Archive | June, 2011

The $2.5 Trillion Tragedy: What America Has Given Up For 10 Years Of Bush Tax Cuts | Common Dreams

7 Jun

ThinkProgress, using data on various social spending projects from the National Priorities Project — which does these calculations for the cost of the Iraq and Afghan wars — has estimated ten other possible policies we could’ve paid for at the same $2.5 trillion price of the Bush tax cuts.

It’s a sobering 10-item list, e.g.

– Provide 31.5 Million Head Start Slots For Children Every Year For Ten Years

– Provide VA Care For 30.7 Million Military Veterans Every Year For Ten Years

via The $2.5 Trillion Tragedy: What America Has Given Up For 10 Years Of Bush Tax Cuts | Common Dreams.

ABC Asia Pacific News:Stories:Japan doubles radiation leak estimate

7 Jun

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says it believes the earthquake-stricken Fukushima plant emitted nearly 800,000 terabecquerels of radioactive material into the air in the days after it was hit by a massive tsunami.

That is more than double the original estimate and is based on new information suggesting the No.1 and No.2 reactors suffered meltdowns much earlier than thought.

via ABC Asia Pacific News:Stories:Japan doubles radiation leak estimate.

Much More to Jellyfish Than Plasma and Poison – NYTimes.com

6 Jun

Yet if any taxonomic dynasty is entitled to the originalist mantle, to the designation of genuine emblematic earthling animal, and also to brand the rest of us the alien arrivistes, it is the jellyfish. A diverse group of thousands of species of gooey, saclike invertebrates found throughout the world, the jellyfish are preposterously ancient, dating back 600 million to 700 million years or longer. That’s roughly twice as old as the earliest bony fish and insects, three times the age of the first dinosaurs.

“Jellyfish are the most ancient multiorgan animal on earth,” said David J. Albert, a jellyfish expert at the Roscoe Bay Marine Biological Laboratory in Vancouver, British Columbia.

And maybe their long tenure on earth has taught them something. So, what can WE learn from them?

via Much More to Jellyfish Than Plasma and Poison – NYTimes.com.

Chronic unemployment worse than Great Depression – CBS Evening News – CBS News

6 Jun

About 6.2 million Americans, 45.1 percent of all unemployed workers in this country, have been jobless for more than six months – a higher percentage than during the Great Depression….

The problem of course is the economy, but some industries, especially certain manufacturing jobs, are not ever expected to come back. Experts say unemployed workers need to be prepared to change careers.

It’s hard to bounce back when the government’s got it’s head in the sand while it burns the midnight oil seeing that bankers get their bonuses and that the nuclear industry is free to regulate itself.

via Chronic unemployment worse than Great Depression – CBS Evening News – CBS News.

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Food Supply Under Strain on a Warming Planet – NYTimes.com

5 Jun

Even more biodivcersity needed, fast, or more people will starve.

These experts say that in coming decades, farmers need to withstand whatever climate shocks come their way while roughly doubling the amount of food they produce to meet rising demand. And they need to do it while reducing the considerable environmental damage caused by the business of agriculture.

Agronomists emphasize that the situation is far from hopeless. Examples are already available, from the deserts of Mexico to the rice paddies of India, to show that it may be possible to make agriculture more productive and more resilient in the face of climate change. Farmers have achieved huge gains in output in the past, and rising prices are a powerful incentive to do so again.

But new crop varieties and new techniques are required, far beyond those available now, scientists said. Despite the urgent need, they added, promised financing has been slow to materialize, much of the necessary work has yet to begin and, once it does, it is likely to take decades to bear results.

via Food Supply Under Strain on a Warming Planet – NYTimes.com.

Tough Fuel Economy and Emissions Standards for New Vehicles – NYTimes.com

5 Jun

[Obama’s]  advisers are in the final stages of drawing up new fuel economy and emissions standards for vehicles produced between 2017 and 2025. One advocate of tougher standards, Brendan Bell of the Union of Concerned Scientists, calls it “the biggest decision the president is making this summer that no one knows about.”

Mr. Obama has said he will recommend strong standards, but industry and many in Congress are furiously lobbying for the weakest they can get away with.

via Sticker Shock – NYTimes.com.

Exclusive Arnie Gundersen Interview: The Dangers of Fukushima Are Worse and Longer-lived Than We Think – Blogs at Chris Martenson

4 Jun

Is nuclear power a perpetual disaster machine?

The situation on the ground at the crippled reactors remains precarious and at a minimum it will be years before it can be hoped to be truly contained. In the near term, the reactors remain particularly vulnerable to sizable aftershocks, which still have decent probability of occuring. On top of this is a growing threat of ‘hot particle’ contamination risk to more populated areas as weather patterns shift with the typhoon season and groundwater seepage.

via Exclusive Arnie Gundersen Interview: The Dangers of Fukushima Are Worse and Longer-lived Than We Think – Blogs at Chris Martenson.

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Ohio’s for-profit charter schools make great businesses, crappy educators

4 Jun

While there certainly are some charter schools out there doing good work, the majority are poorly serving the students they have been entrusted to teach while costing the taxpayers tons of extra cash. For-profit schools run by companies like White Hat and K12 take it a step further. Not only are many of these schools under performing, but all of them take much needed money away from public schools and out of the pockets of taxpayers and turn it into profit for the management company at the expense of their students.

via Ohio’s for-profit charter schools make great businesses, crappy educators.

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War on Drugs an epic fail, says new report by world leaders – Jimmy Zuma – Open Salon

4 Jun

According to the Commission the failure of the “War on Drugs” falls into four categories:

* Spending on criminalization hasn’t reduced supply.

* Arresting a drug seller never stops drug flow.

* Drug criminalization harms public health initiatives that reduce HIV/AIDS, overdoses and drug-related medical harm.

* Government spending on criminalization and jails uses money that could be spent on successfully-proven public health interventions.

via War on Drugs an epic fail, says new report by world leaders – Jimmy Zuma – Open Salon.

This is why the United States is doomed – How the World Works – Salon.com

4 Jun

The GOP response to the jobs report: The Earth is flat and two plus two equals five

via This is why the United States is doomed – How the World Works – Salon.com.

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