545 acres Maui agland jeopardized

SUBHEAD: Central Maui's largest new proposed development is being planned in a traditional burial ground. Again!  

By Lucienne De Naie on 24 February 2012 in Island Breath -  
(laluz@maui.net)


Image above: Kanaka maoli hold vigil over Waiale burial site planned to be "relocated" because it is in an "inconvenient place". From original email.

The Alexander & Baldwin (A&B) Waiale Project is asking the state to reclassify 545 acres from AG to URBAN. Planned are 2550 units; a new shopping center; new industrial zones and commercial development on 545 acres with 6,670 new residents. Waiale is billed as all about AFFORDABLE HOUSING.

But for who? As planned 34% is to be affordable (863 units) and 66% market priced (1687 units).

PLEASE SPEAK UP FOR A BETTER PLAN THIS WEEK. FEB 16th The proposed project sets aside1 burial dune (75 plus sets of iwi) and 5 other "islands" of burial sites. The other long, high dunes. DUNES that haven't been sand mined are shown as high-density development area.This is NOT the project design that was under community discussion during 3 years of Maui Island Plan Review.

• This is NOT respectful to a place with traditional cultural value
• This is not in line with Wailuku-Kahului Community Plan that lists ALL inland dunes as important cultural sites
• This is NOT sound planning.

ACT!
State Land Use Commission will hear testimony Thursday, Feb 16th 10 am Makena Resort (Old Maui Prince Hotel) : Wailea Salon Room  

CAN'T ATTEND?
EMAIL COMMENTS by end of day Feb 14 to both address links below. Just copy and paste any of the points ATTACHED BE SURE TO ASK THE LUC to require conditions if they approve the reclassification request. Waiale is agenda item: A10-789

Riley.K.Hakoda@dbedt.hawaii.gov
Jesse.K.Souki@dbedt.hawaii.gov
CC: Clare Apana (kouwahine@gmail.com)  

TALKING POINTS
What the Land Use Commission needs to know PLEASE ASK the LUC to place conditions, if they approve the boundary change. Over three hundred burials have already been disturbed during the building of Maui Lani next door to the Waiale project. enough is enough!

 Fifty acres of disturbed (sandmined) dunes on the WAI’ALE site already have almost 90 known sets of kupuna iwi. Most of these will be preserved in place in one dune. Other burials are being removed for roads.

MANY MORE BURIALS ARE LIKELY TO BE UNCOVERED IF MORE DUNES ARE BULLDOZED, RATHER THAN PROTECTED. COPY & PASTE FOR TESTIMONY POINTS.

1. A&B's Waiale Master plan only "protects" one sandmined dune with 70 plus iwi kupuna. They pretend that this is the only "undisturbed dune" on the site, and no more iwi will be disturbed! This is not true. People want all the dunes there protected. They are not "degraded' like the A&B consultants say. ASK: the LUC to require a study be done to list Waiale Burial dunes on state and national Historic Register, as it deserves.

2.The Waiale dunes are part of the same dune system as Maui Lani, where 300 iwi kupuna have already been shamefully disturbed. We need to learn from our mistakes at Maui Lani, and make things pono with our lands and our ancestors who watch over them. ASK: The LUC to require a Traditional Cultural Property Study be done for the Waiale project site, folowing federal guidelines.

3. A&B speaks with pride about their 33 acres of "Cultural preserve" areas, but don't reveal that only the areas where our kupuna iwi have already been crushed and scattered by sandmining bulldozers are in the "preserve"

4. Undisturbed natural sand dunes that still remain on the site, are planned to be leveled (with the sand likely sold) for high density housing and commercial areas.Pu'u One are unique features created over 80,000 years ago, and should not be removed for profit.

5. P'uu One (natural sand dunes) are described as "cultural resources", whether they have known burials or not, in the Wailuku-Kahului community Plan. Our Pu'u One are Wahi Pana and give life to our land. ASK: The LUC to require alternative project design that protects un-mined sand dunes on site as shown in Maui Island Plan Directed Growth Maps approved by GPAC and Maui Planning Commission.

6. Ask that habitat aras be required for endangered native moth and traditional aumakua: Native Pueo- both found on this site and a section 106 Federal Consultation with native hawaiians be initiated.

7. Wai'ale would use up to 2.8 million gal of water a day: no impacts to our streams or aquifers are being discussed. ASK: the LUC to require Waiale project design alternatives, based on reduced water demand and usage

8. Wai'ale has no plan for its sewage: the project proposed to put another million gallons of sewage into the overworked Kahului wastewater plant. ASK: the LUC to require Waiale to include analyses of the project connecting to a NEW regional treatment facitliy, not put more burden on an aged plant in a Tsunami/ inundation zone.

9. There is another Map for Wai'ale, a design that protects natural dunes. Waiale project was reviewed during Maui Island Plan process and maps adopted for the area set aside open space to protect dunes and burials. PLEASE ASK: LUC to support the Maui Island Plan Map for the Waiale project area. Community input supported a large buffer area for the dunes AND a large community park. More natural area= less water demands.

Conclusions: Enough is enough! Why can't our kupuna be alowed to rest in peace and watch over the 'aina as was intended? Give Maui people jobs building homes not digging up our Kupuna's graves.

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Monsanto guilty of poisoning farmer

SUBHEAD: A French court holds GMO company guilty of chemically poisoning farmer with "safe" pesticide. By Catherine Lagrange and Marion Douet on 13 February 2012 for HuffPo - (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/13/monsanto-guilty-paul-francois_n_1274326.html) Image above: A French farmer with scythe. From (http://owenfranken.photoshelter.com/image/I0000_acGWQ3fXfY).

A French court on Monday declared U.S. biotech giant Monsanto guilty of chemical poisoning of a French farmer, a judgment that could lend weight to other health claims against pesticides. In the first such case heard in court in France, grain grower Paul Francois, 47, says he suffered neurological problems including memory loss, headaches and stammering after inhaling Monsanto's Lasso weedkiller in 2004.

He blames the agri-business giant for not providing adequate warnings on the product label. The ruling was given by a court in Lyon, southeast France, which ordered an expert opinion of Francois's losses to establish the amount of damages. "It is a historic decision in so far as it is the first time that a (pesticide) maker is found guilty of such a poisoning," François Lafforgue, Francois's lawyer, told Reuters. Monsanto said it was disappointed by the ruling and would examine whether to appeal the judgment. "Monsanto always considered that there were not sufficient elements to establish a causal relationship between Paul Francois's symptoms and a potential poisoning," the company's lawyer, Jean-Philippe Delsart, said. Previous health claims from farmers have foundered because of the difficulty of establishing clear links between illnesses and exposure to pesticides. Francois and other farmers suffering from illness set up an association last year to make a case that their health problems should be linked to their use of crop protection products. The agricultural branch of the French social security system says that since 1996, it has gathered farmers' reports of sickness potentially related to pesticides, with about 200 alerts a year. But only about 47 cases have been recognised as due to pesticides in the past 10 years. Francois, who suffers from neurological problems, obtained work invalidity status only after a court appeal. The Francois case goes back to a period of intensive use of crop-protection chemicals in the European Union. The EU and its member countries have since banned a large number of substances considered dangerous. Lasso, a pre-emergent soil-applied herbicide that has been used since the 1960s to control grasses and broadleaf weeds in farm fields, was banned in France in 2007 following an EU directive after the product had already been withdrawn in some other countries. Though it once was a top-selling herbicide, it has gradually lost popularity, and critics say several studies have shown links to a range of health problems. Monsanto's Roundup is now the dominant herbicide used to kill weeds. The company markets it in conjunction with its biotech herbicide-tolerant "Roundup Ready" crops. The Roundup Ready corn, soybeans, cotton and other crops do not die when sprayed directly with the herbicide, a trait that has made them wildly popular with U.S. farmers. But farmers are now being encouraged to use more and different kinds of chemicals again as Roundup loses its effectiveness to a rise of "super weeds" that are resistant to Roundup. And while the risks of pesticide are a generally known and accepted hazard of farming in most places, and farmers are cautioned to take care when handling the chemicals, increased use of pesticides will only cause more harm to human health and the environment, critic say. "The registration process does not protect against harm. Manufacturers have to be held liable for adverse impacts that occur," said Jay Feldman, director of Beyond Pesticides, a non-profit group focused on reducing pesticide use. France, the EU's largest agricultural producer, is now targetting a 50 percent reduction in pesticide use between 2008 and 2018, with initial results showing a 4 percent cut in farm and non-farm use in 2008-2010. The Francois claim may be easier to argue than others because he can pinpoint a specific incident - inhaling the Lasso when cleaning the tank of his crop sprayer - whereas fellow farmers are trying to show accumulated effects from various products. "It's like lying on a bed of thorns and trying to say which one cut you," said a farmer, who has recovered from prostate cancer and asked not to be named. The French association of crop protection companies, UIPP, says pesticides are all subject to testing and that any evidence of a cancer risk in humans leads to withdrawal of products from the market. "I think if we had a major health problem with pesticides, we would have already known about it," Jean-Charles Bocquet, UIPP's managing director, said. The social security's farming branch this year is due to add Parkinson's disease to its list of conditions related to pesticide use after already recognising some cases of blood cancers and bladder and respiratory problems. France's health and environment safety agency (ANSES), meanwhile, is conducting a study on farmers' health, with results expected next year. .

Tsunami debris is coming

SUBHEAD: Computer simulation shows Japan tsunami debris, the size of California, moving across Pacific. By Staff on 14 February 2012 for Huffington Post - (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/13/japan-tsunami-debris-may-hit-ca-coast_n_1273478.html) Image above: Debris from Japanese tsunami reached Washington state in December 2011. From (http://www.brucesussman.com/earthquakes-volcanoes/japanese-tsunami-debris-washington-us-west-coast/).

At this very moment, up to 25 million tons of debris--occupying an area roughly the size of California--is a on a collision course for the North American west coast.

The floating wreckage, often called flotsam, is a result of the massively destructive, 9.0-magnitude earthquake that struck just off the coast of Japan last March.

Peninsula College oceanographers Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Jim Ingraham told the Huffington Post that the wreckage could include virtually anything that floats-- portions of houses, boats, ships, furniture, cars and even human remains (athletic shoes can act as flotation devices).

"You're going to have the flotsam go four places," Ebbesmeyer explained to the the American Foreign Press. "Some is going to sink, which might be a quarter; some is going to come to North America, which might be a quarter; some is going to come around back to Japan, which might be a quarter, about six years later; some is going to go into the garbage patch, which might be a quarter roughly."

The first pieces of flotsam began to hit the United States in late 2011; however, a great deal more will likely wash ashore over the course of the next year two years--with the majority starting to land next winter.

The Environmental Protection Agency has begun coordinating with the U.S. Coast Guard on an extensive clean-up effort, but the agency admits they're still largely in the dark about exactly what the scale of that effort will be.

"We don't know how much is floating, we don't know how much is buoyant, how much is under the surface, how much has broken up," EPA Regional Director Jared Blumenfeld told ABC-7 News, "but we do know there is a huge amount of it and stuff that you don't normally find. Cars, houses, telephone booths, I mean you name it."

A historical precedent makes it difficult to predict the ultimate landing place of waterborne debris. The San Jose Mercury News reports:

[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Pacific Islands Director Kris] McElwee noted that after other major disasters, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, massive amounts of material that washed out to sea did not turn up on beaches in other countries. Instead, the flotsam caused problems near the beaches where it originated, creating hazards for ships and disrupting commercial fishing.

Officials have noted, even though the tsunami created a major nuclear threat in Japan, there's very little risk of any radioactive material hitting American or Canadian shores.

Starting last year, a handful of organizations have begun taking researchers studying ocean currents and nautical plastic accumulation as well as tourists interested in seeing the floating aftermath of the Japanese disaster on firsthand trips through the Pacific gyre, where much of the debris has accumulated. "For me it's interesting to see that there is debris from the ocean coming from events like tsunami--things that you can't control--and things that you can control as well," cruise participant Valerie Lecoeur told National Geographic

Check out this computer simulation from the International Pacific Research Center showing how the debris will likely travel over time:

Video above: From (http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2011/07/05/japanese-tsunami-debris-california-animation/). See also: Ea O Ka Aina: Tsunami Debris to reach Hawaii 4/7/11 Ea O Ka Aina: Fukushima debris nears Midway 10/13/11 Ea O Ka Aina: Japanese tsunami debris 12/4/11 .

Help Save Wai`anae

SUBHEAD: The Honolulu City Council will vote on a plan to industrialize productive farmland on Oahu.

By Marti Townsend on 14 February 2012 for Kahea Alliance - 
(http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2699/p/dia/action/public)
 
Image above: Bins overflow with freshly-picked chard at MA'O Farms in Waianae, Oahu, HI. From (http://www.tpl.org/what-we-do/where-we-work/hawaii/).


[IB Editor's note: Help is only a couple of clicks away. Act on this. because Oahu's food security is an outer island issue too. For every acre of food production lost on Oahu the outer islands will have to provide more. As it is Oahu's population is far from sustainable. As the cost of shipping food rises the outer islands will be greatly burdened providing food for hundreds of thousands living on paved over Oahu.] 


Tomorrow the Honolulu City Council will vote on a plan to industrialize productive farmland in Wai`anae. Wai`anaeʻs farmers need your help today to protect food production for the future. Please send the City Council an email today and attend the hearing at Kapolei Hale on Wednesday at 10 AM. Click Here to Take Action Today! You can make a difference just by clicking and sending your testimony to the City Council TODAY!

Make your voice heard! If your on Oahu, attend the last public hearing on the Purple Spot on Wednesday Feb. 15, 10 AM at Kapolei Hale Wai`anae residents have fought for 5 years to defend their farmland from this developer-driven industrial park proposal. They have collected over a 2,000 petition signatures. They convinced the Land Use Commission to deny a boundary amendment for the project. They convinced the Planning Commission to not support it.

But despite their consistent involvement at every stage of decision-making, the power of a few politically well-connected businessmen -- Thomas Enomoto, Clyde Kaneshiro, and Michael Nekoba -- threatens to undermine the farming traditions of Wai`anae AND further corrode the publicʻs faith in our democratic process. There is still chance for the City Council to do the right thing.

We know that the industrial park developers and their friends have donated to the political campaigns for:

Ikaika Anderson
Ann Kobayashi
Ernie Martin
Romy Cachola
Stanley Chang
Nestor Garcia

But! We hope that as public servants these councilmembers will not allow personal financial benefit to improperly influence good public policy making. Good public policy and planning dictates that isolated urban zones should not be placed in the middle of agricultural districts; that country lanes should not be used for 500+ vehicles an hour of traffic; that community planning should be driven by the community, not individual developers. The farmers and residents of Wai`anae want to protect their storied agricultural traditions for future generations. You can help. Tell the Honolulu City Council to “remove the purple spot from the Wai`anae Sustainable Communities Plan.” Learn more about the purple spot. Support KAHEAʻs Environmental Justice Program with a tax-deductible donation, click here to donate now.

Kahea Alliance  
www.kahea.org
KAHEA-alliance@hawaii.rr.com
Phone/Fax: (808) 524-8220
or toll-free (877) 585-2432  
Marti Townsend, Esq.
marti@kahea.org 808-372-1314

  Address
1149 Bethel St., Ste 415 Honolulu, Hawai'i 96813
Map & Directions (in google maps)

Mailing Address P.O. Box 37368 Honolulu, Hawai'i 96837
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KIUC fails its owners

SOURCE: Ken Taylor (taylork021@hawaii.rr.com) SUBHEAD: Under the leadership of CEO David Bissel, KIUC continues to consider its owners its serfs.  

By Glenn Mickens on 12 February 2012 in Island Breath -
  (http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2012/02/kiuc-fails-its-owners.html)  

[IB Editor's note: The following was submitted (and not yet accepted) to the TGI letter Forum.]


Image above: Scene of serfs listening to lord in movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". From (http://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/tag/serfs/).

 Thank you, Ray Songtree for your fine, in depth article (TGI 2/11) "Rogue menace at KIUC." Also I applaud you for your outstanding testimony before the Council on 2/8 which all members except councilwoman Yukimiura seemed very satisfied with. The facts that you point out about the KIUC leadership not being a true representative of the people who "own the co-op" are so vividly true.

Whether it was the "Free Flow" debacle or the latest Smart Meter controversy, decisions are being made by the hierarchy without finding out what the wishes are from the people who own this co-op. There is no doubt that irrefutable evidence points to problems with these smart meters and we, the rate payers, should have the option of deciding if we want them installed in our homes. And we should not have to be home to tell the installers that we don't want them but we should simply be able to call KIUC and say no thank you.

AND there should not be an opt out charge to the customer for keeping their old meters. Has KIUC taken a page from our county's MO of "ready, fire, aim" by spending millions of dollars on these meters before really knowing all the facts including whether or not their "owners" want them? Again, thank you, Ray, for all your time, research and efforts in representing the people.

---

[IB Editor's note: The following is Ray Songtree's TGI Forum letter.]  

Rogue menace at KIUC  

By Ray Songtree on 11 February 2012 for The Garden Island News -  
(http://thegardenisland.com/news/opinion/mailbag/letters-for-saturday-february/article_b4424234-5497-11e1-bbff-0019bb2963f4.html)
 

In a Dec. 14 response to a letter from American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i, Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative CEO David Bissel wrote, “If during the time of installation, a customer objects to smart meter installation at their particular premises, the installation will be temporarily halted and existing equipment will remain in place until a final decision has been made on any opt-out program.”
First of all there are no electric customers on Kaua‘i, as electricity is provided to owners of the co-op called members.

This policy of “no prior smart meter choice before the day of installation” was repeated Feb. 8 by KIUC Chief of Operations Mike Yamane at the Kaua‘i County Council meeting.
The question was asked, what if a member doesn’t want to “opt in” to the smart meter program and isn’t home? Yamane had no answer. There will be no answer because there is no dialogue between members and KIUC, and there never has been. Try asking a question at a board meeting and the reader will see.

At the KIUC informational meeting on smart meters on Dec. 6, KIUC Plant Manager Brad Rockwell told members of the audience privately that KIUC doesn’t want to offer an opt out in advance because KIUC is afraid too many people would opt out and scuttle the executive plan. In other words, KIUC is afraid of giving members choice. In other words, KIUC no longer believes that members, who are the owners, decide what happens at the co-op, but instead tries to circumnavigate member choice to the extent of endangering our health.

We learned at the Feb. 8 council meeting from Mike Yamane, who repeated it twice that the date of KIUC adoption of smart meter program was Dec. 22, 2010. However the minutes of the Dec. 21, 2010 board meeting do not mention smart grid. It has now been 31 days since I sent an email to KIUC CEO David Bissell asking him for minutes of this decision. He has not responded. There is no dialogue with KIUC.

Kaua‘i Transparency Initiative challenges KIUC CEO or board to produce any evidence that they received commentary and engaged in back and forth negotiation with public in order to represent public desire on smart meters before making this 2010 decision, if indeed that is when it was made.
The second principle of all electric co-ops is stated on KIUC’s website:

“Cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting policies and making decisions. The elected representatives are accountable to the membership.”

Kaua‘i Transparency Initiative accuses KIUC of willfully and knowingly making decisions that broke this principle, and is now forcing a defacto “opt into smart meters” policy upon co-op members.
According to Bissell and Yamane, only if you happen to be home and physically confront and stop installation of the smart meter on your home, can you avoid the new wireless Meter.
The board members of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine issued the following statement on Jan 19:

“The Board of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine opposes the installation of wireless ‘smart meters’ in homes and schools based on a scientific assessment of the current medical literature (references available on request). Chronic exposure to wireless radio frequency radiation is a preventable environmental hazard that is sufficiently well documented to warrant immediate preventative public health action. … Hence, we call for an immediate moratorium on ‘smart meter’ installation until these serious public health issues are resolved. Continuing with their installation would be extremely irresponsible.”

In order to protect your right of choice, Kaua‘i residents might want to make your meter inaccessible to tampering in the event that you are not home 24/7 to guard your meter against rogue tampering. You can find ways to do this online.

A lawsuit against the individuals at KIUC who were responsible for breaking co-op principals is being vetted at this time. However, the court of public opinion is more powerful than any court of law. What is your opinion? Are you willing to express it?

KIUC ignores letters and emails and never discloses to other members any complaints. There is no dialogue or transparency at KIUC. If you have an opinion, we suggest you call KONG, KKCR, write to TGI, and then show up at KIUC board meeting Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. and demand that your testimony be printed in the minutes of the meeting online for all other members to see.

Remember, you own the co-op, they don’t own you. Smart meters are a health menace.

---

[IB Editor's note: The following was included by Ken Taylor in his email submission on this subject. It is a statement by Susan Brinchman, Director and Founder, Center for Electrosmog Prevention ] I do want to remind everyone that the best stance is not to have them on the island. Not having one on your home is not enough, you will still be exposed and at risk, inescapably, everywhere on the island. Deadly and dangerous, on schools, commercial buildings, neighbors' homes, community buildings, playgrounds, you name it... You are in the best position now that you will EVER be in to dump the whole program. Opting out should not be the loudest cry.

Susan Brinchman director@electrosmogprevention.org
Director and Founder, Center for Electrosmog Prevention
P.O. Box 655, La Mesa, CA, 91944
www.electrosmogprevention.org

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The John Brown Moment

SUBHEAD: America in the wilderness of self-denial, self-double-dealing, and suicidal self-perfidy.  

By James Kunstler on 13 February 2012 for Kunstler.com -  
(http://kunstler.com/blog/2012/02/the-john-brown-moment.html)
 
Image above: "Ship of State" a new painting by one of our favorite contemporary artists, Mark Bryan. From (http://www.artofmarkbryan.com/Ship_of_State.html).

When Gaia gets pissed off enough at the antics of humanity, she sends in her hit-man, Reality, to settle accounts. Reality is blessed with a cloak of invisibility. The human race is so busy concocting stories about what it is doing, that Reality steals onto the scene unnoticed - until bodies start to fall over, and the sort of bad political weather known as a shit-storm fills the skies, the streets, and the assembly halls.

One of the cockamamie stories circulating this week is that the Euro bailout of broke member nations is fait accompli, baked in the cake, a done deal, no problemo, because the December 2011 Long Term Refinancing Operation makes it so. The European Central Bank can supposedly eat bad bond paper until the cows come home without choking to death at the same time that it can run a back-door money-printing racket without the results showing up in currency degradation. And the Greeks will bend over and receive what they've got coming good and hard because, well, they are Greeks, and it is their way!

Excuse me, but something's got to give. History is a lot of things, but it is not silly putty. Its cousin, Reality, slips through it performing its deeds one way or another. The Greeks have lately remembered some of their own history. The Germans have beset them before, they now recall, and some of the money currently labeled "debt" may have been filed incorrectly, the Greeks say. It actually belongs in the folder labeled "war reparations." (Granted, it is hard to read folders when you are bending over so far that things look upside-down.) Germany, it happens, remembers too the last time that this folder was flopped out on the table. Things didn't work out so well for the Weimar finance ministry in those dark days ninety years ago.

Meanwhile, Athens and several other Greek cities ignite in an overture to what might come to be called the European Spring.

Reality steals onto the scene bearing a message from Mother Gaia: "None of your shenanigans make the numbers add up. The European financial arrangement will blow up because it must." Therefore, expect it to blow up. Germany will not keep pounding sand down the rat-hole of PIIGS insolvency for another year. Anyway, the proverbial tin-can that everyone was kicking down the road - it fell down the rat-hole, too, so there is nothing left to kick except Greek civil servants, both current and retired and, alas, they represent that part of the Greek economy not occupied by olive cultivation, which is to say most of it. It turns out, when you kick Greeks down the road (probably Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese, and Irish, too) sparks fly off them and things catch fire.

The bottom line seems to be that Europe can either go broke or burn down, or do both. But it can't go back to what it was doing before: pretending to be rich and care-free.

Over on this side of the Atlantic, America's experiment in pervasive control fraud took a new turn with the pretended "settlement" of massive, widespread, robo-signing allegations that will allow a bunch of "the usual suspect" TBTF banks off the hook from future liability and criminal prosecution resulting from hundreds of billions of dollars worth of swindles. The TBTF banks will have to pay, when all the "principal reduction credits" and other dodgy subtractions are made, a couple of billion altogether, which is obviously little more than a cost of doing business for such supernaturally fabulous returns. And then that is supposed to be the end of the whole disgusting episode.

Last to cave in on this legally squooshy agreement between fifty states was New York's own Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, newly enlisted in the elite national corps of cads, bounders, and sell-outs. This was the week that the same Schneiderman agreed to lead President Obama's so called Mortgage Fraud Task Force, which, any child of eight can see, is a smokescreen to conceal the fact that the US Department of Justice has failed to initiate any action whatsoever in the vast and gruesome pageant of fraud that has transformed the rule of law into a rule of larceny.

Do you think the late Whitney Houston was a lost soul? Then look for the soul of your country - if you can find it in the wilderness of self-denial, self-double-dealing, and suicidal self-perfidy that it has blundered into with eyes wide shut. No lie is now too big for the United States to swallow. If Europeans ignite and blow up when kicked down the road, here is what will happen to America: it will blunder down its own road until it reaches the next John Brown moment. John Brown put his proverbially famous body in the middle of that road some ways back. He mounted an insurrection at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to fast-track the abolition of slavery. Brown was hanged in 1859, but less than two years later the Civil War commenced, the greatest convulsion in our history. So far.

Slavery was yesteryear's abomination in America as pervasive control fraud is today's. Somewhere out in America right now is the new American John Brown, a righteous fanatic whose act is waiting to alter the course of history. The next John Brown will also precipitate what was a long time coming. Reality is busy in the background, even while we blog and dither, setting things up.

Image above: Detail of lifeboat from "Ship of State" by Mark Bryan, 2012. From (http://www.artofmarkbryan.com/Ship_of_State.html).  

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The New Declaration

SUBHEAD: An update on the truths that we hold to be self-evident in order to sustain life on Earth.

By Derrick Jensen on 1 February 2012 in the Energy Bulletin -  
(http://occupiedmedia.us/2012/02/a-new-declaration)


Image above: Living hillside photo by Bethany Bond. From original article.
 
We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That the real, physical world is the source of our own lives, and the lives of others. A weakened planet is less capable of supporting life, human or otherwise.

Thus the health of the real world is primary, more important than any social or economic system, because all social or economic systems are dependent upon a living planet.

It is self-evident that to value a social system that harms the planet’s capacity to support life over life itself is to be out of touch with physical reality.

That any way of life based on the use of nonrenewable resources is by definition not sustainable.
That any way of life based on the hyper-exploitation of renewable resources is by definition not sustainable: if, for example, fewer salmon return every year, eventually there will be none. This means that for a way of life to be sustainable, it must not harm native communities: native prairies, native forests, native fisheries, and so on.

That the real world is interdependent, such that harm done to rivers harms those humans and nonhumans whose lives depend on these rivers, harms forests and prairies and wetlands surrounding these rivers, harms the oceans into which these rivers flow. Harm done to mountains harms the rivers flowing through them. Harm done to oceans harms everyone directly or indirectly connected to them.
That you cannot argue with physics. If you burn carbon-based fuels, this carbon will go into the air, and have effects in the real world.

That creating and releasing poisons into the world will poison humans and nonhumans.
That no one, no matter how rich or powerful, should be allowed to create poisons for which there is no antidote.

That no one, no matter how rich or powerful, should be allowed to create messes that cannot be cleaned up.

That no one, no matter how rich or powerful, should be allowed to destroy places humans or nonhumans need to survive.

That no one, no matter how rich or powerful, should be allowed to drive human cultures or nonhuman species extinct.

That reality trumps all belief systems: what you believe is not nearly so important as what is real.
That on a finite planet you cannot have an economy based on or requiring growth. At least you cannot have one and expect to either have a planet or a future.

That the current way of life is not sustainable, and will collapse. The only real questions are what will be left of the world after that collapse, and how bad things will be for the humans and nonhumans who come after. We hold it as self-evident that we should do all that we can to make sure that as much of the real, physical world remains intact until the collapse of the current system, and that humans and nonhumans should be as prepared as possible for this collapse.

That the health of local economies are more important than the health of a global economy.

That a global economy should not be allowed to harm local economies or land bases.

That corporations are not living beings. They are certainly not human beings.

That corporations do not in any real sense exist. They are legal fictions. Limited liability corporations are institutions created explicitly to separate humans from the effects of their actions—making them, by definition, inhuman and inhumane. To the degree that we desire to live in a human and humane world—and, really, to the degree that we wish to survive—limited liability corporations need to be eliminated.

That the health of human and nonhuman communities is more important than the profits of corporations.

We hold it as self-evident, as the Declaration of Independence states, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends [Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness], it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it. . . .” Further, we hold it as self-evident that it would be more precise to say that it is not the Right of the People, nor even their responsibility, but instead something more like breathing—something that if we fail to do we die.

If we as a People fail to rid our communities of destructive institutions, those institutions will destroy our communities. And if we in our communities cannot provide meaningful and nondestructive ways for people to gain food, clothing, and shelter then we must recognize it’s not just specific destructive institutions but the entire economic system that is pushing the natural world past breaking points. Capitalism is killing the planet. Industrial civilization is killing the planet.

Once we’ve recognized the destructiveness of capitalism and industrial civilization—both of which are based on systematically converting a living planet into dead commodities—we’ve no choice, unless we wish to sign our own and our children’s death warrants, but to fight for all we’re worth and in every way we can to overturn it.
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Greek Anger Grows

SUBHEAD: Anger seethes in Greece as parliament votes on austerity to secure bailout. By Staff on 11 February 2012 for CNBC - (http://www.cnbc.com/id/46351059) Image above: Greeks go to the street on austerity package. From (http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/greek-protesters-police-clash-as-mps-debate-austerity-plan-20120213-1t065.html). Warning of a "catastrophe" that would leave Greeks subsisting on food stamps and the country wallowing in bankruptcy, Greek leaders urged lawmakers Saturday to pass more painful spending cuts on the eve of a crucial vote to qualify for a massive bailout.

In a televised address Saturday, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos defended the thousands of job cuts, drop in the minimum wage and other austerity measures that would earn the country a euro130 billion ($171.6 billion) bailout deal and stave off bankruptcy.

"The deal will ensure our country's future inside the euro. ... A bankruptcy would lead to uncontrollable economic chaos and social explosion," Papademos said. He added that a bankruptcy would lead to Greeks losing their savings; the state being unable to pay salaries and pensions; and shortages in import items such as medicines, fuel and machinery.

"This agreement will decide the country's future," he said. "We are just a breath away from ground zero."

He and the leaders of parties backing Greece's coalition government -- socialist George Papandreou and conservative Antonis Samaras -- as well as Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, a socialist -- used stark images of a country under bankruptcy to convince the public and, more importantly, persuade Parliament members debating the measures to vote for the deal.

"If we do not dare today, we will live a catastrophe," Papandreou said during a parliamentary debate session.

"What do you want, a country where food will be handed out with food stamps and where we will have no fuel?" Samaras angrily told a dissenting deputy.

"The battle is now. The war is now. If we falter, nothing will be left standing ...The real dilemma is between painful measures and crushingly painful ones," Venizelos told socialist lawmakers.

Several dissident lawmakers were unconvinced. At least 13 conservatives and seven socialists declared they would not vote and two more socialist deputies resigned, bringing the total to three.

Their replacements will be seated Sunday.

Typical of the dissidents' arguments was the one put forward by veteran socialist Vasso Papandreou (no relation to the socialist leader), a former minister and member of the European Commission.

"If we say we do not pay the bond that matures on March 20, all (Europeans) will rush to find a solution," she said.

Debt-stricken Greece does not have the money to cover a euro14.5 billion bond repayment on March 20, and must reach a vital debt-relief deal with private bond investors before then. Greece's woes have threatened its future in the 17-country zone that uses the euro currency.

The Europeans are waiting to see Greece finally act on their commitments.

"If the right course is now set sustainably in Athens, Greece can count on our support -- but only then," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle was quoted as telling the weekly Der Spiegel.

"There can no longer be advance payments," he said, according to the report. "Only actions count now."

Westerwelle said that the "clear aim" is to keep Greece in the eurozone. But he insisted that "it is not enough to approve reform programs; it is necessary to begin the implementation of the reforms without delay. Not sometime, but now."

The austerity measures included in the bailout deal, including the layoffs of 15,000 workers and a 22 percent drop in the minimum wage and pension cuts, have set off street protests and led to the resignations of half a dozen Cabinet officials.

Lawmakers are wary of voting for the measures and the prospect of more to come, along with the job cuts and the shutdown of several state agencies, including welfare agencies. The demands of creditors, including the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, have caused one of the original coalition parties -- the populist right-wing Popular Orthodox Party -- to quit the government and withdraw its four members from the cabinet. Two more cabinet members, both socialist deputy ministers, have also quit.

They cited their disagreements with parts of the austerity package.

Both Papandreou and Samaras made it clear that dissenters are not welcome in the party. Samaras threatened to expel those who did not vote in favor and exclude them from the lists of party candidates in the next election. "I want to make it absolutely clear ... rebels or 'bravehearts' have no place in (the party's) candidate lists," he said.

"I call on you to fall in line and vote for this difficult and painful deal that will help (the country) stand on its feet. Whoever has a conscience problem can resign," Papandreou told his lawmakers.

Together, the socialists and the conservatives have 236 deputies in the 300-member parliament.

Parliament will vote Sunday on emergency legislation approving the new bailout and a debt-swapping deal with private creditors.

Further legislation detailing the measures demanded by, and agreed with, Greece's public creditors, the EU and the IMF , will be up for vote a few days later. The exact time has not yet been set.

Samaras also called for an immediate election once the bond swap deal with Greece's private creditors is over, saying he would not agree to the extension of the mandate of the coalition government beyond that date. Elections are normally due in October 2013. The bond swap deal with Greece's private creditors is expected to help Greece get rid of some euro100 billion of its debt. The bond swap must be completed before March 20, the redemption date for euro14.5 billion worth of bonds. Elections could then be held about three weeks later than that, at the earliest.

While the two parties met, union leaders staged a demonstration outside Parliament that attracted about 4,000 protesters, while up to 6,000 policemen patrolled the streets of Athens. The protest ended with some scuffles that left two people injured when police tried to clear the street in front of Parliament. Authorities are bracing for a much larger, and possibly violent, protest on Sunday evening.

Another 4,000 turned out for a peaceful demonstration in Thessaloniki, Greece's second-largest city.

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B-Corporation in New York State

SUBHEAD: More states are allowing corporations to organize on higher principles than just "more profit for shareholders". [Editor's Note: Hawaii is an active Benifit Corporation State: Status: Signed July 8th 2012. Sponsors House: C. Lee, Browner, Carroll, Evans, Hanohano, M. Lee, Morita, Nakashima, Aquino, Awana, Chang, Chong, Choy, Cullen, Hashem, Mizuno, Nishimoto, B. Oshiro, Pine, Tsuji, Yamashita. Sponsors Senate: Ihara, Chun Oakland, Green, Solomon, Espero, Fukunaga, Gabbard, Galuteria, Ige, Nishihara, Ryan, Slom, Taniguchi, Tokuda, Wakai. Legislation: SB 298 Key Supporters: Gary Hooser.] By Mat McDermott on 11 February 2012 for TreeHugger - (http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/benefit-corporation-registration-new-york-state-opens.html) Image above: Map of United States with Benefit Corporation states in gold and states considering legislation in charcoal. From (http://www.benefitcorp.net/).

We made a big deal of Patagonia registering on the first day available when California ushered in its Benefit Corporation legislation. Well, now New York companies can get in on the B-Corp act.

On February 10th, thirteen companies took advantage of the new possibility of enshrining into law their desire for their business to do more than just work for profit about all else.

B-Lab, a non-profit working to bring the B-Corp to more than the seven states where the corporate type currently exists, sums up why a Benefit Corporation is truly a very different way of doing business:

Benefit corporations are a new kind of corporation legally required to: 1) have a corporate purpose to create a material positive impact on society and the environment; 2) expand fiduciary duty to require consideration of the interests of workers, community and the environment; and 3) publicly report annually on its overall social and environmental performance using a comprehensive, credible, independent, and transparent third party standard. Traditional corporate law requires corporations to prioritize the financial interests of shareholders over the interests of workers, communities, and the environment.

For more info, check out: BenefitCorp.net

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Monsanto's not so Great Expectations

SUBHEAD: Their efforts result in more pesticides and less public sector classical crop breeding and environmentally friendly farming methods. By Elleiott Negin on 10 february 2010 for Huffington Post - (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elliott-negin/monsantos-great-expectati_b_1267494.html) Image above: Detail of cover of "Seeds of Destruction". The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation. From (http://globalresearch.ca/books/SoD.html). With apologies to Charles Dickens, whose 200th birthday was this week, it's the best of times and the worst of times for Monsanto, the agribusiness giant that is aggressively marketing genetically engineered crops -- and millions of tons of pesticides -- worldwide.

It's the best of times because its stock is soaring. Sure, the St. Louis-based leviathan has been up before -- and down. In 2009, Forbes magazine proclaimed it company of the year. The next year its stock tanked, and Mad Money TV host Jim Cramer proclaimed it the worst of 2010. Now its up again, and last month Forbes was hyperventilating over the fact Monsanto has outperformed most high-tech stocks over the last five years.

But just like the plot in Dickens' Great Expectations, Forbes' rosy scenario is not the whole story.

You may vaguely remember the 19th century novel from high school English. According to a column in last Sunday's Washington Post, its main lesson is: "You will never fully comprehend the most important events in your life while they are happening. Any plans you make will not work out -- and you may grow up to be a jerk. If you are lucky, however, a series of traumatic events will wake you up and show you how insufferable you have become."

If you replace the book's protagonist Pip with Monsanto and look at the company through the prism of science instead of its stock profile, my tortured analogy makes sense. Despite more than 20 years of research and 15 years of marketing, Monsanto's great expectation that genetic engineering would dramatically increase food production and reduce pesticide use has been dashed. Unlike Pip, however, the company has not yet woken up to the fact that its products don't perform as advertised.

That's why it's also the worst of times.

Doug Gurian-Sherman, a molecular biologist with the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), has spent quite a bit of time investigating Monsanto's track record. In April 2009, he published "Failure to Yield," the only comprehensive study to date that separates genetic engineering's contribution from other factors that can increase yields.

After reviewing two dozen academic studies of corn and soybeans -- the two primary genetically engineered food and feed crops in the United States -- he found that genetically engineered traits in herbicide-tolerant soybeans and herbicide-tolerant corn have not increased yields, and insect-resistant traits have improved corn yields only marginally. The substantial increase in yields for both crops over the previous 13 years was largely due to traditional breeding and better agricultural practices, not genetically engineered traits.

More recently -- just a few days ago, in fact -- Gurian-Sherman and his colleagues in UCS's Food and Environment Program posted a web feature, "Eight Ways Monsanto Fails at Sustainable Agriculture," documenting how Monsanto has broadly failed to deliver on its promise to increase yields, safeguard the environment, and protect farmers' livelihoods over the long run.

"Monsanto talks about 'producing more,' 'conserving more,' and 'improving lives,' but it's a PR fantasy," said Gurian-Sherman. "In reality, the company is doing a great job selling more engineered seeds and herbicide and fattening its bottom line at the expense of the environment. To be sure, there are a lot of farmers who buy Monsanto seed, but they buy it mainly because it's convenient, it saves them time, and it does kill some pests. That doesn't mean that it's better for the environment."

Besides the fact that Monsanto's genetically engineered traits have failed to substantially increase yields, its heavy promotion of crops designed to be impervious to the company's RoundUp herbicide has inadvertently created resistant "super" weeds, UCS experts report. That not only can make farming more difficult and costly, it forces farmers to use even more herbicides, which threatens the environment and public health.

UCS also found that Monsanto's focus on genetic engineering and chemical fixes thwarts research and development of cheaper, more effective solutions, including public sector classical crop breeding and environmentally friendly farming methods.

Given the unvarnished facts, how has Monsanto been able to convince anyone that it is, according to its latest PR effort, "improving agriculture and improving lives"? In large part by spending tens of millions of dollars annually on advertising, lobbying and campaign contributions.

In the fall of 2008, Monsanto launched an advertising campaign that continues to this day. An outgrowth of the company's "sustainable yield initiative," it has targeted opinion leaders and federal policymakers with full-page ads in the Atlantic Monthly, New Yorker, New Republic and other elite publications, as well as with posters in subway stations, on bus shelters, and on the sides of metro buses here in Washington.

Last year, Monsanto spent $100 million on the ad campaign, down slightly from the $120 million it spent in 2010, according to Securities and Exchange Commission figures. The company also spent $6.37 million on lobbying--more than any other agricultural company or trade group--and so far has contributed more than $170,000 to political campaigns in the 2011-2012 election cycle, the third highest in the agricultural sector.

Monsanto's claims in earlier ads were more explicit than ones circulating now. For example, an ad on the New Yorker's back cover that ran the same week Gurian-Sherman released his "Failure to Yield" report back in 2009 stated:

"Providing abundant and accessible food means putting the latest science-based tools in farmers' hands, including advanced hybrid and biotech seeds. Monsanto's advanced seeds not only significantly increase crop yields, they use fewer key resources -- like land and fuel -- to do it. That's a win-win for people, and the earth itself."

The company's latest print ads, which all feature the headline "Improving agriculture, improving lives," are toned down by comparison. They insinuate that Monsanto is accomplishing something grand and noble instead of making demonstrably false claims. For example, one ad states: "In the hands of farmers, better seeds can help protect resources and promote biodiversity." Another one states: "In the hands of farmers, better seeds can help meet the needs of our rapidly growing population, while protecting the earth's natural resources." They all wrap up with: "That's improving agriculture. That's improving lives. And that's what Monsanto is all about."

The best response to Monsanto's misleading ad campaign? A well-worn quote from Great Expectations: "Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There's no better rule."

• Elliott Negin is the director of news and commentary at the Union of Concerned Scientists. For information on how to get involved with UCS's effort to set the record straight on Monsanto, click here.

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Greece pushes back on austerity

SUBHEAD: German demands for deeper budget cuts to get the bailout needed to prevent a financial collapse rile Greeks. By Simon Kennedy on 10 February 2012 for Bloomberg News - (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-10/greece-pushes-back-against-german-demands-for-deeper-cuts-to-receive-aid.html) Image above: Protesters with riot police during a general strike in Athens on Feb. 10, 2012. From original article.

A leader of Greece’s governing coalition pushed back against German demands for deeper budget cuts to get the bailout needed to prevent a financial collapse.

In Athens, unions struck for the second time this week and police used tear gas to counter protesters. George Karatzaferis, who heads one of the three parties supporting interim Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, said he wouldn’t support austerity measures worked out for a rescue. He spoke hours after German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told lawmakers in Berlin that Greece was missing deficit targets.

“What has particularly bothered me is the humiliation of the country,” Karatzaferis, whose Laos party has 16 members in the 300-seat parliament, said in televised comments. “Clearly Greece can’t and shouldn’t do without the European Union but it could do without the German boot.”

Schaeuble said that current plans would leave Greece’s debt as high as 136 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, according to two people in the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was private. That compares with the 120 percent foreseen in the 130 billion-euro ($172 billion) bailout being negotiated. Debt was about 160 percent of GDP last year.

“The Greek offer is not sufficient and they have to go away to come up with a revised plan,” Bertrand Benoit, a spokesman for the German Finance Ministry, said by telephone.

Juncker’s Conditions

Emergency talks of euro-area finance chiefs broke up late last night with Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker saying Greece must turn its budget cuts into law, flesh out 325 million euros in spending reductions and have its major party leaders sign up to the program so they don’t retreat after upcoming elections. Another extraordinary meeting was set for Feb. 15.

“In short: no disbursement without implementation,” Juncker said. “We can’t live with this system while promises are repeated and repeated and repeated and implementation measures are sometimes too weak,” he said.

The impasse left European stocks falling for the fourth time in five days and the euro declining from yesterday’s two- month high against the dollar.

In a bid to pressure his country’s lawmakers, Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the parliamentary vote on budget cuts amounted to a ballot on euro membership.

‘Salvation and Future’

“If we see the salvation and future of the country in the euro area, in Europe, we have to do whatever we have to do to get the program approved,” Venizelos said in Brussels.

Resolution of the aid talks, which have dragged on since July, would allow Greece to make a 14.5 billion-euro bond payment on March 20 and contain the threat that speculators will target debt-saddled nations including Italy and Portugal.

The standoff put the spotlight on the leaders of the three Greek political parties backing the caretaker government of Papademos, a former European Central Bank vice president. Greece’s private-sector union GSEE called a 48-hour strike beginning today, shutting down schools, government services, and some public transit for the second time this week.

Fitch Ratings today reiterated its view that Greece will default even with the rescue package.

Greece “must get this deal agreed really within the next few days to enable them sufficient time and have the new bailout money disbursed before that bond is due,” Tony Stringer, Fitch’s managing director of global sovereigns, said in an interview in Singapore. “If they don’t manage to achieve that, then it could be in the realm of a disorderly default.”

Hardline

Europe’s hardline stance follows more than two years in which Greece failed to carry through promised reforms to tackle its uncompetitive economy and meet the terms for aid. Greece blamed its shortcomings on a deepening recession now set to worsen with reports yesterday showing unemployment jumping to 20.9 percent in November and industrial production declining.

Negotiations over another bailout began seven months ago and Greece’s participation in the euro first came into question when then-Prime Minister George Papandreou threatened in October to hold a referendum on austerity.

In contrast to the approach to Greece, Germany may be willing to study revising the terms of Portugal’s bailout, Schaeuble told his Portuguese counterpart in Brussels in a conversation picked up by Portuguese television.

Germany will “be ready” for an adjustment of the Portuguese program if needed, Schaeuble told Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar at the meeting yesterday.

IMF, ECB

The gathering, attended by International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, came hours after Papademos and party chiefs ended a week of meetings with a deal on fresh budget cuts.

The measures are aimed at delivering budget reductions totaling 1.5 percent of GDP this year and range from a 20 percent paring of the minimum wage to lower pension payments and immediate job cuts for as many as 15,000 state workers.

With European officials signaling investors will soon accept a debt swap that would impose losses of about 70 percent of their Greek bond holdings, the ECB came under pressure to offer additional relief.

“The ECB must look, within the framework of its independence, what sort of contribution it can make,” Juncker said.

Draghi yesterday left open the possibility of passing up some the profits on the Greek bonds the central bank bought during the crisis. He nevertheless rejected selling them to Europe’s temporary bailout fund at a loss because doing so would amount to “monetary financing” of governments, which is banned by European treaties.

Bondholders Meet

Bondholders met in Paris yesterday to discuss accepting an average coupon of as low as 3.6 percent on new 30-year bonds in the proposed debt swap. An agreement would slice 100 billion euros off more than 200 billion euros of privately-held debt and a formal offer must be made by Feb. 13 to allow all procedures to be completed before the March 20 bond comes due.

European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said the deal is “practically finalized.” The Institute of International Finance, which represents investors, said it welcomed progress made by Greece and look forward to the debt swap being completed next week.

“The Greeks understand that it’s not five minutes to midnight but 30 seconds to midnight,” Luxembourg Finance Minister Luc Frieden said.

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Whale culture reflects origins

SUBHEAD: Study shows humpback whales, sharing in same ocean basin, sing different tunes.  

By Kimberly Mok on 10 February 2012 for TreeHugger - 
  (http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/study-humpbacks-indian-ocean-singing-different-tunes.html)

 
Image above: Painting of humpback whale by Patrick LaMontagne. From (http://www.cartoonink.com/portfolio/?album=1&gallery=2).
 
Whale song and the development of whale culture is a fascinating thing. Now researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Columbia University and Australia have found that humpback whales from different sides of the same ocean basin are singing different songs -- an surprising finding since whales from the same basin usually sing the same tunes.

Previously, when whale songs from the same basin were compared, researchers found that the songs typically consisted of the similar parts or what is called in whale song parlance as "themes," or distinct sounds which are often repeated in cycles lasting up to 30 minutes.

Usually, songs are transmitted between different whale populations come in contact during migrations or mating seasons. However, these new findings of whales inhabiting the waters off Madagascar and Western Australia challenge previously held notions about how whale cultures spread within the same basin.

Writing in the January issue of Marine Mammal Science, lead author Anita Murray says that;

In the Northern Hemisphere, within an ocean basin whales sing songs that are composed of the same themes. However, whales in the southern Indian Ocean are singing almost completely different songs. Songs from Madagascar and Western Australia only shared one similar theme, the rest of the themes were completely different.

The reason for this anomaly remains a mystery. It could be the influence of singing whales from other ocean basins, such as the South Pacific or Atlantic, indicating an exchange of individuals between oceans which is unique to the Southern Hemisphere.

More research needed

The researchers surveyed, recorded and compared the songs of 19 individual whales during one breeding season, culminating in almost 20 hours of recordings for audio-visual analysis. Out of eleven recorded themes, only one theme song was mutually existent in both populations. They're hoping to continue further studies, as WCS conservationist Salvatore Cerchio adds that;

We have glimpsed here a snapshot of differences in repertoire between humpback whale populations of the Indian Ocean during a single season. Continued monitoring of these songs can provide us with valuable information on how whale songs are exchanged and how those channels of cultural transmission can be protected in the future.

More info and audio samples of whales from Madagascar and Western Australia over at WCS.


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North Dakota Boom Town Slum

SUBHEAD: Oil Rush workers in North Dakota brings RV's so they can live in Walmart parking lots.  

By Harry Bradford on 9 February 2012 for Huffington Post -  
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/09/north-dakota-boomtown_n_1266116.html?ref=business)


Image above: Two vehicles take 14 parking spaces to camp in Walmart's parlking lot overnight. From (http://joysofdickandjune.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/yesyes-you-can-park-at-wal-marts-overnight).
 
Apparently one Walmart isn't cool with people squatting in its parking lot.

Dozens of workers who have flocked to Williston, North Dakota to benefit from the region's oil boom have been living in tents and trailers for months outside of a local Walmart, but last Monday, the retail chain's management told the squatters to go or be towed, The Bismarck Tribune reports. Lines of RVs accommodated workers shoulder-to-shoulder but after receiving a variety of complaints, including from female customers who said they feared walking through the camp to shop, Walmart officials say they've had enough.

"It's just not appropriate for people to be living in our parking lot," Walmart spokeswoman Kayla Whaling told The Bismarck Tribune.

And it seems that the town's residents agree.

"Walmart is hell. You just don't want to go there," said one member of the Nehring family, a group of sisters who have been featured in a reality TV show Boomtown Girls that's being shopped to networks like TLC and MTV. "You can't find anything because it's all cleared out," another Nehring sister explains.

The camp is just one result of a huge population influx into Williston, thanks to a promise of plentiful -- and well-paid -- work in the oil industry. North Dakota currently boasts the lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 3.3 percent.

No doubt because of that, housing has become scarce in the town and the apartments that are available have seen huge jumps in rent, with prices sometimes increasing threefold. More than 1,000 longtime Williston residents have abandoned the town in the past two years due to crowding and the boost in living expenses.

The oil rush has had other negative impacts as well. Drunken bar fights have become more common as workers try to blow off steam after long hours. Charges of Driving Under the Influence have also grown more typical, while instances of theft more than doubled in 2011 compared to the year before.

Exotic dancing has also become a thriving industry in the town, with some strippers making up to $3,000 per night in tips alone. The popularity of the clubs may be due in part to the low ratio of women to men in the town, which may explain why some are "feeling like a piece of meat" in Walmart's parking lot, as one Nehring sister put it.


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Feds approve first nuke since 1978

SUBHEAD: after Fukushima disaster Nuclear regulatory Commission votes to approve new nuclear plant. By Lucia Graves on 9 February 2012 for Huffington Post - (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/09/federal-regulators-approve-nuclear-reactor_n_1266100.html) Image above: Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the NRC, testifies before the Senate on March 16, 2011. From (http://www.firstpost.com/topic/organization/nuclear-regulatory-commission-gregory-jaczko-chairman-of-the-nuclear-regulatory-image-01AGbaIc2gc65-75594-1.html). Federal safety officials voted 4-to-1 to approve the first nuclear reactor construction permit in almost 35 years, overriding U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jaczko.

The commission's vote on Thursday will allow Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power to expand operations at its plant in eastern Georgia, paving the way for the construction of two new nuclear power reactors at its Vogtle site. The last such project to be approved was in 1978.

Chairman Jaczko in his dissenting vote cited concerns stemming from Fukushima, underscoring long-standing tensions on the commission over the regulatory response to Japan's 2011 nuclear power disaster.

"I cannot support issuing this license as if Fukushima never happened," Jaczko said after the vote at the commission's headquarters in Rockville, Md. Jaczko had requested a binding commitment that the Fukushima enhancements currently planned would be enacted before the facility begins operations. Southern Company refused to meet this stipulation.

In a conference call with reporters on Thursday, Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Company, sought to minimize any differences with the chairman, promising "anything we learn from Fukushima we will bring to bear."

The project, which is estimated at $14 billion, could begin operations as soon as 2016. The project is expected to take roughly ten years to build and will create 800 permanent jobs, according to Southern Company's estimates.

Thursday's vote moves the project one step closer to securing an $8.33 billion loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, a deal that's been in the works since February of 2010. The Department's loan guarantee to the now-bankrupt and much maligned Solyndra, by comparison, was just $527 million.

Critics have been quick to question the fiscal prudence of asking taxpayers to take on such enormous upfront costs, arguing the DOE has offered insufficient "public disclosure" on the particulars of the loan guarantee.

“Given some of the lessons learned and political games developing from the Solyndra loan guarantee case, it's unacceptable and inconsistent that the much larger Vogtle loan isn't getting more intense scrutiny when the potential risk to taxpayers is much greater,” said Stephen A. Smith, executive director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, in a statement. "The DOE needs to operate with more transparency now -- not less."

The vote also underscores ideological divisions between the commissioners and the chairman, who, in the wake of Fukushima, sought to implement stricter safety standards that have been opposed by the four members. HuffPost reported on an earlier attempt to oust the chairman, noting the organizer of the attempted coup had previously consulted for the firm operating the Fukushima nuclear facility.

Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) on Thursday decried the commission's "cavalier disregard for the NRC's mission of public safety," noting the commission had failed to implement the safety recommendations of its own technical experts in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan. These recommendations, Markey said, should have been made mandatory.

"Today, the NRC abdicated its duty to protect public health and safety just to make construction faster and cheaper for the nuclear industry," said Rep. Markey, top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee and a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "While four NRC Commissioners continue to slow-walk the implementation of the Fukushima safety upgrades, today they have fast-tracked the construction of two nuclear reactors whose shield building could 'shatter like a glass cup' if impacted by an earthquake or other natural or man-made impact."

He isn't the only one worried about the safety of nuclear power in the event of a disaster. A coalition of nine environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, plan to file a lawsuit next week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit arguing that the NRC is violating federal law by issuing the license without considering the important lessons from Fukushima.

No nuclear power plants have been built in the U.S. since the partial meltdown the so-called Three Mile Island, a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania that in 1979 was the site of the most significant accident in the country's history of nuclear energy.

"The technology that we're dealing with today is the newest and safest we've ever had," Fanning said. "It is completely different than what we faced back in the 1970s."

See also: Ea O Ka Aina: NRC Chair Jaczko and the Commission 12/18/11 .

Bills on private use of public land

SUBHEAD: Aberchrombie created Public Land Development Corporation to let private companies develop on public land.  

By Elaine Dunbar on 9 February 2012 in Island Breath - 
  (http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2012/02/bills-on-private-use-of-public-land.html)
   
 Image above: Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort is mega-development at international natural wonder. From (http://ujimamagazine.com/?p=1076).

Please monitor the bills through the links below. You can leave written testimony or comment online regarding these bills when they have scheduled hearings. This one is a good bill. It seeks to ABOLISH the Public Land Development Corporation. House Bill 2156 HB2156 - (Description/wording of bill)

These three bills below are weak. They "state explicitly that the corporation must respect the host culture when making decisions about land development and that it can't sell ceded lands." This isnʻt good enough. We know how that ends up. These 3 bills will also dismantle environmental protection mandates to fast track the development of public lands by PRIVATE CORPORATIONS. Senate Bill 3004 (Description/wording of bill) Senate Bill 2925 (Description/wording of bill) House Bill 2814 (Description/wording of bill) From Civil Beat some backgound - for more (www.civilbeat.com/topics/public-land-development-corporation)

"The Public Land Development Corporation is a state entity created by the Legislature in 2011 to develop state lands and generate revenues for the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Through creating public-private partnerships, the corporation aims to attract private companies as joint partners in the development of recreational and leisure centers.

The corporation was formed after the Legislature passed Senate Bill 1555, which was signed into law as Act 55 by Gov. Neil Abercrombie on May 20, 2011. The bill passed the Senate by a 23-1 vote, with one senator excused. Les Ihara was the sole senator who voted against the bill. The House passed the bill by a 30-9 margin, with two members excused.

In July 2011, two of the corporation's five board members were appointed. The remaining three are state division heads.

Duane Kurisu, a partner in the real estate investment firm, Kurisu & Fergus, was appointed by House Speaker Calvin Say.

Bobby Bunda, a former state senator, was appointed by Senate President Shan Tsutsui. The board has yet to officially meet or name an executive director."

See also:
 Island Breath: State Betrays Kauai on Kokee 7/26/06 .

Anybody better than those elected

SUBHEAD: Public wouldn't mind selecting representatives from random mix out of a phone book. By Jason Linkins on 8 February 2012 for Huffington Post - (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/congressional-approval-phone-book-rasmussen_n_1263891.html) Image above: But will it play in Peoria? Pile of Peoria phonebooks. From (http://gwsolutionsgroup.com/2009/06/04/recycling-old-phone-books-in-central-illinois/). Just how much do ordinary Americans dislike the group of legislators who are currently spending their days babbling at each other in the House of Representatives and the Senate?

So much so that they would now actually be pretty okay if all of the lawmakers were replaced by people selected at random out of a phone book. (A "phone book" is something people used to keep in their homes to look up other people's numbers, before the Internet and the dawning awareness that we didn't actually want to talk to people anymore -- because, gah, what is the point anyway? -- made them basically obsolete.)

Or so says the latest poll from Rasmussen Reports:

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows that 43% believe a group of people randomly selected from the phone book would do a better job than the current Congress. Thirty-eight percent (38%) disagree with that assessment, while another 19% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

I think that in this case, those who say they're "not sure" whether they want to replace all of America's legislators with a random group of people pulled from the White Pages are as good as saying "yes." Perhaps they won't be sold on the idea until they get to see what page, at random, is selected to furnish our new overlords.

At any rate, we're one step closer to just giving up and impaneling the diners at a Ruby Tuesday to serve on the House Ways and Means Committee.

See also: Rasmussen: 43% Say random choice from phone book over elected representatives

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