25.7.08

Documents Reveals Labor Effort to Add More Hoops to Regulating Workplace Toxins - washingtonpost.com

Documents Reveals Labor Effort to Add More Hoops to Regulating Workplace Toxins - washingtonpost.com

As if I am surprised.

Documents Reveals Labor Effort to Add More Hoops to Regulating Workplace Toxins

By Carol D. Leonnig

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 24, 2008; 5:43 PM

A copy of a eleventh-hour proposed rule that would make it harder to set new safety rules limiting workers' exposure to chemicals on the job has been obtained by the Washington Post.

The Labor Department has refused to discuss or disclose the proposal, which has spurred anger and condemnation from unions, Democrats in Congress and public health scientists. They claim the rule is a "midnight regulation" that will block the next administration's efforts to reduce workers illnesses and deaths.

As The Post first reported on Wednesday, the department began actively working on drafting new rules for measuring risk and setting health standards for chemicals in September 2007, but did not disclose it was looking at the idea, as required, in either its December 2007 or May 2008 reports on regulations it was considering. The proposal calls for adding another procedural step and round of challenges before the department can consider regulations for a workplace toxin. It also challenges the agency's longstanding assumption that it should set limits low enough to protect workers who could be exposed to a toxin every day on the job and work for 45 years.

The Bush administration has adopted only one regulation to limit exposure to a chemical, hexavalent chromium, and that was under court order. This new rule propsal has become the department's top priority in the final months of the administration, although proposed worker safety rules for limiting exposure to beryllium, silica and combustible dust remain works in progress after years of being under consideration.

The chairmen of the Senate and House labor committees demanded Wednesday that Labor Secretary Elaine Chao withdraw the proposal.

They said Chao's agency violated the rules requiring federal agencies to alert the public twice a year to any directives it was considering, and they also asked her to turn over internal documents of any meetings or communications Labor officials had with business or outside groups relating to the proposal.

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John McCain embarrassing - Google Search

John McCain embarrassing - Google Search

Well, I needed to know it wasn't just me- the man is making a FOOL out of himself.

What did Duh-bya blunder over once upon a time....fool me once.....um, we can't get fooled again

You got that right, unless most americans are fools- we'll soon see...

and I will find another country to call home.

15.7.08

Stop Blood Diamonds

Stop Blood Diamonds

I admit my own ignorance with regard to Diamonds, where they came from- how we got them.

I am deeply and perversely dissuaded by the way these gems came to be knows as "Diamonds are Forever" I believe that was early DeBeers.

It is beyond appalling what the largest continent on this planet was blessed with an abundance of potential for natural resources- making MZUNGO's rich, and select greedy African leaders giving in to corruption.

Rebel groups did their grisly part to maintain production, trade- and murdered, like any other wealth driven individual would do, if only out for personal gain at the bloody expense of others. I am paying more and more attention to the world around me.

I enjoy meeting people from EVERY culture- I feel take more action in this issue, and others like it. As a woman with Native American Blood mixed with My German/Austrian Roots- I have been profoundly affected by one particular continent and the abuse the inhabitants of the land have endured for years.
It must stop.

top Blood Diamonds - Diamond Education

Stop Blood Diamonds is here to promote the use of conflict free diamonds. Diamonds are a beautiful natural resource - together we can assure that no person is harmed in their manufacturing.

Help Support StopBloodDiamonds.org

by Making a Small Donation

(Like selling your OWN Diamonds and giving the money BACK to the people who have NOTHING)

Help Stop Blood Diamonds!

Sign Our Petitition
Help Us Make A Difference.

Jewelers & Diamond Merchants:
Register For Free

''Stop Blood Diamonds''

is an organization pledged to stopping the exploitation of the diamond trade by human rights abusers.

Blood diamonds, often called conflict diamonds, are mined in war torn African countries by rebels to fund their conflict. The rebels grossly abuse human rights, often murdering and enslaving the local populations to mine the diamonds.

We can stop this by purchasing legitimate diamonds. Botswana used to be a poor farm country but today its government works hand in hand with the Diamond industry to give Botswana a living standard 7 times higher than its neighbors.
Make sure your jeweler stops the blood diamonds trade by supporting conflict free diamonds.

Blood Diamonds Learning Center

14.7.08

How F****** DARE THEY

Who drew this picture? Its rude, and in very poor judgement- so probably an american-
Well,

I never met a MUSLIM person I didn't like.

The Obama's are not Muslim, but I still want them in office!

Mag satire panned; Depicts Obamas as Muslim, terrorist-
The real terrorists are already in the white house


Enlarge	New Yorker via AFP/Getty Images

Democrats and Republicans are calling a New Yorker magazine cover tasteless and offensive for its satirical depiction of Barack Obama as a Muslim and his wife, Michelle, as a gun-toting terrorist.

From staff and wire reports

A satirical New Yorker magazine cover depicting Barack Obama as a Muslim and his wife as a gun-toting terrorist has drawn a unanimous reaction Monday from both the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns that it is "tasteless and offensive."

The illustration, appearing on this week's issue, is titled "The Politics of Fear" and shows Obama in the Oval Office in sandals, robe and turban giving a "fist bump" to his wife, Michelle, who is outfitted in combat boots and an assault rifle. A painting of Osama bin Laden hangs above the fireplace in which an American flag is burning..

"The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Sen. Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton. "But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."

Republican John McCain's campaign spokesman, Tucker Bonds, concurred that the cover was "tasteless and offensive."

In Arizona, McCain said the cover was "totally inappropriate and frankly I understand if Senator Obama and his supporters would find it offensive."

Yippie skippy, John

New Yorker editor David Remnick told The Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar that the image was meant to "hold up a mirror to the prejudice and dark imaginings about Barack Obama's — both Obamas' — past, and their politics."

Remnick said the drawing, by Barry Blitt, "combines a number of images that have been propagated, not by everyone on the right but by some, about Obama's supposed 'lack of patriotism' or his being 'soft on terrorism' or the idiotic notion that somehow Michelle Obama is the second coming of the Weathermen or most violent Black Panthers."

Blitt, in an e-mail to The Huffington Post's Nico Pitney, wrote: "I think the idea that the Obamas are branded as unpatriotic (let alone as terrorists) in certain sectors is preposterous. It seemed to me that depicting the concept would show it as the fear-mongering ridiculousness that it is."

David Axelrod, Obama's chief political strategist, called the cartoon "poorly executed" but said the campaign was not going to dwell upon it.

"We've got a lot of problems in the world," he said on MSNBC'sMorning Joe.

"Did we like it? No. Is it the focus of our attention? No."

Contributing: The Associated Press

A**hole of the Century

Dick Cheney Thinks Threats to Public Health Are None of Our Business // Current

Dick **** thinks Threats to Public Health Are None of Our Business

WTF?

As if the Bush Administration was not already the worst Presidency in the history of the United States of America.

As if Dick Cheney didn’t already have a reputation for being a maniacal puppeteer.

Now, new statements by Jason Barnett, the former associate deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency have revealed that Vice President Cheney’s office sought to delete testimony by the CDC in congressional hearings last fall. Cheney’s people specifically asked for the removal of data in congressional testimony which proves the negative health consequences for human beings as a result of climate change. At stake is pan-industry regulation by the EPA under the federal Clean Air Act.

And we know what that means, don’t we? *gasp* Big businesses would have to make costly changes to ensure they aren’t spewing pollutants into the air and making innocent people sick! Good thing they have the Vice President looking out for their interests. If only we, the people, had the same benefit.

Obviously the Bush administration is claiming that the revisions (a full 6 out of 14 pages deleted) were “routine”. I don’t know if that is supposed to reassure voters, or warn us that the administration routinely tries to pull the wool over our eyes.

The World Health Organization states on their website:

If our understanding of broad relationships between climate and disease is realistic, then climate change may already be affecting human health.

They list several health issues tied to global warming, including:

* increased allergen levels
* increased transmission of infectious diseases
* effects on food production
* drought and famine
* population displacement due to natural disasters, crop failure, water shortages
* destruction of health infrastructure
* conflict over natural resources
* direct impacts of heat and cold (morbidity)

So many people are “waiting out” the Bush administration, which thankfully, is quickly running out of time. But I have a feeling that we’ll be feeling the effects of the dishonesty, greed, and extortion of this administration for years to come. Especially, it seems, when it comes to our environment.

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UN Report: The Future Could be Swell... But We're Blowing It

By Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.14.08

Business & Politics

african schoolchildren
Image from hdptcar

Time for another round of good news, bad news. First, the good: According to a weighty new UN report (it's 6,300 pages long and includes submissions from 2,500 experts) uncovered by The Independent, the world stands poised to enter a new era of peace, prosperity and empowerment. Increased democratization, economic and technological advances and medical breakthroughs have the potential to bring millions out of poverty and make the world "work far better than it does today".

Now for the bad: Despite these promising developments, we are still more likely than not to screw it all up through sheer violence, inequality and environmental degradation. Worse, governments are not even properly equipped to take advantage of these advances or to prevent many of the looming crises.

amazon river
Image from markg6

Just another doom and gloom report?
As Geoffrey Lean and Jonathan Owen put it, the "2008 State of the Future" report can hardly be accused of being your typical fear mongering tract. It starts off listing a number of humanity's most momentous accomplishments, portraying a bright future in which "the internet, international trade, language translation and jet planes are giving birth to an interdependent humanity that can create and implement global strategies to improve [its] prospects".

Some encouraging findings
Improvements in recent decades have helped slash poverty levels worldwide (except, unfortunately, in Africa) -- enough that poverty will have been cut by more than half by 2015. Life expectancy and literacy rates continue to rise while the number of conflicts and infant mortalities continue to drop. The internet is effusively praised as having already become the single "most powerful force for globalization, democratization, economic growth and education in history".

Current and future challenges to a new world order
While sounding an optimistic tone, the report doesn't mince its words in describing many of the problems currently plaguing the system:

"half the world is vulnerable to social instability and violence due to rising food and energy prices, failing states, falling water tables, climate change, decreasing water-food-energy supply per person, desertification and increasing migrations due to political, environmental and economic conditions . . . With nearly three billion people making $2 or less per day, long-term global social conflict seems inevitable without more serious food policies, useful scientific breakthroughs and dietary changes".

Ending on an optimistic note?
It concludes by castigating world governments as being "inefficient, slow and ill-informed" and reiterates a common refrain for more international cooperation and, most important, a "global strategy". Without this, it says, neither climate change nor international organized crime, among others, will ever be resolved.

For a more complete list of the report's recommendations and findings, see the full Independent story.

28.6.08

Production of Honda FCX Clarity Hydrogen Car Begins : TreeHugger

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26.6.08

25.6.08

Tanzania and Zanzibar


" border="0" height="10" width="10">	Briefing Papers and Publications

Africa: Bush’s Trip Highlights Flaws in US HIV/AIDS Policy
President George W. Bush’s praise for US efforts against HIV/AIDS in Africa should not obscure how his administration’s policies continue to undermine HIV prevention on the continent and globally, Human Rights Watch said today.
February 14, 2008 Press Release
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Leading Human Rights Groups Name 39 CIA ‘Disappeared’ Detainees
Three Groups File Lawsuit Seeking Information about ‘Ghost’ Detention
In the most comprehensive accounting to date, six leading human rights organizations today published the names and details of 39 people who are believed to have been held in secret US custody and whose current whereabouts remain unknown. The briefing paper also names relatives of suspects who were themselves detained in secret prisons, including children as young as seven.
June 7, 2007 Press Release
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Off the Record
U.S. Responsibility for Enforced Disappearances in the “War on Terror”
This 21-page briefing paper, published by six leading human rights organizations, includes the names and details of 39 people who are believed to have been held in secret US custody abroad and whose current whereabouts remain unknown. The briefing paper also names relatives of suspects who were themselves arrested and detained, including children as young as seven. The list of missing people includes nationals from countries including Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan and Spain. They are believed to have been arrested in countries including Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia and Sudan, and transferred to secret US prisons operated by the CIA.
June 7, 2007 Background Briefing

Somalia: Radio Stations Shut Despite Contact Group Meeting
Transitional Somali Government Must Respect Freedom of Expression
The transitional Somali government’s decision to close three leading radio stations in Mogadishu is a serious blow to freedom of expression and the right to impart and receive information in Somalia, Human Rights Watch said today.
June 7, 2007 Press Release
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Human Rights Watch Letter to President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania
We write to voice concern over the expulsion of persons of Rwandan and Burundian origin from Tanzania in recent months. According to testimony received by Human Rights Watch researchers, some expelled persons were threatened, beaten, and saw their property looted by Tanzanian officials, soldiers, and police officers or by militia groups acting with the apparent compliance of government officials. The expelled persons—including some who were recognized as refugees and others who were naturalized Tanzanian citizens—were driven from their homes without any semblance of legal procedure.
May 7, 2007 Letter
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Tanzania: Expulsions Put Vulnerable People at Risk
Tanzania should immediately suspend its program to expel people of Rwandan and Burundian origin from Tanzania, and end the abuses that its security forces are committing against these people, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.
May 7, 2007 Press Release
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Tanzania: Zanzibar Election Massacres Documented
Tanzanian security forces committed gross abuses, killing at least thirty-five people and wounding more than 600 others, when they ruthlessly suppressed opposition demonstrations in Zanzibar more than one year ago, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today. Human Rights Watch said that none of those responsible for the abuses at the end of January 2001, including shootings of demonstrators, beatings and sexual abuse, had yet been held to account.
April 10, 2002 Press Release
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"THE BULLETS WERE RAINING"
The January 2001 Attack on Peaceful Demonstrators in Zanzibar
In a welcome step, in January 2002, Tanzania's President Benjamin Mkapa announced the creation of an independent commission of inquiry to investigate human rights violations committed by Tanzanian security forces in Zanzibar a year before. In January 2001, the government security forces violently suppressed political demonstrations in Zanzibar that had been called to protest irregularities in the national elections of October 2000. Security forces-primarily the police, aided by the coastguard and the army-opened fire and assaulted thousands of unarmed demonstrators and others. In the following days, the security forces, joined by ruling party officials and militia, went on a rampage, indiscriminately arresting, beating, and sexually abusing island residents. Human Rights Watch estimates that at least thirty-five people were killed, and over 600 injured. Some two thousand Zanzibaris fled to nearby Kenya. The January 2001 abuses were the most egregious event to date in a pattern of repression by the Tanzanian national authorities, including the local Zanzibar government, against legitimate political opposition on the semi-autonomous islands of Zanzibar. The United Republic of Tanzania was formed in 1964 as a union between mainland Tanganyika and the Indian Ocean islands of Unguja and Pemba, which together comprise Zanzibar. Longstanding political tensions have become more overtly exacerbated since Tanzania underwent a transition to multi-party politics in 1992. Following widespread, internationally condemned election fraud in Zanzibar during the October 2000 national elections, Tanzania's major opposition party, the Civic United Front (CUF), called for countrywide protests to take place on January 27, 2001. The CUF also demanded constitutional reform. Broadly supported by other opposition parties, these protests-the largest in the nation's history-were generally peaceful, although there were several incidents of police harassment.
April 10, 2002 Report
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“Risasi Zilinyesha Kama Mvua” - Mashambulizi Dhidi ya Maandamano ya Amani
. Mwezi wa Januari mwaka 2001 vikosi vya usalama vya serikali ya Tanzania vikiongozwa na jeshi la polisi viliyakandamiza na kuyavunja maandamano ya kisiasa yaliyoitishwa huko Zanzibar kupinga matokeo ya Uchaguzi Mkuu wa mwaka 2000. Vikosi vya usalama vya serikali na hasa jeshi la polisi wakisaidiwa na askari wa Kikosi Maalum cha Kuzuia Magendo (KMKM) na askari wa usalama wa taifa na pia wakiungwa mkono na wanamgambo wa chama tawala cha CCM, kwa nguvu zilizopita mipaka, waliwakamata, kuwapiga na kuwanajisi wakaazi wa visiwa vya Zanzibar. Human Rights Watch (HRW) inakisia kwamba, kwa uchache, watu thelathini na watano waliuwawa na wengine wapatao mia sita kujeruhiwa. Wazanzibari wengine elfu mbili (2,000) walikimbilia nchi jirani ya Kenya.
April 10, 2002 Campaign Document

Tanzania: Child Soldiers Global Report 2001
From the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
There are indications of under-18s in government armed forces as the minimum voluntary recruitment age is 15.
June 12, 2001 Multi Country Report

Zanzibar: Violence Condemned
Tanzanian Security on the Rampage
The Tanzanian police and army are using unrestrained force to shoot, injure, and kill people on Pemba and Zanzibar islands.
January 31, 2001 Press Release
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Seeking Protection
Addressing Sexual and Domestic Violence inTanzania's Refugee Camps
Burundian refugee women confront daily violence in Tanzanian refugee camps, Human Rights Watch charges in a new report released today. Wide-spread sexual and domestic abuse have left many of these women physically battered, psychologically traumatized, and fearful for their lives
HRW Index No.: 2483
October 1, 2000 Report
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Tanzania: Violence against Women Refugees
Report Documents UNHCR Failures
Burundian refugee women confront daily violence in Tanzanian refugee camps, Human Rights Watch charges in a new report, "Seeking Protection: Addressing Sexual and Domestic Violence in Tanzania's Refugee Camps."
September 26, 2000 Press Release
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TANZANIA: Landmine Monitor Report 2000
Key developments since March 1999: On 17 July 2000 the National Assembly passed a bill to ratify the Mine Ban Treaty. Among the tens of thousands of refugees arriving in Tanzania are an increasing number of mine victims.
August 1, 2000 Multi Country Report

Refugees in Tanzania Confined Unfairly
"Security" Cited to Justify Human Rights Abuse
A new report In the Name of Security: Forced Round-Ups of Refugees in Tanzania Human Rights Watch charges that the Tanzanian army separated the refugees from their families and stripped them of their belongings in an indiscriminate response to security risks from outside the country.
July 7, 1999 Press Release
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Tanzania -- In the Name of Security: Forced Round-Ups of Refugees in Tanzania
Tens of thousands of refugees, some of whom have lived in Tanzania for more than two decades, have been rounded up by the Tanzanian army and confined to camps for the past year in the western part of the country, Human Rights Watch charges in this report.
HRW Index No.: A1104
July 1, 1999 Report
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Letter to Julius Nyerere Urging Arms Embargo on Burundi
Human Rights Watch has been actively engaged with the situation in Burundi, having monitored both human rights developments and arms flows to parties to the tragic civil war in that country in the past two years. On the basis of our research, and continuing investigations in the region, we have called repeatedly on the United Nations Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Burundi (all sides)— in keeping with our policy of advocating curbs on the flow of weapons to forces, be they governments or non-state actors, that commit gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.
January 22, 1999 Letter
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24.6.08

Nice...

Offshore Windfarm in Delaware Finds Buyer for Clean Electricity

by Matthew McDermott, Brooklyn, NY on 06.24.08

Science & Technology (alternative energy)

Offshore Turbines

Bluewater Wind announced today that Delmarva Power has agreed to a 25 year contract to purchase up to 200 MW of electricity from Bluewater’s planned windfarm 13 miles off the coast of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The project, which is in the initial planning stages, has yet to establish a final capacity, but it is currently expected to be in the 600 MW range. Bluewater estimates that the project will cost $1.6 billion and be able to power 110,000 homes. Under Delaware law, by 2019 Delmarva must show that 20% of its electrical supply comes from renewable sources.

Rehoboth Beach Map
Map of the proposed windfarm site. On Bluewater's website all those red dots link to computerized visualizations of the view from the shore.

"A new era of power generation"
Peter Mandelstam, founder and president of Bluewater Wind was understandably enthusiastic about the news. “By signing this first-ever formal contract in the United States for the sale of pollution-free, stable-priced energy generated from our offshore wind farm, Bluewater Wind and Delmarva Power will usher in new era of power generation that benefits from utility-scale power plants located far from our shores.

I don’t know if wind turbines 13 miles from the beach really qualifies as “far from our shores”, but compared to offshore wind developments in Europe the US lags behind so Mandelstam’s enthusiasm is definitely warranted.

Bluewater is currently investigating offshore wind projects in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

:: Bluewater Wind

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