SAVE IT. KEEP IT
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Change, from the roof on down
Record Eagle, By Melissa Domsic
TRAVERSE CITY -- Mykl Werth has been so busy building a house in Empire, he needed a break and some personal inspiration, which he found at the Great Lakes Bioneers Conference.
Published on Tuesday, October 9, 2007 by Reuters
Scientist: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Hit Danger Mark Sooner Then Expected
by Michael Perry
SYDNEY - The global economic boom has accelerated greenhouse gas emissions to a dangerous threshold not expected for a decade and could potentially cause irreversible climate change, said one of Australia’s leading scientists.
What Is Iraq Costing You?
By Larry Beinhart, AlterNet. Posted September 24, 2007.
The War in Iraq has cost about $453 billion to date. That's pretty hard to grasp. Especially on my income and probably on yours. Let's bring that home and make it a little more understandable.
Published on Saturday, August 18, 2007 by Associated Press
Hot Weather Forces Partial Shutdown of TVA Nuclear Plant
by Jay Reeves
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - One reactor at a north Alabama nuclear plant was idle Friday and two others operated at reduced power because of the record-breaking heat wave, an outage that an industry watchdog said could be a sign of trouble for nuclear energy in a warming climate.
Jailing Nation: How Did Our Prison System Become Such a Nightmare?
By Daniel Lazare, The Nation. Posted August 20, 2007.
With five percent of the world's population, the U.S. has close to a quarter of the world's prisoners. How did the American criminal justice system go so wrong?
Published on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
No Center, No Centrists, by George Lakoff
“Centrism” is the creation of an inaccurate self-serving metaphor, and it is time to bury it.
Posted August 13, 2007 09:40 am
Tomgram: All-time Highs in Iraq -- Escalation by the Numbers
What "Progress" in Iraq Really Means, By Tom Engelhardt
DEVELOPMENT: 2.6 Billion Wait in Line for Toilets
By Thalif Deen
STOCKHOLM, Aug 16 (IPS) - There are more than 2.6 billion people, roughly 42 percent of the world's population, waiting in line for toilets that just do not exist.
Published on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 by The Independent/UK
Planet of The Slums: UN Warns Urban Populations Set To Double
by Daniel Howden
The combined forces of population growth and urbanization are creating a planet of slums, where the urban population will have doubled by 2030, according to a report released by the United Nations today.
Rescue Internet Radio
Online music is in danger. After intense lobbying by giant music labels, the Copyright Royalty Board dramatically increased the rates webcasters must pay to stream online music. The change is so severe that it could force most independent and noncommercial Internet radio off the Web. Musicians, webcasters and listeners have joined forces to reverse the CRB decision.
60,000 DIE EACH YEAR FROM CLIMATE-RELATED DISASTERS, SAYS WHO CHIEF
MUFULIRA, ZAMBIA, June 6 (NNN-ZANIS) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) says more than 60,000 people die every year because of climate-related natural disasters and adds that the majority of deaths occur in developing countries.
Published on Monday, June 4, 2007 by the Independent/UK
Sicko? The Truth About the US Healthcare System
by Andrew Gumbel
Why Working Less is Better for the Globe
By Dara Colwell, AlterNet. Posted May 21, 2007.
Americans are working harder than ever before and at a greater cost to the environment. Research suggests that practicing a more simple lifestyle made people happier while using fewer resources.
Can We End the American Empire Before It Ends Us?
By Chalmers Johnson, Tomdispatch.com. Posted May 17, 2007.
Brilliant historian and essayist Chalmers Johnson argues that unless we face up to the tremendous strain our empire is having on America, we will lose our democracy, and then it will not matter much what else we lose.
Published on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 by The Guardian/UK
Global Rush To Energy Crops Threatens To Bring Food Shortages and Increase Poverty, Says UN
· Winners and Losers In Huge Biofuel Industry
· Oil Price Will Stabilize But Small Farmers at Risk
The Hippies Were Right!
Green homes? Organic food? Nature is good? Time To Give The Ol’ Tie-Dyers Some Respect -- by Mark Morford
Fascist America, in 10 Easy Steps
By Naomi Wolf, Chelsea Green Publishing. Posted April 28, 2007.
There are some things common to every state that's made the transition to fascism. Author Naomi Wolf argues that all of them are present in America today.
Earth Day 2007: Happiness Is a Smaller Eco-Footprint
by Stephen Leahy
Published on Sunday, April 22, 2007 by Inter Press Service
Step It Up
This April 14th, tens of thousands of Americans will gather all across the country at meaningful, iconic places to call for action on climate change. We will hike, bike, climb, walk, swim, kayak, canoe, or simply sit or stand with banners of our call to action:
"Step It Up! Cut carbon 80% by 2050"
How to live a low-carbon life
the individual's guide to stopping climate change
Altered Oceans
A five part serires on the crisis in the seas
By Kenneth R. Weiss and Usha Lee McFarling
Need something to real worry about? Read this.
Study reveals US veterans' trauma
Concern has been mounting over the treatment of returning soldiers
A quarter of US veterans treated by doctors when they return from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer mental health problems, according to US research.
A Preview of Bush's 'Attack Iran' Speech
By Michael T. Klare, Tomdispatch.com. Posted March 2, 2007
Has the justification for war with Iran already been drawn up? A careful reading of Bush's statements on Iran could preview the actual list of charges he might make in his case for attack.
Theater Iran Near Term" (TIRANNT)
Michel Chossudovsky
DUBAI, UAE, 21 February 2007. Code named by US military planners as TIRANNT, "Theater Iran Near Term" has identified several thousand targets inside Iran as part of a "Shock and Awe" Blitzkrieg, which is now in the final planning stages.
Published on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
The Words None Dare Say: Nuclear War
by George Lakoff
It Can Happen Here
By Joe Conason, Thomas Dunne Books. Posted February 23, 2007.
In light of the series of laws passed in Congress and precedents set by the Bush administration, people have good reason to doubt the future of democracy and the rule of law in America.
Published on Wednesday, February 14, 2007 by the Inter Press Service
National Security Experts Grim on Terror War, by Jim Lobe
A new survey of more than 100 U.S. foreign policy experts -- both Republicans and Democrats, as well as retired military and intelligence professionals -- has found deep pessimism over the "global war on terror" and even deeper pessimism over the war in Iraq.
The President's Budget: Impact on the States
Monday, 05 February 2007
The administration released a $2.9 trillion budget request for fiscal year 2008 on Monday February 5. Along with the budget request, it submitted supplementary materials for additional war spending.
TraversePeaceAlerts.org
END THE WAR NOW - 1-27-07 - Traverse City, MI
More photos here
The Washington Iraq Peace March: A Protest to Be Proud of By Karen Houppert, TheNation.com. Posted January 29, 2007.
In a protest event that organizers estimated at almost half a million, citizens of all stripes demanded an end to the occupation of Iraq.
Protest Focuses on Troop Increase for Iraq
by Ian Urbina
WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of protesters converged on the National Mall on Saturday to oppose President Bush’s plan for a troop increase in Iraq in what organizers hoped would be one of the largest shows of antiwar sentiment in the nation’s capital since the war began.
Climate Change 2007
The IPCC 4th Assessment Report
A comprehensive and rigorous pict¨re of the global present state of knowledge of climate change
Published on Friday, February 2, 2007 by the Guardian / UK
Scientists Offered Cash to Dispute Climate Study, by Ian Sample
Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.
Why AT&T's Net Neutrality Concession is a Milestone in the History of the Internet
By Tim Wu, Professor of Law, Columbia University
To the lay reader the AT&T merger agreement may appear highly technical. It is, however, a milestone, and may even be remembered as an important moment in Internet history. Most notable is the agreement's striking inclusion of the first strong Network Neutrality language yet seen in any broadband regulatory device.
The U.S. and China: Is a Trade War Coming?
By Danny Schechter, AlterNet. Posted December 13, 2006.
China may be violating trade agreements, but the savings-poor U.S. lacks the power to do anything about it.
Gaia Scientist Lovelock Predicts Planetary Wipeout
by Jeremy Lovell
LONDON - The earth has a fever that could boost temperatures by 8 degrees Celsius making large parts of the surface uninhabitable and threatening billions of peoples' lives, a controversial climate scientist said on Tuesday.
November 3, 2006-10 -- Earth Policy Institute
Exploding U.S. Grain Demand for Automotive Fuel Threatens World Food Security and Political Stability, by Lester R. Brown
Now that the year’s grain harvest is safely in the bin, it is time to take stock and look ahead. This year’s harvest of 1,967 million tons is falling short of the estimated consumption of 2,040 million tons by some 73 million tons. This shortfall of nearly 4 percent is one of the largest on record.
Save Access -- Save PEG Community Media! Keep the Internet Open!
Defend Local Control! Stop Red-Lining in Our Communities!
In the theater that is Congress there are many players and though the scripts may be rewritten by the corporate sponsors, the roles seldom change. Here, we offer background for the new play currently called Telecom Reform. Yes, once again it's a public tragedy, a restaging of the previous production from 1996.
Moyers: Save the Most Democratic of Media
How ironic if the Internet should pass irretrievably into history just as the very seeds for the digital revolution are being sown. But that’s just what may happen, writes award winning journalist Bill Moyers: “Already, the notion of a level... Tune in to PBS, October 18, 20006, 9PM, to see the SavetheInternet.com Coalition featured in "The Net at Risk," a documentary produced by award-winning journalist Bill Moyers.
Published on Monday, October 9, 2006 by the Independent / UK
Earth's Ecological Debt Crisis: Mankind's 'Borrowing' from Nature Hits New Record
by Martin Hickman
Today is a bleak day for the environment, the day of the year when mankind over-exploits the world's resources - the day when we start living beyond our ecological means.
Published on October 6, 2006 by the Inter Press Service
Marine Scientists Report Massive "Dead Zones"
by Stephen Leahy
Rising tides of untreated sewage and plastic debris are seriously threatening marine life and habitat around the globe, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned in a report Wednesday. The number of ocean "dead zones" has grown from 150 in 2004 to about 200 today, said Nick Nuttall, a UNEP spokesperson.
The Environmental Weight of 300 Million Americans
By Brad Knickerbocker, Christian Science Monitor. Posted October 7, 2006.
As the US population rises, environmental problems that were once pushed aside may get worse.
Lawyer Says FCC Ordered Study Destroyed, by John Dunbar
WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission ordered its staff to destroy all copies of a draft study that suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage, a former lawyer at the agency says.
Study Says Buying Local Food Would Boost State Economy
Forecast sees almost 2,000 new jobs, jump in farm profits
By Patty Cantrell and Michael Hamm
The Modern Successor to the Slave Trade
No longer should the peace business be undermined by the arms business
by Desmond Tutu
Oil Companies Manipulate Markets and Gouge Consumers, Harming Both Economy and Environment -- Report Details Solutions to Regulate Oil Industry Profits and Finance Clean, Sustainable Energy
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Americans are paying more for gasoline than they would if they had access to competitive markets, and oil companies are using the windfall profits to buy back their stocks rather than make investments in sustainable energy, according to a report released today by Public Citizen.
Local Costs of the Iraq War
A list of the cities, towns and counties for which we have calculated the taxpayer cost of the Iraq War.
Congress Poised to Unravel the Internet
by Jeffrey Chester
Is an Armament Sickening U.S. Soldiers?
by Deborah Hastings
It takes at least 10 minutes and a large glass of orange juice to wash down all the pills — morphine, methadone, a muscle relaxant, an antidepressant, a stool softener. Viagra for sexual dysfunction. Valium for his nerves.
Ice cover over Greenland, Antarctica melting at a faster pace, say studies
NEW YORK: The sheet of ice that covers Greenland is melting faster than ever before now and the pace is increasing every year, according to data provided by satellites that study the impact of warming on the northern island.
Global Warming-- Signed, Sealed, and Delivered
Scientists agree: The Earth is warming, and human activities are the principal cause.
by Naomi Oreskes
Supermarkets and Service Stations Now Competing for Grain
Lester R. Brown
Cars, not people, will claim most of the increase in world grain consumption this year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that world grain use will grow by 20 million tons in 2006. Of this, 14 million tons will be used to produce fuel for cars in the United States, leaving only 6 million tons to satisfy the world’s growing food needs.
The Natinal Entertainmen State, 2006
Where do Americans get their news and who controls what they consume?
Published on 12 Jun 2000 by Energy Bulletin
Fun while it lasted
by Stephanie Mills
I. Could This Be the End of Civilization As We Know It?
My friends will tell you that I have a peculiar fascination with doomsday scenarios. Living in expectation of this civilization’s collapse, which I do, can be isolating. It’s like having historical-epochal halitosis. You don’t get invited back to dinner parties after trying to engage people on the topic of our imminent decline and fall.
Take Action! Stop EPA Approval of Toxic Pesticides
Government scientists are blowing the whistle on the Environmental Protection Agency's attempt to allow the continued use of 20 highly controversial organophosphate pesticides without conducting adequate safety testing
The Dirty Truth About Green Fuel
By Sasha Lilley, CorpWatch. Posted June 7, 2006.
The end is nearing for the open Internet
Defeat for Net Neutrality Backers
US politicians have rejected attempts to enshrine the principle of net neutrality in legislation., by Tom Lasseter
Why the Democratic Ethic of the World Wide Web May Be About to End -- From New York Times, May 29, 2006, By Adam Cohen
Published on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 by the Bangor Daily News
Democratizing Communications
by John Buell
The War of Internet Democracy,
by Robert B. Reich
This week, the House is expected to vote on something termed, in perfect Orwellian prose, the "Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006." It will be the first real battle in the coming War of Internet Democracy.
Panel dumps Net neutrality - House committee drops amendment banning two-tier Internet, by Verne Kopytoff, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Save the Internet -- Act Now
Who wants to get rid of net neutrality? -- The nation’s largest telephone and cable companies — including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner — want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won’t load at all.
America's Eating Disorder
By Blair Golson, Truthdig. Posted April 19, 2006.
|ournalist Michael Pollan talks about fixing our industrial food system, what being a conscientious carnivore means, and how we can really eat healthily.
Book Bytes: Wartime Mobilization to Save THE ENVIRONMENT AND Civilization
by Lester R. Brown
Since the first Earth Day 36 years ago, we have won many environmental battles but we are losing the war. Our early twenty-first century civilization is on an economic path that is destroying and disrupting the natural systems on which it depends. We are consuming renewable resources faster than they can regenerate. Forests are shrinking, grasslands are deteriorating, soils are eroding, water tables are falling, and fisheries are collapsing
The Dangers of Corporate Wi-Fi
By Jeffrey Chester, TheNation.com. Posted March 28, 2006.
Google and other telecom giants are wooing cities with offers of public Wi-Fi grids -- but online privacy could be lost in the process.
Keeping Tabs on the Peaceniks
By Nick Schwellenbach, AlterNet. Posted March 27, 2006.
What are political and activist groups like Indymedia and Food Not Bombs doing on the FBI's Terrorist Watch List?
Food Safety Laws At Risk
Lobbyists for big food companies are waging a massive campaign on Capitol Hill to eliminate nearly 200 state food safety laws that are more stringent than federal ones. Right now there is a bill pending in Congress that would do away with each state's ability to protect their residents from dangerous food borne illnesses.
When Americans No Longer Own America
by Thom Hartmann
The Dubai Ports World deal is waking Americans up to a painful reality: So-called "conservatives" and "flat world" globalists have bankrupted our nation for their own bag of silver, and in the process are selling off America.
Iraq War Made Simple - Results & Statistics as of February 2006
2,290 US Soldiers Killed, 16,742 Seriously Wounded
For your clear and quick reading, I listed key statistics taken from data analyzed by various think tanks, including The Brookings Institution. Most info is presented as of February 22, 2006 -- from Deborah White
Local Costs of the Iraq War -- Tuesday, 21 February 2006
The table on this web page breaks down the cost of the Iraq War for various towns, cities and counties across the U.S. The breakdown is based on a total cost of $315.8 billion.
Published on Monday, December 26, 2005 by OneWorld.net
U.S. Opposes Litany of Global Treaties in 2005
by Haider Rizvi
Two myths that keep the world poor, by Vandana Shiva
This article appeared in Ode issue: 28
Global poverty is a hot topic right now. But anyone serious about ending it needs to understand the true causes, argues Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva.
US plans massive data sweep
Little-known data-collection system could troll news, blogs, even e-mails. Will it go too far?
By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
The End of the Internet?
Jeff Chester
The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online
2005 Was the Warmest Year in a Century
The year 2005 may have been the warmest year in a century, according to NASA scientists studying temperature data from around the world.
Published on Thursday, January 19, 2006 by the Independent / UK
Warmer Seas Will Wipe Out Plankton, Source of Ocean Life
by Steve Connor
Published on Monday, January 16, 2006 by the Independent / UK
Environment in Crisis: 'We Are Past the Point of No Return'
Thirty years ago, the scientist James Lovelock worked out that the Earth possessed a planetary-scale control system which kept the environment fit for life. He called it Gaia, and the theory has become widely accepted. Now, he believes mankind's abuse of the environment is making that mechanism work against us. His astonishing conclusion - that climate change is already insoluble, and life on Earth will never be the same again.
Alternet
Are You Being Tracked?
By Devanie Angel, Sacramento News & Review.
Katrina and Iraq War demonstrate misguided federal priorities
Americans have an historic opportunity to examine federal spending priorities in the face of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath and the Iraq War. NPP offers a two-page overview of current federal spending policies and state level numbers on the cost of the Iraq War.
Rachel's News
The Great Lakes at a Crossroad, September 15, 2005
by Tim Montague
Published on Thursday, September 15, 2005 by the Wiscasset Newspaper (Maine)
Sugar for Sugar, Salt For Salt
Go Down In The Flood Gonna Be Your Own Fault
by Christopher Cooper
Changes in Tropical Cyclone Number, Duration, and Intensity in a Warming Environment -- Science Magazine
by P. J. Webster,1 G. J. Holland,2 J. A. Curry,1 H.-R. Chang1
Neck Deep in Toxic Gumbo
By Nicole Makris, AlterNet. Posted September 16, 2005.
Water quality in New Orleans -- and throughout the South -- has been deplorable for years. In Katrina's wake it just got dramatically worse.
From This American Life
After the Flood
Surprising stories from survivors in New Orleans.
Video Clip from Critical Mass - September 9, 2005 -- Traverse City MI
Now Let’s Rescue America -- Nine Key Steps for the Left
September, 2005
By Van Jones, a Bioneers board and faculty member.
ROBERT SCHEER:
The real costs of a culture of greed
WHAT THE WORLD has witnessed this past week is an image of poverty and social disarray that tears away the affluent mask of the United States.
Katrina's Real Name
by Ross Gelbspan
Sheehan Adds Focus to Iraq War Debate
All Things Considered, August 19, 2005 (audio file) · In the second of two commentaries about Cindy Sheehan, commentator Desiree Cooper says that Sheehan has focused new attention on the Iraq war. Americans are paying attention to it in a way they have not since the election. Cooper says we should be ashamed that it takes a woman who has lost her son and is willing to camp out in front of President Bush's ranch in order to focus attention on the war.
Published on Thursday, August 18, 2005 by the Boston Globe
Vigils Across State, Nation Back Mother of Dead Soldier
Thousands support woman at Bush ranch
by Ralph Ranalli
Acid on the rocks: Sulfide mining poised to tunnel into Michigan
By LAWRENCE COSENTINO
In Michigan’s wild Upper Peninsula, the world begins with rocks and water.
Published on Friday, July 15, 2005 by Agence France Presse
US Still Pursuing Nuclear Options 60 Years After First Bomb
Sixty years after the first atomic bomb was tested in the New Mexico desert, the United States still has some 2,000 nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert and is considering new weapons such as earth-penetrating bunker busters.
Darfur Dawn: The Conflict in Darfur Through Children's Eyes
Michael Jackson Easily Trumps Darfur on Nightly News
Jim Lobe -- WASHINGTON, Jul 12 (IPS) - U.S. broadcast media are failing to provide even minimal coverage of the ongoing crisis -- some say genocide -- in Darfur, Sudan, according to a new report, which concludes that media fixation with celebrity, as well as the Iraq war, is crowding out news of important events that deserve global attention 10 years after the genocide in Rwanda.
Two High-Profile Campaigners Tackle AIDS
Moyiga Nduru -- JOHANNESBURG, Jul 13 (IPS) - Former South African president Nelson Mandela and United States First Lady Laura Bush campaigned in two South African cities this week against the spread of AIDS
Exxpose Exxon
The Exxpose Exxon campaign is a collaborative effort of 12 of the nation’s largest environmental and public interest advocacy organizations to educate and activate Americans about ExxonMobil’s efforts to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, prevent action on global warming, and encourage America’s oil dependence.
The Good News Roundup
Colleges going green, Free trade turn-around, Italy fights rendition
A video clip of note: The Smoking Gun -- 06.15.05
In Quicktime format: here
Other formats here:
from HijackingCatastrophe.org
Big Food Strikes Back
By Britt Bailey and Brian Tokar
Ag industry aims to strip local control of food supplies
Legislation aiming to prevent counties, towns and cities from making local decisions about our food supply is being introduced in states across the nation. Fifteen states recently have introduced legislation removing local control of plants and seeds. Eleven of these states have already passed the provisions into law.
Published on Monday, June 13, 2005 by the lndependent/UK
Beckett Exposes G8 Rift on Global Warming
Global Warming: The US Contribution in Figures
by Marie Woolf in London and Colin Brown in Moscow
The Great TV Debate
By Monica Mehta, AlterNet. Posted June 10, 2005.
Does television have a place in the progressive agenda? Why should we pay attention to it, and what does it do for us?
U.S. PIRG Reports - May 2005
A Responsible Electricity Future: An Efficient, Cleaner and Balanced Scenario for the US Electricity System
The current electric power system in the US is heavily dependent upon central station plants, fossil and nuclear fuels, and an increasingly strained system of wires to deliver that generation to customers. “Business as usual” development of the system, as depicted for example in the US Energy Information Administration’s latest Annual Energy Outlook (EIA’s AEO 2004) shows consumption of electricity increasing by more than 50 percent by 2025 and massive investment in new coal and gas central station power generation to meet that demand.1 The increasing demand and supply in this scenario place stresses upon the electricity transmission and distribution system which then requires its own massive investment in new equipment.
Air Force Seeks Bush's Approval for Space Weapons Programs
The Air Force, saying it must secure space to protect the nation from attack, is seeking President Bush's approval of a national-security directive that could move the United States closer to fielding offensive and defensive space weapons, according to White House and Air Force officials.
The State of the News Media
The State of the News Media 2005 is the second in the Project for Excellence in Journalism's annual effort to provide a comprehensive look each year at the state of American journalism.
Bill Moyers blasted Kenneth Tomlinson
In an historic speech on Sunday, legendary television journalist Bill Moyers blasted Kenneth Tomlinson of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB) for launching a partisan witch hunt at PBS and called for a series of town hall meetings across the country.
"I simply never imagined that any CPB chairman, Democrat or Republican, would cross the line from resisting White House pressure to carrying it out for the White House," Moyers told a packed room at the National Conference for Media Reform. "And that's what Kenneth Tomlinson has been doing."
You can now watch, listen to or read Moyers' entire speech on the Free Press Web site: http://www.freepress.net/news/8120
Oil and Food: A Rising Security Challenge
Earth Policy Institute
From farm to plate, the modern food system relies heavily on cheap oil. Threats to our oil supply are also threats to our food supply. As food undergoes more processing and travels farther, the food system consumes ever more energy each year.
Published on Monday, May 2, 2005 by the New York Times
Republican Chairman Exerts Pressure on PBS, Alleging Biases
by Stephen Labatan, Lorne Manly and Elizabeth Jensen
The Progressive Priorities Series
An Action Agenda for America
As a new presidential term and a new Congress begin, the Center for American Progress has launched the Progressive Priorities Project to provide policymakers and the public with a positive vision for progressive policymaking supported by a series of new and bold policy ideas in priority areas identified by American Progress.
Published on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 by Rolling Stone
The Long Emergency -- What's going to happen as we start running out of cheap gas to guzzle? by James Howard Kunstler
A few weeks ago, the price of oil ratcheted above fifty-five dollars a barrel, which is about twenty dollars a barrel more than a year ago. The next day, the oil story was buried on page six of the New York Times business section. Apparently, the price of oil is not considered significant news, even when it goes up five bucks a barrel in the span of ten days. That same day, the stock market shot up more than a hundred points because, CNN said, government data showed no signs of inflation. Note to clueless nation: Call planet Earth.
Nuclear Opposition, By Ralph G. Neas
TomPaine.com, April 4, 2005
The right wing is going for broke over something called the "nuclear option" --a parliamentary dirty trick that would eviscerate the Senate filibuster and clear the way for even the most extreme nominees to the Supreme Court. They always knew they had their work cut out for them in convincing moderate Republicans to support such a power grab, but lately even conservatives have been leaping off the "nuclear" bandwagon.
Some Like It Hot
By Chris Mooney, May/June 2005 of Mother Jones
IssueForty public policy groups have this in common: They seek to undermine the scientific consensus that humans are causing the earth to overheat. And they all get money from ExxonMobil.
22 Apr 2005
Retreating Glacier Fronts on the Antarctic Peninsula over the Past Half-Century
From RealClimate.org a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists.
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY:
Secrecy, Propaganda Seen Sweeping U.S., by William Fisher
NEW YORK, May 2 (IPS) - Freedom of the press is in decline in the United States amid increased government secrecy and propaganda, say media veterans, analysts, and advocates.
Anti-Nuclear and Anti-War Activists Rally at United Nations Ahead of Conference, by Karen Matthews
NEW YORK -- Invoking memories of the bombs dropped on Japan decades ago, thousands of anti-nuclear weapon and anti-war activists marched past the United Nations, where a conference takes up the nuclear issue this week.
Documentary on Dow's Dioxin Scandal Ignored by Four Local PBS Stations -- Dow Chemical Buys Silence in Michigan
By BRIAN McKENNA (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
We Told You So
By Rahul Mahajan, AlterNet. Posted April 6, 2005.
The latest WMD report merely confirms what anti-war activists were claiming all along -- way before the invasion of Iraq.
Crude Awakening
An open letter to Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska
By Terry Tempest Williams -- 18 Mar 2005
World Water Day: Private Sector Still Eyeing to Own Every Drop
by Anil Netto
PENANG, MALAYSIA -- Selling water rights to private institutions and then having people buy them back again is an issue that keeps rearing its ugly head at every World Water Day, which falls on Mar. 22.
Over 725 Protests Planned to Mark Second Anniversary of Iraq Invasion
More than 725 anti-war protests and events are scheduled across the country on March 19th to mark the second anniversary of the invasion Iraq. We hear from organizers around the country who describe what is happening in their communities
Nuns Conviction Upheld
by Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
The decision of the 10 th Circuit Court of Appeals came down tonight, St. Patrick's Day a unanimous decision upholding the conviction and sentencing of The Sacred Earth and Space Plowshares Sisters Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert , and Jackie Hudson. (Tenth Circuit Opinion)
A victory, but not a done deal, Senate moves toward exploration of refuge
WASHINGTON - By a vote of 51 to 49, the Senate Wednesday defeated a measure that would have banned oil exploration and drilling on the 1.5 million acre coastal plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
Family of American Woman Killed by Military Bulldozer Files Suit Against Caterpillar, Inc. -- Family of Rachel Corrie Charges Bulldozer Manufacturer Knowingly Sold Machines Used to Violate Human Rights
Synopsis: On March 15, 2005 in New York the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and partnering law firms today filed a federal lawsuit against Illinois-based Caterpillar, Inc. on behalf of the parents of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American peace activist and student who was run over and killed by a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer on March 16, 2003.
Bankruptcy Bill Said to Hit Poorest Americans Hardest
by Abid Aslam
Published on Monday, March 7, 2005 by the Inter-Press Service
Bush Appoints Right-Wing Extremist to UN Post
by Jim Lobe
Experts Warn Ecosystem Changes Will Continue to Worsen, Putting Global Development Goals At Risk
A landmark study released today reveals that approximately 60 percent of the ecosystem services that support life on Earth – such as fresh water, capture fisheries, air and water regulation, and the regulation of regional climate, natural hazards and pests – are being degraded or used unsustainably. Scientists warn that the harmful consequences of this degradation could grow significantly worse in the next 50 years.
Ice Melting Everywhere, by Danielle Murray
Ice is melting everywhere—and at an accelerating rate. Rising global temperatures are lengthening melting seasons, thawing frozen ground, and thinning ice caps and glaciers that in some cases have existed for millennia. These changes are raising sea level faster than earlier projected by scientists, and threatening both human and wildlife populations.
Panelists Decry Bush Science Policies
The Associated Press
Monday 21 February 2005
Washington - The voice of science is being stifled in the Bush administration, with fewer scientists heard in policy discussions and money for research and advanced training being cut, according to panelists at a national science meeting.
New Data Point to Man-Made Global Warming, Severe Climate Change, by Seth Borenstein
WASHINGTON - New measurements from the world's oceans, announced Thursday, give the most compelling evidence yet that man-made global warming is under way and hint at a more dramatic and sudden climate change in the future.
Scientists Find Dramatic Changes in Southern Ocean,
Fear Climate Link -
HOBART, AUSTRALIA - Scientists have discovered dramatic changes in the temperature and salinity of deep waters in the Southern Ocean that they warn could have a major impact on global climate.
(Published on Thursday, February 17, 2005 by Agence France Presse)
Sign Here to Save the Planet -- Join a people's campaign to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, By Ross Gelbspan, 16 Feb 2005
The much-discussed Kyoto Protocol took effect Feb. 16. In the face of the United States' continuing refusal to ratify the international agreement, a group of progressive activists is launching a drive to gather millions of signatures from U.S. citizens for a "People's Ratification of the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty".
The loss of Dirk Koning - 1957 - 2005
The Community Media Center staff mourns the loss of our Executive Director, founder and friend, Dirk Koning. His gentle spirit and vision created an environment that made it a joy to come to work. Every day we aspire to be the kind of innovative, mission-oriented center that matches the picture that Dirk painted. He will be sorely missed
Voice of America
Evan Derkacz, AlterNet. February 14, 2005.
An interview with Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! — the only “daily, grassroots, un-embedded, international, independent news hour” in America today.
NOW -- PBS 2.04.05
Income and Inequality
Constance Rice of The Advancement Project talks to David Brancaccio about her views on the state of our nation with a focus on economic disparity. Watch the video that is linked from this site.
Sunday, February 6, 2005 by the lndependent/UK
Apocalypse Now: How Mankind is Sleepwalking to the End of the Earth -- Floods, storms and droughts. Melting Arctic ice, shrinking glaciers, oceans turning to acid. The world's top scientists warned last week that dangerous climate change is taking place today, not the day after tomorrow. You don't believe it? Then, says Geoffrey Lean, read this...
Don't Fear the Reapers
A special series on the alleged "Death of Environmentalism"
Climate Change Already Here, Conference Told
Evidence is growing that global warming is already starting to disrupt the world's delicately-balanced climate system, and the damage will reverberate for generations, a top science conference was told.
Critics Challenge White House "Clear Skies" Proposal
January 25, 2005 - Reporting by Roddy Scheer
According to a recently released report by the National Academy of Sciences, implementation of the Bush administration's proposed "Clear Skies" initiative would actually weaken air quality standards for some large coal-fired utilities across the country, putting millions of Americans at greater risk from air pollution.
Published on Friday, January 4, 2005 by the Washington Post
Ignoring the Smoke, by Eugene Robinson
Watching President Bush's speech Wednesday night, I thought of Irwin Allen, Hollywood's master of disaster, the man who gave us "The Towering Inferno," "The Poseidon Adventure" and a host of other films in which calamity follows catastrophe until everybody dies, except the extremely good-looking. And I thought of the beaches of Rio de Janeiro.
The Ten Worst Corporations of 2004
by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
It is never easy choosing the 10 Worst Corporations of the Year -- there are always more deserving nominees than we can possibly recognize.
Christian Science Monitor - January 18, 2005
Terror detainees and America's gulag
By Cathryn J. Prince
WESTON, CONN. - The Defense Department's proposal could very well be a lost chapter out of George Orwell's timeless novel "1984": potential lifetime sentences for the hundreds of people now in military and CIA custody at a prison yet to be built outside the US, and thus beyond the reach of its constitutional protections on due process.
War Profiteers
Top Ten War Profiteers of 2004
Survey Offers First Glimpse of 'War on Terror'; Combat Veterans Seeking Homeless Assistance
WASHINGTON -- January 12 -- Combat veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and the Global War on Terror who need help -- from mental health programs to housing, employment training and job placement assistance -- are beginning to trickle into the nation's community-based homeless veteran service provider organizations. Already stressed by an increasing need for assistance by post-Vietnam era veterans and strained budgets, homeless service providers are deeply concerned about the inevitable rising tide of combat veterans who will soon be requesting their support.
World Social Forum 2005
There have been 155,000 participants, from 135 countries and 6,880 lecturers. More than 200,000 people in the opening march, 2,500 activities and 2,800 volunteers that supported the organization
Global Temperature Rise Accelerating
The average global temperature for the first 11 months of 2004—14.60 degrees Celsius (58.28 degrees Fahrenheit)—makes it the fourth warmest year since recordkeeping began in 1880. February, October, and November of 2004 were the second warmest of those three months, and March and April were the third warmest on record
First They Came for the Protesters
By Rachel Neumann, AlterNet.
Who Really Pays Taxes in America?
Taxes and Politics in 2004
By Cheryl Woodard, Executive Director of AskQuestions.org
Democracy - Not "The Free Market" - Will Save America's Middle Class, by Thom Hartmann
Citizens’ Inaugural Celebratory Committee For The Preservation Of Moral Values, Celebrated the Inauguration of W - a video clip here
