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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
May 2, 2013
Another Government Is Necessary: The People Can Rule Better Than the Elites
Tuesday, 30 April 2013 20:40
By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Truthout | Op-Ed
More people are taking action in their communities to meet their basic needs because of government corruption at all levels that protects the status quo when urgent change is needed. People are moving on many fronts to challenge the system and create the world they want to see.
On Earth Day, another step was taken to challenge elite rule. A new alternative government was announced. It is an extension of the Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala Green Party campaign for president and vice president. The Green Shadow Cabinet currently consists of more than 80 activists, scientists, lawyers, advocates, economists, health professionals, labor leaders and artists who are independent of the corporate duopoly and are actively working on solutions to the crises we face. These top-level people in their fields have taken on this responsibility as volunteers. (Full disclosure: Margaret Flowers serves as secretary of health and Kevin Zeese as attorney general, and both serve on the administrative committee of the Shadow Cabinet.)
The cabinet comes at a time when people are increasingly ready to leave the corrupt two-party system. With President Obama supporting cuts to Social Security and Medicare, drone-bombing countries with which we are not at war, and appointing Wall Street and other big business interests to his cabinet, many voters are searching for somewhere to go. Even the former head of the Democratic Party, Howard Dean, is talking about leaving the Democrats.
The cabinet will serve as an independent voice in US politics, putting the needs of people and protection of the planet ahead of profits for big corporations. Members of the cabinet will demonstrate what an alternative government could look like. However, creating an alternative form of governance will depend in large part on what people do at the local level. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/16102-another-government-is-necessary-the-people-can-rule-better-than-the-elites
Another Government Is Necessary: The People Can Rule Better Than the Elites
Another Government Is Necessary: The People Can Rule Better Than the Elites
Tuesday, 30 April 2013 20:40
By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Truthout | Op-Ed
More people are taking action in their communities to meet their basic needs because of government corruption at all levels that protects the status quo when urgent change is needed. People are moving on many fronts to challenge the system and create the world they want to see.
On Earth Day, another step was taken to challenge elite rule. A new alternative government was announced. It is an extension of the Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala Green Party campaign for president and vice president. The Green Shadow Cabinet currently consists of more than 80 activists, scientists, lawyers, advocates, economists, health professionals, labor leaders and artists who are independent of the corporate duopoly and are actively working on solutions to the crises we face. These top-level people in their fields have taken on this responsibility as volunteers. (Full disclosure: Margaret Flowers serves as secretary of health and Kevin Zeese as attorney general, and both serve on the administrative committee of the Shadow Cabinet.)
The cabinet comes at a time when people are increasingly ready to leave the corrupt two-party system. With President Obama supporting cuts to Social Security and Medicare, drone-bombing countries with which we are not at war, and appointing Wall Street and other big business interests to his cabinet, many voters are searching for somewhere to go. Even the former head of the Democratic Party, Howard Dean, is talking about leaving the Democrats.
The cabinet will serve as an independent voice in US politics, putting the needs of people and protection of the planet ahead of profits for big corporations. Members of the cabinet will demonstrate what an alternative government could look like. However, creating an alternative form of governance will depend in large part on what people do at the local level. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/16102-another-government-is-necessary-the-people-can-rule-better-than-the-elites
May 2, 2013
Angela Davis: The Iconic "Sweet Black Angel" at l'Humanité
Wednesday, 01 May 2013 09:08
By Rosa Moussaoui, L'Humanite in English | Op-Ed
Here’s a look back at the work of this remarkable activist who is still engaged in the struggle for human emancipation.
Her slender silhouette, her afro, her angelic face - they symbolise not just an era, but a struggle. The poet and playwright Jean Genet saw her as a woman with "tenaciousness so emotive it’s mystical." Forty-one years after her release, Angela Davis is a revolutionary icon, a major figure in the struggle for emancipation, in feminism, a symbol of the black American struggle for equality.
The part of the world in which we grow up shapes us. In terms of racial segregation, Angela Davis was born in the first circle of hell. Birmingham, Alabama - the heart of the racist and secessionist south, where in 1955 Rosa Parks had the courage to carry out a fundamental act of rebellion. Davis’s earliest childhood memories were the blasting of bombs planted by the fascist Ku Klux Klan, so many that her neighbourhood became known as "Dynamite Hill". She heard tales of a grandmother who remembered the days of slavery and "whites only" signs. Her parents were communists, actively campaigning against the Jim Crow laws establishing apartheid in the U.S. At fourteen, she left Alabama for New York thanks to a scholarship. In high school, she discovered the Communist Manifesto and made her first activist steps in a Marxist organization, Advance.
Angela Davis was a bright student. In 1962, she entered Brandeis University. In the first year, there were only three black students. She discovered Sartre, Camus, and was introduced to the philosophy of Herbert Marcuse, whose classes she took. She left in 1964, first for Frankfurt, then the crucible of heterodox Marxism. She studied Marx, Kant, and Hegel and followed the lectures of Theodor W. Adorno. In the US, a new wave of protests began against racist oppression and the Vietnam War. Upon her return in 1968, the young philosopher joined the Black Panthers and signed up to the Che Lumumba Club, a group affiliated to the Communist Party. A year later, in possession of a PhD supervised by Marcuse, she was appointed professor at the University of California Los Angeles to teach Marxist philosophy.
The profile of a twenty-five year old woman, her skin colour, beliefs, and convictions focused the hatred of an ultra-reactionary white American mind-set that then governor of California, Ronald Reagan, sought to harness. At the request of the latter, Angela Davis was fired from the university. This was the first act of a politico-judicial plot against the communist militant. Already active against the prison industry that crushed black youth, Davis took up the cause of three inmates at Soledad prison. With one of them, George Jackson, she had an epistolary love affair. The desperate attempt by Jackson’s younger brother to break him out of prison went awry. Jonathan Jackson, two other prisoners and a judge were killed in the shoot-out. Angela Davis was accused of supplying weapons to the attackers. Designated as public enemy number one, she was one of the ten most wanted people in the United States. For fear of being killed, she fled. A wanted poster describing her as "armed and dangerous" was plastered all over the country. Bearing a vague resemblance to Angela Davis - or just having an afro - was enough for hundreds of women to be arrested. The FBI deployed as part of its counter-intelligence program targeting communists and Black Panthers, disproportionate measures to hunt down what the white reactionary establishment called "the red panther " or "the black terrorist". But there was solidarity as "We would welcome Angela Davis" placards began to pop up on the doorsteps of friendly houses. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/16105-angela-davis-the-iconic-sweet-black-angel-at-lhumanite
Angela Davis: The Iconic "Sweet Black Angel" at l'Humanité
Angela Davis: The Iconic "Sweet Black Angel" at l'Humanité
Wednesday, 01 May 2013 09:08
By Rosa Moussaoui, L'Humanite in English | Op-Ed
Here’s a look back at the work of this remarkable activist who is still engaged in the struggle for human emancipation.
Her slender silhouette, her afro, her angelic face - they symbolise not just an era, but a struggle. The poet and playwright Jean Genet saw her as a woman with "tenaciousness so emotive it’s mystical." Forty-one years after her release, Angela Davis is a revolutionary icon, a major figure in the struggle for emancipation, in feminism, a symbol of the black American struggle for equality.
The part of the world in which we grow up shapes us. In terms of racial segregation, Angela Davis was born in the first circle of hell. Birmingham, Alabama - the heart of the racist and secessionist south, where in 1955 Rosa Parks had the courage to carry out a fundamental act of rebellion. Davis’s earliest childhood memories were the blasting of bombs planted by the fascist Ku Klux Klan, so many that her neighbourhood became known as "Dynamite Hill". She heard tales of a grandmother who remembered the days of slavery and "whites only" signs. Her parents were communists, actively campaigning against the Jim Crow laws establishing apartheid in the U.S. At fourteen, she left Alabama for New York thanks to a scholarship. In high school, she discovered the Communist Manifesto and made her first activist steps in a Marxist organization, Advance.
Angela Davis was a bright student. In 1962, she entered Brandeis University. In the first year, there were only three black students. She discovered Sartre, Camus, and was introduced to the philosophy of Herbert Marcuse, whose classes she took. She left in 1964, first for Frankfurt, then the crucible of heterodox Marxism. She studied Marx, Kant, and Hegel and followed the lectures of Theodor W. Adorno. In the US, a new wave of protests began against racist oppression and the Vietnam War. Upon her return in 1968, the young philosopher joined the Black Panthers and signed up to the Che Lumumba Club, a group affiliated to the Communist Party. A year later, in possession of a PhD supervised by Marcuse, she was appointed professor at the University of California Los Angeles to teach Marxist philosophy.
The profile of a twenty-five year old woman, her skin colour, beliefs, and convictions focused the hatred of an ultra-reactionary white American mind-set that then governor of California, Ronald Reagan, sought to harness. At the request of the latter, Angela Davis was fired from the university. This was the first act of a politico-judicial plot against the communist militant. Already active against the prison industry that crushed black youth, Davis took up the cause of three inmates at Soledad prison. With one of them, George Jackson, she had an epistolary love affair. The desperate attempt by Jackson’s younger brother to break him out of prison went awry. Jonathan Jackson, two other prisoners and a judge were killed in the shoot-out. Angela Davis was accused of supplying weapons to the attackers. Designated as public enemy number one, she was one of the ten most wanted people in the United States. For fear of being killed, she fled. A wanted poster describing her as "armed and dangerous" was plastered all over the country. Bearing a vague resemblance to Angela Davis - or just having an afro - was enough for hundreds of women to be arrested. The FBI deployed as part of its counter-intelligence program targeting communists and Black Panthers, disproportionate measures to hunt down what the white reactionary establishment called "the red panther " or "the black terrorist". But there was solidarity as "We would welcome Angela Davis" placards began to pop up on the doorsteps of friendly houses. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/16105-angela-davis-the-iconic-sweet-black-angel-at-lhumanite
May 2, 2013
A new effort from Republican lawmakers in the Ohio House of Representatives would financially punish state universities for helping out-of-state students vote in Ohio during their college years.
Under the proposal, if a state university provided an out-of-state student with a letter or utility bill to prove Ohio residency and thereby allow the student to vote locally, the Columbus Dispatch reports, the school would then be forced to charge the lower in-state tuition rate to that student.
The measure has been tacked on as an amendment to the main operating budget bill for the state, Sub. H. B. No. 59. The amendment was sponsored by state Rep. Ron Amstutz (R-Wooster), who did not return a request for comment from The Huffington Post.
In the face of declining financial support from state legislatures, public colleges have become more dependent on students who pay non-resident tuition rates, which are typically two or three times higher than what in-state residents pay. The Ohio GOP proposal could hurt state universities in their coffers -- depending on the university, by nearly $10,000 per out-of-state student voter annually. Overall, it could cost public four-year institutions in the state more than $370 million, the Columbus Dispatch reports. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/01/ohio-college-vote_n_3195154.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037
Ohio Measure Punishes Public Colleges For Helping Out-Of-State Students Vote
A new effort from Republican lawmakers in the Ohio House of Representatives would financially punish state universities for helping out-of-state students vote in Ohio during their college years.
Under the proposal, if a state university provided an out-of-state student with a letter or utility bill to prove Ohio residency and thereby allow the student to vote locally, the Columbus Dispatch reports, the school would then be forced to charge the lower in-state tuition rate to that student.
The measure has been tacked on as an amendment to the main operating budget bill for the state, Sub. H. B. No. 59. The amendment was sponsored by state Rep. Ron Amstutz (R-Wooster), who did not return a request for comment from The Huffington Post.
In the face of declining financial support from state legislatures, public colleges have become more dependent on students who pay non-resident tuition rates, which are typically two or three times higher than what in-state residents pay. The Ohio GOP proposal could hurt state universities in their coffers -- depending on the university, by nearly $10,000 per out-of-state student voter annually. Overall, it could cost public four-year institutions in the state more than $370 million, the Columbus Dispatch reports. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/01/ohio-college-vote_n_3195154.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037
May 2, 2013
from Consortium News:
Forever Pounding the War Drum
April 30, 2013
Official Washington’s “tough-guy-ism” – eschewing diplomacy in favor of military force – has slammed the United States into a series of foreign-policy disasters, such as the Iraq War. But key promoters keep denouncing anyone favoring less aggression as an “isolationist,” as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar explains.
By Paul R. Pillar
Former Senators Joseph Lieberman and Jon Kyl, identified as co-chairs of the American Internationalism Project at the American Enterprise Institute, offered the other day a statement of what they mean by American internationalism. Their piece exhorts us to resist “calls from Democrats and Republicans alike for neo-isolationist policies” and instead to “accept both the burdens and the benefits of a robust internationalism.”
The image of bipartisanship is clearly important to the Republican Kyl and the Democrat-cum-independent Lieberman, the latter of whom when still in the Senate was one of the Three Amigos along with John McCain and Lindsey Graham.
The rhetoric of Lieberman and Kyl about not withdrawing from the world sounds fine as far as it goes, but it does not go very far. Their one-dimensional treatment of their subject, in which everything gets reduced to a simple but grand choice of the United States playing or not playing a major role in world affairs, is divorced from the real policy choices the nation confronts and from any distinction among the varied policy tools available to it.
A ghost from the past about which they warn — the isolationism that constituted a significant and influential current of opinion in the United States between the two world wars of the Twentieth Century — is today less of a ghost than a straw man. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2013/04/30/forever-pounding-the-war-drum/
Forever Pounding the War Drum
from Consortium News:
Forever Pounding the War Drum
April 30, 2013
Official Washington’s “tough-guy-ism” – eschewing diplomacy in favor of military force – has slammed the United States into a series of foreign-policy disasters, such as the Iraq War. But key promoters keep denouncing anyone favoring less aggression as an “isolationist,” as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar explains.
By Paul R. Pillar
Former Senators Joseph Lieberman and Jon Kyl, identified as co-chairs of the American Internationalism Project at the American Enterprise Institute, offered the other day a statement of what they mean by American internationalism. Their piece exhorts us to resist “calls from Democrats and Republicans alike for neo-isolationist policies” and instead to “accept both the burdens and the benefits of a robust internationalism.”
The image of bipartisanship is clearly important to the Republican Kyl and the Democrat-cum-independent Lieberman, the latter of whom when still in the Senate was one of the Three Amigos along with John McCain and Lindsey Graham.
The rhetoric of Lieberman and Kyl about not withdrawing from the world sounds fine as far as it goes, but it does not go very far. Their one-dimensional treatment of their subject, in which everything gets reduced to a simple but grand choice of the United States playing or not playing a major role in world affairs, is divorced from the real policy choices the nation confronts and from any distinction among the varied policy tools available to it.
A ghost from the past about which they warn — the isolationism that constituted a significant and influential current of opinion in the United States between the two world wars of the Twentieth Century — is today less of a ghost than a straw man. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2013/04/30/forever-pounding-the-war-drum/
May 2, 2013
Top economist Jeffrey Sachs says Wall Street is full of 'crooks' and hasn't changed since the financial crash
The IMF adviser also blamed 'a docile president, a docile White House and a docile regulatory system'
Monday 29 April 2013
(Independent UK) In a cutting attack on America's financial hub, one of the world's most respected economists has said Wall St is full of "crooks" and hasn't reformed its "pathological" culture since the financial crash.
Professor Jeffrey Sachs told a high-powered audience at the Philadelphia Federal Reserve earlier this month that the lack of reform was down to “a docile president, a docile White House and a docile regulatory system that absolutely can’t find its voice.”
Sachs, from Colombia University, has twice been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, and is an adviser to the World Bank and IMF.
“What has been revealed, in my view, is prima facie criminal behavior,” he said.
“It’s financial fraud on a very large extent. There’s also a tremendous amount of insider trading - you can even watch when you are living in New York how that works.” ...........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/top-economist-jeffrey-sachs-says-wall-street-is-full-of-crooks-and-hasnt-changed-since-the-financial-crash-8594779.html
Jeffrey Sachs: Wall Street is full of 'crooks' and hasn't changed since the financial crash
Top economist Jeffrey Sachs says Wall Street is full of 'crooks' and hasn't changed since the financial crash
The IMF adviser also blamed 'a docile president, a docile White House and a docile regulatory system'
Monday 29 April 2013
(Independent UK) In a cutting attack on America's financial hub, one of the world's most respected economists has said Wall St is full of "crooks" and hasn't reformed its "pathological" culture since the financial crash.
Professor Jeffrey Sachs told a high-powered audience at the Philadelphia Federal Reserve earlier this month that the lack of reform was down to “a docile president, a docile White House and a docile regulatory system that absolutely can’t find its voice.”
Sachs, from Colombia University, has twice been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, and is an adviser to the World Bank and IMF.
“What has been revealed, in my view, is prima facie criminal behavior,” he said.
“It’s financial fraud on a very large extent. There’s also a tremendous amount of insider trading - you can even watch when you are living in New York how that works.” ...........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/top-economist-jeffrey-sachs-says-wall-street-is-full-of-crooks-and-hasnt-changed-since-the-financial-crash-8594779.html
May 2, 2013
Published on Apr 30, 2013
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert are off to see the price fixers, who rig and rig and rig and rig and rig - but only for Jamie, Lloyd and Blythe!
Keiser Report: No Illuminati, just those who swap, rig & fix
Published on Apr 30, 2013
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert are off to see the price fixers, who rig and rig and rig and rig and rig - but only for Jamie, Lloyd and Blythe!
May 2, 2013
Frontier Airlines plans to start charging up to $100 for a carry-on bag and $2 for coffee or soda, although its announcement on Wednesday did say that passengers will get to keep the whole can.
The new carry-on fee is for bags in the overhead bin, so small bags under the seat will still be free. Frontier said it will charge $25 if the fee is paid in advance, $100 if travelers wait to pay until they're at the gate.
Frontier spokeswoman Kate O'Malley said the $100 fee is to get travelers to take care of the charge in advance. "We don't want to charge that," she said.
Airlines began charging for the first and second checked bags in 2008. Passengers trying to avoid those fees have been stuffing as much as they can into carry-on baggage stashed in overhead bins, meaning those bins often run out of space. Fees are one way to get passengers to bring less on board. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/frontier-adds-carry-fee-passengers-194244417.html
Frontier adds carry-on fee for some passengers
Frontier Airlines plans to start charging up to $100 for a carry-on bag and $2 for coffee or soda, although its announcement on Wednesday did say that passengers will get to keep the whole can.
The new carry-on fee is for bags in the overhead bin, so small bags under the seat will still be free. Frontier said it will charge $25 if the fee is paid in advance, $100 if travelers wait to pay until they're at the gate.
Frontier spokeswoman Kate O'Malley said the $100 fee is to get travelers to take care of the charge in advance. "We don't want to charge that," she said.
Airlines began charging for the first and second checked bags in 2008. Passengers trying to avoid those fees have been stuffing as much as they can into carry-on baggage stashed in overhead bins, meaning those bins often run out of space. Fees are one way to get passengers to bring less on board. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/frontier-adds-carry-fee-passengers-194244417.html
May 1, 2013
A Story for May Day: The Fed, Apple, and Trickle-Down Economics
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
The Fed’s policy of keeping interest rates near zero is another form of trickle-down economics.
For evidence, look no further than Apple’s decision to borrow a whopping $17 billion and turn it over to its investors in the form of dividends and stock buy-backs.
Apple is already sitting on $145 billion. But with interest rates so low, it’s cheaper to borrow. This also lets Apple avoid U.S. taxes on its cash horde socked away overseas where taxes are lower.
Other big companies are doing much the same on a smaller scale. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://robertreich.org/post/49368810890
Robert Reich: The Fed, Apple, and Trickle-Down Economics
A Story for May Day: The Fed, Apple, and Trickle-Down Economics
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
The Fed’s policy of keeping interest rates near zero is another form of trickle-down economics.
For evidence, look no further than Apple’s decision to borrow a whopping $17 billion and turn it over to its investors in the form of dividends and stock buy-backs.
Apple is already sitting on $145 billion. But with interest rates so low, it’s cheaper to borrow. This also lets Apple avoid U.S. taxes on its cash horde socked away overseas where taxes are lower.
Other big companies are doing much the same on a smaller scale. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://robertreich.org/post/49368810890
May 1, 2013
AlterNet / By Robert Jensen
Ready for Rationing? Why We Should Put the Brakes on Consumption If We Want to Survive
Stan Cox talks about his new book "Any Way You Slice It: The Past, Present, and Future of Rationing."
April 30, 2013 |
This article was published in partnership with GlobalPossibilities.org.
It’s not clear whether Stan Cox is a plant breeder with a penchant for politics, or a political provocateur who finds time to do science. Whichever aspect of his personality is dominant, Cox artfully draws on both skill sets to make the case for rationing, perhaps the most important concept that is not being widely discussed these days. The power of his new book, Any Way You Slice It: The Past, Present, and Future of Rationing, comes from his blending of scientific analyses of dire resource trends with a compelling moral argument about the need to reshape politics and economics.
In his day job at the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, the country’s premier sustainable agriculture research facility, Cox works to develop perennial sorghum. A member of the editorial board of the magazine Green Social Thought (formerly Synthesis/Regeneration), Cox also has been thinking long and hard about the multiple ecological crises we face. In 2010 he published Losing Our Cool, a sharp-edged examination of the impacts of our society’s obsession with air-conditioning.
........(snip)........
Robert Jensen: In your book, you mention that some have compared raising the possibility of rationing to “shouting an obscenity in church.” Why is that idea so unacceptable today?
Stan Cox: People have shown a willingness to accept rationing in a broad variety of situations in which society-wide scarcity is obvious—wartime, say, or when governments have a fixed supply of subsidized food to sell, or in a drought when there's only so much water to go around. But if rationing is proposed as a way to preserve resources and ecological life-support systems for the future—for dealing with environmental problems or providing equitable healthcare, for example—then we are talking about limiting consumption when there is no apparent scarcity. In that situation, we all like to believe that we exercise freedom in the marketplace, and to many it seems outrageous to limit that freedom. .........................................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/environment/ready-rationing-why-we-should-put-brakes-consumption-if-we-want-survive
Why We Should Put the Brakes on Consumption If We Want to Survive
AlterNet / By Robert Jensen
Ready for Rationing? Why We Should Put the Brakes on Consumption If We Want to Survive
Stan Cox talks about his new book "Any Way You Slice It: The Past, Present, and Future of Rationing."
April 30, 2013 |
This article was published in partnership with GlobalPossibilities.org.
It’s not clear whether Stan Cox is a plant breeder with a penchant for politics, or a political provocateur who finds time to do science. Whichever aspect of his personality is dominant, Cox artfully draws on both skill sets to make the case for rationing, perhaps the most important concept that is not being widely discussed these days. The power of his new book, Any Way You Slice It: The Past, Present, and Future of Rationing, comes from his blending of scientific analyses of dire resource trends with a compelling moral argument about the need to reshape politics and economics.
In his day job at the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, the country’s premier sustainable agriculture research facility, Cox works to develop perennial sorghum. A member of the editorial board of the magazine Green Social Thought (formerly Synthesis/Regeneration), Cox also has been thinking long and hard about the multiple ecological crises we face. In 2010 he published Losing Our Cool, a sharp-edged examination of the impacts of our society’s obsession with air-conditioning.
........(snip)........
Robert Jensen: In your book, you mention that some have compared raising the possibility of rationing to “shouting an obscenity in church.” Why is that idea so unacceptable today?
Stan Cox: People have shown a willingness to accept rationing in a broad variety of situations in which society-wide scarcity is obvious—wartime, say, or when governments have a fixed supply of subsidized food to sell, or in a drought when there's only so much water to go around. But if rationing is proposed as a way to preserve resources and ecological life-support systems for the future—for dealing with environmental problems or providing equitable healthcare, for example—then we are talking about limiting consumption when there is no apparent scarcity. In that situation, we all like to believe that we exercise freedom in the marketplace, and to many it seems outrageous to limit that freedom. .........................................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/environment/ready-rationing-why-we-should-put-brakes-consumption-if-we-want-survive
May 1, 2013
Mumbai's Metro rail service to begin in September
from the Indian Express:
The first phase of Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro Rail service is likely to commence by September this year and the entire phase will be operational by the year end, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said here today.
"We will start full passenger service by September and the entire stretch (11.4-kilometre Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor) by December," Chavan said after flagging off the first safety trial run of the Mumbai Metro here.
Chavan said the process of obtaining all mandatory safety certifications are underway, adding that the service will be functional once these certifications are received.
He also said that the work on Navi Mumbai Metro project has also begun, adding that the project worth Rs 5,500 crore will be thrown open to the public this year. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mumbais-metro-rail-service-to-begin-in-september/1110118/
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