May 25, 2014

‘Catastrophe’ Claim Adds Fuel to Methane Debate

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/fracking-methane-emissions-catastrophe-17439

‘Catastrophe’ Claim Adds Fuel to Methane Debate
Published: May 15th, 2014
By Bobby Magill

A Cornell University scientist's claims that oil and gas development is so harmful to the climate that methane emissions and oil and gas production in general need to be cut back immediately to avoid a "global catastrophe" are adding more fuel to the scientific debate over the climate implications of shale oil and gas production.

Fossil fuels production is the largest methane pollution source in the U.S., and ignoring those emissions will lead to a climate change “tipping point” from which there is no return, Cornell environmental biology professor Robert Howarth said in a statement Wednesday. He was unavailable for an interview.



Excess methane is often burned off from oil and gas production and distribution systems.

Though scientists say there are avenues to preventing catastrophe other than curbing methane emissions, Howarth’s previous research with Cornell environmental engineering professor Anthony Ingraffea and others concluded that the climate impact of natural gas produced from shale — most of which involves hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — may be worse than that of coal and crude oil. That's because methane leaks from natural gas production have a greater effect on the climate than carbon dioxide emissions, Howarth said.

Over a 100-year timeframe, methane is about 34 times as potent as a climate change-driving greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and over 20 years, it's 86 times more potent. Of all the greenhouse gases released by humans globally, methane contributes more than 40 percent of all radiative forcing, a measure of trapped heat in the atmosphere and a measuring stick of a changing climate, Howarth said.

May 24, 2014

Revealed: Gov't Used Fusion Centers to Spy on Occupy

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/23-7



New report exposes US government's treatment of social movements as 'criminal or terrorist enterprises'

Revealed: Gov't Used Fusion Centers to Spy on Occupy
- Sarah Lazare, staff writer
Published on Friday, May 23, 2014 by Common Dreams

U.S. government Fusion Centers, which operate as ill-defined "counter-terrorism" intelligence gathering and sharing centers, conducted spy operations against Occupy protesters involving police, the Pentagon, the FBI, military employees, and business people.

~snip~

Police chiefs of major metropolitan areas used the Southern Nevada Counter Terrorism Center to produce regular reports on the occupy movement.

Furthermore, "The Boston regional intelligence center monitored and cataloged Occupy-associated activities from student organizing to political lectures," according to the report. That center also produced twice-daily updates on Occupy activities.

The New York Times notes:

The Boston Regional Intelligence Center, one of the most active centers, issued scores of bulletins listing hundreds of events including a protest of “irresponsible lending practices,” a food drive and multiple “yoga, faith & spirituality” classes.

--

The Boston cops raided, booked and jailed VFP members in Boston. People were pretty pissed up heah; the Boston Police now have a training video on what not to do:









And the video:



I'm told a dayroom in Afghanistan was pissed when they saw this video.

And that American flag you saw in the viedo? It ended up in a dumpster.

May 24, 2014

Onshore Wind Is The Cheapest Electricity Generation Option In Europe

http://cleantechnica.com/2014/05/23/onshore-wind-cheapest-form-generation/

Originally published on RenewEconomy. (Editor’s Note: the chart/calculation below assumes 25% wind capacity factory, while the norm is now much higher. Throw in 35% to 50% depending on your location in order to get a much better comparison.)

Onshore Wind Is The Cheapest Electricity Generation Option In Europe
Giles Parkinson

The falling cost of renewables is not news to those who have paid attention to analysis from green-focused think tanks, or groups like Bloomberg New Energy Finance. But it is when a major European utility, with equal exposure to fossil fuels, wind, and hydro, says that onshore wind is the cheapest of any new utility-scale technology.

That is the assessment of Portugal’s EDP, which has around 24 GW of generation, of which around 8.7 GW is in onshore wind.

In a recent presentation to analysts, EDP’s head of renewables Joao Manso Neto presented this slide below, which shows that the levellised cost of electricity of onshore win in Europe is 20 per cent cheaper than gas and one third cheaper than coal. (The figure assumes 25 per cent wind capacity factor).



These estimates are for Europe, but Neto suggested the cost difference is even greater in the US, where recent contracts have been struck between $20/MWh and $40/MWh. That’s despite the so-called shale gas boom, which brought down costs of gas-fired generation for a short period, but still cannot compete with wind.

May 24, 2014

The Real Veterans Scandal: 258,000 Have No Healthcare Thanks to GOP Governors

http://atlasleft.org/the-real-veterans-scandal-258000-have-no-healthcare-thanks-to-gop-governors/



The Real Veterans Scandal: 258,000 Have No Healthcare Thanks to GOP Governors
Posted by: S Lee Caudle in Economics 101, Noteworthy News, Policy, Social Issues May 23, 2014

While the GOP/Tea Party fiddles, blaming Obama for everything that’s wrong, our Veterans are dying. This is the same Congress where the majority have never served in the military.

First we send soldiers to fight our wars and we promise them we’ll take care of them. Then we don’t provide them with adequate protection while they’re in combat. Just as a reminder, at the onset of the “no real weapons of mass destruction war in Iraq.” The Bush administration routinely sent soldiers into combat without adequate combat gear. Consequently many of the veterans today are those who were sent to war ill prepared. Now we’re denying them adequate medical care and basic living necessities like food and shelter.

There isn’t one problem with Veterans, there are multiple problems that our Veterans are facing. And according to the American Community Service survey in March 2013…

“Analysis of the 2008-2010 American Community Survey (ACS) indicates that 535,000 uninsured veterans and 174,000 uninsured spouses of veterans—or four in 10 uninsured veterans and one in four uninsured spouses—have incomes below 138 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) and could qualify for Medicaid or new subsidies for coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).”

May 18, 2014

Fraggin'

http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=2590

Fraggin'
By Bill Shunas

In today's USA, what does it mean to be a veteran, and what role do veterans play? Being a veteran of a recent war is in many ways a lot different than back in the Vietnam days. Of course there are similarities with all wars. There are after effects such as limitations on care for vets, limited jobs for vets, and PTSD. However today everyone in the whole US of A knows when it comes to veterans that something special is happening here, and they usually show respect and give a vet some space if not the opportunity needed.

This reception is similar to World War II and before when veterans were shown respect and treated as heroes. However there are some differences between present day vets and World War II. For one, nowadays the GI Bill is much weaker. It is also different in a good way in that recognition of PTSD and traumatic brain injury is common among vets, is a problem and can be helped. WWII vets had to deal with any of these problems by themselves.

Unlike now or WWII, Vietnam vets didn't return to a welcome. The best we could hope for was to be ignored. Maybe this was because we were fighting against a concept (anti-communism) rather than against an enemy which was taking territory from other countries and sending civilians to death camps. Maybe it was because we lost our war. Or grew our hair long. Or dissed the establishment. Or smoked dope. Or disobeyed.

When I returned from Vietnam, I soon headed for my favorite bar. There I was greeted by old friends and acquaintances I hadn't seen for about a year. Some said they were glad to see me back. Some said they were glad that I served unlike those who went to Canada or pulled strings to get a draft deferment. After about 20 or 30 minutes the talk returned to the NBA playoffs and the beginning of the baseball season. I no longer felt like a returning veteran, nor did I want or expect to feel so. I only wanted to slip back into my life.

Many had different, less welcome experiences. Due to what was experienced in Vietnam many needed emotional as well as material support and didn't get it. Then again, many of you had similar experiences as I. Maybe you started school on the GI Bill and never told anyone you were a vet. Many at school heard other students disparaging vets. You stayed quiet and wondered. Did we have any say in that debacle? (VVAW members on campus and other vets in the peace movement helped change some of the backward sentiment about soldiers/veterans.)

Much has been said about Vietnam vets not being welcomed home. Back in about 1975 the Chicago Chapter of VVAW had a rally to honor Vietnam vets. There wasn't much of a turnout. Vietnam vets just didn't connect to being a veteran in the way that Iraq and Afghanistan vets do today. A few years later Vietnam vets were discovered. Cities started to have welcome home parades, and maybe this kicked off the period of changing attitudes toward vets leading up to the situation today.

Today veterans are chic. Rick Morrissey, sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times began his last year's Veterans Day article by writing, "I can't recall the last time I attended a sporting event without seeing some sort of tribute to military members." Everybody supports us now. Or exploits us.

There used to often be movies or TV programs about a Vietnam vet doing drugs or going off and having a shoot-em-up. More accurate movies like Coming Home or Born on the Fourth of July were less common. Now on the TV series or in the movies the vet is outstanding. The only exception is when he works as a military contractor for Blackwater or some other mercenary outfit. If PTSD causes the hero to do something stupid or tragic — well — that is to be understood, and he'll (most often he) receive TLC from the leading lady.

Vets obviously play political roles. In the collective mind of the civilian population before Vietnam there used to be assumptions that equated being a veteran with being a patriot. This transferred into being a supporter of the military and a supporter of any war started by our government. In the aftermath of Vietnam that had changed or was not talked about as much. That was because half the Vietnam vets (or maybe the more visible) had long hair and questioned war.

When Vietnam vets started getting thanks for our service there was another change. We now fit into the old formula. Vietnam vet equals good. All vets are good. Good vet equals patriot. Patriots support the military. Supporting the military means supporting the current (and next) war. Vets are thanked as having defended our freedom and risking the ultimate sacrifice in order that we civilians may enjoy our way of life because of the wars fought. Unstated is any doubt that the sacrifices have anything to do with the freedoms enjoyed in the homeland.

A large portion of civilians buy into the vet equals patriot idea to the point where speaking out against a war such as the Gulf War in the early nineties meant that you were denigrating heroes. I remember an anti-war demonstration back then. Off to the side were a handful of people waving flags and shouting support for our soldiers. This was apples versus oranges, but the perception was that not supporting the war meant you were somehow against the soldier.

Over time things got better and you could say what you wanted as long as you saluted our soldiers. But it still needs work. Sometimes people who consider themselves to be patriots oppose (a) war but stay quiet because they are afraid that speaking out is unpatriotic. It is sometimes hard to speak out against the loud voices of the self-righteous.

So we have reached the glorious situation where the nation wants to do all it can to support and help recently returned vets. PTSD and TBI are considered to be things that need to be dealt with. Everyone knows that these folks made great sacrifices and are deserving. One problem. We are in a prolonged economic slump. There is less money to do the things that veterans need to be done. So, yes, the nation feels for vets, but the budget doesn't include what's needed. And if things don't get cut, neither do they expand to the extent needed.

One thing that can be done for the future veterans of war is to create fewer of us. The way that's done is to have fewer and shorter wars. In the meantime we are here as a social and political force with social needs. We are not always understood, but we are usually honored. We need to make as the accepted wisdom the slogan "Honor the Warrior, Not the War."


Bill Shunas is a Vietnam veteran, author and VVAW member in the Chicago chapter.

May 18, 2014

Remember the Children

http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=2593



Remember the Children
By Susan Schnall
Spring 2014

In every country, in every culture we believe that our children are our future. Our children are to be loved, treasured, cared for. As adults, we take that responsibility as the most important work we do in life. It is our nature to protect our children from harm. We watch over them when they're ill, we cry with them when they're in pain, we protect them from those who would harm them. But how do we prevent hurt from an unseen enemy? From something we carry in our bodies and transmit to them unknowingly?

It is estimated that between 1961 and 1975 about 20 million gallons of herbicides, including 13 million gallons of Agent Orange, containing more than 500 pounds of dioxin were sprayed multiple times over 5.5 million acres of land in southern Vietnam. The VA recognizes that certain cancer and other health problems as presumptive diseases associated with exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides during military service. Covered diseases also include heart disease and progressive neurological illnesses.

And dioxin not only impacts the lives of those who served in Vietnam, causing deteriorating illnesses, but it can also be transmitted to their children, by causing changes in cells that may last for multiple generations. These cell mutations cause birth defects and other problems for the children and grandchildren of those exposed.

The Institute of Medicine for the past several years has noted that, "it is considerably more plausible than previously believed that exposure to the herbicides sprayed in Vietnam might have caused paternally mediated transgenerational effects...attributable to the TCCD contaminant in Agent Orange."





It has been over 52 years since the US first used Agent Orange/dioxin in Vietnam. It is time that the United States government recognize and assume responsibility and accountability for the use of these chemicals that destroyed the land in south Vietnam, directly caused the death of thousands of Americans and Vietnamese, were responsible for creating debilitating illnesses in those sprayed, and continues to cause birth defects in our children. How do we protect our children from this unseen enemy? And how do we care for them?

Currently the only birth defect covered by the VA for the children of male American soldiers who served in Vietnam is spina bifida. The VA does recognize a wide range of about 18 birth defects as associated with women Veterans' service in Vietnam. These children are eligible for VA compensation, health care, and vocational training. We must demand that our government care for all those who have been injured by this deadly poison.

Studies have shown that about 4.8 million Vietnamese and tens of thousands of Americans were exposed to Agent Orange during the spraying. Many other Vietnamese were, or continue to be, exposed to Agent Orange through contact with the environment and food that was contaminated. The children of those exposed now suffer from illnesses and disabilities.

Please contact your representative in the House of Representatives and ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 2519: To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide assistance for individuals affected by exposure to Agent Orange.

This legislation would: provide health care and social services for the affected children of American Vietnam veterans, provide health care and social services for affected Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans, and remediate the land which remains contaminated even today.

Please join the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign to demand justice for those who have suffered so much. Contact your congressional representative and ask her/him to become a co-sponsor of HR 2519 of 2013.

--



Susan Schnall is a co-coordinator of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign. She is currently a professor in Health Policy and Planning at NYU and a member of VFP and APHA. She is on the VVAW Board.

May 18, 2014

Portsmouth-based riverines struggle back after suicides

http://hamptonroads.com/2014/05/portsmouthbased-riverines-struggle-back-after-suicides



1 of 15 photos:
Chief Petty Officer John Burch III previously was deployed to Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which had left him struggling, according to his father. Burch died on April 22, 2013, after returning from a deployment to Rota, Spain.

Portsmouth-based riverines struggle back after suicides
By Dianna Cahn
The Virginian-Pilot
© May 18, 2014

Three suicides in a single unit couldn’t be ignored – even if investigators said the sailors’ deaths had nothing to do with their jobs or the stresses of a difficult transition in a troubled squadron.

Coastal Riverine Squadron 2 was struggling with problems of discipline, low morale and a spike in incidents involving substance abuse.

It was the end of 2013, and the command that oversees the coastal riverines sent investigators to figure out what was going on in the squadron. Its results, which only recently have been released, helped shed some light.

As mental health experts converged on the Portsmouth-based squadron late last year, months after the merger of two very different Navy commands – riverines and Navy maritime police – investigators found a unit in turmoil.

May 18, 2014

Federal Judge Deals Major Blow to 'Years-Long Effort to Oppress Gitmo Prisoners'

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/17



Federal Judge Deals Major Blow to 'Years-Long Effort to Oppress Gitmo Prisoners'
- Andrea Germanos, staff writer
Published on Saturday, May 17, 2014 by Common Dreams

In a decision welcomed as "a major crack in Guantanamo's years-long effort to oppress prisoners," a federal judge on Friday ordered the United States to halt the force-feeding and "Forcible Cell Extractions" of a prisoner at the notorious offshore prison.

The order from District Court Judge Gladys Kessler also requires the U.S. to preserve videotapes of the FCEs and force-feedings of the inmate, Abu Wa'el Dhiab.

Forcible Cell Extractions or FCEs refer to when a team of guards forcibly remove from his cell a prisoner who refuses to submit to the torturous process of force-feeding.

According to Reprieve, a UK-based rights group that represents 15 Guantanamo prisoners, including Dhiab, the 42-year old Syrian was arrested in 2002 in Pakistani, where he and his family were living, and was turned over the the United States.

May 18, 2014

Leading GOP Senate Candidate: Creationism Should Be Taught in Public Schools

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/steve-daines-creationism



Inside Montana Rep. Steve Daines' curious ties with creationism—and dinosaur museums.

Leading GOP Senate Candidate: Creationism Should Be Taught in Public Schools
—By Dana Liebelson
| Fri May 16, 2014 6:00 AM EDT

In a little-noticed 2012 interview, Rep. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), the front-runner in Montana's open 2014 Senate race, expressed support for teaching creationism in public schools.

In an interview that aired on November 2, 2012, Sally Mauk, news director for Montana Public Radio, asked Daines, who was then running for Montana's lone House seat, whether public schools should teach creationism. Daines responded, "What the schools should teach is, as it relates to biology and science is that they have, um, there's evolution theory, there's creation theory, and so forth. I think we should teach students to think critically, and teach students that there are evolutionary theories, there's intelligent-design theories, and allow the students to make up their minds. But I think those kinds of decisions should be decided at the local school board level." He added, "Personally I'd like to teach my kids both sides of the equation there and let them come up to their own conclusion on it."​ Here's a recording of the exchange:

(sound recording at link)

​​Daines did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Lauren Passalacqua​, a spokeswoman for Democratic Sen. John Walsh—who was appointed in February by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock to replace longtime Democratic Sen. Max Baucus and could potentially face Daines in the general election—says, "Sen. Walsh respects everyone's right to practice their faith but believes public school is a place for science, not religion.​"​

The radio interview wasn't the first time Daines dabbled in creationism. On July 31, 2012, Don Pogreba, a Montana high school teacher who blogs about politics, reported that Daines was scheduled to attend a breakfast fundraiser for his campaign at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky—an establishment that says it "brings the pages of the Bible to life." Visitors to the Kentucky museum learn about what the world looked like "6,000 years into the past"—at "the dawn of history"—and can see "children play and dinosaurs roam near Eden's Rivers." A notice for the event was reportedly posted on Daines' campaign website. A few days later, Alex Sakariassen, a reporter for the Missoula Independent, asked Daines' campaign why the congressman was holding a campaign event at the controversial museum. Zach Lahn, Daines' campaign manager at the time, replied that "all location details and speaker invitations have been made by [Daines] supporters," not the campaign itself. After the Independent published a story about the event, the announcement for the fundraiser disappeared from the Daines campaign's website. And a spokeswoman for the Kentucky museum says the fundraiser never took place there.​

May 18, 2014

We Know How This Will End

http://www.opednews.com/articles/We-Know-How-This-Will-End-by-John-Rachel-Extinction_Iran_Oil_Peace-140516-389.html



We Know How This Will End
By John Rachel
OpEdNews Op Eds 5/16/2014 at 10:59:14

What if the citizens of Germany during the 1930s somehow could have known in advance how World War II was going to end. Would they have bought into the lies of Hitler and the Third Reich? Would they have gone along with the wanton aggression knowing it was a suicide mission and would turn their beloved homeland into a pile of rubble and put nearly 9,000,000 of them in early graves?

What about Japan? Before World War II, Japan was securely locked down. No dissent from the imperialistic designs of the emperor and his military class was permitted. Even so, if the vast majority had known that, like Germany, their nation would be almost completely destroyed and they'd lose over 3,000,000 people for nothing, would they have so willingly and enthusiastically rushed to the battlefield to invite annihilation and defeat?

Our leaders -- our cowardly, divisive, destructive, unimaginative, delusional American leaders -- from Barack Obama to John Kerry to Joe Biden to John McCain, are taking America into another war. Sure, the bombing of Syria has been shelved for now. But only for now. Only because we have been humiliated and humbled by such sterling examples of brotherhood and compassion as Vladimir Putin, and reduced to looking like the big, dumb bully on the block not that long ago by no less than Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran.

But make no mistake about it. Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, the Ukraine, and eventually Iran. It's all part of the same flawed over-reaching strategy that predates even Clinton. That pathological plan for achieving unnecessary and ill-conceived hegemony over the Middle East and Eurasia may at times appear to be on hold, but it will not go away, and it won't unless we make it go away.