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nationalize the fed's JournalBernie Sanders: NO FAST TRACK for TPP
Published April 15, 2015
What did Candidates Obama and Clinton say about NAFTA in 2007/8?
Skip to 18:18
Hillary Rodham Clinton: "NAFTA was a Mistake"
Bernie Sanders Video Channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/SenatorSanders/videos
Toshiba testing hydrogen fuel cell at renewable energy plant
20 April 2015 dnaindia.com
Toshiba Corporation has announced the start of demonstration operations of H2One, an independent energy supply system based on renewable energy and the use of hydrogen as a fuel for power generation. Kawasaki City and Toshiba have installed the system at the Kawasaki Marien public facility and Higashi-Ogishima-Naka Park in the Kawasaki Port area.
Toshiba H2One Solar Hydrogen System (Photo: Toshiba Corp)
H2One combines photovoltaic installations, storage batteries, hydrogen-producing water electrolysis equipment, hydrogen and water tanks, and fuel cells. Electricity generated from the photovoltaic installations is used to electrolyze water and produce hydrogen, which is then stored in tanks and used in fuel cells that produce electricity and hot water. Since H2One uses only sunlight and water for fuel, it can independently provide electricity and hot water in times of emergency, even when lifelines are cut.
Kawasaki Marien and Higashi-Ogishima-Naka Park, a municipal facility to promote Kawasaki Port, is a designated emergency evacuation area. In times of disaster, H2One will use stored hydrogen to provide an estimated 300 evacuees to the site with electricity and hot water for about one week. The H2One system is housed in a container, and can be transported to disaster-hit areas on trailers...
Continue: http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report-toshiba-renewable-energy-hydrogen-fuel-cells-2078980
Japan has barely begun renewable green hydrogen innovation...Watch what happens.
Bernie Sanders Fox News Sunday 4/19/2015
TPP: Wall Street Wins, Workers Lose- Bernie on The Ed Show 4/17/15
Bernie Sanders Video Channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/SenatorSanders/videos
TPP: Lawmakers reach deal on 'fast track' trade authority
Susan Davis, USA TODAY 5:08 p.m. EDT April 16, 2015
WASHINGTON — Top lawmakers reached a deal Thursday on legislation to grant President Obama "fast track" trade authority to advance one of the largest trade pacts in history, a step that could set off one of the sharpest legislative battles of the year and put Democratic unity to the test.
The bill is a top priority for the administration and congressional Republicans, but the fast track bill and the underlying Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal between the U.S. and 11 Asia-Pacific nations, is roundly opposed by major labor unions and most congressional Democrats.
Senate Finance Committee leaders Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., along with House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., announced the deal in a statement.
"This is a smart, bipartisan compromise that will help move America forward," Hatch said. "The renewal of TPA will help American workers and job creators unlock new opportunities for growth and promote better, higher-paying jobs here at home."...SNIP
...Trade promotion authority, commonly know as fast track, is a process that enhances the president's authority to negotiate trade pacts that Congress can only approve or defeat — and not amend — by a simple majority vote. TPA expired for new trade agreements in 2007. The administration has said without it they are unlikely to reach a deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership...snip
more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/16/lawmakers-reach-deal-fast-track/25885569/
"America’s Pacific Century"- a detailed article by Hillary Clinton, Foreign Policy.com 10/2011
The future of politics will be decided in Asia, not Afghanistan or Iraq, and the United States will be right at the center of the action.
Hillary Clinton October 11, 2011
As the war in Iraq winds down and America begins to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, the United States stands at a pivot point...
Snip
...With Iraq and Afghanistan still in transition and serious economic challenges in our own country, there are those on the American political scene who are calling for us not to reposition, but to come home. They seek a downsizing of our foreign engagement in favor of our pressing domestic priorities. These impulses are understandable, but they are misguided. Those who say that we can no longer afford to engage with the world have it exactly backward — we cannot afford not to. From opening new markets for American businesses to curbing nuclear proliferation to keeping the sea lanes free for commerce and navigation, our work abroad holds the key to our prosperity and security at home. For more than six decades, the United States has resisted the gravitational pull of these "come home" debates and the implicit zero-sum logic of these arguments. We must do so again.
Beyond our borders, people are also wondering about America’s intentions — our willingness to remain engaged and to lead. In Asia, they ask whether we are really there to stay, whether we are likely to be distracted again by events elsewhere, whether we can make — and keep — credible economic and strategic commitments, and whether we can back those commitments with action. The answer is: We can, and we will...snip
...Our treaty alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand are the fulcrum for our strategic turn to the Asia-Pacific. They have underwritten regional peace and security for more than half a century, shaping the environment for the region’s remarkable economic ascent. They leverage our regional presence and enhance our regional leadership at a time of evolving security challenges...snip
...We are also making progress on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which will bring together economies from across the Pacific — developed and developing alike — into a single trading community. Our goal is to create not just more growth, but better growth. We believe trade agreements need to include strong protections for workers, the environment, intellectual property, and innovation. They should also promote the free flow of information technology and the spread of green technology, as well as the coherence of our regulatory system and the efficiency of supply chains. Ultimately, our progress will be measured by the quality of people’s lives — whether men and women can work in dignity, earn a decent wage, raise healthy families, educate their children, and take hold of the opportunities to improve their own and the next generation’s fortunes. Our hope is that a TPP agreement with high standards can serve as a benchmark for future agreements — and grow to serve as a platform for broader regional interaction and eventually a free trade area of the Asia-Pacific...
Complete article (free registration required) http://foreignpolicy.com/2011/10/11/americas-pacific-century/
Some of Hillary's foreign policy, as described by Hillary. A must read.
New discovery may be breakthrough for hydrogen cars- Green H2 from Corn
Phys.org April 6, 2015
A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to create hydrogen fuel using a biological method that greatly reduces the time and money it takes to produce the zero-emissions fuel. This method uses abundantly available corn stover - the stalks, cobs, and husks - to produce the hydrogen.
The team's new findings, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help speed the widespread arrival of the hydrogen-powered vehicles in a way that is inexpensive and has extremely low carbon emissions.
Virginia Tech professor Percival Zhang (right) and recent doctoral graduate Joe Rollin. Credit: Virginia Tech
"This means we have demonstrated the most important step toward a hydrogen economy - producing distributed and affordable green hydrogen from local biomass resources," said Percival Zhang, a professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering, which is in both the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering....
..."We believe this exciting technology has the potential to enable the widespread use of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles around the world and displace fossil fuels," Rollin said.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-04-discovery-breakthrough-hydrogen-cars.html
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The R&D has barely begun. If Obama/Chu hadn't cut the funding in 2009...
Toshiba Opens Hydrogen Energy Research & Development Center in Tokyo
Toshiba Reinforces Initiatives Toward a Hydrogen EconomyApril 06, 2015 Business Wire
Hydrogen Energy Research & Development Center (Photo: Business Wire)
TOKYO--Toshiba Corporation today announced the opening of the Toshiba Group Hydrogen Energy Research & Development Center (HRDC) at its Fuchu Complex in western Tokyo. The new Center will concentrate Group-wide initiatives to realize a hydrogen economy, and will drive forward the development and demonstration of solutions integrating hydrogen-related energy technologies. Toshiba Group aims to increase the sales of hydrogen-related business to 100 billion yen by 2020.
Toshiba Group has essential technologies, including photovoltaic, wind, hydro and other renewable generation systems, water electrolysis systems and fuel cells, for achieving a hydrogen economy, a future where hydrogen is utilized as a low carbon clean fuel source. Toshiba Group will integrate these technologies in end-to-end solutions, extending from production to utilization of hydrogen.
Working towards the realization of local energy production for local consumption, Toshiba Group will develop a practical energy supply system that uses renewable energy to power hydrogen-generating water electrolysis systems, and then uses fuel cells to convert that hydrogen to electricity as and when needed. The system will be deployed in locations where electricity generation and transmission costs are high, such as isolated islands and remote places, so as to help cut costs and achieve a stable electricity supply.
Looking to the future, Toshiba Group also aims to establish a hydrogen supply chain by 2025. For example, hydrogen produced overseas at low cost, using large-scale windmills, will be used to generate electricity in hydrogen-fired gas turbine power plants in Japan. This will allow large amounts of hydrogen, a source of carbon-free clean electricity, to be stored and supplied without any need for a transmission line to connect the overseas power generation source, and Japan, the power consumption point.
Output from solar and wind power sources is unreliable, but it can be used to power water electrolysis systems that produce hydrogen, and that hydrogen can be transported and stored for use when needed...
Continue: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150405005012/en/Toshiba-Reinforces-Initiatives-Hydrogen-Economy
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Related: Toshiba Corporation to Participate in Large-scale Hydrogen Research Project in Scotland
Company's first hydrogen research project outside Japan
https://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2015_03/pr1801.htm
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It's great that this pioneer gets to see action on what he's been talking about for over 10 years
Innovations will happen fast now that Toshiba, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and the Government of Japan are fully involved
Jon Gold: We Were Lied To About 9/11 - Episode 24 - Ray McGovern
Published on Mar 24, 2015
Ray McGovern leads the “Speaking Truth to Power” section of Tell the Word, an expression of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. A former co-director of the Servant Leadership School (1998-2004), he has been teaching there for 15 years.
Ray came from his native New York to Washington in the early Sixties as an Army infantry/intelligence officer and then served as a CIA analyst from the administration of John F. Kennedy to that of George H. W. Bush. Ray’s duties included chairing National Intelligence Estimates and preparing the President’s Daily Brief, which he briefed one-on-one to President Ronald Reagan’s most senior national security advisers from 1981 to 1985.
In January 2003, Ray helped create Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) to expose the way intelligence was being falsified to “justify” war on Iraq. On the afternoon of the day (Feb. 5, 2003) Secretary of State Colin Powell misled the UN Security Council on Iraq, VIPS sent a blunt memorandum to President George W. Bush, in which VIPS gave Powell a C minus for content. They ended the memo with this:
“No one has a corner on the truth; nor do we harbor illusions that our analysis is irrefutable or undeniable [as Powell had claimed]. But after watching Secretary Powell today, we are convinced that you would be well served if you widened the discussion beyond … the circle of those advisers clearly bent on a war for which we see no compelling reason and from which we believe the unintended consequences are likely to be catastrophic.”
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, after a five-year study by his committee, described the intelligence used to “justify” war on Iraq as “unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent.” In other words, it was not mistaken; it was fraudulent.
As an act of conscience, on March 2, 2006 Ray returned the Intelligence Commendation Medallion given him at retirement for “especially meritorious service,” explaining, “I do not want to be associated, however remotely, with an agency engaged in torture.” He returned it to Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R, Michigan), then-Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Hoekstra added to the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY’07 (HR5020) a provision enabling the government to strip intelligence veterans of their government pensions. HR5020 passed the full House, but Congress opted instead for a continuing resolution. Thus, Ray was spared from having to go back to driving part-time for Red Top Cab.
On the early afternoon of May 4, 2006, in Atlanta, Ray confronted Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on live TV with pointed questions like: "Why did you lie to get us into a war that was not necessary and that has caused these kinds of casualties?"
The impromptu, four-minute mini-debate that followed is still receiving hits on YouTube -
Accused by TV pundits that evening of "following the Secretary of Defense all the way down to Atlanta," Ray explained that he had gotten to Atlanta first - to receive, that same evening, the ACLU's National Civil Liberties Award (won the previous year by Coretta Scott King).
Ray’s opinion pieces have appeared in many leading newspapers here and abroad. His Web site writings are usually posted first on https://consortiumnews.com/ as well as here on http://www.raymcgovern.com/ and they are usually then cross-posted widely on other Web sites.
Ray still serves on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity; VIPS’ 26 corporate issuances are posted on http://warisacrime.org/vips
He has debated twice at the Oxford Forum, most recently in Jan. 2013, when he chose to take a lighter tone in trying to explain why it is still possible to dream the American dream.
Ray has appeared on The Newshour, C-Span’s Washington Journal, CNN, Aljazeera, RT, PressTV and numerous other TV & radio programs and documentaries. (His favorite gig was debating former CIA Director James Wollsey on Charlie Rose on Aug. 20, 2004.) Ray has also addressed a wide variety of audiences in the U.S. and abroad.
He studied theology and philosophy (as well as his major, Russian) at Fordham University, from which he holds two degrees. He also holds a Certificate in Theological Studies from Georgetown University and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
A Catholic, Ray has been worshiping for over a decade with the ecumenical Church of the Saviour. He has been invited to lecture at various interfaith and ecumenical events around the U.S., and has preached at a number of Christian churches and Jewish synagogues.
McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years (1963 to 1990), "routinely presenting the morning intelligence briefings at the White House".[2] His CIA career began under President John F. Kennedy, and lasted until the Presidency of George H. W. Bush.[3] McGovern chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President's Daily Brief, and in the mid-1980s was "a senior analyst conducting early morning briefings one-on-one with the vice president, the secretaries of State and Defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the assistant to the president for national security."[4] At his retirement in 1990, McGovern received the CIA's Intelligence Commendation Medal.[1][4]
He worked as an officer for the CIA, where he was responsible for the analysis of Soviet policy in Vietnam.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_McGovern
What does DU think about Ray?
http://www.google.com/search?q=Ray+McGovern&sitesearch=democraticunderground.com
Here's a good sample
Ray McGovern Wins Victory in Civil Rights Case after his Brutal Arrest Protesting a Hillary Speech
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025588769
More Jon Gold/We Were Lied to about 911 interviews
https://www.youtube.com/user/Gold9472/videos
Methane To The Rescue! New Energy Efficient Graphene Desalination Membrane For The 99%
CleanTechnica April 3rd, 2015 by Tina Casey
The folks over at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are hot on the trail of a new graphene desalination membrane, which could free up vast amounts of the world’s water resources for human use. Currently, according to the lab, more than 99% of the world’s water is undrinkable, much of that being locked up in seawater...snip
The Desalination Conundrum
Conventional desalination involves a process called reverse osmosis, in which water is forced through a membrane.Reverse osmosis is a big step up from distillation in terms of energy consumption, and more efficient systems are in the pipeline (check out this four-in-one desalination process, for example).
Despite recent improvements, though, reverse osmosis still sucks up huge amounts of energy, and part of the problem is the membrane. Conventional membranes are based on polymers (plastics). They tend to get clogged up during the process, and they have to be cleaned regularly in order to keep operating at their personal best.
One emerging solution is solar-powered desalination. Renewable energy helps to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, but it doesn’t address the membrane issue. In an increasingly crowded world, energy efficiency is a critical factor, regardless of whether you’re using fossil fuels or renewables...snip
An Energy Efficient Graphene Desalination Membrane
a schematic look at graphene, showing its unique hexagonal structure (the two blue areas show the chemical bonds of impurities in the graphene sheet):
...That’s where the graphene comes in. And the methane, too. The new Oak Ridge graphene research is still in the proof of concept stage, but things look promising. The idea is to replace conventional polymer membranes with graphene....
Continue: http://cleantechnica.com/2015/04/03/methane-rescue-new-energy-efficient-graphene-desalination-membrane-99/
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Desalination
Existing facilities and facilities under construction
Estimates vary widely between 15,000–20,000 desalination plants producing more than 20,000 m3/day. Micro desalination plants are in operation nearly every where there is a natural gas or fracking facility in the United States.
Israel
Israel Desalination Enterprises' Sorek Desalination Plant in Palmachim provides up to 26,000 m³ of potable water per hour (2.300 m³ p.a.). At full capacity, it is the largest desalination plant of its kind in the world. Once unthinkable, given Israel's history of drought and lack of available fresh water resource, with desalination, Israel can now actually produce a surplus of fresh water.
The Hadera seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant in Israel is the largest of its kind in the world.[111][112] The project was developed as a build–operate–transfer by a consortium of two Israeli companies: Shikun and Binui, and IDE Technologies.[113]
By 2014, Israel's desalination programs provided roughly 35% of Israel's drinking water and it is expected to supply 40% by 2015 and 70% by 2050.
Saudi Arabia
The Saline Water Conversion Corporation of Saudi Arabia provides 50% of the municipal water in the Kingdom, operates a number of desalination plants, and has contracted $1.892 billion to a Japanese-South Korean consortium to build a new facility capable of producing a billion liters per day, opening at the end of 2013. They currently operate 32 plants in the Kingdom;[127] one example at Shoaiba cost $1.06 billion and produces 450 million liters per day...
More countries that desalinate water:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination#Existing_facilities_and_facilities_under_construction
An Introduction to the Carlsbad CA Desalination Plant
Desalination = water security and jobs. Tech will make it cheaper and better.
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