Support International Women's Day!

In USA, we have 90 years of women having the vote nationally - which means that there are a number of women alive today who when born - were born to a woman who could not vote. In short, support the day there is more work yet to be done to "level the playing field."

clipped from www.feministpeacenetwork.org International Women’s Day Since its inception, The Feminist Peace Network has encouraged women around the world to participate in International Women’s Day.

Planet Killers versus the Rest of US - Who'll Win?

clipped from blogs.nature.com In the Ecuadorian Amazon, it's biodiversity versus oil A biodiversity assessment published today in the online journal PLoS ONE tries to bolster the case for protecting Ecuador's Yasuni National Park, even as the government's proposal for doing so has hit its rockiest stretch. Foreign Minister Fander Falconi and other officials working on the project have resigned in protest. On Monday, the Wall Street Journal quoted Correa indicating that he plans to appoint a new team and continue with the initiative, but how that might affect existing negotiations with potential donor countries is unclear.

Tonado Warning in LA - not Tulsa!

SHADES OF THE DAY AFTER! I grew up in LA and we never, ever had a tornado waring. You don't need to be a weather man to know which way wind is blowing - Climate change is more real than thought!

clipped from latimesblogs.latimes.com Tornado warning issued for parts of L.A. as big storm moves in

Father and son

Father and son,
originally uploaded by martien van asseldonk.

Good photos of Fathers or grandfathers and sons seem hard to come by these days - especially from cultures different than the usual Norman Rockwell version of America.

This is a classic worth saving on to.

Watch Drone War on Google Earth

The love affair with drone Predator UAVs is spooky. The "intelligence" is sometimes good and well too often collateral damage and civilians are assassinated instead of political enemies. Everyone (including the President, news media and public) are avoiding the fact US is actively assassinating people in contravention to Presidential Executive Order, in effect since 1980s and still current that mandates that we do not assassinate people. Real people die - this is not a video game or remakes of Navy Seal movies.

Think of it this way: The sights of people dying in Haiti moves you to contribute funds to help them. If you could see the civilians dying in Afghanistan and Pakistan due to bad intelligence, what would it move you to do?

clipped from maps.google.com U.S. Drone Attacks in Pakistan The approximate locations of U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan since 2004. Strikes prior to 2008 are yellow, those in 2008 during the Bush administration are red, and strikes during the Obama administration in 2009-2010 are green. Most strikes are on Pashtun villages in North and South Waziristan in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border.

Junk Science Used to Shift Blame for Bird Flu Away from Human Actions

Let's see, migratory birds catch avian flu from the millions and millions of chickens, ducks and geese who brew up new versions of flu leading up to the celebration of Lunar New Year when several billion celebrants just have to have poultry for their celebration and to assure a prosperous new year. The brewing of new viruses takes place in huge live markets that also house pigs raided for the same purpose - celebrating. That's the traditional path to new flu.

Add to that, the explosion of the global poultry market in the last 15 years and now you have new flus brewing worldwide, not just in Asia. This is the result of on-the-cheap industrialized poultry farming by humans.

So let's blame it on migrating birds and not us because because we don't want to change and have out fingers crossed we don't bring about a global killing pandemic.

clipped from news.xinhuanet.com Scientists discover avian influenza outbreak closely related to bird migration     KUNMING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A research jointly conducted by Chinese and Asian scientists has discovered that highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) outbreak was closely related to bird migration.

War: the fields just keep killing and killing: Vietnam

Land mines, cluster bombs, unexploded heavies, the list goes on and on. 200 years to rid Vietnam of mines? How long for Cambodia, Serbia, Kosovo, Iraq. The cost of war is a new hell for children and their mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles... for years afterward. Can't we just stop!

clipped from amandakoster.wordpress.com the soil is very red here where i am sitting there ‘was’ a war going on. the soil is very red here. it has a hi iron content there are bombs in this soil. explosives which are still killing people, maiming people, blinding people, etc. people who have/had nothing to do with any conflict between north and south vietnam, or the united states yesterday, january 15 quang li told me 14 people have died this year in quang tri province from explosives. bliare (exec. director of peacetrees vietnam) said it will take over 200 years to clear all the explosives in the soil in vietnam. over 200 years. 200 years. how long will this war last exactly? besides iron i imagine there is a lot of blood as well. the soil here is very red here.

Tell the USDA to Reject Monsanto's GE Alfalfa!

Nature thrives and survives because of diversity. Creating millions of acres of mono-culture, industrialized crops is an invitation to disease and crop failure. Of course Monsanto's answer to that is spray the planet with its pesticieds derived from the Agent Orange it sold to the military to defoliate Vietnamese jungles and oh, inadvertently, give both US soldiers and Vietnamese a vareity of toxin-induced disorders. They are planet killers for profit!

clipped from action.foodandwaterwatch.org Tell the USDA to Protect Organic and Reject Monsanto's GE Alfalfa! The USDA is getting closer to approving Monsanto's genetically engineered alfalfa.  One of the biggest impacts of allowing the use of GE alfalfa is contamination of other crops, including organic alfalfa, which is used by most organic dairies.  The USDA actually acknowledges the problem of contamination, but claims consumers and others in the organic movement may not care about the contamination.  This is absurd, considering one of the main reasons many people seek out organic food is to avoid genetically engineered crops. We need to let the USDA know that consumers don't want genetically engineered foods, and don't want organic foods to be contaminated.  Tell the USDA to reject the approval for Monsanto's GE alfalfa.

The Making of a Scapegoat - Redux

When things go badly in Iraq and Afghanistan, those who cannot accept defeat or being wrong, will look around for someone to blame. This book is about an earlier and continuing effort to blame the American pullout from Vietnam on Jane Fonda and those who opposed the war rather than a policy that was flawed, wrong, folly.

clipped from janefonda.com New Book “Hanoi Jane: War, Sex, and Fantasies of Betrayal” Lembcke shows how Fonda’s demonization played an important part in a powerful right-wing campaign to attribute American defeat in Vietnam to left-wing scapegoats and to reconstitute U.S. power as well as the ideal of aggressive masculinity.” —Christian G. Appy Lembcke shows that the expression “Hanoi Jane” did not reach the eyes and ears of most Americans until five or six years after the end of the war in Vietnam. By then, anxieties about America’s declining global status and deteriorating economy were fueling a populist reaction that pointed to the loss of the war as the taproot of those problems. Blaming the antiwar movement for undermining the military’s resolve, many found in the imaginary Hanoi Jane the personification of their stab-in-the- back theories.

Let's Get New Nuke Arms Reduction Treaty Done!

We need a new START not
Faulty Antiquated Republican Theological Speeches

clipped from www.newamerica.net For Security and Peace: Ratify START By William D. Hartung, Frida Berrigan, New America Foundation This backgrounder makes the case for a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (“New START”) between the United States and Russia and rebuts the key arguments from critics of the agreement. Specifically, it responds to nine assertions made by the Senate Republican Policy Committee (SRPC) in a report entitled “START Follow-on Do’s and Don’ts.” This report has been chosen because it is representative of the key arguments being made by New START critics.

Special Forces Afghan "Intel" Good or Just Talk for Money?

Read through Captain Cat's journey through a few hellish days in backwater Afghanistan and understand a bit better war is not Fox or CNN News, or the movies.

clipped from captaincat.typepad.com Clown in the Moon* Am I taking crazy pills? How difficult is it to grasp that all these botched ‘search and kill’ operations carried out by Special Forces (or the CIA) are going to piss people off.  Do you need a PhD to get that you are not exactly winning hearts and minds by storming into people’s homes like a bunch of tobacco chewing war-pumped cowboys and arresting or killing the inhabitants, based on what is maybe false information fed to them by their young Afghan ‘advisors’? What they needed to offload about were these search operations carried out by the US Special Forces, who are being ‘advised’ by one particular young Afghan man. According to the residents of this district as well as those from neighbouring ones, this man is the devil incarnate.

What you do to the children, you do to me

How will we measure up in 2010?

clipped from www.fides.org ASIA/AFGHANISTAN - Nearly 1,050 children die from armed conflict in 2009 Armed conflict killed hundreds of children and adversely affected many others in 2009 - the deadliest year for Afghan children since 2001. This is what the Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM), a Kabul-based humanitarian group, has said in a recent declaration. ARM says that from January to December 2009, nearly 1,050 children died in suicide attacks, roadside blasts, air strikes and in the cross-fire between Taliban insurgents and pro-government Afghan and foreign forces.

Mimi: I voted for this but...

You don't need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing

clipped from mimiwrites.blogspot.com I voted on the premise of transitional change. I wanted a shaking up of the status quo; and while I know that does not happen overnight nor am I privy to what goes into his decision-making, I did not expect the wind to swing first in the other direction so brutally. I did not expect to be discouraged in the first quarter of the game. Politics as usual in Washington has become politics as usual in Washington. Again. We are STILL in Iraq. We are sending another nightmare to Afghanistan. Nobody can find a job. We have spent enough money on this useless war to feed and clothe half the children in Darfur. Trillion dollar debt? Trillion? Did I mention we are still in Iraq? I don't care what the financial wizards say about the state of the economy or the rise and fall of inflation - the price of everything has increased Except peace. And that should be the highest priority of all.

Rowing the Atlantic - Go Katie Go!

Amazing trip and pluck!

clipped from rowforwater.com Hello from the Atlantic! Happy days rowing and still making good progress. I should just about reach the 1/8th mark today, that is, if I actually land in Cayenne (could possibly make landfall in Georgetown). And about the actual rowing bit? Aside from one seriously sore bum, I’m enjoying every moment out here. Life is simple. When your most difficult decision for the day is whether to snack on a Snickers or Butterfinger – life is good.

Legislators galore support Jr. ROTC - How about UNICEF Clubs?

The military and its solutions are not for everyone - ask your school district or local legislator to spo0nsor High School UNICEF clubs

clipped from volunteers.unicefusa.org Are you between the ages of 14 and 18 and would like to educate, advocate and fundraise on behalf of UNICEF?  Form a UNICEF High School Club! UNICEF High School Clubs will have access to a year–long curriculum that will allow you to educate yourself about global humanitarian issues as well as provide you with ideas on how to engage your community in the work of UNICEF.  Clubs can be formed at your high school or through a local civic organization.

Take a Walk for Peace?

clipped from footprintsforpeace.tripod.com February 11th - May 1st  International Peace Walk Towards a Nuclear Free Future Y12 to the UN  Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey & New York USA This is an opportunity for all people to come together in a non-violent, spiritually motivated action to end the nuclear industry and reclaim the future

Baywatch, year 3010

Baywatch, year 3010,
originally uploaded by Linnea Strid.

Artists stretch us and our vision and Ms. Strid does this with jolting realism! Cool!

Playing the al Qaeda game instead of a winning game

All terrorists live by convincing potential recruits that they have power and creating fear and division among their real opponents. The US, UK and EU are not the real perceived enemy of al Qaeda - Saudi Arabia is the first enemy. Iran may not realize it but they will be the number two enemy, then Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan... Get it! Sending troops to Afghanistan suits them - helps them recruit new members who will then be turned on their home states. Get it - good. Let's get out of Kabul!

clipped from www.williampfaff.com Playing al Qaeda's Game on 2010/1/6 17:10:00 (108 reads) Paris, 5 January, 2010 – It is not widely understood that the policy objective of al Qaeda is not to attack the western countries, which in itself accomplishes nothing. The ultimate purpose of al Qaeda is to bring about an upheaval in the Islamic world in which Islam can be rescued from corrupted governments and degenerate practices. Why should al Qaida or the Taliban wish to fight in Peoria, Illinois, or a garden suburb of London? There are no recruits to be made there, and nothing to be gained in the real battle which the Muslim extremists are waging: which is to radicalize the Muslim world, and to rescue their co-religionists from heretical beliefs and Western practices.

Dengue Fever aka:Breakbone Fever - Doubles in Mexico

This is really not good news. The mosquito that carries it also carries yellow fever. Global warming result? Sort of. This mosquito loves to breed in greater numbers when it has access to recently deforested areas - its perfect breeding gound. That's why Yellow Fever was such a big killer when Panama Canal was being built - they cut down many forests to build the canal. Message? Don't even think about buying wood products made from forests in Central America, Mexico, and the Amazon. Oh, a variant of Dengue probably killed millions of Mayans in a fashion similar to Ebola a hundred years before the Spanish arrived and was the result of cutting down forests to plant corn for massive Mayan city states.

clipped from www.fides.org AMERICA/MEXICO - Dengue cases in Mexico nearly doubled in 2009 Mexico City (Agenzia Fides) - According to health authorities in Mexico, the country closed the year with an increase of 50% more cases of dengue fever than those recorded in 2008. Among the causes of the increase include the mutation of the insect vector, the Aedes aegypti, which now reproduces itself almost year round, even in winter. According to the Health Ministry, the mosquito has developed resistance to insecticides and has managed to adapt to areas of higher altitude, thus extending the areas of infection. The latest report from the National Center for epidemiological surveillance indicates that cases of classical dengue fever reported in 2009 were 40,865, up from 27,479 in 2008. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 4/1/2010)

Whale War 2010, not 1810! Japanese Aggression in Antarctica!

Japanese culture will not crumble if they can't kill and eat whales - shape up and be good neighbors!

clipped from www.seashepherd.org Japanese Whalers Ram Sea Shepherd Ship Ady Gil In an unprovoked attack captured on film, the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru No. 2 deliberately rammed and caused catastrophic damage to the Sea Shepherd catamaran Ady Gil. Six crew crewmembers, four from New Zealand, one from Australia, and one from the Netherlands were immediately rescued by the crew of the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker. None of the crew Ady Gil crew were injured.

Greed and Hubris Will Kill the Planet

Every time you see someone pulling up to an intersection or turning right on red , with one hand on the wheel and the other holding a cell phone, each time someone puts off a repair to "save" money - think about the promises made about the safety of this well, or that gene modification, or the newest wonder drug, pesticide, synthetic whatever.

clipped from blog.skytruth.org Human Error Redux We closed out 2009 with another stunning reminder that human error still poses a major risk for oil spills and other environmentally significant accidents: a high-tech escort tug, the Pathfinder, hit the very same well-mapped reef in Prince William Sound that the Exxon Valdez ran up against twenty years ago.