Pesticides and Politics : America's Eco-War
State agencies sprayed the chemicals to combat a saltwater marsh grass "infestation." Like industrial gardeners weeding a giant brackish plot, government workers came in boats and helicopters, slowly spraying thousands of gallons of herbicides into the bay's shallow waters.
Willapa Bay made it on the front page of Monsanto's company magazine in 1991 and was featured in an article titled "No Time to Lose: Will Rodeo Save Willapa Bay?"
Glyphosate is the poster child for the global pesticide controversy due to its place in the ongoing debate over mega-farming and genetically engineered crops. Industry scientists say it's one of the safest herbicides in the world, while independent scientists have discovered potential links among the widespread use of glyphosate-based herbicides and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, birth defects and even attention deficit disorder. Research also shows that additives like surfactants in glyphosate in herbicides like Roundup are more toxic than glyphosate itself and can increase the toxicity of glyphosate.
"Forty years ago, the threats to nature were pollution, pesticides, poisons, bulldozers and chainsaws," Theodoropoulos tells his audience, which includes those on both sides of the debate. "Now we are told that the greatest threats to nature are wild plants and animals and the cure: poisons, bulldozers and chainsaws. Now ask yourself, who does this serve?"
( Shades of Corexit )
Desertification could force some 60 million to migrate from sub-Saharan Africa to Northern Africa and Europe by 2020. More than 250 million people worldwide directly suffer the effects of desertification, and another 1.2 billion in 110 countries are threatened by this degradation of otherwise arable and habitable land -- caused by climate change and by unsustainable land-use practices like overgrazing, deforestation and burning. IPS offers insights into a phenomenon that is undermining development in Africa and around the world, and which requires the immediate attention of the international community and local peoples alike.
| EAST AFRICA: Millions Stare Death in the Face Amidst Ravaging Drought |
 Somalia to Dadaab: The Journey from Hell |
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| AFRICA MUST BE HEARD ON CLIMATE CHANGE by Wangari Maathai  While in wealthy countries the looming climate crisis is a matter of concern, in Africa, which has hardly contributed to climate change, it is a matter of life and death, writes Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate, member of Kenya's Parliament and the founder of the Green Belt Movement. |
| DESERTIFICATION: A THREAT TO THE LIVELIHOODS OF MILLIONS OF THE WORLD'S POOREST PEOPLE by Hama Arba Diallo  As stated by former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, "Desertification is one of the world's most alarming processes of environmental degradation." Although being a very "silent" problem, it affects one third of the earth's surface, putting at risk 1.2 billion people in more than 100 countries around the world. It is crucial to recognise that it is not simply an environmental problem, but has immense economic and social consequences, writes Hama Arba Diallo, executive secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).Desertification Workshop 2006 |
( Looks absolutely overwhelming. And I still say predicting the future scientifically...is oxymoronic.
If the hypothesis-testing process fails to eliminate most of the personal and cultural biases of the community of investigators, false hypotheses can survive the testing process and then be accepted as correct descriptions of the way the world works. This has happened in the past, and it happens today.
Some of the most glaring examples of this failure of the scientific method today have to do with the issue of origins. There are two fairly obvious reasons for this: 1) many of the crucial processes occurred in the past and are difficult to test in the present; and 2) personal biases are especially strong on topics related to origins because of the wider implications.If scientists cannot reliably agree on contested ideas in the past....saying they can do so about the unresolved future borders on idiotic. Is that happening a function of projections - or 'reporting' ? )
Northwest Forest Plan Has Unintended Benefit – Carbon Sequestration
Northern Ontario struggling to contain forest fires
The Terrifying Christian Right
“America becomes, in this militant Biblicism, an agent of god, and all political and intellectual opponents of America’s Christian leaders are viewed, quite simply, as agents of Satan. Under Christian dominion, America will be no longer a sinful and fallen nation but one in which the 10 Commandments form the basis of our legal system, creationism and ‘Christian values’ form the basis of our educational system, and the media and government proclaim the Good News to one and all. Labor unions, civil rights laws and public schools will be abolished. Women will be removed from the workforce to stay at home, and all those deemed insufficiently Christian will be denied citizenship. Aside from its proselytizing mandate, the federal government will be reduced to the protection of property rights and ‘homeland security…’ The only legitimate voices in this state will be Christian. All others will be silenced.”( This surpasses idiocy in its description. The 'flag' of a pacifist-healer who was killed by the political machinations of the Judean Sanhedrin is placed at the head of the most murderous nation - complete with robe and deerslayer rifle . Then the laws of the temple leeches who yelled 'Kill Jesus' become the Divine Inspiration and inerrant truth for modern Crusaderism and the formalization of the establishment of fascist theocracy...mocking free will and exercise of conscience.
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself does not include instructions to enslave him. )
“In fiscal year 2003, faith-based organizations received 8.1 percent of the competitive social-service grant budget. In fiscal year 2004, faith-based organizations received $2.005 billion in funding—10.3 percent of federal competitive service grants,” and by the 2005 the total was 11 percent. In addition, “the Bush administration has spent more than $1 billion on chastity programs alone,” and “thirty percent of American schools with sex education programs teach abstinence-only.” Matters have gotten far worse since the Republicans took over the House last November, with savage attacks on Planned Parenting and abortions rights.
The similarities between this movement and Islamic fundamentalism are striking. According to Hedges both “do not tolerate other forms of belief or disbelief. They are at war with artistic and cultural expression. They seek to silence the media. They call for the subjugation of women. They promote severe sexual repression, and they seek to express themselves through violence.”
Hedges describes when he attended a recruitment training program he was taught how to sell Christianity through deception. Recruiters are taught to fabricate personal stories to persuade their prey that accepting Jesus as their savior will bring happiness and fulfillment. All the big questions of life are neatly answered. Converts find a new community, one that promises freedom and liberty, but is ultimately totalitarian.
Followers are required to relinquish moral autonomy and blindly obey the commands of their leaders, figures who have anointed themselves the mouthpieces of god, such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. These leaders embody a perverse marriage between capitalism and Christianity. Their vast wealth and celebrity status are wielded as signs that god grants prosperity to the blessed, the sanctified. The ethic of capitalism, that the pursuit of greed and social status is the greatest good, replaces the ethic of Christianity. The spirit of Jesus, fighting for the poor and abandoned, is discarded and manipulated.
Norway Police Warned of Rising Far-Right Extremism
Ahead of Friday's terror attacks in Norway, Norwegian police intelligence had warned of rising activity in far-right and anti-Muslim extremist groups, but didn't view it as a major threat to Norway.
The man suspected of the attacks, which killed at least 91 people, has been identified in media reports as Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year old with right-wing extremist and anti-Muslim views.
Fertilizer purchase linked to Norway attacks suspect
The Norwegian man suspected in a bombing and shooting spree that killed at least 92 people bought six tons of fertilizer before the massacre, the supplier said Saturday as police investigated witness accounts of a second shooter. More
Top Canadian soldier in Afghanistan returns home
CTV News
Soldiers Overcome Injuries
Wounded soldiers use sports to overcome injuries, adjust to their new reality.
Interactive
Lessons Learned
A number of the medical innovations that we now take for granted were conceived and tested during wartime.
Bios and Pictures
Canadian Casualties
We remember those who lost their lives in Afghanistan since the mission began in 2002.
In Pictures
Before Its News - Now Two Murdoch Whistleblowers Dead
- Elves Of The Apocalypse: "Machine Elves" And The Self-Sabotage Of Psychedelic Research
- It’s official – US credit rating cut [Darleen Click]
- Dodd-Frank@1: Whither Reform? Wither Reform?
- Oslo killer in the act
- Raw Goat Milk Farmstead Cheddar Part 2
- Video games made him do it?
- Anders Behring Breivik a Populist?
- High Speed Fail
- Krauthammer: ‘Obama at his most sanctimonious, demagogic, self-righteous & arrogant’
- Press Release from R. Lee Wrights The manufacture and manipulation of fear
The state of Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan according to Shehrbano Taseer, a journalist whose father was the politician who was murdered for opposing extremism
( I just note the similarities to the execution of Benazeer Bhutto - a mafia style hit where security was conspicuous in its absence. How pictures were taken )
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