Chrysanthemum Happiness

Lead Eagle

2012-01-19T13:31:00.000-08:00

Scientists: Lead bullets poison bald eagles

Lead bullet fragments left in discarded entrails of deer and other animals are poisoning bald eagles and other scavenger birds, scientists and wildlife officials say.

The Wildlife Center of Virginia, a nonprofit that cares for sick and injured animals, has received four birds in the last two weeks suffering from lead poisoning.

The birds — two bald eagles, a red-tailed hawk and a black vulture — are not endangered but they are protected in North America under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. One of the eagles was found near Stumpy Lake in Virginia Beach.

“That bird is still alive. He’s not doing well, but that’s better than being dead,” said Ed Clark, president of the Waynesboro-based center.

The rash of cases coincided with Virginia’s deer hunting season, a trend the center has noticed in recent years, Clark said.

Most hunters remove deer innards in the field, a practice that keeps the meat from getting too gamey. Occasionally, bullet fragments are left in the innards and eaten by scavenger birds and other animals.

Lead is highly toxic to birds, especially bald eagles, said Bryan D. Watts, a professor and director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg. A piece of lead smaller than a BB pellet is enough to kill an adult eagle, he said.

Scientists and wildlife officials have long suspected the connection — they made a similar link regarding waterfowl that led the federal government in 1991 to ban lead bullets for duck, geese and swan hunting.

Advancements in lead poison testing, as well as greater availability of those products, have made diagnosing the problem among eagles much easier, Clark said. It can be avoided if hunters bury the innards or use copper bullets, a less toxic but more expensive alternative to lead, he said.

Nuisance animals, such as groundhogs and skunks, shot and killed by farmers can also poison scavenger birds, Clark said. He encouraged farmers to bury such animals.

At least one hunting organization is skeptical of the claims regarding eagles and hawks. Nick Hall Sr., president of the Virginia Deer Hunters Association, said vultures often devour deer entrails before other animals.

“I just don’t believe an eagle is going to have the chance to eat the carcass before a buzzard,” he said.

Furthermore, scavenger birds are known to eat at landfills and other sites where they might ingest lead, he said.

The nation’s bird, bald eagles nearly went extinct last century because they ate food laced with pesticides, such as DDT and kepone. Their population has swelled in recent decades, especially in Hampton Roads and the rest of Virginia, because many of the pesticides were banned, Watts said.

Study Finds that California Lead Ban Successful in Reducing Lead In Birds

Y2K

2012-01-19T13:05:00.000-08:00

so I've decided to go back to school starting with taking some basic classes in math and science at the community college and then eventually applying to graduate school for environmental science or something related. I joined the ymca last night and after years of not belonging to a gym it will be nice to be able to swim and work out again. Life is looking up even though it is 2012. We rescued a kitten, Mitsu (named after my car where we found her) and she is so much fun.

I hope you are well and you are living the way you want to this year.

When I'm with you I can always see the shore

2011-06-21T07:13:00.000-07:00

You were born together,
and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings
of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the
silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea between
the shores of your souls.
…

And stand together, yet not too near together.
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress
grow not in each other’s shadow.”

Khalil Gibran

Doctors, public need education on Lyme disease

2011-05-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

Explore Baltimore County: LETTERS: Doctors, public need education on Lyme disease

This is my letter to the editor about Lyme Disease.

Deepwater Blues

2010-06-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

Tears are rolling down my face
I cry not for me
but for my children and the fate of the whole human race
a sea of red at my feet
as i stand along the bayou shore
this was once my home but not anymore

as the beautiful brown pelican stretches her wings
her feathers shimmer in the blinding sun
the stench is overwhelming in the wind
what have we done . what have we done?
we have destroyed all that we love
and for what?
out of greed for money and oil
the earth is hemorrhaging
we have bled her dry
and now the sea runs red with the blood of marine life

the red tide has destroyed our way of life
there will be no recovery or salvation
only strife
our hearts are broken but our will power must stay strong
we must ensure this tragedy is the last of its kind
to save the earth for all future mankind
for our children and grandchildren we must carry on
learn from this disaster and prevent another one

it's time to say NO to greed and hubris
and YES to green energy and sustainable practices
we CAN make a difference for the future generations
if we clean up our act and bring BP and accomplices to justice!

2010-02-02T08:57:00.000-08:00

Do not stand at my grave and forever weep.
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn’s rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and forever cry.
I am not there. I did not die.

2009-08-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

Honduras: Military Coup Engineered By Two US Companies?

By John Perkins

August 07, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- I recently visited Central America. Everyone I talked with there was convinced that the military coup that had overthrown the democratically-elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, had been engineered by two US companies, with CIA support. And that the US and its new president were not standing up for democracy.

Earlier in the year Chiquita Brands International Inc. (formerly United Fruit) and Dole Food Co had severely criticized Zelaya for advocating an increase of 60% in Honduras’s minimum wage, claiming that the policy would cut into corporate profits. They were joined by a coalition of textile manufacturers and exporters, companies that rely on cheap labor to work in their sweatshops.

Memories are short in the US, but not in Central America. I kept hearing people who claimed that it was a matter of record that Chiquita (United Fruit) and the CIA had toppled Guatemala’s democratically-elected president Jacobo Arbenz in 1954 and that International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT), Henry Kissinger, and the CIA had brought down Chile’s Salvador Allende in 1973. These people were certain that Haiti’s president Jean-Bertrand Aristide had been ousted by the CIA in 2004 because he proposed a minimum wage increase, like Zelaya’s.

I was told by a Panamanian bank vice president, “Every multinational knows that if Honduras raises its hourly rate, the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean will have to follow. Haiti and Honduras have always set the bottom line for minimum wages. The big companies are determined to stop what they call a ‘leftist revolt’ in this hemisphere. In throwing out Zelaya they are sending frightening messages to all the other presidents who are trying to raise the living standards of their people.”

It did not take much imagination to envision the turmoil sweeping through every Latin American capital. There had been a collective sign of relief at Barack Obama’s election in the U.S., a sense of hope that the empire in the North would finally exhibit compassion toward its southern neighbors, that the unfair trade agreements, privatizations, draconian IMF Structural Adjustment Programs, and threats of military intervention would slow down and perhaps even fade away. Now, that optimism was turning sour.

The cozy relationship between Honduras’s military coup leaders and the corporatocracy were confirmed a couple of days after my arrival in Panama. England’s The Guardian ran an article announcing that “two of the Honduran coup government's top advisers have close ties to the US secretary of state. One is Lanny Davis, an influential lobbyist who was a personal lawyer for President Bill Clinton and also campaigned for Hillary. . . The other hired gun for the coup government that has deep Clinton ties is (lobbyist) Bennett Ratcliff.” (1)

DemocracyNow! broke the news that Chiquita was represented by a powerful Washington law firm, Covington & Burling LLP, and its consultant, McLarty Associates (2). President Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder had been a Covington partner and a defender of Chiquita when the company was accused of hiring “assassination squads” in Colombia (Chiquita was found guilty, admitting that it had paid organizations listed by the US government as terrorist groups “for protection” and agreeing in 2004 to a $25 million fine). (3) George W. Bush’s UN Ambassador, John Bolton, a former Covington lawyer, had fiercely opposed Latin American leaders who fought for their peoples’ rights to larger shares of the profits derived from their resources; after leaving the government in 2006, Bolton became involved with the

Project for the New American Century, the Council for National Policy, and a number of other programs that promote corporate hegemony in Honduras and elsewhere.

McLarty Vice Chairman John Negroponte was U.S. Ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985, former Deputy Secretary of State, Director of National Intelligence, and U.S. Representative to the United Nations; he played a major role in the U.S.-backed Contra’s secret war against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government and has consistently opposed the policies of the democratically-elected pro-reform Latin American presidents. (4) These three men symbolize the insidious power of the corporatocracy, its bipartisan composition, and the fact that the Obama Administration has been sucked in.

The Los Angeles Times went to the heart of this matter when it concluded:

What happened in Honduras is a classic Latin American coup in another sense: Gen. Romeo Vasquez, who led it, is an alumnus of the United States' School of the Americas (renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation). The school is best known for producing Latin American officers who have committed major human rights abuses, including military coups. (5)

All of this leads us once again to the inevitable conclusion: you and I must change the system. The president – whether Democrat or Republican – needs us to speak out.

Chiquita, Dole and all your representatives need to hear from you. Zelaya must be reinstated.

FOOTNOTES

(1)

“Who's in charge of US foreign policy? The coup in Honduras has exposed divisions between Barack Obama and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton” by Mark Weisbrot

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jul/16/honduras-coup-obama-clinton (July 23, 2009) (2) http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/21/from_arbenz_to_zelaya_chiquita_in (July 23, 2009) (3) “Chiquita admits to paying Colombia terrorists: Banana company agrees to $25 million fine for paying AUC for protection” MSNBC March 15, 2007 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17615143/ (July 24, 2009) (4) Fore more information: http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2009/07/eric-holder-and-chaquita-covington.html (July 23, 2009)

(5) “The high-powered hidden support for Honduras' coup: The country's rightful president was ousted by a military leadership that takes many of its cues from Washington insiders.” by Mark Weisbrot, Los Angeles Times, July 23, 2009

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-weisbrot23-2009jul23,0,7566740.story (July 23, 2009)

Afghans have no hope this election

2009-08-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

Why Afghans Have No Hope in This Week's Vote

by Malalai Joya

Like millions of Afghans, I have no hope in the results of this week’s election. In a country ruled by warlords, occupation forces, Taliban insurgency, drug money and guns, no one can expect a legitimate or fair vote.

Among the people on the street, a common sentiment is, ‘Everything has already been decided by the U.S. and NATO, and the real winner has already been picked by the White House and Pentagon.’ Although there are a total of 41 candidates running for president, the vast majority of them are well known faces responsible for the current disastrous situation in Afghanistan.

Hamid Karzai has cemented alliances with brutal warlords and fundamentalists in order to maintain his position. Although our Constitution forbids war criminals from running for office, he has named two notorious militia commanders as his vice-presidential running mates – Qasim Fahim, who was, at the time of the 2001 invasion, the warlord who headed up the Northern Alliance, and Karim Khalili. The election commission did not reject them or a number of others accused of many crimes, and so the list of candidates also includes former Russian puppets and a former Taliban commander.

Karzai has also continued to absolutely betray the women of Afghanistan. Even after massive international outcry and brave protesters taking to the streets of Kabul, Karzai has implemented the infamous law targeting Shia women. He had initially promised to review the most egregious clauses, but in the end it was passed with few amendments, leaving the barbaric anti-women statements untouched. As Human Rights Watch recently said, “Karzai has made an unthinkable deal to sell Afghan women out in return for the support of fundamentalists in the August 20 election.”

Deals have been made with countless fundamentalists in Karzai’s maneuvering to stay in power. For example, pro-Iranian extremist Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, who has been accused of war crimes, has been promised five cabinet positions for his party, and so he has told the media he’s backing Karzai. A deal has even been done with the dreaded warlord Rashid Dostum – who has returned from exile in Turkey to campaign for Karzai – and many other such terrorists. Rather than democracy, what we have in Afghanistan today are back room deals amongst discredited warlords.

The two main contenders to Karzai’s continued rule, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah Abdullah, do not offer any change; both are former cabinet ministers in this discredited regime and neither has a real, broad footing amongst the people. Abdullah has run a high profile campaign, in part due to the backing and financial support he receives from Iran’s fundamentalist regime. Abdullah and some of the Northern Alliance commanders supporting him have threatened unrest if he loses the vote, raising fears of a return to the rampant violence and killing that marked the civil war years of 1992 to 1996. All of the major candidates’ speeches and policies are very similar. They make the same sweet-sounding promises, but we are not fooled. Afghans remember how Karzai abandoned his campaign pledges after winning the 2004 vote.

We Afghans know that this election will change nothing and it is only part of a show of democracy put on by and for the West, to legitimize its future puppet in Afghanistan. It seems we are doomed to see the continuation of this failed, mafia-like corrupt government for another term.

The people of Afghanistan are fed up with the rampant corruption of Karzai’s “narco-state” government – his own brother, Wali Karzai, has been linked to drug trafficking in Kandahar Province – and the escalating war waged by NATO. In May of this year, U.S. air strikes killed approximately 150 civilians in my native province, Farah. More than ever, Afghans are faced with powerful internal enemies – fundamentalist warlords and their Taliban brothers-in-creed – and the external enemies occupying the country.

Democracy will never come to Afghanistan through the barrel of a gun, or from the cluster bombs dropped by foreign forces. The struggle will be long and difficult, but the values of real democracy, human rights and women’s rights will only be won by the Afghan people themselves.

So not be fooled by this façade of democracy. Your governments in the West that claim to be bringing democracy to Afghanistan ignore public opinion in their own countries, where growing numbers are against the war. President Obama in particular needs to understand that the change Afghans believe in does not include more troops and a ramped up war.

If the populations of Afghanistan and the NATO countries were able to vote on this military occupation it could not continue indefinitely, and peace would finally be within reach.

Malalai Joya was the youngest Member of the Afghan Parliament elected in the 2005 elections. Her memoir, A Woman Among Warlords (Scribner), will be published this October.

Published on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

Damn it feels good to be a Banksta...

2008-10-07T06:12:00.000-07:00

The time is Now.

2008-07-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

If there ever was a time for action, it is now. Our country is on the verge of extinction; the way of life we have known and taken for granted is quickly disappearing forever in the dark cloud of fascism and corporatocracy. So much so that we hardly even notice it because of the burden we carry of propping up the rich and privileged at our own expense in these times.

It is true that the greatest form of patriotism is dissent, and we must all be patriots at this dire hour if we are to save the America that our ancestors fought to sustain. Our youth are giving their blood for lies, making the world a more dangerous and less stable place instead of promoting ‘democracy’ in the world as we have been told is their mission.

It is time to stand up for what is right – freedom, prosperity, and peace. LIBERTY.

We the people must shed our blanket of consumerism and put on the throws of justice and TRUTH so that we can save our country from eternal corruption and greed. Government cannot and will not fix itself, the people must intervene otherwise it will grow to unprecedented proportions and corruption spread like a wildfire.

It is not too late for us. It’s time for another Boston Tea Party. Time for us to show our government who’s boss. It is time for us to take back America! REVOLUTION!

How you might ask? As it is obvious the candidates in the current presidential ‘race’ are not chosen because of their abilities or experience, but because of money, power, and greed, we must set aside ideas that the simple act of voting is enough. What will make them pay attention? Mass resistance in the form of stopping the flow of this country’s money supply: stop working, stop paying taxes, stop buying. We must BOYCOTT the establishment.

The real masters of this plot against America are not the faces we see on TV or in the newspapers. They lie hidden behind their walls of power and fortune and secretly manipulate this government and other governments throughout the “civilised world”. The creation of EU and AU, the World Bank and the IMF, the United Nations and NATO, by the likes of the Rockefellers and the Bilderbergers all lead to a ‘New World Order’ in which there is one world government for the corporations and by the corporations. A world in which your vote never mattered and will not be counted…

"We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries." -- David Rockefeller

"None are more enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." - Goethe

San Francisco

2008-04-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

If you're going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you're going to San Francisco
You're gonna meet some gentle people there

For those who come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there
In the streets of San Francisco
Gentle people with flowers in their hair

All across the nation such a strange vibration
People in motion
There's a whole generation with a new explanation
People in motion people in motion

For those who come to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there

If you come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there

Scapegoating

2008-01-18T16:45:00.000-08:00

The Scapegoat

Tea Party 07!

2007-12-15T15:45:00.000-08:00

On December 16th, 1773, American colonists dumped tea into the Boston Harbor to protest an

oppressive tax. This December 16th, American citizens will dump millions of dollars into the
Ron Paul presidential campaign to protest the oppressive and unconstitutional inflation tax -
which has enabled a flawed foreign policy, a costly war and the sacrificing
of our liberties here at home.

Please join us this December 16th 2007 for the largest one-day political donation event in
history. Our goal is to bring together 100,000 people to donate $100 each,
creating a one day donation total of $10,000,000.

Please pledge via feedburner below to confirm your commitment to donate.
Each day you'll receive an email with our total number of subscribers.
In this way we will know exactly where we stand in our efforts.
Our goal is 100,000 subscribers.

Tea Party 07.com

Dalai Lama

2007-10-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

My Vision of a Compassionate Future
By The Dalai Lama

Sunday, October 21, 2007; Page B01 The Washington Post

Brute force can never subdue the basic human desire for freedom. The thousands of people who marched in the cities of Eastern Europe in recent decades, the unwavering determination of the people in my homeland of Tibet and the recent demonstrations in Burma are powerful reminders of this truth. Freedom is the very source of creativity and human development. It is not enough, as communist systems assumed, to provide people with food, shelter and clothing. If we have these things but lack the precious air of liberty to sustain our deeper nature, we remain only half human.

In the past, oppressed peoples often resorted to violence in their struggle to be free. But visionaries such as Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. have shown us that successful changes can be brought about nonviolently. I believe that, at the basic human level, most of us wish to be peaceful. Deep down, we desire constructive, fruitful growth and dislike destruction.

Many people today agree that we need to reduce violence in our society. If we are truly serious about this, we must deal with the roots of violence, particularly those that exist within each of us. We need to embrace "inner disarmament," reducing our own emotions of suspicion, hatred and hostility toward our brothers and sisters.
Furthermore, we must reexamine how we relate to the very question of the use of violence in today's profoundly interconnected world. One may sometimes feel that one can solve a problem quickly with force, but such success is often achieved at the expense of the rights and welfare of others. One problem may have been solved, but the seed of another is planted, thus opening a new chapter in a cycle of violence and counter-violence.

From the Velvet Revolution in the former Czechoslovakia to the popular pro-democracy movement in the Philippines, the world has seen how a nonviolent approach can lead to positive political changes. But the genuine practice of nonviolence is still at an experimental stage. If this experiment succeeds, it can open the way to a far more peaceful world. We need to embrace a more realistic approach to dealing with human conflicts, an approach that is in tune with a new reality of heavy interdependence in which the old concepts of "we" and "they" are no longer relevant. The very idea of total victory for one's own side and the total defeat of one's enemy is untenable. In violent conflicts, the innocent are often the first casualties, as the war in Iraq and Sudan's Darfur crisis painfully remind us. Today, the only viable solution to human conflicts will come through dialogue and reconciliation based on the spirit of compromise.

Many of the problems we confront today are our own creation. I believe that one of the root causes of these manmade problems is the inability of humans to control their agitated minds and hearts -- an area in which the teachings of the world's great religions have much to offer.
A scientist from Chile once told me that it is inappropriate for a scientist to be attached to his particular field of study, because that would undermine his objectivity. I am a Buddhist practitioner, but if I mix up my devotion for Buddhism with an attachment to it, my mind will be biased toward it. A biased mind never sees the complete picture, and any action that results will not be in tune with reality. If religious practitioners can heed this scientist's advice and refrain from being attached to their own faith traditions, it could prevent the growth of fundamentalism. It also could enable such followers to genuinely respect faith traditions other than their own. I often say that while one can adhere to the principle of "one truth, one religion" at the level of one's personal faith, we should embrace at the same time the principle of "many truths, many religions" in the context of wider society. I see no contradiction between these two.
I do not mean to suggest that religion is indispensable to a sound ethical way of life, or for that matter to genuine happiness. In the end, whether one is a believer or a nonbeliever, what matters is that one be a good, kind and warmhearted person. A deep sense of caring for others, based on a profound sense of interconnection, is the essence of the teachings of all great religions of the world. In my travels, I always consider my foremost mission to be the promotion of basic human qualities of goodness -- the need for and appreciation of the value of love, our natural capacity for compassion and the need for genuine fellow feeling. No matter how new the face or how different the dress and behavior, there is no significant division between us and other people.

When I first saw a photograph of Earth taken from outer space, it powerfully brought home to me how small and fragile the planet is and how petty our squabbles are. Amid our perceived differences, we tend to forget how the world's different religions, ideologies and political systems were meant to serve humans, not destroy them. When I traveled to the former Soviet Union in the late 1970s, I encountered widespread paranoia, even among ordinary people who feared that the West hated them so much that it was ready to invade their country. Of course, I knew this was mere projection.

Today, more than ever, we need to make this fundamental recognition of the basic oneness of humanity the foundation of our perspective on the world and its challenges. From the dangerous rate of global warming to the widening gap between rich and poor, from the rise of global terrorism to regional conflicts, we need a fundamental shift in our attitudes and our consciousness -- a wider, more holistic outlook.

As a society, we need to shift our basic attitude about how we educate our younger generation. Something is fundamentally lacking in our modern education when it comes to educating the human heart. As people begin to explore this important question, it is my hope that we will be able to redress the current imbalance between the development of our brains and the development of our hearts.

To promote greater compassion, we must pay special attention to the role of women. Given that mothers carry the fetus for months within their own bodies, from a biological point of view women in general may possess greater sensitivity of heart and capacity for empathy. My first teacher of love and compassion was my own mother, who provided me with maximum love.

I do not mean to reinforce in any way the traditional view that a woman's place is confined to the home. I believe that the time has come for women to take more active roles in all domains of human society, in an age in which education and the capacities of the mind, not physical strength, define leadership. This could help create a more equitable and compassionate society.
In general, I feel optimistic about the future.

As late as the 1950s and '60s, people believed that war was an inevitable condition of mankind and that conflicts must be solved through the use of force. Today, despite ongoing conflicts and the threat of terrorism, most people are genuinely concerned about world peace, far less interested in propounding ideology and far more committed to coexistence.

The rapid changes in our attitude toward the Earth are also a source of hope. Until recently, we thoughtlessly consumed its resources as if there were no end to them. Now not only individuals but also governments are seeking a new ecological order. I often joke that the moon and stars look beautiful, but if any of us tried to live on them, we would be miserable. This blue planet of ours is the most delightful habitat we know. Its life is our life, its future our future. Now Mother Nature is telling us to cooperate. In the face of such global problems as the greenhouse effect and the deterioration of the ozone layer, individual organizations and single nations are helpless. Our mother is teaching us a lesson in universal responsibility.

The 20th century became a century of bloodshed; despite its faltering start, the 21st century could become one of dialogue, one in which compassion, the seed of nonviolence, will be able to flourish. But good wishes are not enough. We must seriously address the urgent question of the proliferation of weapons and make worldwide efforts toward greater external disarmament.
Large human movements spring from individual human initiatives. If you feel that you cannot have much of an effect, the next person may also become discouraged, and a great opportunity will have been lost. On the other hand, each of us can inspire others simply by working to develop our own altruistic motivations -- and engaging the world with a compassion-tempered heart and mind.

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the spiritual leader of Tibet. Since 1959, he has been living in Dharamsala, in northern India, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile.

Peace and the Pursuit of Truth

2007-09-12T16:04:00.001-07:00

Arun Gandhi Reflects on Working Toward Peace
The greatest challenge in promoting nonviolence is the English language and its limitations. The next is our perception, rooted for centuries, that violence is the only way we can resolve our problems.
When my grandfather Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi developed his philosophy of nonviolence in South Africa and wanted an appropriate word to describe it, he could not find one. He rejected "passive resistance" and "civil disobedience," saying there was nothing passive or disobedient about the movement. He even offered a reward to anyone who could come up with a positive English word to describe what he had in mind. Alas, no one could.
Gandhi decided a Sanskrit word might be more appropriate, as he was planning to move back to India and lead the Indian struggle for freedom. He found satyagraha, a combination of two Sanskrit words, described his philosophy the best: satya, meaning "truth," and agraha, meaning "the pursuit of." Thus, satyagraha means the pursuit of truth, the opposite of the Western concept of possessing the truth.
Nonviolence, therefore, can be described as an honest and diligent pursuit of truth. It could also mean the search for the meaning of life or the purpose of life, questions that have tormented humankind for centuries. The fact that we have not been able to find satisfactory answers to these questions does not mean there is no answer. It only means we have not searched with any degree of honesty. The search has to be both external and internal. We seek to ignore this crucial search because the sacrifices it demands are revolutionary. It means moving away from greed, selfishness, possessiveness, and dominance to love, compassion, understanding, and respect. It means that to be true to our faith and religion it is not enough to pray ten times a day. Rather we must make the Scriptures the basis of our existence.
Because of our materialistic, greedy lifestyle, we have become very possessive. We seek to possess not only material goods but even our spiritual beliefs-even peace, if we find it. How many times have we heard people say, "I am at peace with myself," or gurus say to their devotees, "find your peace and hold on to it." Can anyone find peace or spiritual awakening and hold on to it for themselves?
Grandfather liked to tell us the story of an ancient Indian king who was obsessed with finding the meaning of peace. What is peace? How can we get it? And what should we do with it when we find it? These were some of the questions that bothered him. Intellectuals throughout his kingdom were offered a handsome reward to answer the king's questions. Many tried but none succeeded. At last, someone suggested the king consult a sage who lived just outside the borders of his kingdom.
"He is an old man and very wise," the king was told. "If anyone can answer your questions he can."
The king went to the sage and posed the eternal question. Without a word the sage went into his kitchen and brought a grain of wheat to the king. "In this you will find the answer to your question," the sage said as he placed the grain of wheat in the king's outstretched palm.
Puzzled but unwilling to admit his ignorance, the king clutched the grain of wheat and returned to his palace. He locked the precious grain in a tiny gold box and placed the box in his safe. Each morning, upon waking, the king would open the box and look at the grain seeking an answer, but he could find nothing.
Weeks later another sage, passing through, stopped to meet the king, who eagerly invited him to resolve his dilemma.The king explained how he had asked the eternal question but was given a grain of wheat. "I have been looking for an answer every morning but I find nothing."
"It is quite simple, your honor," said the sage. "Just as this grain represents nourishment for the body, peace represents nourishment for the soul. Now, if you keep this grain locked up in a gold box it will eventually perish without providing nourishment or multiplying. However, if it is allowed to interact with the elements-light, water, air, soil-it will flourish and multiply, and soon you would have a whole field of wheat to nourish not only you but so many others. This is the meaning of peace. It must nourish your soul and the souls of others, and it must multiply by interacting with the elements."
This is the essence of Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence, or the pursuit of truth. In the lifelong pursuit of truth we must always be guided by love, compassion, understanding, and respect. We must allow everything we have to interact positively with the elements and help create a society of peace and harmony. The more possessions we have, the more we have to secure them from those who covet them. This generates feelings of jealousy and leads the needy to resort to taking by force what they cannot get through love and the compassion of the rich.
The best way to understand Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence is to first understand the extent of the violence we practice, consciously or unconsciously, every day of our lives. Grandfather made me aware of the violence in society, including the violence within myself, by asking me to work on a family tree of violence, using the same principles as a genealogical tree.
"Violence has two children," he said, "the physical and passive forms. Now, every day before you go to bed I would like you to write under each heading everything you experienced during the day and its relationship with violence."I had to honestly write down my own acts of violence during the day. This meant that every night I had to analyze my actions. If I found them to be violent, then the act had to be identified as such. It was an excellent way of introspection and acknowledgment of one's own violence.
We generally deny our own violence because we are ignorant about it or because we are conditioned to look at violence only in its physical manifestation-wars, fighting, killing, beating, rapes-where we use physical force. We don't, however, consider oppression in all its forms-name-calling, teasing, insulting, disrespectful behavior-as passive forms of violence.
The relationship between passive violence and physical violence is the same as the relationship between gasoline and fire. Acts of passive violence generate anger in the victim, and since the victim has not learned how to use anger positively, the victim abuses anger and generates physical violence. Thus, it is passive violence that fuels the fire of physical violence, which means if we wish to put out the fire of physical violence we have to cut off the fuel supply.
The choice before humanity, to quote Gandhi's words, is quite simple: We have to be the change we wish to see. Unless we change individually, no one is going to change collectively. For generations we have been waiting for the other person to change first. A change of heart cannot be legislated; it must come out of conviction.

Truthdig

2007-08-01T06:39:00.000-07:00

A Coalition of the Unwilling

A Dig led by Sarah Stillman

Nothing screams “I (heart) global warming” quite like a stroll around Capitol Hill in your halter top at Christmastime. I speak from experience; this past holiday season, high on Coppertone and early-blooming cherry trees, I found myself all too eager to tryst with the infamous 21st-century menace—never mind that he’d recently melted the heart of the Ayles Ice Shelf, screwed 2,000 polar bears in the Beaufort Sea and sweet-talked the pasty male congressional interns into bearing their chests on the National Mall in mid-winter. Do I regret my indulgence? No. Have I repented? Yes. My cure? A blustery island called Great Britain.

When I returned to my new flat in the UK after the holidays to discover freakish winds that chapped my lips and trapped my neighbor under a pile of scaffolding until the local authorities could dig him out several hours later, the symbolism wasn’t lost on me. If America lubed up my climate change romanticism, the motherland was having nothing of it. In their mass media, the British have long favored unambiguous front-page headlines like “Global Warming May Kill Millions” over manufactured debates about whether climate scientists are the millennial Chicken Littles. In their elected government, they share a cross-party consensus on the need for urgent action, as evinced by Prime Minister Tony Blair’s ambitious pledge to cut UK carbon emissions at least 60 percent by 2050. And in their national temple to intellectual argumentation—the pub—the Brits’ carbon-conscious banter flows as freely as Old Hooky. In fact, it was around the stained oak tables of Oxford’s Eagle and Child that I first noticed my British peers’ dexterity in the lingo of “eco-footprints” and “carbon sequestration” that put me and my American friends to shame.

Whereas my job as a freelance journalist is typically to write my way around my ineptitude, on this particular occasion I would like to write about it. The question was simple when I pitched it to my editor several months ago: Why are the Brits kicking our arse on climate change awareness? That was back when news of a 14 percent reduction in perennial Arctic sea ice cover was relegated to the footnotes of The New York Times, and when the Republican-ruled Congress still boasted a prime soapbox for Sen. James Inhofe’s (R-Okla.) diatribes against the liberal “hoax” of greenhouse gases. But times they are a-changing. Now that the crisis has exploded into the mainstream U.S. press upon the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in February—and with Oscar-adorned Al Gore suddenly hedging his bets for a Nobel Peace Prize, Snoop Dogg rapping for the cause, and even our recalcitrant commander in chief promising a spankin’ new climate agenda—America appears to be reaching its tipping point.

My original question about the U.S.-UK climate divide hasn’t disappeared in this new landscape; it’s simply proved more complicated and urgent than I’d first imagined: Why did the Brits catch the climate change bug several years before the America public, and has this pop trend really translated into meaningful policy? What makes a troubling environmental truth take hold of a nation’s psyche—earning that coveted “stickiness factor” to which Malcolm Gladwell traces all revolutions of consciousness? And how can we ensure that America’s recent attempts to close the climate change gap translate into immediate action—individually, culturally and politically—on both sides of the Atlantic this year?

I decided to consult more than 20 climate change scientists, politicians, journalists and environmentalists for answers. And the insights they shared form a surprisingly coherent picture, even if it looks less like one of Gore’s tidy Power Point slides and more like an epidemiologist’s tangled causality web: Scientific research breaks through to the mass media (or doesn’t); the media transform pop culture; public opinion tilts political leadership; political leadership stocks the coffers of new scientific research; and the circle goes ’round again, ricochets, darts sideways and globalizes. What follows is a tour of three major strands from this web that seem worth splicing, since they allow us to look beyond the symptoms of climate apathy in order to address its underlying practical and philosophical structures.

A Nation of “Once-lers”: the Strand of Addiction
Let’s begin with the most simple of explanations for the cross-Atlantic climate divide, one shared with me by global warming guru Bill McKibben: “Americans are deeper in denial because they’re deeper in addiction.” Best-selling author of “The End of Nature” and “Deep Economy,” McKibben has an arsenal of cheerless facts to back him up. The U.S., with only 4.6 percent of the world’s population, is now responsible for 23.5 percent of global emissions of carbon dioxide, the dominant greenhouse gas. “Per capita, we use twice the energy of Europeans,” McKibben noted, conjuring an image of Joe Average driving home from Wal-Mart in his SUV, stocked with carbon-coughing gadgets and grocery bags full of perpetual summer (mangos from China, anyone?).

The Brits, meanwhile, ranked 38th in world carbon emissions per capita in 2003—a less-than-saintly stat, to be sure, but also one that reflects the UK’s unique history of incentives to reduce coal dependency. David Demeritt, a climate change expert at King’s College, London, pointed me to Britain’s “dash for gas” in the 1990s as the origin of the country’s kinder carbon status—a period after the privatization of the electricity sector when coal-fired power stations were replaced by more efficient gas-fired plants. The key motive? Not former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s pursuit of good climate karma, but rather her attempts to break the National Union of Mineworkers and cut energy costs. Even so, the resultant carbon reductions helped the Brits meet their Kyoto commitments with relative ease, while inaugurating an ongoing national quest for cheap and renewable energy sources.

At the individual level, guilt-ridden UK carbon addicts tend to enjoy more accessible rehab options than their American counterparts. Want to start keeping track of your electricity consumption? British Gas customers can easily install a smart-metering device that allows them to monitor their electricity use in real time or track it on their computer screen. Want to calculate your eco-footprint? Grass-roots “CRAGS”—carbon reduction action groups—offer self-help sessions with volunteer “carbon accountants” as well as a variety of DIY tools. Want climate-friendly produce? Britain’s extensive local food networks offer organic fruits and veggies while sparing you, for instance, the 127 calories of fossil energy it would take to transport a single calorie of iceberg lettuce from California to London. For those who’d rather not give up the mega-store shopping experience, Tesco—the nation’s largest supermarket chain—will soon be labeling all 70,000 of its products with the amount of carbon generated from their production, transport and consumption.

But if Britain offers more opportunities for citizens to make ecologically informed choices, whether or not people actually do is another question altogether. As appetites for cheap flights, big cars and big-screen TVs prove increasingly insatiable, the UK-U.S. addiction differential to which Bill McKibben points grows smaller by the day—and not because America is decreasing its carbon generation. Soon enough, Britain may be whistling to the tune of Dr. Seuss’ The Once-ler, that infamous corporate grump from “The Lorax” who currently holds America under his thumb: “I meant no harm. I most truly did not. But I had to grow bigger. So bigger I got.”

States of (In)Action: The Strand of Political Leadership

Recognizing the gross levels of carbon addiction throughout the Western world begs another simple point about the cross-Atlantic divide: Political leadership matters.

It’s almost too easy to trace our current climate gulf back to the divergences between George W. Bush and Blair. “The two guys have a very different relationship to the scientific community,” explained Brooklyn-born Oxford researcher William Motley. “On the one hand, you have a president who willfully ignores or doesn’t know how to cope with scientific data, just like when it comes to evolution and intelligent design. On the other hand, you have a prime minister who engages with scientists, understands what the wealth of data reveals about the effects of greenhouse gases and turns to the public to convey a necessary sense of urgency.”

Motley joked that in order to lead the fight against global warming, you first need to believe in it. Blair, no environmental he-man, cleared this hurdle over half a decade ago, calling the phenomenon “a challenge so far-reaching in its impact and irreversible in its destructive power that it alters radically human existence.” But as recently as last June, Bush still waffled about the scientific validity of man-made climate change, putting his faith in Michael Crichton’s best-selling novel about a global warming conspiracy over a definitive report by the National Academy of Sciences released that same month. Despite his supposed agnosticism on this subject, Bush mustered the leadership skills to thwart national caps on greenhouse gas emissions. He proved equally feisty on the global stage, earning America its lone-star status as the only developed nation besides Australia to oppose the Kyoto Protocol. Even in his recent State of the Union address, which many considered an overdue about-face, Bush mentioned “global climate change” only once in 49 minutes, offering a tepid energy initiative that’s about as ambitious as a middle school science fair project. In fact, A U.N. document released in March, “The U.S. Climate Action Report,” indicates that Bush’s flat-footed climate policy will result in carbon emissions climbing 11 percent from 2002 to 2012.

Meanwhile, Blair has fought to strengthen the European Union emissions trading scheme, “radicalize” Kyoto and amplify the effects of the controversial Stern Review—a 700-page battle cry on the economics of global warming that claims unchecked carbon emissions could cost the world $3.68 trillion per year and create 200 million refugees. While many accuse Blair of spin-doctoring—a fair charge for rhetoric that flies faster than it can walk—others contend that the PM’s climate leadership smacks of age-old imperial grandeur. “British politics of left and right still feel the need to talk presumptuously in terms of ‘leading the world,’ ” writes journalist David Cox. “Cecil Rhodes and Lord Palmerston might have considered [Blair’s climate agenda] over-ambitious.”

Blair’s bravado echoes in his recent decision to sidestep the White House and work directly with state and local leaders in the U.S., launching a transatlantic carbon market with California’s Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Many more options for U.S.-UK cooperation have suddenly popped up now that the Democrats have won control of Congress. The party of climate change believers recently introduced four bills in the Senate to tackle global warming, all demanding mandatory caps on greenhouse gases. House Democrats have been even quicker to the plate, passing the Clean Energy Act of 2007—a bill to funnel taxpayer money away from the oil industry and into renewable energy— within their first 100 hours in control.

But full-blown optimism would be overkill. Amid all the cheers about baby steps on Capitol Hill, few pundits have acknowledged the Democrats’ continued ties to the very same corporate interests—agribusiness, automobiles, lumber—that stoked mammoth carbon emission increases on Bill Clinton and Gore’s watch. Initiatives in the UK deserve to be treated with similar skepticism, according to Ragnar Lofstedt, an expert on risk management from the Harvard School of Public Health who warns against glorifying British climate rhetoric. The real leadership, he told me, is happening elsewhere in Europe— with German home insulations, Danish wind farms, Greek solar panels. Cynical about the British prime minister’s motivations for recent climate jeremiads, Lofstedt remarked: “Climate change leadership was a way for Labour Blair to gain the green vote initially. Then it became a way for him to keep the green vote. Look at [him] becoming even greener following the strengthening of the Tories.”

But a democracy is only as good as its people, right? And so Lofstedt’s assertion—that Blair is merely pandering to his constituents’ pleas—only takes us back a step, to the neglected question of how Brits came to demand such cheeky things of their leader in the first place. How is public opinion on environmental issues really formed in an era of scientific specialization? What makes people care when it’s so much easier to dillydally? This brings us to the heart of the cross-climate divide: two very different philosophical beliefs about the relationship among science, the media and public consciousness.

Continued.....

This is how our government throws away money

2007-07-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

Pressure to Kill Wolves Mounting Across the Western USA

WASHINGTON, DC, July 10, 2007 (ENS) – Twelve years after reintroducing gray wolves to the Northern Rockies, the federal government has announced a plan that allows many of these same wolves and their offspring to be killed.

Farther south, New Mexico Governor and presidential candidate Bill Richardson Friday called for revision of state and federal wolf operating procedures after an endangered Mexican gray wolf was killed last week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The government wants to remove the wolves from the endangered species list in late 2007 or early 2008, a move that conservation groups oppose. The new proposal allows wolves in the Northern Rockies to be killed before they are formally delisted.

"The government wants to treat wolves like vermin instead of an endangered species," said Louisa Willcox of the Natural Resources Defense Council, NRDC. "It's trying to reverse one of the most successful wildlife recovery programs in U.S. history."

Under the proposed rule issued Friday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, wolves outside Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and wolves that live in Central Idaho's wild country could be killed.

Gray wolf in the Northern Rockies (Photo courtesy USFWS)

he Service says it needs to make killing wolves easier to protect big game from wolf predation. Current rules allow wolves to be killed if the states can show that they are the "primary" cause of depletion of ungulates such as elk and deer.

This proposal would modify the definition of "unacceptable impacts" of wolves on wild ungulate populations to mean wolves are "one of the major causes of the population or herd not meeting established state or tribal management goals."

This definition expands the potential impacts for which wolf removal might be warranted beyond direct predation or those causing immediate population declines.

The meaning of "impact" would be defined by states or tribes with wolf management plans approved by the federal government.

Idaho and Wyoming state officials have said they intend to immediately kill over 50 percent, or up to 700 animals, reversing gains that Willcox says "have taken years and millions of dollars to achieve."

Wyoming's plan classifies wolves as "predatory animals" in three-fourths of the state, allowing them to be killed by anyone, anytime in that area.

Aerial gunning will be used in Wyoming and Idaho. All three states will allow public hunting and trapping of wolves.

"Wolves are one of the main attractions for visitors at Yellowstone National Park. People are amazed and awed when they see them," said Willcox. "Their recovery after more than a century of extermination is nothing short of miraculous. Turning back the clock would be a huge mistake."

Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife says, "We must sound the alarm bells because, with one stroke of a pen, the Bush administration has announced they plan to hand over management of gray wolves to states whose main goal is to exterminate wolves."

Defenders supports the use of non-lethal measures to reduce livestock-wolf conflicts such as multiple guard dogs, electric night pens, fladry fencing, and task-specific range riders.

Defenders compensates ranchers 100 percent of the market value for confirmed livestock losses caused by wolves.

The Service says that as in the previous special rule on wolf killing, the state or tribal determination of unacceptable impacts and measures to be taken must be peer-reviewed and provided to the public for comment prior to a final decision by the Service.

Gray wolf mother and pup in the Northern Rockies (Photo courtesy NRDC)

The proposed rule also allows private citizens in states or on tribal lands with approved wolf management plans to take wolves that are in the act of attacking their stock animals or dogs. Stock animals are defined as a horse, mule, donkey or llama used to transport people or their possessions.

Evidence must be provided of stock animals or dogs recently wounded, harassed or killed by wolves and those injuries confirmed by agents designated by the Service.

These modifications would not apply to States or tribes without approved wolf management plans and would not impact wolves outside the Yellowstone or central Idaho nonessential experimental population areas. A draft environmental assessment is being prepared on this proposed action.

Since 1995, only 43 wolves have been legally killed by private citizens in defense of their private property or by shoot-on-sight permits as authorized by either the 1994 or 2005 experimental population special rules, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

"There has been no documentation of wolf depredations on stock animals that were accompanied by their owners in the past 12 years, but a few instances of stock animals being spooked by wolves have been reported," the Service said.

Thousands of gray wolves inhabited the Rocky Mountains before being eliminated across most of the West by the 1930s. The gray wolf was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1973.

Reintroduction efforts placed 66 wolves in Yellowstone National Park and part of Idaho in 1995 and 1996. About 1,300 wolves now live in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

Wyoming has not had an approved wolf management plan and is negotiating with the federal government for approval of a law passed in May to constitute that plan.

Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal says the new law meets the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, FWS, requirements for an approved wolf management plan, but to date the federal agency has rejected it.

Despite the federal-state jurisdiction struggle, both the state and federal plans allow for only eight breeding pairs of wolves in Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway and an additional seven breeding pairs of wolves outside those protected areas.

"The State of Wyoming would designate wolves as a 'Trophy Game Species' within the area defined in the proposal, an area of suitable wolf habitat that is demonstrated to be capable of supporting at least 15 breeding pairs," writes Governor Freudenthal in a May 18 letter of Regional FWS Director Mitch King.

"I am very interested in seeing the delisting process move forward," the governor wrote.

A copy of FWS Northern Rockies proposal is online at: http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mamals/wolf/

All public comments on the proposal must be received by August 6, 2007.

Three open houses in combination with public hearings will take place before the 30-day comment period for this proposed revision closes.

July 17, 2007, Cody Auditorium, Cody, Wyoming
(12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. - open house; 1:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. - public hearing)

July 18, 2007, Jorgenson's Inn & Suites, Helena, Montana
(6 p.m. - 7p.m. - open house; 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. - public hearing)

July 19, 2007, Boise Convention Center on the Grove, Boise, Idaho
(6 p.m. - 7 p.m. - open house; 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. - public hearing)

Comments from the public on this proposed rule can be emailed to WolfRuleChange@fws.gov. Please include RIN number 1018-Av39 in the subject line of the message.

Comments can be submitted through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions at this website for submitting comments.

Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program in Danger

In Santa Fe on Friday, Governor Richardson said he is seeking to change key protocols for the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program following a wolf kill incident in southwestern New Mexico.

"I am deeply concerned about the recent escalation in wolf removals and incidents surrounding yesterday's lethal removal of a female wolf," said Richardson. "State Police are investigating the incident and are collecting the facts as this investigation takes its course."

On July 5, attempts to kill wolf AF924 were initiated before adequate notification was provided to the state of New Mexico, the governor said.

The wolf was killed by federal wildlife personnel before adequate communication was established, which resulted in conflicts between federal and state staff involved with the wolf program.

"This type of confusion is not an adequate basis for accomplishing important wolf restoration," said Richardson.

This wolf was killed by a poacher in New Mexico. (Photo courtesy NMDFG)

The lethal removal of a female wolf, that leaves pups with a single parent, is a setback to the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program, and signals that it is time to reexamine the protocols under which wolves are removed from the wild, the governor said.

Governor Richardson has instructed the director of the New Mexico Department of Game & Fish, NMDGF, and members of the State Game Commission to work with the state's partners in the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program to review and revise standard operating procedures related to the control of nuisance (non-depredating) and problem (depredating) Mexican wolves.

The governor called for the immediate suspension of the use of Standard Operating Procedure 13 (SOP 13) procedures in New Mexico pending these revisions.

"I strongly support the effective recovery of endangered Mexican wolves in the Southwest, done in a responsible and sensitive way," said Richardson. "Changes must be made to the protocol for the wolf re-introduction program."

The Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit group based in Tucson, Arizona, echoes the governor's outrage and supports his call for suspending and reforming the federal rule requiring the killing of wolves.

"This wolf killing is a blatant abuse of federal power. It is undermining the recovery of the Mexican gray wolf, and is just the latest in a string of attacks on endangered species by the Bush administration," said Michael Robinson, conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity.

The Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program is led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and supported by a set of partners in the recovery area. The NMDGF is an active participant, along with the Arizona Department of Game and Fish, the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services, and the White Mountain Apache Tribe.

The standard operating procedures were established by the partners to enhance the coordination and effective management of wolves.

In March, Governor Richardson directed the State Game Commission and the Department of Game and Fish to redouble their efforts to work with all interests to promote healthy wolf populations living in reasonable compatibility with communities and land stewards in New Mexico.

Health Care Without Harm

2007-07-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

The Issue
Hospitals generate more than two million tons of waste each year. In the past, many hospitals simply dumped all waste streams together, from reception-area trash to operating-room waste, and burned them in incinerators. Now we know that incineration is a leading source of highly toxic dioxin, mercury, lead and other dangerous air pollutants.
HCWH works to eliminate the dangerous practice of incineration, as well as to minimize the amount and toxicity of all waste generated by the health care sector. In order to fulfill the medical ethic to "first do no harm," the health care industry has a responsibility to manage waste in ways that protect the public and the environment.
The first step is waste minimization and segregation. The infectious waste stream must then be treated to prevent the spread of disease. HCWH's review of medical waste treatment technologies found that cost-effective alternative technologies are available that are safer and cleaner than incineration, and just as effective at rendering medical waste harmless.
In April 2002, HCWH released a report on Stericycle, the nation's largest medical waste disposal company. To learn more about HCWH's efforts to ensure that Stericycle is disposing of waste in the most responsible way possible, see Stericycle Watch. Read more about how community groups across the U.S. and around the world are fighting to close medical waste incinerators on the Local Incineration Fights page.
In April 2003, HCWH announced the winners of its International Competition for Innovative Technologies for the Treatment of Medical Waste in Rural Areas. HCWH launched the competition in April 2002 in order to promote cleaner, low-cost treatment technologies for rural areas. For more information on the contest and the winning designs, visit the contest website or view the results brochure, Minimizing Harm, Maximizing Health.

Honor Those Who Serve

2007-07-10T14:13:00.000-07:00

Today at the refuge, the law enforcement officer here was talking about having a hard time getting a radio to be able to call for back up from local law enforcement. The necessity of this is so immediate because of a rise in gang related violence in the area and the fact that he is the sole law enforcement officer on the refuge.
WEll apparently the local authorities have ignored his request and the acting manager here is too much a wimp to do anything about it. He refuses to speak to his supervisors in the US Fish and Wildlife service. Meanwhile our officer is alone with only his cell phone to contact local authorities if he needs backup...which would be impossible to do if he was in an emergency situation.
Which also effects the volunteers, visitors, and myself as I am living on the refuge and here at night alone. Needless to say this is just a symptom of the lack of attention and concern for law enforcement and other service roles by the politicians and by a large chunk of the general public. My opinion on this was only further justified later in the afternoon today. The officer's wife came in to meet him. They were heading to the airport to pick up her brother, a returning soldier from Iraq. He's on a fifteen day leave from his duty in JAG in Baghdad. Apparently some other soldiers leaving Iraq around the same time were unable to make their flights....because they were bumped by a certain U.S. Senator.
I cannot believe that soldiers serving our country, sacrificing their very lives, were told they couldn't fly home. Even if it was a Senator, shouldn't the priority be to see our soldiers home safely and as quickly a possible? Their leave could be their last time seeing their family and they have a very limited time. The Senator could not have had such an urgent reason to go home...a dentist appointment? A tea party? A meeting? Who cares!
Anyway, I think that just shows what's is wrong with our country. The greedy power hungry politicians are so eager to wave a flag, but when it comes down to it they won't blink an eye when they hand the troops their death sentences in the form of extended tours or bumped flights.
Here's an article I found that really shows the disregard for those who Serve in America.
Shame on us. They risk it all for their country...But for the few who do have respect and honor, America does not deserve it.

A Soldier's Final Flight

by Josh Trevino

Posted: 06/05/2007

Continental Flight 1889 left Houston, Texas, on May 29th, 2007, at 6:25 p.m. local, and arrived at Sacramento, California, at 8:29 p.m. local. On board were two pilots, four flight attendants, about 160 passengers, several hundred pounds of luggage, and one fallen American.

Our soldier was homebound for the final time, barely 24 hours after his death in Iraq. He flew enclosed in a casket in the cargo hold, and he was accompanied by a stony-faced Sergeant First Class who sat in row four. Before boarding, an elderly woman approached the SFC in the passenger lounge, asking to shake his hand and thank him for his service. The SFC complied, but did not smile, nor even speak: his mind was elsewhere, and I think I know why. I had been in his shoes, or something like it, nearly 10 years before, when I represented the United States armed forces at the Natchitoches, Louisiana, funeral of a deceased young Marine who went by the improbable name of Forty-Five. To present the flag and represent the nation to a family who gave their very son is an awesome and sobering duty. The officer or NCO usually has a standard line: “On behalf of a grateful nation and the President of the United States --.” But it rarely goes as planned. In my case, the Marine’s mother stared past me as I spoke, and then her upright figure crumpled, and she bawled. Others rage. Some weep quietly. All exist, in that moment, as a reproach to the price of the profession of arms. Men who do not fear battle fear this --and our Sergeant First Class had a mother waiting for him in Sacramento.

Before takeoff, the pilot came on the intercom to announce a “very special passenger,” and he named both the fallen and the sergeant accompanying him. The passengers fell silent, paying attention as they never do for the preflight safety briefings. But then we flew, and a cheap romantic comedy was shown to keep us quiescent. Flight attendants served mediocre food, and I opened up e-mails downloaded that afternoon. One of them was from a college acquaintance with whom I had long been out of contact. He was not in ROTC with me, but he later went to OCS and distinguished himself: now he is an officer, about to head to Iraq for his first tour and first war.

“I opposed the invasion of Iraq right up until the minute the first bullet was fired,” he wrote, “[but] being a student of history I knew that the only thing worse than fighting a war and winning was fighting a war and losing.” And so he did what too few patriots now do: he signed up for a war he did not believe in, for the sake of a country he does believe in. But then the troubling part came:

"[T]he more of the ‘other America’ that I see that does not serve and does not consider service in any form … the more I am repelled and disgusted. This war has long ceased to be a national focus of attention and has instead some kind of bloody reality show that the American people have seemingly decided has lasted a few seasons too long and become tiresome. It seems to me that I don't need the support of the American people to continue this mission because as a Soldier who understands Duty that is not negotiable. I cannot help but wonder if the American people are deserving of my support as someone ready to give up everything for their behalf."

I looked about at my fellow passengers. Businessmen clad in Polo shirts and khakis dozed. The woman to my right giggled at an onscreen exchange between Mandy Moore and Diane Keaton. Athwart the window, an athlete doing his best to look like a thug preened over his snakeskin sneakers. In the row ahead, a fat matron paged through a banal novel. Flight attendants fore and aft made small talk about airport bars and cheap hotels. Throughout the aircraft, the only men with a visage of seriousness and reflection were the SFC in row four -- and, one hoped, the pilots. I began writing to my acquaintance:

America does deserve its military -- and still more deserving is the Constitution that you swear your oath to. Fortunately, our country is not merely the aggregate of its people, but the functional expression of the ideals that created it and bind those people, however imperfectly, together. Those ideals are worth fighting for in themselves, even if not a single American honors them.

But we would honor them, surely, at least in one small thing: we would honor the fallen soldier belowdecks. The man who slept forever in the dark, cold hold had experienced the last of life’s certainties, but he could count on one more -- that we who accompanied him en route to his final bit of earth would do well by him.

On the tiny screen above, an actress took a pratfall, and my seatmate guffawed.

Westbound aerial descent into Sacramento is beautiful. The aircraft begins its swoop to landing somewhere over the Sierras. If you’re lucky, you’ll see brilliant Lake Tahoe below; even in the worst case, the final high range of the American west rises to meet you beneath your plane, and you have a few moments of awe before the Central Valley rolls out its carpet of green and brown, increasing in detail and apparent speed before the runway. “When we land,” announced the pilot, “please remain in your seats even after we reach the jetway.” I expected this: surely they would not let us disembark before our soldier did. “We must let the Sergeant get off before anyone else,” he continued, “and then we can let you off.” Well. We would disembark before the fallen after all. I said nothing.
We landed, and waited on the runway for a quarter-hour. The soldier’s mother was running late, and we were not to pull up to the jetway until she arrived. We sat and waited in the stifling, recycled, sticky air of the aircraft, until the pilot’s voice announced that the bereaved mother was there, and we could proceed. “Finally!” said an exasperated voice from behind. I turned about to see who it was, and saw only dozens of blank faces looking back at me. We taxied to the jetway. The pilot reminded us to keep our seats. The aircraft door opened -- and along with the SFC, about half a dozen passengers, most in first class, leapt up and began collecting their things. The SFC, looking even more stony-faced now, pushed past them and left. They attempted to follow, but were blocked by flight attendants belatedly enforcing some order. The passengers stood and waited, and expressed annoyance at a yet further meaningless delay.

Meaning, though, is where you choose to find it; and that choice has moral content. In time, thanks apparently to the protests of the passengers who did not wish to wait for the SFC, we were let off the aircraft. We filed down the aisle, and through the windows to the right, I could see on the tarmac a hearse and an honor guard beginning to assemble. The fallen was still beneath our shuffling, fat feet, as we fled the confines of Continental 1889, because we could not wait for this man whose eternal wait was entered into on our behalf. Shame washed over me, and when I strode into the passenger lounge, I rushed toward the crowded window, where several watched the flag-draped coffin emerge from the hold. The honor guard received it smartly. The aircraft ground crew stood in silent formation. The world came to a stop, punctuated only by a woman’s quiet sobs, as our soldier slid into the dark hearse, and out of our view forever.

Not for the first time that day, I looked about. The crowd by the window was small. Most of our fellow passengers were talking, laughing, or walking away with no apparent care, toward baggage claim, and then home. I remembered my Iraq-bound friend’s words: I cannot help but wonder if the American people are deserving of my support as someone ready to give up everything for their behalf. I assured him that they are -- what else could I say?—but in the impatience and disrespect of flight 1889, I felt that the American people had made me into a well-meaning liar. I turned back toward the hearse and its flag within, and away from my fellow passengers, thinking only that theirs was a long road to comprehending, and still less deserving, this young soldier’s death.

Joshua Treviño is a former U.S. Army officer, and the current VP for Public Policy at the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco, California. Contact him at joshua@trevino.at.

THINK GLOBALLY, EAT LOCALLY

2007-06-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

BY ELIZABETH FIEND LIVING EDITOR This is a special season of wondrous fruits and the freshest of vegetables. It only comes once a year and lasts only a few short but tasty months. Right now, this very minute, is the time to jump on board and get with the program of buying your produce from neighborhood farmers markets.There are basically three types of places that grow our produce: big agribusiness factory-type farms, organic farms and recently, a growing movement of small local farms. It used to be a no brainier that if you wanted the best, most healthful food, and could afford it, buy organic. But since the burst of organic farms in the 60s and 70s, things have changed and what was a given is suddenly up in the air. Our food system has gotten drastically out of whack due to the industrialization of farming (AKA agribusiness) and the vast fossil-fuel-dependent global distribution network that makes it all possible.

Certainly, buying organic food seems like the way to go since pesticides are strictly a no-no. Organic practices are kinder to the land, they promote good soil development, as opposed to agribusiness techniques which deplete the soil — and hence your food — of vital nutrients. Organic practices don’t pollute the water, the air or the workers on the farm through exposure to toxic chemicals the way agribusiness practices do, either. And a fundamental part of the organic philosophy is to treat their workers fairly and pay a living wage.

But there’s a crisis in the organics world, and it’s called Big Business. Too much of a good thing has gone haywire. Organic food is so much in demand that there just isn’t enough to go around. The only solution has been to change farming methods, to outsource, and to go global to get the desired goods. What was once an industry of small family farms has mushroomed into a new kind of agribusiness, one doing business with Wal-Mart, Kraft, Kellogg and General Mills; one that outsources the growing of organic food to places with little regulation, like China.

Big business is finding loopholes in the legal definition of organic and is taking the modern organic farm further and further away from the original, fundamental philosophies of organics. There are already consumer boycotts against organic companies such as Horizon Farms, makers of Silk soy milk, who may not be sticking to the philosophies. In fact, organic standards have deteriorated enough that there’s a whole new classification for farms that do follow the philosophies, deep organics. If you only care about yourself, buy organic. But if you care about the environment and stuff like global warming, or if you have concerns about any of the questionable practices of organic-agribusiness, who to buy your produce from gets a lot more complicated.

If you go agribusiness, how bad is it anyway, you ask? Do you love peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce, or potatoes? Than you should know they’re affectionately called The Dirty Dozen by The Environmental Working Group. These are the 12 fruits and vegetables which consistently test for the most pesticide residue.

Is it really better to buy an organic bell pepper rather than one grown by agribusiness, if it’s been grown, then flown from somewhere halfway around the world? Yeah, that much organic food is being grown in other countries. Will that foreign-grown organic pepper taste better? Will it be fresher? Is it better for you? The answer is: it’s a trade off. Most fruits and vegetables will loose 40 to 60 percent of their nutrients within 48 hours of harvest. The average fruit or vegetable shipped from a distant state or country will spend between seven to 14 days in transit before it arrives at your store. Your organic pepper will probably not be the freshest. That pepper will, however, be free of pesticides.

Manufacturers of pesticides often tout the safety of their chemicals by saying there is no proven evidence of harm to humans, when in fact, there has been no testing. Lack of knowledge does not equal proof of safety. But certainty is increasingly difficult to prove.

We’re all contaminated with trace levels of hundreds of chemicals, literally hundreds. Therefore, it becomes extremely difficult to point to any one and say, “This is the one that gave you cancer.” Or — even more difficult to prove — which combination of these hundreds of pesticides gave you cancer.

We do know that children, with their tiny, undeveloped systems, are particularly at risk. Even tiny doses can have a big impact on the development of a child’s vital organs and systems like the nervous system and brain. Slight exposure, even while still in the womb, can have permanent if subtle damage over time.

Endosulfan, a relative of DDT, is found more often on our food than any other pesticide. High doses cause convulsions, headaches, hyperactivity and dizziness. Studies on animals show that long-term exposure also damages the kidneys, liver, and testes as well as the ability to fight infection. It’s said to be unknown if these effects cross over to humans. As for cancer: inconclusive.

But there’s no denying there’s been a rise in both breast and prostate cancers. And over the past 60 years, there are also alarming declines in the average male sperm count. Endosulfan is an endocrine or hormone disrupter — it has de-masculinizing properties and disrupts communications between different chemicals in our bodies.

Is there a relationship between the increase in cancers, decrease in sperm and endosulfan? We don’t know and can’t prove it either way.

Don’t try that “Finally! A good excuse not to eat vegetables and fruits” stuff with me, either. Even eating macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets or ice cream will expose you to the insecticides DDT, and chlorpyrifos-methyl and malathion. Cheese and ice cream come from cows and chicken nuggets from . . . I guess, chickens. Cows and chickens eat plant-based food treated with pesticides. The toxic residue is passed on to you when you eat them. And macaroni is made from wheat that’s been sprayed with pesticides.

There are also environmental concerns about pesticides. Endosulfan is usually sprayed onto crops, but the mist can travel long distances from its target. It enters our air, water and soil not only when it’s sprayed on our food, but also when it’s manufactured. It doesn’t dissolve easily in water. It also sticks to soil particles and takes years to break down.

Endosulfan is banned in Germany, Norway and Australia. Several developing countries have their sh*t together enough to ban it too. But it’s not banned in the US.

So pesticides are affecting everything, even our drinking water. If you eat organic, you’re still being exposed to pesticides. Bummer.

The environmental impact of moving produce around the country and across the world is throwing a monkey wrench into the equation of from whom we should buy our food. The further food travels, the more fossil fuel is used and the greater disaster it is for the environment. If it’s conventionally grown or organically grown, that bell pepper is packed, chilled and shipped the same way, doesn’t matter how it was grown.

In the U.S., most produce travels between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from farm to plate. That’s a whopping 25 percent farther than in 1980. That’s agribusiness at work and unfortunately, increasingly how organic products work too.

But food locally grown doesn’t have to travel far. Carbon dioxide emissions are reduced, less refrigeration and packing materials are needed. Eating locally grown food is so much better for the environment.

Many of these small local farms don’t use pesticides and follow organic practices whenever possible. Since it’s very expensive and time consuming to go through the legal challenges to become “certified organic,” small farms don’t bother with the technicalities of being organic. They simply follow the spirit of the organics movement instead. These farms are called sustainable.

This growing movement of sustainable farming is bringing back old ways of consciousness farming practices, like Mom and Pop did on the farm in the early part of the last century. These ways have less of a negative impact on the land and the people who grow our food. These are usually small, family farms which grow food with a great passion for health and the land. They’re farmers because they really care.

You can buy your food directly from these farmers at markets which are popping up all over our area and around the country. Local farms supply you with the absolute freshest food possible. They select species of produce based on taste, not the veggie’s ability to travel long distances undamaged, so you’re also going to get premium taste. If you buy at a farmers’ market, odds are that the food you buy was picked less than 24 hours before your purchase. Amazing! It will be picked ripe and at the height of its flavor and it will be packed with nutrients.

You can actually talk to the farmer, the same one who grew your food. They’re usually the ones who sell you the food at these markets. Ask them if they use pesticides and on which foods. Make an informed decision.

By buying from local farmers, you keep your money in your own ‘hood, supporting the local economy with every purchase.

Local farms will soon disappear if we don’t support them. There’s a sense of urgency here. A lot of farm land is being sold off to make suburban housing developments of McMansions. Buy from the small farmers now or soon you won’t have a choice because they’ll be extinct.

Steps to Take:

Shop at your local farmers market as often as possible. They’re open right now!

Always wash your fresh food, don’t skip this important step.

Eat a wide variety of foods. It’s the most nutritious way to eat, plus specific pesticides are used on specific crops. By eating a variety of food you limit exposure to any one chemical.

If you’re pregnant, breastfeeding or have small children, feed them and yourself organic or pesticide-free produce whenever possible.

Eat freely onions, avocados, and sweet corn. They headed the Consistently Clean list. And pineapples, mango, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwi, bananas, cabbage, broccoli, and papaya complete the consistently most pesticide free list. They’re all delicious and great for you.

List of Philadelphia area farmers markets:

www.farmtocity.org

Download your own Safe Food/Dirty Dozen wallet-size cheat-sheet:

www.foodnews.org

Environmental Working Group:

http://www.ewg.org/sites/foodnews/release.php

Pesticides:

http://www.foodnews.org/reduce.php

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/fqpa/

http://www.nofany.org/hottopics/pesticidesinfood.html

http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/FactSheet/Pesticide/fs24.consumer.cfm

Endosulfan:

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts41.html

http://www.inchem.org/documents/hsg/hsg/hsg017.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/stories/s1116293.htm

Organics boycott:

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/oca/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=475

(Article from: http://www.phawker.com/?p=4179)

Yesterday's just a memory, tomorrow is never what it's supposed to be

2007-06-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

For anyone who hasn't already taken them yet or studied for it, the GRE is simply a repeat of the SATs as far as the general test. The subject tests are more advanced I'm sure, but I won't be taking any of those (for now). I'm scheduled to take the test next Friday. We'll see how that goes....

I'm planning on working on an organic farm at the end of this summer until I get a job, probably teaching assistant or at a non profit. Then I plan on applying to grad school/assistantships in the spring. I've seriously been considering the Teach for America or Masters International programs. I really have learned some important lessons from being a VISTA, some good and some bad, but overall it's been a positive experience.

I've learned a lot first hand about what bad government policies have done and continue to do to the environment and public health....I've also seen what strong policies can do to protect the environment and people's health.... I don't think any one group of people or person is responsible for the mess we've made on this earth, but I think each person can and should make it a priority to help clean it up and help other people. I'm being vague, but the lessons I've learned are general because I see the small signs of larger problems and the fact that everything is interconnected somehow.

We are all interconnected and everything we do affects everything and everyone around us. The trash we generate, the food we buy, the car we drive, the decisions we make all must be seen within the greater context of the global world. There's no hiding and pretending anymore...

It's a daily struggle just to find a balance between the urgency of the situation of the world and the little daily tasks and responsibilities of being a part of the system that creates a state of confusion...I felt it earlier today after sitting through a two hour diversity training. I felt sort of numb about the experience, sort of 'who gives a shit when there's so much wrong with the world' feeling but at the same time an appreciation for the effort.

Later today I heard a song on XPN about the state of confusion of today's world...I'm not sure who the artist was but the song really hit home on the feeling I've had over the past several years. The feeling like, we can't even get along..friends can't even forgive each other, people can't get over each other's differences, people can't even understand one another, let alone work to stop global warming or war. We're to busy with our own little personal lives to actually work together toward real solutions.

But hey, I have met people out there who actually have some consistency in their actions across the board, who actually do 'think globally and act locally'. Those people are the ones who need to breed and carry on the human race....

2007-05-31T16:08:00.001-07:00

Kabul, take revenge!

Sara Afghan

2007-05-31T14:10:00.000-07:00

Sarah Takesh in her Kabul fitting room.
"We are eccentrics," she says of the city's fashion designers.
Photo: Ash Sweeting

By Rachel Morarjee, Kabul
May 27, 2006

SARA Rahmani's best-selling fashion design last year was a shirt made from a burqa remodelled into a peasant blouse with just a hint of cleavage.

This year the 38-year-old Afghan designer shows off her new season's success, a jacket made from the black turbans worn by the Taliban and Pashtun men from the south and east of the country.

Ms Rahmani's company, Sara Afghan, is one of three Kabul fashion labels that operate in an environment far removed from the baby doll fashions sweeping European catwalks.

The majority of women who buy from them locally want tailored clothes that are in keeping with local cultural sensitivities.

"This jacket is very popular," Ms Rahmani says. "I used to make shirts made from burqa, but I think it is important to change with the season."

Unsurprisingly, most of her customers are foreign women working in Kabul. The prices are too high for Afghans, with a burqa costing $A16 but Ms Rahmani's shirt selling for $A46.

"Some Afghan women who have lived abroad buy my clothes too," she says.

Ms Rahmani lists the obstacles that businesses in Kabul have to work around: unreliable power supply, hassles with generators and difficulty in sourcing local material and finding trained staff.

Since she set up in August 2004, the business has expanded to employ 12 full-time machinists and up to 60 part-time embroiderers. But the Sara Afghan label is far from being able to find buyers outside Afghanistan.

After almost 25 years of war, Afghanistan's infrastructure has been bombed back into the Stone Age, and most of the country's skilled workers fled the fighting, never to return.

Operating a fashion business in Afghanistan takes grit and persistence. For the three foreign women who have moved to Kabul to train seamstresses and built their own labels, perhaps it also requires a dash of insanity.

"We are eccentrics. I don't think anyone really thinks about what it involves when they set up here," says Sarah Takesh, the creative and managing director of Tarsian and Blinkley, the only Kabul fashion label that has managed to vault out onto the international stage.

An Iranian-American, Ms Takesh, 32, imports silk and linen for her jackets and dresses from India and other countries in the region.

She provides work for about 300 people. The results are exquisite clothes with hand-stitched embroidery and beadwork, sequins or crochet.

Afghan women traditionally embroider clothes and linen as part of their dowry, so the clothes provide a livelihood to women who would otherwise struggle to make a living, as well as being beautiful.

Ms Takesh is not the only woman trying to use Kabul as a springboard to the international women's wear market. Zarif and Royah is Kabul's third fashion brand, and the only one sourcing all its materials locally.

Italian Gabriella Ghidoni and Afghan-American Zolaykha Sherzad have designed a line of clothes that reworks the traditional chapan jackets worn by President Hamid Karzai into tailored suits and coats.

Finding reliable sources of handmade fabric has taken two years.

"The material is beautiful. It's made from silk, wool and cotton depending on the season, and the embroidery here is of unbelievably high quality," Ms Ghidoni says.

Everybody's Changing

2007-05-25T16:44:00.000-07:00

You say you wander your own land
But when I think about it I don't see how you can
You're aching, you're breaking
And I can see the pain in your eyes
Says everybody's changing and I don't know why

So little time
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I'm trying to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing and I don't feel the same

You're gone from here
Soon you will dissapear
Fading into beautiful light
Cos everybody's changing and I don't feel right

So little time
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I'm trying to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing and I don't feel the same

So little time
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I'm trying to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing and I don't feel the same
Oh, everybody's changing and I don't feel the same

Who's ever heard of Roller Pigeon?

2007-05-25T05:57:00.000-07:00

SEVEN CALIFORNIA ‘ROLLER PIGEON’ ENTHUSIASTS CHARGED WITH KILLING, OR HELPING TO KILL, PROTECTED HAWKS AND FALCONS

News Releases Home Page
Search the News Releases U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Home

Contacts
CA: Special Agent Lisa Nichols 619-954-5498 Scott Flaherty 916-978-6156OR: David Patte 503-231-6121USDOJ: Thom Mrozek 213-894-6947
Multi-State Investigation Includes Subjects in Oregon and Texas
Federal authorities have charged seven Southern California men associated with "roller pigeon" clubs on charges related to the fatal beatings and shootings of federally protected raptors. Six of the defendants were arrested throughout the day yesterday as part of a nationwide investigation - Operation High Roller - that is targeting roller pigeon owners who believe that hawks and falcons, while protected under federal law, should be killed because they attack pigeons, particularly when they suffer seizures in flight and tumble uncontrollably toward the ground.
The seven cases in Southern California, along with charges filed against defendants in Oregon and Texas, are part of a 14-month investigation by special agents with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. In California, a special agent infiltrated several roller pigeon clubs and learned about members' efforts to trap and kill raptors, specifically Cooper's hawks, red-tailed hawks and Peregrine falcons, according to court documents. Investigators estimate that leaders and members of the National Birmingham Roller Club (NBRC) and other enthusiast organizations in the Los Angeles metropolitan area are responsible for killing 1,000 to 2,000 raptors annually. One official of the NBRC claims to have killed as many as 50 raptors annually for the past several years, according to court documents. One defendant told the investigating agent that he had filled a five-gallon bucket with talons that he had cut from slain hawks.
The seven California defendants are affiliated with clubs that promote and compete with roller pigeons - also known as Birmingham rollers - which are native to England and have a genetic defect that causes them to flip backwards while in flight. Enthusiasts breed the pigeons with an eye toward having a group of the birds roll simultaneously, while recovering before hitting the ground. However, the distinctive nature of the birds' flight attracts predators, such as Cooper's hawks, because the in-flight flipping makes them appear to be easy targets.
The seven defendants are charged with violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which protects birds such as the hawks and falcons that prey upon roller pigeons. It is illegal to harass, kill or possess migratory birds, such as the Cooper's hawk, without a special permit. Criminal complaints filed May 17 in United States District Court in Los Angeles allege that the defendants used traps baited with pigeons to collect raptors and that they used sticks or pellet guns to kill the birds. In some cases, according to an affidavit, individuals admitted to the undercover agent that they used shotguns or .22-caliber rifles to shot hawks and falcons out of the air. The affidavit states that one member of the NBRC admitted to the undercover agent that he sometimes sprayed hawks with a bleach and ammonia solution, which created poisonous chlorine gas and suffocated the birds.
On repeated instances, the undercover agent observed roller pigeon fanciers in Los Angeles using "goshawk" traps to capture Cooper's hawks. According to the agent's affidavit, many of the roller pigeon aficiandos openly discussed trapping, shooting and poisoning hawks and falcons. Fish and Wildlife Service agents around the country report that members of the NBRC are using the same goshawk trap found in the California investigation in the states of Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Texas, Wisconsin and New York.
All of the defendants are charged with at least one count of the unlawful or attempted unlawful taking of a migratory bird. The six defendants arrested yesterday are:
-- Juan Navarro, 44, of the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles, who is the national president of the NBRC.
-- Keith London, 42, of South Los Angeles, who is the owner of The Pigeon Connection store and is president of the Inner City Roller Club.
-- Darik McGhee, 38, of San Bernardino, who builds and sells hawk traps and pigeon lofts.
-- Brian McCormick, 40, of Norco, a past-president of the California Performance Roller Club.
-- Timothy Decker, 60, of Mira Loma.
-- Rayvon Hall, 46, of Rialto.
Navarro, London, McGhee and McCormick made their initial court appearances yesterday afternoon and were released on bond. They are scheduled to be arraigned next month. Decker and Hall remain in custody and are expected to make their initial court appearances this afternoon in United States District Court in Los Angeles.
An arrest warrant has been issued for the seventh defendant ? Efren Lopez Jr., 28, of Hacienda Heights.
Each of the offenses charged against the defendants carries a maximum possible penalty of six months in federal prison.
Criminal complaints contain allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The cases announced today are the product of an ongoing investigation by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, which conserves and manages the 913 native species/populations of migratory birds. The California Department of Fish and Game assisted in the arrests made yesterday.
In other districts, federal authorities have charged several individuals as a result of Operation High Roller.
The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon filed charges on Monday against Mitch Reed, 29, of Mount Angel, Oregon, and Peter Kaufman, 53, of Portland, Oregon, who were each charged with one count of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act by attempting to take a raptor. Ivan Hanchett, 54, of Hillsboro, Oregon, was charged with two counts of violating the act. Reed, Kaufman and Hanchett are expected to make their initial court appearances in the coming weeks.
Federal prosecutors in Houston filed charges yesterday against Neil Keng, 58, of Laporte, Texas, a member of a local pigeon racing club, for trapping a Cooper's Hawk in his backyard in December 2006. Keng will be summoned to appear in court in the coming weeks.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 fishery resource offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife agencies.

Amnesty International Report 2007

2007-05-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

Amnesty Report 2007

And they want 90 Billion for the War in Iraq and Afghanistan?

2007-05-24T14:27:00.001-07:00

3431 Soldiers gone forever.
over 65000 civilians killed.
For oil. For lies. Not for freedom.
www.iraqbodycount.net

Domestic Violence is no one's religion

2007-05-10T07:28:00.000-07:00

Muslim Women trapped in abusive marriages

FAITH - Foundation for Appropriate and Immediate Temporary Help

Women should stand together instead of dividing themselves over gossip or over men. More women need to reach out to each other and try to help each other through conflict instead of shunning someone and placing guilt on them. This foundation does amazing work to reach out to women and children of all faiths to combat domestic violence and abuse. This is a real problem which needs to be addressed better in all societies.

In all societies, women face more pressure from other women to conform and stay silent than from men. It is other women who pressure them to stay in abusive relationships because they must do what is 'right' or 'traditional'. It is mothers, aunts, sisters, grandmothers, alpha women who continue these false traditions of obedience and teach by scolding and ignoring the truth. The truth of the matter that women and men have equal rights, and both deserve equal respect and dignity. Women do not have to face abuse, and it is not their fault that they are abused.

Instead of jumping to conclusions about a person, try talking with them and the other party and seeking for yourself the truth. Too many women place the blame on other women, to justify their own insecurity, and ignore the real situation.

Women must unite and men must learn to support women as equals. We are all human, we are just different and diversity means strength. Women and men should respect each other equally and always seek truth and justice.

RAWA Denounces April 28 as Black Day

2007-05-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

To denounce the Black Day of coming to power of the criminal fundamentalist bands in Kabul in April 28, 1992, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) took out a protest rally and set-in in front of the UN headquarter in Islamabad.
The demonstrators carried photos depicting the destruction and devastation in Afghanistan and portraits of top criminals in the government like Sayyaf, Rabbani, Khalili, Qanoni, Dostum, Mohaqiq, Akbari, Fahim, Ismael etc. with cross marking on their faces.
While the Afghan corrupt and puppet regime celebrates April 28 as a victory day, for RAWA and gross majority of Afghan people, it is a dark day marked with bloodshed, destruction, crime and brutalities against our people. Following the collapse of the Russian puppet regime on April 28, 1992, the fundamentalist bands took power in Kabul and started a civil war due to which tens of thousand of innocent people were killed and Afghanistan was pushed back to Dark Age.
RAWA presented a memorandum to UN asking it to actively curb into the events in Afghanistan. Calling it �treason and insult to our people�, RAWA strongly condemned the recent statement given by the UN envoy in Afghanistan, Mr. Tom Koenigs that: �If there is to be a chance for peace, we must talk to everyone, including alleged war criminals and Taliban".
Some of the slogans on the banners carried by the participants were: "Ajmal�s blood a disgraceful scare on the face of Taliban and Karzai", "Iran, Pakistan, all hands off Afghanistan!", " US attempt to talk with the Taliban is a treason to Afghan!", "Parliament full of drug kingpins, criminals and traitors can�t represent our people!", "Collaboration with any of the fundamentalists is equivalent to treachery", "The Northern Alliance should be brought to justice".

Arabian perspective

2007-05-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

Modern Lawrence of Arabia

We're In This together

2007-05-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

We should never tire of the immortal words of Pastor Martin Niemoeller, as both a legendary expression of the Holocaust and a guide for liberating freedom each day of our lives.

They came first for the Communists,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
And I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
And by that time no one was left to speak up.

Conscience — the courage to feel our innate interrelatedness —reminds us that we’re in this thing together, that we can’t do it alone.

Be True to Oneself

2007-05-03T15:14:00.000-07:00

Clearly, as humans, we live in a world not of our making. We are forced, if you will, by biological nature to participate in our own existence. By necessity we are compelled to eat, drink, and interrelate—but the intensity and contradiction pressed onto human experience gets unimaginably dark.

It’s nearly impossible to hold our hearts open while imagining the daily existence of a child prostitute, or a kid strung out on crack or heroin, wasting away on some city street. Or what it must be like to be one of the hundreds of wrongly accused awaiting execution on America’s death rows. Or to feel the anguish of one of the two million girls subjected to genital mutilation each year.

It’s no wonder that so many people find it more difficult to embrace life here on earth and engage their humanness than to seek a better life beyond this world and follow spiritual paths that espouse escapes from this hell. A compassionate response to suffering understands our human drive toward escape.

The Dalai Lama of Tibet speaks of a fellow Buddhist monk in his homeland whom he greatly admired. He explained that this monk, known as the “Weeper,” was given his name because he was so attuned to the suffering of others that he often wept. The Dalai Lama was deeply inspired by the Weeper's highly developed compassion.

Of course, crying all the time does not describe your stereotypical well-adjusted spiritual citizen. In fact, in most circles such a person would likely be evaluated as severely traumatized, in denial of some dysfunction, and very likely prescribed anti-depressants. If the condition persisted, as it did with the Weeper, it’s possible the person would be committed to a psychiatric hospital and medicated even further.

Yet somehow this weeping monk was an inspiration to the Dalai Lama himself. Simply stated, choosing to liberate freedom as a way of life requires a remarkable appreciation for both compassion and non-conformity—the art of being true to onself.

Always Question Authority.

2007-05-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

Guess what I was told today? That I should just roll over and stop questioning authority. That I can't change people, that people in power have all the say and they cannot be questioned or criticized. My response was.....YO SOY UN ANARCHISTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things with my Americorps program need to be changed, yet those in power do not want to change them and refuse to meet with us. I will continue to ask for a meeting and use whatever means necessary to see some change in this program, because I believe the community deserves better.

this article basically sums up how I feel.

____________________________

Always question authority
by WS - WSM - Workers Solidarity 90 Wednesday, Feb 1 2006, 10:30am
international / anarchist movement / opinion/analysis

These words come from an interview with leading American dissident Noam Chomsky for the WSM's magazine back in 1995. They are just as relevant today.

"I think it only makes sense to seek out and identify structures of authority, hierarchy, and domination in every aspect of life, and to challenge them; unless a justification for them can be given, they are illegitimate, and should be dismantled, to increase the scope of human freedom.

That includes political power, ownership and management, relations among men and women, parents and children, our control over the fate of future generations (the basic moral imperative behind the environmental movement, in my view), and much else.

Naturally this means a challenge to the huge institutions of coercion and control: the state, the unaccountable private tyrannies that control most of the domestic and international economy, and so on. But not only these. That is what I have always understood to be the essence of anarchism: the conviction that the burden of proof has to be placed on authority, and that it should be dismantled if that burden cannot be met."

The mainstream media, owned by multi-millionaires like Tony O'Reilly and Rupert Murdoch, and does not ask hard questions. The self-serving propaganda of the ruling class is presented as fact. We are not supposed to make a habit of questioning those in charge.

Michael McDowell has used allegations of IRA connections against journalist Frank Connolly in order to wreck the investigative Centre for Public Inquiry. The allegations, made under 'privilege' in the Dail so that he can't be questioned or sued, have never been backed up with any evidence.

Instead McDowell has turned the supposed basis of law on its head, by demanding that Connolly prove his innocence. We don't know whether there is any truth to the claims, and neither does anyone else, as the Justice Minister won't present any evidence at all.

What we do know is that some politicians didn't like the idea of well-funded people investigating rumours of corruption, especially with a general election due next year. Why did McDowell pay massively over the market price for the new prison site in north Dublin? What is the relationship between Shell Oil and the government? Why have they been given such generous tax concessions?

We need to question what our rulers and their mouthpieces say. Their politicians, their economic experts and their editors want to maintain a system which has been very good to them. While most of us gain somewhat when there is more wealth around, the proportion of that wealth going to the already rich increases all the time.

We should not accept unquestioningly their propaganda that they know what's best for the rest of us, that there must always be bosses, that eliminating poverty is impossible, that some are naturally suited to giving orders and others to just obeying, that working people are not capable of making important decisions, that we must leave the running of the country to a small wealthy minority.

From Workers Solidarity 90 Jan/Feb 2005

reflection

2007-04-25T16:27:00.001-07:00

Things with my job are just now really picking up..and I only have three months left. But now I feel empowered; I have started things without any help from Americorps or refuge staff, neither funding nor project plans. Nothing was set up for me when I got here, and I feel like I have made a difference. Sometimes it doesn't seem that way, but when I think about it the things I've been doing wouldn't have happened if I weren't here.
The book club program is rolling along at Interboro, and I'm starting a similar but slightly modified program at an inner city elementary school with a teacher there. I'm going to go next week and pick out the books I want them to read. I'm really excited about this and the meeting I have with the director of a local senior center, to try and start a senior volunteer program at the refuge.
We already have a non profit Friends group, comprised of mostly seniors, but they are not tapped for volunteer work as much as they could be. If we find a way to offer some incentive, like interesting work, I think I could get as many volunteers here as we could ever want. Because the refuge is such an amazing place and there's opportunity to work with the community and people of all ages and walks of life.
Anyway, I wish I had been keeping more of a journal about my experience here, but I think once I'm done I will be able to look back and reflect more clearly on how I have made an impact.

nature deficit disorder

2007-04-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

I never realized how city kids could go their whole lives and never experience nature until I started working here at the refuge. It's sad, but also great to see them here trying to learn how to appreciate the natural world. A group from an elementary school came in today, and the lead teacher told me that they don't even have a tree at their school. She said the kids were excited just to see trees and grass, and totally amazed at the different birds they saw.
The kids wanted to buy some stuff from the book store so I opened it for them. One girl saw the Friends donation box, made from a bird box, and read the sign out loud. Then she and another student donated some of their spending money. It's so touching to see kids being so generous and giving and full of life. It reminds me of what Rachel Carson said,

A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy, who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from sources of our strength.
I think I've decided that I want to work with people in a natural setting like this refuge again in the near future, possibly as a career. It could be an organic farm, a park, a refuge, anyplace that will show people how to live in harmony with wildlife and the environment. :P