[Biofuel] Japan - Mazda leads diesel revival as dirty-clunker label fades
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/print/nb20121213n1.html Mazda leads diesel revival as dirty-clunker label fades By MA JIE and YUKI HAGIWARA Bloomberg Thirteen years after Shintaro Ishihara killed Japanese interest in diesel cars by barring many of them from Tokyo, the technology is making a comeback as manufacturers adopt innovations that improve its sooty image. Mazda Motor Corp. is betting big on cleaner diesels, creating a challenge to imports and hybrids as government incentives spur demand for fuel-efficient vehicles. The new cars compete with sport utility vehicles from Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motor Corp. and models that BMW and Daimler ship from Europe, where half of new cars use the engine and most automakers - including the Japanese - offer diesels. Improved filters, turbochargers and fuel injection have helped make the motors quieter and cleaner than in 1999, when then-Gov. Ishihara waved a bottle of black soot at reporters as he campaigned to bar diesels from Tokyo streets. I remember the diesel car I used in driving school 22 years ago - a noisy, dirty one that produced smoke and soot, said Atsuo Ito, a 39-year-old advertising executive who bought a new Mazda Diesel CX-5 crossover. This car is quiet, clean and most important it cut my monthly fuel expense by half. The government this year introduced subsidies of as much as ¥180,000 for diesels. By 2020, the government wants 5 percent of new passenger vehicles to use the technology, up from 0.4 percent last year. As of October, sales of diesels had tripled from last year to 31,425 units in Japan, according to the Japan Automotive Dealers Association. The idea younger people have of diesel cars is quite different from the older generation, who were influenced by Ishihara, said Yoshiaki Kawano, an analyst with IHS Automotive. Their impression is that the cars are environmentally friendly and popular in Europe. Mazda said 80 percent of orders for its CX-5 sport utility vehicle and Mazda 6 sedan in Japan this year are powered by diesel engines even though they cost about 20 percent more than comparable gasoline versions. A diesel CX-5 gets 16 percent better mileage than the comparable gasoline version, according to Mazda. We have been surprised to see such brisk demand, Mazda President Takashi Yamanouchi said last month. Customers are convinced that they want diesels. Global sales of diesel cars will rise 66 percent between 2010 and 2018, to 22 million, making up about 18 percent of total vehicle deliveries in 2018, according to LMC Automotive. Growth will come mainly from North America, Eastern Europe and Asia, while diesel's share in Western Europe will decline due to regulatory standards and market saturation in some countries, the researcher said. Diesel engines can be more efficient because the fuel burns at a higher temperature than gasoline. But diesel's higher energy density means it can also emit more soot. In recent years, manufacturers have improved catalytic converters to burn soot and have added filters to capture more of the emissions. Reviving the engine in Japan may help the nation's automakers break into the United States. LMC Automotive expects diesel sales there to more than triple to 1.3 million in 2018 from 408,344 last year as stricter federal fuel-efficiency standards are phased in starting in 2017. Clean diesel cars and light-duty trucks are in the early stages of a renaissance in America, said Allen Schaeffer, executive director of Diesel Technology Forum, an industry group whose members include car and component makers. The diesel Mazda 6 will be introduced in the U.S. next year. That will make Mazda the first Asian carmaker to sell a passenger car using the engine in the American market, where European makers such as Volkswagen set the pace. If the Mazda 6 is priced below the Passat TDI and has great fuel economy, it can be a hit, said Mike Omotoso, senior manager of global power train research at LMC Automotive. Mazda, which this year ended 45 years of rotary engine production, is making the biggest commitment to diesel among its Japanese rivals. It has increased advertising and is pairing the CX-5 and Mazda 6 with its SkyActiv, an umbrella term for technologies that help it comply with stricter emission standards such as lighter vehicle bodies. The company has spent hugely on TV commercials and advertising to raise people's awareness and change the public image, said Masahiro Fukuda, an analyst with Fourin Inc. in Nagoya. In the revamped models' first year on the market, Mazda expects worldwide sales of 240,000 for the Mazda 6 and 190,000 for the CX-5. The company doesn't release separate forecasts for diesel sales. Japanese diesel vehicle sales peaked in the 1980s, accounting for as much as 6 percent of new car deliveries, according to the transport ministry. In 2003, Tokyo started requiring diesel owners to install
[Biofuel] U.K. party leaders playing politics with press rules
See also: [Biofuel] Leveson whitewash of Murdoch's UK media empire Keith Addison Fri, 07 Dec 2012 6 December 2012 http://www.mail-archive.com/sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org/msg77976.html http://www.japantimes.co.jp/print/eo20121212tb.html U.K. party leaders playing politics with press rules By TINA BURRETT The Japan Times: Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012 Most people like talking about themselves, including those in the press. Since publication of Lord Justice Leveson's report into press culture, practices and ethics at the end of last month, Britain's newspapers have been consumed with discussing their own future. From among the many recommendations contained in Leveson's almost 2,000-page report, attention has focused on the judge's call for statutory underpinning of any new self-regulatory regime replacing the existing Press Complaints Commission. There is much confusion around what is meant by statutory underpinning. The term suggests something created by legislation, but independent of Parliament. For instance, a statute could be introduced creating a body to ensure that a new self-regulator meets standards of conduct set down by law. In other words, Parliament would legislate to create a regulator to regulate the self-regulator. In theory, this Kafkaesque proposal would preserve the independence of the press, by keeping government one degree removed from the regulatory process. But many in the press have expressed fear that statutory underpinning could be a slippery slope leading to statutory state control. It is unsurprising that those whose practices are called into question in the Leveson report oppose its recommendations for stronger regulation backed by legislation. But press misgivings are shared by Prime Minister David Cameron, who has declared serious concerns over Leveson's call for regulation backed by statute. Cameron has suggested that it would set a dangerous precedent to write elements of press regulation into the law of the land, warning that legislation would create a vehicle for politicians to impose further obligations and restrictions on the press in the future. Although the prime minister's concerns about regulatory creep are doubtless sincere, his stated reasons for opposing Leveson's plans for a new statutory regime may obscure more Machiavellian motives. Cameron set up the Leveson Inquiry in July 2011 after it was revealed that employees at the News of the World had hacked the mobile phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. The subsequent police investigation into phone-hacking at the tabloid led to the arrest of two former editors with close connections to Cameron. It is a source of ongoing embarrassment to the prime minister that his friend Rebekah Brooks and former communications director Andy Coulson both now face criminal charges relating to phone hacking. Focusing on the sections of Leveson's report dealing with press regulation distracts attention from another important aspect of the judge's inquiry, namely the cozy relationship between senior press executives and politicians. Furthermore, with his party languishing in the opinion polls, Cameron can ill-afford to lose the support of Britain's pro-Conservative newspapers, whose editors uniformly oppose Leveson's recommendations for statutory-backed regulation. Editors of the traditional Tory press are already lukewarm in their enthusiasm for Cameron, whom they blame for failing to achieve a Conservative majority in the 2010 general election. Cameron's refusal to offer a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union is another bone of contention with the Euro-skeptic Tory press. Cameron's vulnerability on Europe was underlined by Tory voters' defection to the UK Independence Party at by-elections held in Rotherham, Croydon and Middlesbrough on the day Leveson published his report. Cameron's Conservatives at least achieved better by-elections results than their coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats. The Lib Dems - whose leader Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg supports Leveson's plans for statutory-backed press regulation - came a humiliating eighth in Rotherham. More naturally in tune with Labour than the Conservatives, many Lib Dems voters have been aghast at their party leaders' support for the Cameron-led coalition's austerity program. Championing Leveson's proposals for statutory-backed press regulation allows Clegg to put some much-needed distance between himself and the Tories without endangering the future of the coalition. Although the subject of much media and parliamentary discussion, press regulation is a minor issue on which the coalition can afford to disagree. Like Nick Clegg, Labour leader Ed Miliband supports making Leveson's proposals law. This position puts Miliband on the side of the 79 percent of British voters who are in favor of an independent press regulator established by statute.
[Biofuel] The art of war, Chinese style
ASEAN jittery over major power rivalry in Asia By TAKASHI KITAZUME Staff writer The Japan Times: Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012 http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20121212d2.html --0-- http://www.japantimes.co.jp/print/eo20121213bc.html The art of war, Chinese style By BRAHMA CHELLANEY NEW DELHI - The recent 50th anniversary of China's invasion of India attracted much discussion, especially within India. Yet the debate shied away from drawing the broader, long-term lessons for Asian security. The lessons are also relevant for China's other neighbors because the 1962 war helped uncover the key elements of Beijing's war-fighting doctrine - a doctrine it brought into play in 1969 (provoking bloody border clashes with Soviet forces), 1974 (occupying the Paracel Islands), 1979 (invading Vietnam), 1988 (seizing Johnson Reef), and 1995 (grabbing Mischief Reef). In each of those aggressions, the major 1962 elements were replicated. As a 2010 Pentagon report citing the 1962 war, among others, put it, The history of modern Chinese warfare provides numerous case studies in which China's leaders have claimed military pre-emption as a strategically defensive act. In fact, a 2010 essay in the Qiu Shi Journal - the ideological and theoretical organ of the Chinese Communist Party's central committee - underscored the centrality of offense as defense in Chinese policy by declaring that Throughout the history of new China, peace in China has never been gained by giving in, only through war. Safeguarding national interests is never achieved by mere negotiations, but by war. Unlike India, which still naively believes that it gained independence through nonviolence, not because a war-debilitated Britain could no longer hold on to its colonies, new China was born in blood after a long civil war. And it was built on blood, with Mao Zedong and other revolutionaries ever ready to employ force internally and externally. No sooner had the new China been established than it doubled its territorial size by forcibly absorbing Xinjiang and Tibet. Domestically, countless millions perished in witch-hunts, fratricidal killings and human-made disasters. In fact, Mao attacked India after his Great Leap Forward created the worst famine in recorded world history, with the resulting damage to his credibility serving as a strong incentive for him to reassert his leadership through a war. The military victory over India indeed helped him to consolidate his grip on power, besides raising his international stature. Yet, like a rape victim being scolded for inviting the attack, India was repeatedly rapped by some analysts during the anniversary debate for having brought on the Chinese aggression through provocative gestures and moves. When the Chinese military marched hundreds of miles south to occupy the then-independent Tibet, bringing Han soldiers in large numbers to the Himalayan frontiers for the first time and setting the stage for China's furtive encroachment on Indian territory, this supposedly did not constitute sufficient grounds for India to try to guard its undefended Himalayan borders. So when India belatedly deployed some units of its army, the action became, in Beijing's words, a forward policy - a term lapped up by biddable analysts and still being bandied about. India does not commemorate war anniversaries the way the United States does - with annual ceremonies honoring its fallen heroes. For example, at the exact time the Japanese began bombing Pearl Harbor 71 years earlier, commemorations were held last weekend at Pearl Harbor and memorials elsewhere, drawing thousands of Americans. India, in fact, has not built a single memorial to honor those who were martyred in 1962 or any of its other wars. China, by contrast, has a 1962 war memorial in Tibet and its Beijing military museum depicts India as the aggressor. In this light, the 50th anniversary of what American scholar Roderick MacFarquhar has dubbed Mao's India War, which killed 3,270 Indian troops and 725 Chinese, ought to have served as a time for reflection on its larger lessons. By baring key features of Beijing's warfighting doctrine, the 42-day war indeed holds lasting lessons for India and other countries locked in territorial disputes with China. Here are six of the 1962 principles China replicated in its subsequent aggressions: (1) take the adversary by surprise to maximize political and psychological shock; (2) strike only when the international and regional timing is opportune; (3) hit as fast and as hard as possible by unleashing human wave assaults; (4) be willing to take military gambles; (5) mask offense as defense; and (6) wage war with the political objective to teach a lesson - an aim publicly acknowledged by Beijing in the 1962 and 1979 attacks. The Chinese strategy to choose an opportune moment to strike became evident before 1962 when China invaded Tibet in October 1950
[Biofuel] Japan - Fears grow over South's atomic plants 200 km from Fukuoka
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121213f1.html Nuclear risks not bound by borders Fears grow over South's atomic plants 200 km from Fukuoka By ERIKO ARITA Staff writer BUSAN, South Korea - One of the key issues in Sunday's Lower House election is the future of Japan's 50 commercial nuclear reactors, all but two of which remain off line in light of the Fukushima disaster. But few voters are aware that six reactors are operating in the South Korean cities of Busan and nearby Ulsan sit only 200 km from Fukuoka. Both nuclear plants are situated on the country's southeast coast, and their safety situation closely resembles the Fukushima No. 1 plant before it had three core meltdowns in March 2011. And work has almost finished on two new reactors at the Ulsan facility. As awareness grows of the dangers of nuclear power, around 450 Japanese and an equal number of South Koreans took part in a nine-day cruise tour from Dec. 1 organized by nongovernmental organizations, visiting atomic plants in both nations and debating the risks and economic issues both countries face. If there is a crisis at a nuclear power station in either country, it would threaten the lives of people in both Japan and South Korea, said Tatsuya Yoshioka, a representative of the Tokyo-based Peace Boat NGO, which helped arrange the tour. During visits to the four-reactor Kori nuclear plant in the industrial powerhouse of Busan and the two-unit Shin Kori atomic complex in Ulsan, another large metropolis, an employee of the museum built by the operator of the plants explained their safety features to guard against earthquakes, touting the robustness of the reactor buildings' 1.5-meter-thick walls. The structures can bear pressure from major temblors and other natural disasters. We believe it is safest to evacuate into the buildings (rather than flee the area) in the event of an earthquake, the employee said. However, the reactors have suffered minor accidents in the past. In February, the entire power supply to one of the units at the Kori facility was cut for 12 minutes before workers rerouted electricity from the other reactors. Yet local residents weren't informed of the incident until a month later, according to Gu Tae Hee of Busan's Democracy Park NGO. Locals also fear that a disaster similar to the Fukushima No. 1 meltdowns could occur in their own backyard, and that hundreds of thousands of people might be forced to evacuate due to massive radioactive fallout, just like residents in Fukushima Prefecture did last year. I am concerned about (a possible) crisis at the two power stations because the area is densely populated, said Hwa Duck Hun, an assemblyman of Busan's Haeundae Ward, which is located just 20 km from each plant and has some 430,000 residents. The fact that one of the Kori plant's reactors was manufactured by a U.S. company in 1977, just two years before a unit at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania suffered a partial meltdown in the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history, makes Hwa all the more uneasy. The narrow roads in small villages such as Shinri, which is situated extremely near to both power stations, could prove a major problem in a catastrophe because they would become jammed with people fleeing for their lives. The village has asked authorities to widen existing roads, Shinri Mayor Shon Bok Lark said, adding local officials have also started holding nuclear disaster preparedness drills. Displaying a photo of a crammed road near the Fukushima No. 1 plant immediately after the crisis was spawned by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, Kenichi Shimomura, one of the tour members and a former anchorman of a TBS news program, explained the importance of widening roads near the plants as a key precaution. Roads in the vicinity of the Kori and Shin Kori nuclear complexes are narrow and similar to those that residents in Fukushima used to escape. But because they are narrow, the residents could move at a speed of only 12 meters per hour, Shimomura noted. I wonder whether you are considering how to evacuate in case of a critical nuclear accident, he told Mayor Shon. But the truth is, Shon explained, the construction of nuclear plants is a national project, and villagers were left with no choice but to agree to host the Kori and Shin Kori facilities. Atomic energy is a hot-button topic in South Korea's Dec. 19 presidential election, as 23 reactors are currently churning out electricity for the nation. Park Geun Hye, tapped by the ruling Grand National Party as South Korean President Lee Myung Bak's successor, is a strong advocate of nuclear power, but her main rival, the opposition camp's Moon Jae In, wants to completely phase out atomic plants. The election could (fundamentally) change South Korea's energy policy, said Choi Yul, head of the Korean Green Foundation, the tour's co-organizer. The
[Biofuel] Sea Shepherd Buys Anti-Whaling Ship Under the Nose of Japanese Whalers
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/12/11-1 Published on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 by Common Dreams Sea Shepherd Buys Anti-Whaling Ship Under the Nose of Japanese Whalers Four vessels now heading to Antarctic to halt this year's catch - Jacob Chamberlain, staff writer When the sea conservation activist group Sea Shepherd added a new vessel to their anti-whaling fleet this week, they did so to the ire of both the Japanese government and the Japanese whaling industry. Though the Japanese government owned the ship and were overseeing its sale, they did not realize the buyer was the whaling industry's number one sea-faring nemesis, nor did they know the sale would put the number of ships in the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling fleet up to the same number of Japanese whaling ships heading for the Antarctic. The $2 million dollar vessel, which previously belonged to the country's meteorological agency, was bought from unsuspecting Japanese authorities by a US company, re-registered in the Pacific island of Tuvalu as the New Atlantis, and delivered to Australia by a Japanese crew, the Guardian reports today. Locky Maclean, captain of the new ship, the SSS Sam Simon, stated Monday: After months of secrecy, it is such a great feeling to finally be able to fly the Sea Shepherd flag from the main mast, and yes, Sea Shepherd now owns a real Japanese research ship! Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson who has been on the run from Interpol since spring for what he maintains are politically motivated charges originating from the Japanese government, has recently returned to his fleet and has thus far managed to elude authorities. He stated Tuesday that the group now has four ships, one helicopter, drones and more than 120 volunteer crew from around the world ready to defend majestic whales from the illegal operations of the Japanese whaling fleet. We're confident we can seriously impact their whale quota. This year all four of their harpoon ships are going to be tied up by our four ships, and the goal is that no harpooning can be done, MacLean added. Sea Shepherd's Operation Zero Tolerance will seek out the Japanese whaling fleet once again and attempt to chase it out of the Antarctic Treaty Zone without a single whale killed. The group has had varying degrees of success in diverting industrial whaling in the Southern Ocean since 2005, and managed to send the Japanese whaling fleet home early last year with only one-fifth of its desired catch. ___ Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel
[Biofuel] WikiLeaks editor denounces mass internet surveillance and US attacks on democratic rights
They can hear you: US buses fitted with eavesdropping equipment Published: 11 December, 2012 http://rt.com/usa/news/us-public-transport-security-817/ EU Eyes Massive Collection of Air Passenger Data Privacy vs. Security 12/10/2012 http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/european-parliament-to-debate-own-database-for-flight-passengers-a-871953.html Live from Ft. Meade: courtroom updates, 12/11/12 December 11, 2012 http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/live-from-ft-meade-courtroom-updates-121112 --0-- http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/dec2012/assa-d11.shtml WikiLeaks editor denounces mass internet surveillance and US attacks on democratic rights By Richard Phillips 11 December 2012 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has stepped up his exposure of the escalating US-led attacks on legal and democratic rights with a series of media appearances over the past few weeks to promote his book Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet. Co-authored with Jacob Applebaum, Jeremie Zimmermann and Andy Mueller-Maguhn, the book warns that state authorities and giant corporations are using the Internet to facilitate massive spying operations. The Internet, Assange declares in the introduction, has led to revolutions across the world but a crackdown is now in full swing. As whole societies move online, mass surveillance programs are being deployed globally. Our civilization has reached a crossroads. In line with the Obama administration's campaign against WikiLeaks, most of the mainstream media has largely ignored the book. Others, such as the American television network CNN, have brushed aside the book's themes while claiming that Assange's principled defence of press freedom is hypocritical. CNN journalist Erin Burnett, who hosts the network's prime time nightly news program-Erin Burnett: OutFront-attempted this approach in late November. CNN producers assured Assange that the program would discuss Cypherpunks, but Burnett, who began her career as a financial analyst for Goldman Sachs before moving into television journalism, had no intention of allowing the WikiLeaks founder to participate in any such discussion. Assange remains holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, after he was granted political asylum by that country, in the wake of a British High Court decision to extradite him to Sweden on bogus sexual misconduct charges. The Australian citizen rightly fears that if he is sent to Sweden he will be extradited to the US to face frame-up espionage charges. A grand jury has already been convened in that country to indict him, while the American military has branded WikiLeaks and Julian Assange as the enemy, placing them on a legal par with Al Qaeda. After an initial question about the book, CNN anchor Burnett provocatively asked Assange if he felt any guilt about the situation facing Bradley Manning, the young US soldier currently facing pretrial hearings for allegedly leaking classified government documents to WikiLeaks. Assange calmly replied that the brutal treatment being meted out to Manning was aimed at trying to coerce the young man into a confession that would directly implicate WikiLeaks. The case, he observed, was another reflection of the decay in the rule of law. Assange pointed out that the UN's special rapporteur Juan Mendez had described Manning's treatment as akin to torture. Burnett attempted to dismiss this response by claiming it was simply an indication of the WikiLeaks founder's strong point of view. In other words, it was just another opinion, rather than a clear statement of fact. I don't want to get into detail about Manning's treatment, she retorted, and then asked Assange to comment on the legal case and whether a plea deal by Manning could endanger WikiLeaks. Assange refused to fall for this ploy-stating that it was legally unwise to discuss the specifics of the case, given that the trial was underway-and returned to his book's warnings about the assault on basic democratic rights. What is happening, he continued, was part of a much wider process [and one] which all the top national security journalists in the United States are talking about Dana Priest from the Washington Post, in her book Top Secret America, likens what's going on to a metastasising cancer, where we now have five million people in the national security clearance system in the United States, a state within a state This is a worldwide phenomenon, he continued. The new game in town is strategic surveillance. It is cheaper now to intercept all communications in and out of a country, store it permanently, than it is to simply go after one particular person. Burnett again tried to deflect, asking the WikiLeaks editor to discuss recent reports on his health. He refused, stating that this was not very important and referred back to his book and the escalating assault on democratic rights. Burnett insisted that the WikiLeaks
[Biofuel] Democracy and the Ecology of Transportation
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/12/11-5
Published on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 by Common Dreams
Democracy and the Ecology of Transportation
by John Buell
There is no question as to whether New York City and the surrounding
coastal communities of the tri-state area will be rebuilt. But will
these communities be reconstructed to serve the vast majority of
working people or the interests of the economic and cultural elites
that have dominated city life? Not surprisingly, those largely
responsible for the current crisis are once again eager to take
advantage of that crisis. Nonetheless, in the aftermath both of
Occupy Wall Street and Sandy citizens not only in the New York area
but also in many urban communities may not be as easily cowed and
manipulated as after 9/11. Transit will be an especially vital
concern.
In a recent article in Waging Nonviolence, Yotam Marom reports: The
city government is already thinking about how it is going to spend
the enormous sumsthat will be poured into redevelopment in the near
future The disaster-capitalist developers are already out there
doing everything they can to ensure that they're the ones who get the
contracts. The fossil fuel companies, meanwhile, are hoping none of
us will put two and two together and hold them rightfully responsible
for the climate crisis; they are probably doing all the lobbying they
can to make sure the city rebuilds in a way that is as dependent on
fossil fuels as before.
Nonetheless, Sandy still has put the climate science deniers on the
defensive. The combination of continuing, deep recession and the
storm's vast destruction has opened up possibilities of
worker/environmental alliances that might reshape both our economy
and urban space.
Sandy raises questions of the role that urban land use and
transportation planning can play in reducing the incidence and
severity of monster storms and mitigating their effects. More
ecologically oriented planning has become a survival necessity.
Forty years ago Andre Gorz pointed out: The automobile is the
paradoxical example of a luxury object that has been devalued by its
own spread. But this practical devaluation has not yet been followed
by an ideological devaluation. The myth of the pleasure and benefit
of the car persists, though if mass transportation were widespread,
its superiority would be striking.
Unfortunately the ongoing economic crisis is being used as an
occasion not only to reduce transit subsidies but also to privatize
many public systems.
The ecological case for making public transit more accessible to more
communities is overwhelming. York University environmental studies
professor Stefan Kipfer reminds us: Public mass transportation
produces five to 10 per cent of the greenhouse gases emitted by
automobile transportation. The latter is responsible for about a
quarter of global carbon emissions. In addition, public transit
consumes a fraction of the land used by individualized car
transportation (roads and parking space consume a third or more of
the land in North American urban regions). Not even counting other
negative effects of automobilization (congestion, pollution,
accidents, road kill, cancer, asthma, obesity, and so on), shifting
to transit will markedly reduce the social costs of economic and
urban development. It would also make a substantial contribution
toward global climate justice.
But the case for public transit is not only ecological. A compelling
case also must include more than critiques of the auto. Sandy can
become an occasion to promote and build modes of mobility, housing
and working, shopping and relating to our peers that are more humane
and satisfying. The harms and the risks attendant on global climate
change are real enough, but too little is made of the human costs of
our acquisitive, workaholic, auto-dependent society or of the kind of
satisfactions more sustainable alternatives might offer.
Kipfer argues that capitalism as a world system imposes both mobility
and immobility on the poor and working classes. Many poor in the
developing world are displaced and forced to migrate to first world
cities where they often then find themselves confined to urban
ghettoes with only marginal job prospects. Even the working and
middle class finds itself trapped in traffic jams and spending larger
sums on the auto. Road rage and various forms of scapegoating of
these urban minorities grow out of and intensify the travails of our
highways.
Are there ways to change this pathological dynamic? One way is to
make mass transportation more widespread by making it free. Free mass
transit would increase ridership among current users and add some new
ones. To those who would complain about the budgetary implications
Kipfer points out: {T}he overall budgetary cost of transit budget
expansion can be measured against the typically much higher cost of
underwriting car-dominated
[Biofuel] Why Does Obama Want to Spend $8 Trillion on Defense in the Next Decade?
How U.S. Taxpayers Are Paying the Pentagon to Occupy the Planet Picking Up a $170 Billion Tab by David Vine Published on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 by TomDispatch http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/12/11-3 --0-- http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/12/11-8 Published on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 by Policy Shop / Demos Blog Why Does Obama Want to Spend $8 Trillion on Defense in the Next Decade? by David Callahan Washington is in a fiscal panic, yet surprisingly few people are asking an obvious question: Why in the world is the Obama Administration proposing to spend $8 trillion on security over the next decade? Included in that giant sum is not just Pentagon spending, but also outlays for intelligence, homeland security, foreign aid, and diplomacy abroad. If the Administration gets its way, security spending would account for a fifth of all government outlays over the next decade. Such spending would be roughly twice as great as all non-mandatory spending through 2022 -- a category that includes everything from NASA to Pell Grants to national parks. And -- get this -- around 40 cents of every dollar collected from individual income taxes over the next decade under the President's plan would go for security spending, according to White House estimates. That's a whole lot of defense for a country that, as of 2014 (when U.S. forces withdraw from Afghanistan), will be officially at peace and faces no major global adversaries. Defenders of such spending point out that, in relative terms, security spending will fall significantly in coming years -- and they are right. By 2017, according to the Office of Management and Budget, Pentagon spending will equal just 2.9 percent of GDP -- about half of what it was in the 1980s. But this comparison elides the crazy, jarring fact that -- in real, inflation-adjusted dollars -- this year's annual military budget, and what is projected for coming years, is much higher that what the U.S. spent during the peak years of the Cold War, according to OMB. In 1962, when the U.S.faced off against the Soviet Union in the Cuban Missiles crisis and broader global arms race, the Pentagon spent $373 billion in 2005 dollars. This year, with the Soviet Union a distant memory, we will spend $604 billion. Even by 2017, after defense cuts have kicked in, the U.S. will spend roughly the same amount of money on security as we did in 1969, when the U.S. had a half million troops in Vietnam and Soviet power was at its pinnacle, with over 20,000 warheads aimed at the United States and its allies. Russia spent about $71 billion on defense last year, less than the U.S. spends on veterans benefits these days. Iran spends less than $8 billion a year on defense, which is loose change to DoD. China's military spending is rising fast, but last I checked their economy was dependent on exports to the United States. In any case, anyone worried about their kids someday taking orders from Chinese masters should be especially worried about the Obama Administration's spending priorities. While the President talks a good game about winning the future, his budget might as well wave a white flag to the long-term thinkers in Beijing. Obama's proposed Federal spending on education would actually be 10 percent lower in real dollars by 2017 than it was in 2005, when George W. Bush was president, according to OMB. Spending on job training would be 20 percent lower. Obama also proposes to spend less in 2017 than Bush did in 2005 on energy, and will only moderately boost spending on science and technology. These are the priorities of the most popular Democratic president since Lyndon B. Johnson: Cold War-level defense budgets and cuts to the core foundations of national strength in a 21st global economy? And here's the really alarming thing: Hardly anyone in Washington is challenging the ongoing bloat in the U.S. security sector. To its enormous credit, the Simpson-Bowles Commission proposed serious cuts to security spending -- $1.3 trillion over a decade. Yet that recommendation was quickly forgotten, even by the Commission's many boosters. Other plans that would enact bigger defense cuts than those sought by President Obama have been released over the past two years by the Bipartisan Policy Center and by the Gang of Six. Republican Senator Tom Coburn put forth a plan last year that would have gone nearly as far as the Simpson-Bowles Commission, calling for $1 trillion in cuts. So to recap: Even as some prominent Republicans have called for major cuts to defense, Obama wants to keep Pentagon spending at levels that would have thrilled Ronald Reagan and Casper Weinberger while whacking spending on education. You would think that at least progressive think tanks would be challenging this madness, but few are. The Economic Policy Institute put out an otherwise good budget last month, co-authored by Josh Bivens, Andrew
[Biofuel] Fast-Food Workers Ride Crest of Simmering Strike Wave Sweeping Nation
Michigan House passes right-to-work legislation By Michael O'Brien, NBC News December 11, 2012 http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/11/15843991-michigan-house-passes-right-to-work-legislation?lite Protests Rage as Michigan Lawmakers Approve Anti-Union Bills Tuesday, 11 December 2012 16:06 By Mike Ludwig, Truthout | Report http://truth-out.org/news/item/13278-protests-rage-as-michigan-lawmakers-approve-anti-union-bills 3 arrested as anger grows among protesters; pepper spray used outside Capitol December 11, 2012 http://www.freep.com/article/20121211/NEWS15/121211011/Michigan-Capitol-capacity-House-session-begins UAW provides Obama a platform for his austerity assault on workers By Jerry White 11 December 2012 http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/dec2012/obam-d11.shtml Labor Unions on the Brink Tuesday, 11 December 2012 14:59 By Thom Hartmann and Sam Sacks, The Daily Take | Op-Ed http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13274-labor-unions-on-the-brink --0-- http://truth-out.org/news/item/13258-fast-food-workers-ride-the-crest-of-a-shimmering-strike-wave-thats-sweeping-the-nation Fast-Food Workers Ride Crest of Simmering Strike Wave Sweeping Nation Tuesday, 11 December 2012 00:00 By Sarah Jaffe, Truthout | Report From the halls of state capitols and the port of Los Angeles, to the parking lots of McDonalds and the warehouses of Walmart, low-wage workers are pushing labor back into the national political arena. Isaac Ferguson has worked at the McDonald's on 51st and Broadway for four years. In all that time, he's gotten exactly one raise of 10 cents an hour; after four years, he makes $7.35. The price of a MetroCard went up, the price of food went up, they never decided to pay us more, he said. Last week, Ferguson and 200 other fast-food workers in New York City went on strike. And while they no doubt have a long road ahead before their bosses give in to their demands of $15 an hour and recognition of their independent union, the Fast Food Workers Committee, things have already changed a little. The boss's attitude has changed, Marty Davis, who works at the Wendy's at 425 Fulton Street, explained. He's more nice about things, though he still requires the same things as far as effort, going quick, doing the same things. And Pamela Flood, whom I met last week leading chants on the picket line outside that same Wendy's, told me that her boss at Burger King, who used to refer to her by her first name, is back to calling her Miss Flood. Truvon Shim took the stage with Flood at both the fast-food workers' rally on strike day, and Thursday's rally of low-wage workers from across the city. He came to tell his story of losing everything in his Far Rockaway home to Superstorm Sandy, but also had his own victory to share. Shim had asked his boss at Wendy's for a few days to deal with the storm's aftermath, but when he called to be added back to the schedule, was told there were no available hours. However, this week, along with an organizer from New York Communities for Change (NYCC), the group that began the fast-food worker campaign, Shim met with his general manager and was promised he'd get his hours back. That same Wendy's where Shim and Davis work saw the most dramatic action when one worker was threatened with firing. According to Jonathan Westin, organizing director at NYCC, community leaders - including City Councilman Jumaane Williams, the Working Families Party's Dan Cantor, Camille Rivera of United NY and nearly 100 others - held a rally inside and outside of the store until the boss agreed to let her go back to work. Davis added, That opened a lot of people up in the store, that you cannot fire us for believing in our rights and taking action. It opened up a lot more people's eyes that weren't with us, to want to go on strike now. Labor Rising There seems to be something of a simmering strike wave in the country, said Frances Fox Piven, professor of sociology and political science at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center and author of many books, including Poor Peoples' Movements. The one-day strikes held by the fast-food workers, like the recent wave of strikes at Walmarts around the country, are something different from a traditional strike (though we've seen those in recent months too, most dramatically with the Chicago Teachers Union). The one-day strike, organized to disrupt business but not to shut it down, Piven noted, isn't about winning. It's about identifying the group, about respect, about demonstrating to other workers that they can take action, but not exposing the workers to the risk of prolonged loss of the income they have little of already. They're organizing and advocating for low-wage workers in ways that are not in an established New Deal framework, Ruth Milkman, sociologist of labor at the CUNY Graduate Center, and at the Joseph F. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies,
[Biofuel] Protest Filed Over 800, 000-acre Oil Shale Plan in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming
Poisoning the Well: How the Feds Let Industry Pollute the Nation's Underground Water Supply by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica Published on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 by ProPublica http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/12/11-0 Regulators Under Fire for Keeping Fracking Pollution Test Results Under Wraps Tuesday, 11 December 2012 11:46 By Mike Ludwig, Truthout | Report http://truth-out.org/news/item/13268-report-links-fracking-to-health-problems-in-pennsylvania-regulators-under-fire-for-keeping-lab-results-under-wraps --0-- http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2012/12/11-3 December 11, 2012 Center for Biological Diversity http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/ Protest Filed Over 800,000-acre Oil Shale Plan in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming Oil shale and tar sands development would worsen global warming and harm public lands, colorado river, wildlife DENVER, Colo. - December 11 - The Center for Biological Diversity on Monday filed a protest challenging a Bureau of Land Management plan allocating 806,000 acres of public lands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming for oil shale and tar-sands development. If it's carried out, the development would unleash intensive greenhouse gas emissions, hasten Colorado River drying, threaten wildlife and increase local and regional air pollution. The climate crisis is worsening every day. The last thing we need is to destroy our public lands for carbon-intensive oil shale and tar-sands mining, said Taylor McKinnon, public lands campaigns director with the Center. This plan's water use and greenhouse gas emissions would be ruinous for public land, the already-drying Colorado River, endangered species and efforts to curb global warming. The BLM plan stems from a settlement of litigation brought by environmental groups in 2009 that challenged a 2008 Bush administration plan to open 2 million acres of public land to oil shale and tar sands development. Today's protest challenges an environmental impact statement and proposed amendments to 10 land-management plans for violating the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act and other laws. The protested plan allocates more than 676,000 acres of land to oil shale development and more than 129,000 acres to tar sands. It subjects oil-mining projects to additional review not included in the Bush administration's plan. While it reduces developable acres from the Bush administration's 2008 plan, it increases allocations from what was proposed in a 2012 draft environmental impact statement. Acres allocated for oil shale development increased by 46 percent since the draft plan; acres for tar sands increased by 42 percent. Producing oil from shale or tar sands can be dirtier than coal given the energy required to extract the oil. The production of every barrel of shale oil sends 50 percent more CO2 into the atmosphere than the production of one barrel of crude oil. Because mining would deplete and pollute water and destroy large areas of land being mined, development would likely affect numerous endangered species like Mexican spotted owl, Canada lynx and four endangered fish species in the Colorado River - Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, humpback chub and bonytail chub. The Center is dedicated to ensuring that atmospheric CO2 pollutant levels are reduced to below 350 parts per million, which leading climate scientists warn is necessary to prevent devastating climate change. Further development of greenhouse gas-intensive energy sources, including oil shale, tar-sands and coal-fired power plants is incompatible with achieving this goal. If greenhouse gas emissions are not immediately reduced, the atmospheric carbon dioxide level will rise to approximately 500 ppm by mid-century, escalating wildlife extinctions, catastrophic weather and ecosystem changes and tragic human suffering. ### At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature - to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law, and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive. ___ Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel
[Biofuel] COP18 Failed to Turn Down the Heat - Bianca Jagger
Doha climate summit concludes without agreement on emission reductions By Patrick O'Connor 11 December 2012 http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/dec2012/doha-d11.shtml --0-- http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/12/12 Published on Wednesday, December 12, 2012 by Common Dreams COP18 Failed to Turn Down the Heat An appalling abdication of responsibility by world leaders by Bianca Jagger I have just returned from COP18 in Doha, Qatar, and yet another UN climate conference. A total of over 17, 000 people descended on the small Gulf state last week: representatives from nearly 200 countries, an army of bureaucrats, members of the business community, academics, and civil society. Theoretically, the aims of the UN Conferences of Parties or COP are: to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, limit the global temperature rise to below 2ºC, and avert catastrophic climate change. What was accomplished at COP18? Perilously close to nothing. The talks limped 'listlessly' to the finish line. 'Never let it be said that climate-change negotiators lack a sense of the absurd...' begins an article published in the Economist magazine on December 1st 2012 . The article calls the UN climate conferences 'theater of the absurd,' a 'jamboree.' 'Climate policy is going nowhere fast,' it states. It's hard to argue with the Economist's assessment. Commentators were scathing about the choice of Qatar to host the COP: an oil rich country which has the highest GDP per capita , the highest carbon emissions per capita , and the highest water usage per capita of any nation on the planet. The COPS don't set a good example for sustainability. Thousands of people fly many miles to attend. The conference centers are sealed environments, frequently heavily air conditioned and in the past have produced huge amounts of paper and plastic waste. There were some efforts to make COP18 more sustainable; PAPERSMART, a system of paperless documents was implemented for the first time, a vast improvement on past conferences. At the end of COP15 the Bella Center in Copenhagen looked like the Wall Street trading floor after Black Monday. Drifts of discarded programs, notes, papers, newspapers and rubbish littered the floor. At first the air inside the Qatar National Conference Center (QNCC) was very cold, the organizers overcompensating for the Qatari heat with high air conditioning throughout the vast building. After people complained, the levels were adjusted to a slightly more bearable temperature. Shops sold solar powered mobile phone chargers in the hallways. As one crossed the atrium in the QNCC, one walked under a giant metal spider. 'Maman,' the 9 meter high, 8-legged bronze and steel sculpture by Louise Bourgeois, towers above the hall. A sac hangs from the belly of the sculpture containing seventeen marble eggs. Bourgeois's explanation, on a plaque on a nearby wall, reads: 'The spider is an ode to my mother. She was my best friend... Like spiders, my mother was very clever... spiders are helpful and protective, just like my mother.' Maman should have been a good omen for the conference. The sculpture should have been a symbol of the sacred trust we owe to our children. It should have reminded world leaders of their duties to humanity and mother earth. But Louise Bourgeois' message was ignored by world leaders at COP18. It was not the only important message they ignored. At times the conference descended into farce. On the afternoon of December 5th British peer and climate change skeptic Lord Monckton entered the 'Stocktaking Plenary' hosted by COP18 President Al Attiyah, sat in Myanmar's empty seat and addressed the plenary. One observer told Responding to Climate Change: The President didn't realize - nobody did for while - that it wasn't Myanmar so he went on about climate change not happening or something along those lines. Then he walked out himself. At other times tragedy came to the fore. Naderev Saño, chief negotiator for the Philippines, made an impassioned plea in his statement to the COP on the 6th of December . Half way through, he broke down in tears as he described the devastation that typhoon Bopha has wreaked in his country. 'As we sit here in these negotiations,' he said, 'even as we vacillate and procrastinate here, the death toll is rising. There is massive and widespread devastation. Hundreds of thousands of people have been rendered without homes. And the ordeal is far from over... heartbreaking tragedies like this are not unique to the Philippines, because the whole world, especially developing countries struggling to address poverty and achieve social and human development, confront these same realities. I appeal to all, please, no more delays, no more excuses. Please, let Doha be remembered as the place where we found the political will to turn things around. Please, let 2012 be remembered as the year the world found the courage, the
[Biofuel] The Feds Are in Denial About Marijuana
The Choom Gang: President Obama's pot-smoking high school days detailed in Maraniss book Posted by Natalie Jennings at 03:20 PM ET, 05/25/2012 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/post/the-choom-gang-president-obamas-pot-smoking-high-school-days-detailed-in-maraniss-book/2012/05/25/gJQAwFqEqU_blog.html --0-- http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/17687-the-feds-are-in-denial-about-marijuana Wednesday, 12 December 2012 The Feds Are in Denial About Marijuana NIKOLAS KOZLOFF FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT In light of recent referendums in the U.S. states of Colorado and Washington which have legalized marijuana, could the drug war be headed for a serious meltdown? Such a notion would have been unthinkable just a short while ago, but there is no denying that America is in the midst of cultural change. Even though the federal authorities continue to prohibit marijuana, baby boomers and a more youthful and progressive electorate seems to be headed in the opposite direction and could force a serious rethinking of the authorities' heretofore disastrous and misplaced approach to narcotics, which has resulted in the incarceration of 500,000 people at staggering financial cost. If that was not enough, the drug war has also racked up racially biased arrests, absorbed police time and money, and enriched Mexican drug lords. On a social and cultural level, the importance of Washington and Colorado's decision to legalize marijuana cannot be overstated. Indeed, no U.S. state or modern country for that matter has ever removed prohibition on production and distribution of marijuana for non-medical purposes. For the first time since cannabis prohibition began 75 years ago, people will not be arrested or incarcerated for recreational use of marijuana, and prosecutors in Washington and Colorado have announced that they are dropping cases against people for marijuana possession, effective immediately. In Washington, state licensed growers will be able to process and sell cannabis in retail stores, with a state liquor board levying a local sales tax on cannabis. Colorado could go much farther, as the state has actually allowed every resident to grow his or her own marijuana and to give away as much as an ounce at a time to others. These developments are symbolically and psychologically important, as they chip away at the underlying logic of the drug war. In the long-term such public pressure could challenge the federal government's longstanding policy toward narcotics which is predicated on a draconian and militaristic approach. Pressure Mounts from Cities and States Perhaps most worryingly for drug war hawks, other states could follow Colorado and Washington's lead. Massachusetts voters, for example, have eliminated criminal and civil penalties for those using marijuana for debilitating medical conditions and state law now allows for non-profit medical marijuana treatment centers. The New England state now joins 16 others and Washington, D.C. which have moved to legalize medical marijuana. In Maryland, meanwhile, there will be a big push for marijuana legalization during the 2013 legislative session. Advocates are looking to California, Oregon, Alaska, Maine and Nevada, states which previously passed medical marijuana initiatives, as the next big political arena in the battle for full legalization. That northeastern and western states would be paving the ground for further action is no surprise, yet even in the south there have been some surprising seeds of change: in Arkansas no less, voters recently came within a whisker of passing medical marijuana. In the western state of Montana, organizers are seeking to capitalize on the momentum from Colorado and Washington and hope to pass recreational use of marijuana. Though Montana is traditionally a red state, voters display a pronunced libertarian streak. In Texas, meanwhile, where many value personal freedoms and resent federal intrusion, campaigners may seek to introduce a motion to legalize marijuana in the state legislature. Though activists will no doubt face a steep uphill climb in the state, local voters are horrified by drug-related violence in nearby Mexico which lies just across the border. At the municipal level, meanwhile, pressure is also mounting. In New York and other cities, drug busts have taken a huge toll on minority communities and have sapped time and resources from local police forces. Speaking out on behalf of New York City, Governor Andrew Cuomo recently endorsed a plan to curb tens of thousands of marijuana arrests. In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has backed efforts to decriminalize marijuana possession offenses, and the local City Council recently voted resoundingly to approve his plan. Are the Feds prepared to accept the shifting political climate? Hoping to avert future conflict, California governor Jerry Brown recently remarked that the
[Biofuel] Europe's Energy Transformation, and Why We're Being Left in the Dust
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13231-learning-from-europes-energy-transformation Europe's Energy Transformation, and Why We're Being Left in the Dust Wednesday, 12 December 2012 00:00 By Christian Roselund, Truthout | Op-Ed Americans' greatest challenge in energy generation is appreciating what is possible because too many of us don't know what is already happening in other parts of the world - for example, the powerful story of Europe's energy transformation. When residents of the small city of Freiburg, Germany, go to school or work in the morning, they pass dozens of solar installations. There are solar panels on homes, on churches, on the facade of the main train station, on the soccer stadium, throughout a solar housing development and a solar business park and on the roofs of schools. All told, Freiburg's solar photovoltaic (PV) installations produce enough electricity to meet the needs of tens of thousands of homes. Additionally, five large wind turbines are situated on hilltops within the city's boundaries and contribute to the town's energy supply. Small hydroelectric plants sit on the river, as well as combined heat and power plants and biomass plants that burn biogas and rapeseed oil, along with other facilities that burn wood chips and pellets. Freiburg is known as a Green City, but it is not atypical for the region or the nation. In May 2012, solar PV supplied 10 percent of Germany's electricity. During the first nine months of 2012, Germany produced enough electricity from renewable energy sources including wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric plants to supply 26 percent of its demand. This capacity has been growing rapidly from year to year, and renewables already represent roughly double the share of Germany's electricity production as compared to the United States. Energy transformation A high percentage of renewable energy production is not unique to Germany. Spain has been averaging 30-31 percent renewable electricity in recent months, and Italy reached 24 percent renewables in its electricity production over the first 10 months of 2012. The Czech Republic also has installed enough solar to achieve nearly the same per-capita amount of solar electric generating capacity as Germany. In many other European nations, renewable energy capacities continue to grow rapidly. In Germany, the shift toward renewable energy is called the Energiewende, roughly translated as the energy transformation. It includes not only a transition away from fossil fuels, but also away from nuclear power, particularly after the Fukushima Disaster of March 2011. Few Americans know that this process is happening. And among those who do are those who would like to delay it happening here as long as possible. The US debate The experiences of Europe have never been more relevant to our circumstances in the United States than now. Following Hurricane Sandy - the second most devastating storm to hit New York and the Northeast in as many years - the issue of global warming and climate change has taken on a new urgency. With the re-election of President Barack Obama, many environmentalists see the potential for national political action. You would think that at this moment both activists and policymakers in the United States would be clamoring to follow Germany's lead. They aren't. There are multiple probable explanations for why this is not happening. Regulatory barriers exist to establishing German-style policies here, but a larger problem is the ongoing political deadlock in Washington. This has narrowed our ideas of what is possible and reinforced an American exceptionalism, where we don't look to successful solutions from other nations. Another central problem is that the US media has done a poor job of telling the story of the energy transformation, and misinformation abounds. While much of this confusion can be traced to the fossil fuel industries and right-wing think tanks, there is plenty of blame to spread around for the distortion. The carbon tax and artificially limited options A good example would be Economist Dieter Helm's November 11 New York Times opinion piece calling for a carbon tax. Helm dismisses renewable energy and argues that the American move to natural gas has done more to lower emissions than Europe's adoption of renewables. He also suggests that moving to renewables has hastened the departure of industry to more carbon-intensive regions. These claims join a number of other inaccuracies and unsupported assertions. Helm offers no evidence that the shift to renewable energy impacts the rate of relocation of industry, referencing Britain, which has shown relatively unimpressive renewable adoption. In contrast, Germany remains an industrial powerhouse, offering cheap subsidized electricity to its industry. Contrary to Helm's rhetoric, the EU has made real progress. Carbon reductions have fallen 16.5
[Biofuel] Washington discovers terrorists in Syria
Is Embrace of Syrian Rebels Preparation for US Intervention? - Jon Queally, staff writer Published on Wednesday, December 12, 2012 by Common Dreams http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/12/12-0 Secret Meeting in London: Plotting to Wage War on Syria without UN Authorization Britain's Duplicity, treachery and infidelity. By Felicity Arbuthnot Global Research, December 11, 2012 http://www.globalresearch.ca/secret-meetings-in-london-plotting-to-wage-war-on-syria-without-un-authorization/5315176 Syrian rebels defy US and pledge allegiance to jihadi group By Ruth Sherlock, Beirut 10:03PM GMT 10 Dec 2012 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9735988/Syrian-rebels-defy-US-and-pledge-allegiance-to-jihadi-group.html Syrian opposition urges US to 're-examine' blacklisting of 'terrorist group' Published: 12 December, 2012 http://rt.com/news/syria-opposition-terrorist-blacklist-915/ U.S. recognition of Syrian rebels draws protests Lavrov: U.S. placing all bets on victory of armed coalition DUBAI, December 13, 2012 http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/us-recognition-of-syrian-rebels-draws-protests/article4192641.ece --0-- http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/dec2012/pers-d12.shtml Washington discovers terrorists in Syria 12 December 2012 The US State Department on Tuesday formally designated one of the leading militias fighting for the overthrow of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The group, known as Jabhat al-Nusra, or the al-Nusra front, is widely credited as being the most effective fighting force in the bloody struggle in Syria. It has recently overrun at least three Syrian military bases and seized control of territory in the eastern part of the country. In a teleconference with select members of the media Tuesday, an unnamed senior State Department official justified the designation by charging al-Nusra with hundreds of attacks, nearly 600, in major city centers across Syria in which numerous innocent Syrians have been injured and killed. Earlier, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement: Al-Nusra has sought to portray itself as part of the legitimate Syrian opposition while it is, in fact, an attempt by AQI (Al Qaeda in Iraq) to hijack the struggles of the Syrian people for its own malign purposes. When it comes to hijacking, Washington is the past master. Since the outbreak of protests in Syria two years ago, it has worked to hijack popular discontent and stoke up a sectarian civil war in a bid to bring about regime-change and install a puppet government. This is part of a wider strategy of asserting US hegemony over the geo-strategically vital and oil-rich regions of the Persian Gulf and Central Asia. Syria is a linchpin in this imperialist campaign, in large measure because of its close ties to Iran, which Washington has identified as the main obstacle to establishing neocolonial control. The formal significance of designating al-Nusra as a terrorist organization is that any US citizen providing it with assistance would be liable for criminal prosecution. It is highly unlikely that any charges will ever be brought, however, as the only Americans engaged in such activities are covert operatives of the US Central Intelligence Agency. According to multiple reports appearing in the US and European media, al-Nusra and similar Sunni jihadist militias are the best armed and equipped groups challenging the Syrian regime. While the weaponry and supplies have reportedly come largely from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Washington's closest allies in the region, the CIA set up a command-and-control center in southern Turkey earlier this year for the purpose of coordinating the distribution of these arms and materiel to the Syrian rebels. Other weapons and foreign fighters have poured into the country from Libya in the wake of last year's US-NATO war to topple the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. As in Syria, the brunt of the fighting there was undertaken by jihadist elements that emerged from the Al Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. As is now well known, thanks to an apparent falling out between US officials and a section of these Islamist fighters in Libya that cost the life of the American ambassador and three others, the CIA had set up a sizable secret headquarters in the eastern port city of Benghazi. It is undoubtedly the case that a key function of this outpost was coordinating the flow of arms and fighters into Syria. The US has been directly involved in supporting and arming Al Qaeda elements, even as it dismissed as a diversion charges by the Syrian government that it was under attack by the international terrorist group. The State Department's designation stands as a damning self-indictment. Washington, by its own admission, is exposed once again as the foremost state sponsor of terrorism. How does this cynical designation serve US
[Biofuel] 1984 Is Here: Big Brother in the Electronic Age
http://www.globalresearch.ca/1984-is-here-big-brother-in-the-electronic-age/5315612 1984 Is Here: Big Brother in the Electronic Age Pervasive Spying on Americans. Moore's Law, Cheap Electronics and Homeland Security Money Combine to Create Big Brother By Washington's Blog Global Research, December 14, 2012 We extensively documented last week that Americans are the most spied upon people in world history. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal gave a glimpse of a small part of the pervasive spying: Top U.S. intelligence officials gathered in the White House Situation Room in March to debate a controversial proposal. Counterterrorism officials wanted to create a government dragnet, sweeping up millions of records about U.S. citizens-even people suspected of no crime. Why is this happening? Technology and money. Specifically, Moore's law says that computing power doubles every two years. Computer processing and storage are advancing so quickly that massive quantities of visual and auditory data can be gathered, analyzed and stored. Moreover, high-quality videocams and microphones keep getting cheaper and cheaper. Today, most people shoot video with their smartphone, and alot of people have webcams on the computers. At the same time, the Department of Homeland Security is giving huge amounts of cash to local governments to obtain military hardware and software. These 3 trends - increased computing power, cheaper videocams and microphones, and government funding for homeland security purposes - has led to a 1984 style surveillance society. As Wired reports: Transit authorities in cities across the country are quietly installing microphone-enabled surveillance systems on public buses that would give them the ability to record and store private conversations. The systems are being installed in San Francisco, Baltimore, and other cities with funding from the Department of Homeland Security in some cases . The IP audio-video systems can be accessed remotely via a built-in web server (.pdf), and can be combined with GPS data to track the movement of buses and passengers throughout the city. ... The systems use cables or WiFi to pair audio conversations with camera images in order to produce synchronous recordings. Audio and video can be monitored in real-time, but are also stored onboard in blackbox-like devices, generally for 30 days, for later retrieval. Four to six cameras with mics are generally installed throughout a bus, including one near the driver and one on the exterior of the bus. ... Privacy and security expert Ashkan Soltani told the Daily that the audio could easily be coupled with facial recognition systems or audio recognition technology to identify passengers caught on the recordings. RT notes: Street lights that can spy installed in some American cities America welcomes a new brand of smart street lightning systems: energy-efficient, long-lasting, complete with LED screens to show ads. They can also spy on citizens in a way George Orwell would not have imagined in his worst nightmare. With a price tag of $3,000+ apiece, according to an ABC report, the street lights are now being rolled out in Detroit, Chicago and Pittsburgh, and may soon mushroom all across the country. Part of the Intellistreets systems made by the company Illuminating Concepts, they have a number of homeland security applications attached. Each has a microprocessor essentially similar to an iPhone, capable of wireless communication. Each can capture images and count people for the police through a digital camera, record conversations of passers-by and even give voice commands thanks to a built-in speaker. Ron Harwood, president and founder of Illuminating Concepts, says he eyed the creation of such a system after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Hurricane Katrina disaster. He is working with Homeland Security to deliver his dream of making people more informed and safer. Fox news notes that the government is insisting that black boxes be installed in cars to track your location. The TSA has moved way past airports, trains and sports stadiums, and is deploying mobile scanners to spy on people all over the place. This means that traveling within the United States is no longer a private affair. (And they're probably bluffing, but the Department of Homeland Security claims they will soon be able to know your adrenaline level, what you ate for breakfast and what you're thinking from 164 feet away.) And Verizon has applied for a patent that would allow your television to track what you are doing, who you are with, what objects you're holding, and what type of mood you're in. Given Verizon and other major carriers responded to at least 1.3 million law enforcement requests for cell phone locations and other data in 2011, such information would not be kept private. (And some folks could be spying on you through your tv
[Biofuel] Chavez cancer surgery in Cuba 'successful'
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/12/20121292481189651.html Chavez cancer surgery in Cuba 'successful' Vice president says the Venezuelan leader's fourth cancer operation was complicated but a complete success. Last Modified: 12 Dec 2012 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's fourth round of cancer surgery was complicated but successful and the leader was recovering in his Cuban hospital room, the country's vice president says. We want to thank all the love, the pure love ... for this operation ended correctly and successfully, Nicolas Maduro, who was recently designated by Chavez as his successor in case he becomes incapacitated, said in an address to the nation on Tuesday. Maduro said the surgery had lasted more than six hours, adding that Commander Chavez was back in his room and would shortly begin a post-operative phase that would last several days. Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo, reporting from the capital, Caracas, said that after addressing the nation Maduro attended a mass held for Chavez in the city. We saw thousands of people praying for the president, she said. We saw people crying, we saw people carrying crosses and pictures of him and chanting, 'Long live Chavez.' There is a vigil ongoing in one of Caracas's main squares. People say they are going to stay there until they hear further news about the president's health. Chavez announced on Saturday that he needed to undergo a fourth cancer-related surgery after tests showed that some malignant cells had reappeared in the same area in his pelvic region where tumours were previously removed. Neither the Venezuelan leader nor his Cuban doctors have ever disclosed what kind of cancer he has. Chavez, 58, acknowledged that his Cuban medical team had conveyed to him a sense of urgency about the operation, which he said was now absolutely necessary. Heir apparent Chavez also said that in the event that something happens to him, Maduro would step in and assume control of the government for the rest of the 2013-2019 term, as required by the constitution. The president also indicated he would like Maduro to take over the reins of power in a post-Chavez period, urging Venezuelans to vote for him in the next presidential elections. Maduro, who has been serving as Venezuela's foreign minister for the past six years, was appointed vice president in the wake of the October presidential elections. He has held both portfolios since. Maduro broke into tears at a political rally hours after Chavez flew to Havana. Chavez has a nation, he has all of us, and he'll have all of us forever in this battle, he told supporters. Even beyond this life, we're going to be loyal to Hugo Chavez. Speaking to Al Jazeera from London, Colin Harding, head of the Latin Form, a political consultancy focusing on Latin America, said Chavez is hoping Maduro will be able to continue his Bolivarian revolution. Maduro is Chavez's closest confidante but he is not anything like Chavez, in the sense that Chavez is a highly charismatic and extremely crowd-pleasing figure, Harding said. Maduro has a rather brooding presence. He was an experienced union leader in the 90s - before that he was a bus driver in Caracas. ___ Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel
Re: [Biofuel] WikiLeaks editor denounces mass internet surveillance and US attacks on democratic rights
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/dec2012/mann-d12.shtml Hearing on Bradley Manning's pre-trial confinement concludes By Naomi Spencer 12 December 2012 US Army hearings on the pre-trial detention of accused whistleblower Bradley Manning concluded on Tuesday, with closing arguments by both the defense and prosecution. The 24-year-old Army private has been imprisoned for 928 days without trial. Manning was arrested May 26, 2010, accused of the largest leak of classified military and government documents in history while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of files, many documenting US war crimes, were published by whistleblower organization WikiLeaks. The latest series of hearings at Fort Meade, Maryland have spanned ten days. Along with military psychiatrists and prison guards and officials, Private Manning himself took the stand to testify on his prolonged solitary confinement at the Quantico Marine brig in Virginia. Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, has argued that Quantico officers, acting at the behest of the Obama administration, held the young soldier in abusive conditions under the pretense of protecting him from self-harm, while disregarding psychiatric recommendations that Manning be treated less harshly. In closing comments Tuesday, Coombs reiterated the argument. The defense has asserted that the mistreatment, widely condemned as torture, constitutes unlawful pre-trial punishment and pressed to have charges dismissed. The defense has also proposed that Manning's sentence be reduced by counting each of the 258 days he spent in solitary confinement as 10 days served. What happened here is a complete breakdown in the way the system should work, Coombs stated. Pointing to Manning's alert bearing during the hearings, Coombs added, The fact that PFC Manning's spirit wasn't broken is actually kind of amazing. His composure, despite the inhumane treatment he received, undermined the government's claim that Manning was mentally unstable. Prosecutors for the government have insisted that the military imposed severe conditions on Manning because he posed a suicide risk. Testimony from psychiatrists sharply contradicted the claims of commanders. In closing arguments, lead prosecutor Major Ashden Fein suggested that Manning may have been improperly put on suicide risk on select days, which could possibly be treated as seven days served. But Fein then declared that the government would challenge any such sentencing credit. On Tuesday, Coombs stated that some of the military officials committed perjury. When military judge Colonel Denise Lind asked the defense attorney to explain himself and Coombs cited specific testimony, Lind reportedly nodded in agreement. Manning faces 22 counts under the Espionage Act, including one count of aiding the enemy. He faces life in military prison if convicted. The outcome of the case will bear heavily on the government's future prosecution of whistleblowers and its treatment of media and individuals that publish leaked material. WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, are the most immediate targets beyond Manning. The government has been unable to substantiate its claims that publication of the leaked documents resulted in aiding Al Qaeda or other declared enemies of the US or resulted in American military casualties. Lind is not expected to issue a ruling this week and may not announce her decision on sentencing until the next hearing. The full court martial trial has been rescheduled from February to March. Testimony over the past few days has yielded further evidence that the military was persecuting Manning. Although psychiatrists reported repeatedly that he exhibited mental soundness and proposed he be removed from so-called prevention of injury watch, a panel of three Quantico officers overruled their assessments. The panel met in a classification and assignment board on a monthly basis, ostensibly to review the medical reports. Testimony revealed that the officers filled the form out in advance of the meetings. Chief warrant officer Denise Barnes testified that Manning's extended solitary confinement was the consequence of his own stubbornness. He did not clearly communicate to me, 'I don't want to kill myself,' she said. There was never an intent to punish Pfc. Manning. Pointing out the Kafkaesque situation in which Manning had been placed, Coombs declared, It's clear Manning does the only sane thing, and that's to stop communicating with these people, because when he says anything it's used against him. Barnes was the officer who personally ordered that Manning be stripped naked every night, after Manning made a statement in protest at the absurdity of prevention of injury watch. Denied such necessities as toilet paper, a pillow and blanket, Manning said that if he were really suicidal, he could attempt to take his life with the elastic of his
