April 2008
28 posts
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Funny, insightful, countercultural essay →
Comments are worth reading, also.
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"An Unlikely Way to Save a Species: Serve It for... →
FUCK YOU.
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No surprise: Corporate elements using green... →
An interesting article, but I’d take some issue with the last paragraph:
“Of all religions, the one to which Americans cling most tightly is the doctrine of the free market. No belief is more deeply held than the one that says markets will always satisfy people’s needs in the best and most efficient way. That belief persists, unaffected by the market economy’s repeated,...
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Ben Stein: "It looks to me as if the inmates are... →
A broken clock is right twice a day.
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Maureen Dowd is an idiot (but you already knew... →
Maureen Dowd, on Barack Obama:
…This is clearly a man who can’t wait to get back to his organic scrambled egg whites. That was made plain with his cri de coeur at the Glider Diner in Scranton when a reporter asked him about Jimmy Carter and Hamas.
“Why” he pleaded, sounding a bit, dare we say, bitter, “can’t I just eat my waffle?”
His subtext was obvious: Why can’t I just be president?...
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Food crisis boosts biotech crops →
We’ve recently been highlighting the web of events and issues surrounding rising food prices/scarcity. Add another unforeseen consequence to the firestorm, which includes already-excessive livestock growth, burgeoning demand for meat in places like China and India, biofuel use and growth mandates, and so on, with the ubiquitous undercurrent of global warming: a new level of social acceptance...
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NY Times Magazine focuses on environment →
Wide-ranging coverage in an interesting multimedia format.
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Bush climate tragicomedy continues →
President Bush’s last “major” climate speech was 6 years ago in 2002, indicating just how lethargic his approach has been to what can be aptly labeled the most pressing issue of our generation. (And yes, [as even the pentagon has admitted](http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4864237-102275,00.html), it is even more serious than terrorism, particularly as climate change...
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On the Stock Market
The stock market is based on pure fantasy — projections, predictions, expectations, “confidence,” and endless manipulations facilitated by its speculative nature. It is also based on extremely fragmented, small pictures — even by humanist-capitalist standards.
The following dueling headlines should come as no surprise then:
Citigroup to cut 9,000 jobs after posting...
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"Train Wreck" →
Sally Mae, the largest U.S. student loan company, on Thursday affirmed its 2008 profit forecast, but warned of a “train wreck” in the $85 billion education financing market without urgent government intervention.
This is what happens when you let children run amok. Unfortunately, the ones charged with keeping the children inside the sandbox — the agents of government —...
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A close-up look at tiger conservation in India →
“… We of the present generation certainly have no right to wipe them off the earth.”
A pertinent article that outlines some of the challenges in protecting and/or recreating the amount of wild habitat necessary to preserve biodiversity in the face of ongoing threats. The accompanying video (which includes the quote above) is very highly recommended.
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Oil sets new record high above $113 →
Update (via DKos): Potentially prolonging the sad status quo while worsening its inevitable nasty collapse, a massive oil field may have been discovered off Rio de Janeiro.
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Retailing chains caught in a wave of bankruptcies... →
Since last fall, eight mostly midsize chains — as diverse as the furniture store Levitz and the electronics seller Sharper Image — have filed for bankruptcy protection as they staggered under mounting debt and declining sales.
But the troubles are quickly spreading to bigger national companies, like Linens ‘n Things, the bedding and furniture retailer with 500 stores in 47 states. It may file...
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Pollution impeding flower aroma, pollination. →
Pollinators and land plants have a symbiotic relationship. Each plays a key role in the survival and health of the other. Without plants, all animal life dies. Game over. Period.
That said, let us examine yet another example of the unforeseen catastrophic consequences of human pursuit of wealth, power, and convenience:
Researchers at the University of Virginia created a mathematical model of...
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Time Mag catches on: Biofuels are a collossal... →
Despite having initial promise of mitigating global warming, biofuel production is actually increasing carbon emissions.
Because the production of biofuel crops is a carbon-intensive process, and because the particular crops being utilized are often inefficient as fuel sources, biofuels could only ever have been a marginal fix.
But now the smoke is clearing on a huge problem that scientists...
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America's Bittersweet Self-Destruction: Infectious... →
For no apparent reason (not that they’ve ever felt the need to justify their behavior), the Bush Admin is pushing to move a facility researching an EXTREMELY infectious and difficult-to-contain virus to the mainland. (Species-ism alert: Only non-human animals are “animals.”)
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America's Bittersweet Self-Destruction: Federal... →
A bucket-of-cold-water look at the dynamics of the Federal Reserve, encompassing broader history and recent events (with charts, for the visually inclined), from gjohnsit over at DailyKos. A key passage:
Normally central banks only hold the safest, most dependable assets in their vaults. Historically that was gold and silver. In today’s fiat world, it is treasuries. At least it was...
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The Great Forgetting: David Brooks is actually... →
Of course, he has no idea how great the forgetting is.
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The water is boiling. →
Time Magazine:
Add this to the list of items that could seriously threaten world peace: food. …
The forecast is grim. Governments might quell the protests, but bringing down food prices could take at least a decade, food analysts say. One reason: billions of people are buying ever-greater quantities of food — especially in booming China and India, where many have stopped growing their...
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Conservation program suffers as farmers cash in on... →
Thousands of farmers are taking their fields out of the government’s biggest conservation program, which pays them not to cultivate. They are spurning guaranteed annual payments for a chance to cash in on the boom in wheat, soybeans, corn and other crops. Last fall, they took back as many acres as are in Rhode Island and Delaware combined.
Money quote:
Kerry Dockter, a rancher in Denhoff,...
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On natural cooperations →
Close, beneficial associations between creatures of different species are nothing unusual. On the contrary, they are the very fabric of nature.
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Corporate Deals Replace Trials →
Government of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations…
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Infrastructure failing around the U.S. →
Catastrophic problems can arise when infrastructure fails. An 84-year-old steam pipe erupted beneath a New York street last year, creating a mammoth geyser that rained mud and debris down on the city.
In Chicago, an 80-year-old cast-iron water main broke earlier this year, spilling thousands of gallons and opening up a 25-foot hole in the street.
In Denver, up to 4 million gallons of water...
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Border fence plans imperil nature preserves →
To follow up on a previous post, this article spotlights a thriving nature preserve replete with rare species that could be jeopardized by the stunningly irrational erection of the U.S.-Mexico border fence.
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Philosophy making a comeback as a discipline. →
Once scoffed at as a luxury major, philosophy is being embraced at Rutgers and other universities by a new generation of college students who are drawing modern-day lessons from the age-old discipline as they try to make sense of their world…
“If I were to start again as an undergraduate, I would major in philosophy,” said Matthew Goldstein, the CUNY chancellor, who majored in mathematics...
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"Investment Firms Tap Fed for [Hundreds of]... →
The government and the pundits want you to think that the worst is over, that the crisis is averted and the causes addressed. But the truth is so much more interesting. The linked article is worth reading in its entirety, but here’s the key point:
Big Wall Street investment companies are stepping up their borrowing a bit from the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented emergency lending...
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Border fence moves forward with expansive... →
Ignorance and fear are a potent mix.
In addition to having serious environmental consequences, the 670 mile-long border fence will give concrete physicality and support to the xenophobia at its roots.