the recession, and could reach $1 billion if the city properly funds its pension system.
Exile in Godville: Profile of a postmodern heretic
There is one church I have ever attended willingly, and I watched it burn to the ground a number of years ago. I happened to be driving past, and watched it catch fire from the apartment above. In fact, I believe I made the 911 call. I was horrified, but at the same time, it made perfect sense to someone with such a convoluted and unconventional view of God, as I.
Plankton Key to Origin of Earth's First Breathable Atmosphere
In a paper to appear in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Ohio State University researcher Matthew Saltzman and his colleagues show how plankton provided a critical link between the atmosphere and chemical isotopes stored in rocks 500 million years ago.
This work builds on the team's earlier discovery that upheavals in Earth's crust initiated a kind of reverse-greenhouse effect 500 million years ago that cooled the world's oceans, spawned giant plankton blooms, and sent a burst of oxygen into the atmosphere.Climate Change Extends Allergy Season in North America
A team of researchers has found that increased warming, particularly in the northern half of North America, has added weeks to the fall pollen season. It's enough to make you grab a tissue: Minneapolis has tacked 16 days to the ragweed pollen season since 1995; LaCrosse, Wisc. has added 13 days, Winnipeg and Saskatoon in Canada have added 25 and 27 days, respectively
GM crops continue spread, passing 'billion hectares'
GM use grew fastest in Brazil but fell in the EU, says the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).Virtually all GM strains used were engineered for just two traits, disease resistance and herbicide tolerance.
About half of the global GM total is accounted for by the US - although overall, the developing world is adopting the technology faster than industrialised countries.
Greenpeace, meanwhile, has presented a petition bearing more than a million signatures to the European Commission, demanding that the executive stop approving new GM varieties.
Cell Phone Radio Waves Excite Brain Cells
Radio waves from a cell phone can affect the metabolism of a person's brain, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.But the effect has nothing to do with cancer, and researchers say there's no evidence that the increase in metabolism is harmful. The human brain relies on electrical signals to communicate, so it makes sense that the electromagnetic energy that a cell phone puts out might affect brain cells, researchers say.
Mystery Diamonds
Carbonados, black carbon formations that resemble diamonds, have been show to have a chemical spectrum that indicates they originated before the. ... > full story
- Space Physicists and Atmospheric Scientists Can Now Predict Disruptions Caused by the Sun's Coronal Mass Ejections
- Astronomers Spy Earth-like Planet Forming Around Distant Star
- Planetary Scientists Detect Strong Winds In Anticyclone On Jupiter
High Cholesterol and Blood Pressure in Middle Age Tied to Early Memory Problems
How Disordered Proteins Spread from Cell to Cell, Potentially Spreading Disease
Stanford biology Professor Ron Kopito has shown that the mutant, misfolded protein responsible for Huntington's disease can move from cell to cell, recruiting normal proteins and forming aggregations in each cell it visits.Knowing that this protein spends part of its time outside cells "opens up the possibility for therapeutics," he said. Kopito studies how such misfolded proteins get across a cell's membrane and into its cytoplasm, where they can interact with normal proteins. He is also investigating how these proteins move between neuronal cells.
The ability of these proteins to move from one cell to another could explain the way Huntington's disease spreads through the brain after starting in a specific region. Similar mechanisms may be involved in the progress of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's through the brain.
U.S. struggles with little leverage to restrain Libyan government
Current and former officials said that American appeals are likely to have little effect on Gaddafi, a mercurial autocrat who for decades was regarded as a nemesis of U.S. presidents.
Although the United States has been able to leverage its deep ties with Egypt's armed forces, it has no significant military-to-military relationship with Libya. It also has little economic leverage: For the past fiscal year, U.S. aid to Libya has been less than $1 million, and most of that has gone toward helping the country's disarmament program.There is not even a U.S. ambassador at the moment. Gene Cretz, the ambassador to Tripoli, was called back to Washington recently for extended "consultations" after WikiLeaks released cables in which he described Gaddafi's eccentricities.
"We don't have personal relations at a high level. As far as I know, President Obama has never even talked to Colonel Gaddafi," said David Mack, a former senior U.S. diplomat who dealt with Libya.
Libya was a pariah state for much of the past three decades. In 2003, the George W. Bush administration convinced the nation to give up its nuclear- and chemical-weapons programs. Libya also renounced terrorism, leading the U.S. government to remove it from the list of "state sponsors of terrorism."
But only in 2008 did the United States and Libya establish full diplomatic relations.
David Cameron: Britain has contributed to Middle East instability by backing autocratic regimes
The Prime Minister said that popular uprisings now flaring across the Middle East showed the West had been wrong to support dictators and oppressive regimes.
"America and Europe must leave the Middle East"
Many in the West fear the brand of Islam promulgated by the Brotherhood. Opinion about the organisation ranges from the belief it is a mere fig-leaf for militant Islam, to worries about how robust its latter-day democratic credentials would be if it ever attained power. But in an interview with Think Africa Press, senior Brotherhood members said that one of the main reasons behind these fears was that in the post-Mubarak epoch the West now stands to lose a great deal. Moreover, Dr Esam El-Erian, a member of the Brotherhood’s Executive Bureau, issued a stark warning to Western governments.
“Egypt has changed," he said. "The Americans and Europe must leave the Middle Eastern map now.”Sitting in a cramped, bright office next to a mother-of-pearl carving of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, Dr El-Erian said Washington should know that it is “not the only power in the world”, and criticised them for being “friends of the Mubarak regime”.
“America has a chance now to deal with the people, not the regime," he said. "Egypt cannot sell her independence to anyone, and the world cannot buy our dignity.”
The Cheddar Revolution
No one is questioned, much less arrested. In Madison, the protesters are allowed to do almost anything. The police are watchful and bemused; during the foot-stomping, for example, Sgt. Brian Aubrey, who has been here for four days with capitol police, holds up his iPhone and takes a short video, then goes back to watching the crowd.This occupation of the capitol is totally legal. During the legislative session, anyone can enter the building, from morning to midnight, without going through a security gate. In addition, police unions in Madison and Dane County oppose the governor's bill and back the protest, even though they are exempted from the legislation's ban on collective bargaining.
"Why do we deserve collective bargaining rights if no one else gets them?" asks Steve Heimsness, treasurer of the Madison Professional Police Officers Association, right after marching into the capitol with a "Cops for Labor" sign. "Also, if the collective bargaining rights are taken away from the other workers, it'll happen to us. Guaranteed. I'm sure of it."
"We Have a Fire in the House of Labor. We Are Here to Put it Out": Wisconsin Firefighters and Police Officers Join Massive Protests Against Anti-Union Bill
In the largest rally yet, an estimated 80,000 people protested in Madison on Saturday against a "budget repair" bill that would strip public workers of their collective bargaining rights. The state’s Democratic Senators—who have fled the state to stall a vote on the bill—sent a letter to Gov. Scott Walker on Friday telling him labor would accept cuts to pensions and increased contributions to health and retirement plans if he would negotiate on collective bargaining.EU Follows US Steps, Signs 'Free Trade' Agreement With Korea That's All About IP Protectionism
They followed the lead of ACTA in keeping all the details entirely secret from the public (though you can probably assume that industry representatives were able to read it) until it was already signed. The new transparency at work.European Commission Chickens Out: Allows Hungarian Media Censorship
China's President Wants Greater Internet Censorship; Worried About Middle East Uprisings
This Moon was Made for Mining (Helium-3)
Thanks to a critical shortage last year, the price of the isotope helium-3 has skyrocketed from $150 per liter to $5,000 per liter.
Helium wasn't technically "discovered" on Earth until about 1895, despite being abundant in the universe. Almost all of the global supply of helium is located within 250 miles of Amarillo, Texas; it's distilled from accumulated natural gas and extracted during the refining process.Helium is used for arc welding and leak detection, mostly, although NASA uses it to pressurize space shuttle fuel tanks. Liquid helium cools infrared detectors, nuclear reactors, and the superconducting magnets used in MRI machines, too. The fear is that, at current consumption rates, that underground bunker will be empty within 20 years, leaving the earth almost helium-free by the end of the 21st century. This could be bad for US industry.
The moon's lunar soil is chock-full of helium reserves, thanks to the solar wind. In fact, every star emits helium constantly, suggesting that one day, spaceships will carry on a brisk import and export trade to harvest this critical element -- assuming we can figure out how to make such a process economically viable.
But helium-3 isn't the only resource the moon might have to offer. It could also be a source for rare earth elements, such as europium and tantalum, which are in high demand on Earth for electronics and green energy applications (solar panels, hybrid cars), as well as being used in the space and defense industries.
China is the largest exporter of rare earth elements, but there are growing concerns over supply vulnerability as China drastically reduces its rare earth exports. Scientists know that there are pockets or rare earth deposits on the moon, but as yet they don't have detailed maps of those areas. Potassium, phosphorus and thorium are other elements that lunar rocks have to offer a potential mining venture.
Remains of the Day: Firefox 4 a Few Days Away?
How to Stay Out of a Truck's Blind Spots
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