Earth Hour, Oil Spill, Air Pollution; Ecology; Climate Change, Science Under Siege, Cosmos

Earth Hour

• State allowed logging on plateau above slope—"In recent decades the state allowed logging — with restrictions — on the plateau above the Snohomish County hillside that collapsed in last weekend's deadly mudslide."
• Duke Energy seeks to keep records from regulators—"Worried about getting a fair shake from investigators, Duke Energy is asking a judge to shield its records from North Carolina regulators and environmental groups while a federal criminal probe is ongoing."
• US House votes to allow dumping of coal mining waste into streams—"House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, called it part of an effort to stop what Republicans call the 'war on coal' and a 'pro-growth jobs bill.'"
• George Osborne is preparing to kill off Britain's renewable energy revolution—"In delivering budget, chancellor stealthily abolished a tax break that attracts private money to help build our green energy future."
• State officials abruptly cancel talk by FSU professor Diane Roberts—"Roberts [who has been critical of the administration of Gov. Rick Scott] planned to discuss Florida's environment and problems with the state's rivers, lakes and springs."
• Death threats made to Ecuadorian lawyer in Chevron pollution case—"Juan Pablo Saenz is representing small farmers trying to force Chevron to pay damages for pollution in the Amazon."
• In California, Demand for Groundwater Causing Huge Swaths of Land to Sink
• Kiruna: How to move a town two miles east

Oil Spill

• Malfunction at BP's Whiting Refinery sends oil into Lake Michigan—They've doubled their original estimates.
• Texas Oil Spill Investigation Far From Over
• Hikers find unreported oil spill into Grand Staircase monument
• Seattle scientists show how Deepwater Horizon spill caused heart damage in young tuna
• Galveston Bay Oil Spill: Wildlife Damage Expected to Get 'Much Worse'; 100 Ships, Barges At Standstill

Air Pollution

• Air Pollution Kills 7 Million a Year, WHO Says
• Most Face Masks In China Don't Work And Pollution Is Getting Worse
• China Admits Its Cities Are Failing Pollution Standards As Beijing Chokes On Smog Again

Ecology

• Tigers slaughtered in show of social stature for Guangdong businessmen—"Police seize body of freshly killed tiger and discover video evidence of electrocution and torture after raid in Zhanjiang."
• Copenhagen Zoo kills 4 lions, weeks after shooting giraffe
• Elephant thought rescued by Sir Paul McCartney found beaten in chicken shack

Climate Change

• UN Blames 2013 Storms, Floods On Human-Induced Climate Change
• Bad Astronomy: This Old Earth Is Warming Up
• How climate change will acidify the oceans
• Bill Nye, the Climate Guy—"A kids' TV star is liberals' most effective spokesman against right-wing science skeptics."
• Obama Talks Climate Change in James Cameron's Showtime Documentary—He's looking into new gas and oil regulations to address climate change.
• Climate Denier Jim Inhofe Says He Could Lead Senate's Top Environment Committee Next Year—"Inhofe has also said that humans lack the ability to affect the climate because control is limited to divine powers: 'The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what [God] is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.'" Best evidence for not having a god if this guy gets the job.
• Nate Silver's Climate Author Accused Of Threatening Critics—"Pielke argued that the cost of natural disasters has risen not because of climate change, but as a result of an increase in wealth."
• U.S. Tries To Stop India's Solar Policy While Pushing Fight Against Climate Change

Science Under Siege

• Contrarians bully journal into retracting a climate psychology paper—"After threats of frivolous libel and defamation lawsuits, a journal will retract an academically sound paper."
• How The Koch Brothers Are Hacking Science
• Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science—"As government financing of basic research has fallen off precipitously, philanthropists have stepped in, setting priorities and drawing both gratitude and trepidation from scientists." NYT
• Right-wing billionaires, creationism and pseudo-science: Why is a wingnut giving commencement speech at Montana's best tech college?—"Uproar at Montana Tech as a conservative funder of creationist museums is asked to speak at top engineering school." Salon
• Special report: Taxpayers fund creationism in the classroom Politico
• GOP: Predict storms, not climate change

Cosmos

• Yes, "Cosmos" Fans, Creationists Also Deny the Science of Comets—"Last night on "Cosmos," Neil deGrasse Tyson explained how comets work, and why they're not bad omens. They are for creationists, though." I never knew Halley was had such a profound influence on Newton.
• Creationist Complains That His Side Isn't Getting Equal Time on Cosmos
• Cosmic terror: Why Neil deGrasse Tyson has religious fundamentalists so freaked—"Religious belief systems prefer a universe with mankind firmly at its center. No wonder 'Cosmos' is so threatening." Salon

Environment, Keystone, West Virginia, Pollution, Energy; Ecology, Shark Weak, Climate Change; Food Insecurity; NSA Spying

Environment

• 'Neil Young Lies' Is Pro-Oil Propaganda at Its Worst
• The anti-fracking activist barred from 312.5 sq miles of Pennsylvania
• David Cameron pledges to rip up green regulations—"Prime minister says plans to scrap or amend more than 3,000 regulations will save businesses £850m a year."
• Australia Permits Dredge Dumping Near Great Barrier Reef for Major Coal Port NYT
• Yukon Government Opens Vast Wilderness to Mining—"Indigenous leaders, conservation groups vow legal challenge."

Keystone

• Approving Keystone XL could be the biggest mistake of Obama's presidency
• State Department Says Keystone Pipeline Will Create Just 50 Jobs
• Obama's still not ready to approve Keystone—"Obama's top aide says more input is needed before the president makes a final decision on the pipeline." Salon

West Virginia

• WV Senate Committee Votes To Weaken Water Quality Standards
• West Virginians say they don't fault coal industry for water crisis
• War of words arises on MCHM flushing—As it "might not have effectively eliminated Crude MCHM and other toxic chemicals from plumbing systems in homes and businesses...."
• After Chemical Spill, West Virginia Couple Says Their Chickens Laid Blue-Tinted Eggs That Smell Like Licorice
• This Modern World: States of Emergency—"If the water for 300,000 people were poisoned by terrorists, it would be a national emergency."

Pollution

• Pipeline rupture report raises questions about TransCanada inspections—"A CBC News investigation has unearthed a critical report that the federal regulator effectively buried for several years about a rupture on a trouble-prone TransCanada natural gas pipeline."
• TransCanada natural gas pipeline explodes near Winnipeg—"No injuries reported; comes as pipeline safety is under scrutiny ahead of Keystone XL decision."
• Train carrying fuel oil derails, spills in Mississippi
• Duke Pipe Break Causes Ash Release Into North Carolina River
• Mining Tar Sands Produces Much More Air Pollution Than We Thought

Energy

• How the Feds Are Ripping You Off To Benefit Big Coal
• Renewable Energy Is 'Stalinist' Mandate, Says Ohio Legislator
• Facebook Saved Over A Billion Dollars By Building Open Sourced Servers

Ecology

• Right-wing Republicans Launch Assault on Endangered Species Act
• A record 1,004 rhinos were killed in South Africa in 2013
• Hong Kong to Incinerate Huge Ivory Stockpile
• Pesticides halve bees' pollen gathering ability, research shows
• Monarch butterflies drop, migration may disappear
• Black bear accidentally mulched by oil and gas company—"An Apache contractor ran over a hibernating bear den while clearing land near Fort Nelson, B.C."
• Dead dolphins: Peru's beaches littered with hundreds of dead dolphins – again—"More than 400 dead dolphins were found in northern Peru in January. In 2012, more than 870 dead dolphins were found in the same area, and the cause of death was never determined."
• Albania's hunting ban to protect species—"Albania says it will ban all hunting for two years to protect animals threatened with extinction."

Shark Weak

• Zhejiang firm the world's largest shark abattoir, says WildLifeRisk—"Zhejiang plant 'processing hundreds of endangered specimens a year.'"
• America's health craze for fish oil is wiping out the world's rarest shark
• Mexico is Saving Sharks While Australia Kills Them

Climate Change

• Prince Charles finds climate-change denial most unbecoming—"Doubters of man-made global warming a 'headless chicken brigade,' Charles says."
• 24 House Republicans Just Voted To Deny The Reality Of Climate Change
• xkcd on the Cold Truth About Warming
• A Win for the Climate Scientist Skeptics Compared to Jerry Sandusky
• Dirty tactics: The story behind the Drax 29—"A group of climate activists have had their convictions for hijacking a coal train quashed after revelations about the extraordinary role of undercover police."
• The Changing Climate Is Killing Baby Penguins
• Drought-hit California unable to supply state water

Food Insecurity

• Report: FDA Documents Show Decade of Unsuccessful Attempts to Control Farm Antibiotics
• Congress: Keep Chinese-processed chicken out of the U.S.—"The USDA is entrusting our poultry to the country with one of the worst track records for food safety." Salon
• Feds suspend NJ slaughterhouse; cruelty alleged
• China-Japan poisoned dumplings: Chinese man jailed
• Japan food pesticide scare: Factory worker arrested

NSA Spying

• Feds: NSA 'Probably' Spies on Members of Congress—"The admission is hardly surprising, but expect lawmakers to feign outrage anyway."
• The first congressman to battle the NSA is dead. No-one noticed, no-one cares.
• Patriot Act author: Absent reform, we'll halt bulk metadata program renewal—"Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner has said vast data dragnet is 'unbounded in its scope.'"
• The New Snowden Revelation Is Dangerous for Anonymous — And for All of Us—"Whether you agree with the activities of Anonymous or not -- there are many shades of gray around using DDoS attacks as a protest tactic -- the salient point is that some governments now seem to be using their very tactics against them. The key difference, however, is that those involved in Anonymous can and have faced their day in court for those tactics while governments remain unchecked. And that power differential makes all the difference."
• US ambassador: Merkel phone tap was stupid
• Digital Independence: NSA Scandal Boosts German Tech Industry—"The German IT sector is hoping to profit from trust lost in American technology firms in the aftermath of the NSA spying scandal. But critics warn that plans to create a European routing system could affect the openness of the Internet."
• Guardian reveals threats of imprisonment and closure over Snowden leaks

Animal Cruelty, Ecology; Environment; Pollution; Surveillance and Privacy

Animal Cruelty

• Famous River Walk duck killed—"Witnesses say 'George' was sleeping under a tree around 1:30am Wednesday, when two tourists walked up to him and began to beat the duck. Witnesses told police the duck was tortured and strangled."
• Turtle, trying to find place to lay eggs, beaten to death at golf course
• Humane Officer accused of shooting kittens
• Alleged Princeton dog killer indicted again for animal cruelty
• Woman charged with animal cruelty, torture after dog found dead in trash can
• Jose Jimenez, Argentinian Belle Vista Player Sent Off For Throwing Dog Off Pitch By Its Neck
• Food companies accused of animal cruelty

Ecology

• World Heritage Body Wants Drilling Ban in Gorilla Sanctuary in Cambodia
• Indonesian Conservation Official Arrested in Animal Trafficking Sting
• The bee keepers—"How a Harvard scientist, a sixth-generation bee whisperer, and a retired entrepreneur joined forces to rescue an embattled insect and save the American food supply."

Environment

• EPA Now Won't Finalize Its Study That Showed Fracking May Have Contaminated Groundwater—Wonder who got paid off.
• Republicans Support Bill to Cut Renewable Energy Spending by 50%
• San Rafael's Sun Valley students get Crayola to recycle

Pollution

• Pipeline in northern Alberta leaks 9.5 million litres of industrial waste water
• New pollution high as haze chokes Singapore—The smoke is from the fires "caused by illegal slash-and-burn land clearance in Sumatra, to the west of Singapore."
• Indiana gives BP a pass on mercury
• Exxon Sued After Emails Reveal They Misled The Public About Oil Spills
• Polluting to death: China introduces execution for environmental offenders

Surveillance and Privacy

• Edward Snowden missing after failing to fly to Cuba—"Whereabouts of former NSA contractor whose leaks to Guardian have caused global controversy a mystery after he does not catch expected flight to Cuba."
• For secretive surveillance court, rare scrutiny in wake of NSA leaks—"After the NSA leaks, lawmakers are pressing for answers about the surveillance tribunal and its judges."
• Obama Has Charged More Under Espionage Act Than All Other Presidents Combined
• Eugene Robinson commentary: NSA's phone metadata collection isn't worth the cost
• Why Is Apple Being Evasive About PRISM?

Religion and Ivory, Ecology, Environment, Drilling, Mining and Fracking, Climate Change

Religion and Ivory

• Religious Ivory Demand Killing Elephants by Thousands, Report Says
• Christian, Muslim and Hindu religious leaders unite to help stop slaughter of elephants, rhinos
• Philippines investigates priest's 'links to ivory trade'

Ecology

• India tiger killed by poachers inside Itanagar zoo
• How the world's oceans could be running out of fish
• Bolivia enacts law to protect Amazon pink dolphins
• Poll: Should the giant panda be allowed to go extinct?
• Russia's Vladimir Putin admits wildlife stunts are staged--"[T]hey drew the public's attention to important conservation projects."

Environment

• Journalist Found Murdered--"The body of a Cambodian reporter who uncovered illegal logging is found in the trunk of his car."
• Helium shortage prompts scientist's balloon use warning
• Microsoft wasted 'millions of watts of electricity' to evade power usage penalty

Drilling, Mining and Fracking

• How Big Coal Keeps America Stupid--"The New York Times has a good piece today about the 153 million ad blitz the fossil fuel industry is running to oust President Obama."
• The trillion-gallon wastewater loophole--"State and federal regulators often do little to confirm what pollutants go into wells for drilling waste." Salon
• New test results due from Wyoming fracking zone
• Ancient site needs saving not destroying--"Documentary-maker Brent Huffman is battling to save from destruction an ancient Afghan Buddhist site, Mes Aynak, that sits on copper reserves."
• Shell sues Greenpeace to stop Arctic protests

Climate Change

• August 330th Month Above 20th-Century Average Temperature
• Climate change is already damaging global economy, report finds
• Report warns of global food insecurity as climate change destroys fisheries
• Scientists shocked after Harper government assigns IT staff to monitor ozone data
• SHOCKER: Fox News Misleads Audience on Climate Change --The edict came from the top.

Inequality, Republicans, Taxing the Rich, Public-Private Partnerships, Oily, The 1%, That's Rich

Inequality

• Why Economic Populism Is a Winning Strategy for Obama
• Sen. Bernie Sanders blasts economic inequality: This is not what democracy looks like
• The powerless American worker--"For the most part, employees can get fired for anything from wearing the wrong color shirt to having an affair."
• U.S. Standard of Living Has Fallen More Than 50%: Opinion
• Raise the Minimum Wage--"Here’s an unhappy observation about the minimum wage: Congress last increased the rate in stages in 2006, topping it out at $7.25 an hour in 2009, or $15,080 a year. That amount, when adjusted for inflation, is actually lower than what a minimum-wage worker earned in 1968 and is too meager to offer anyone the chance to climb out of poverty, let alone afford basic goods and services."
• What If the Greedy Rich Paid Their Share? 8 Things to Know About Wealth and Poverty in the US 

Republicans

• 10 Things Republicans Don't Want You to Know About Taxes
• Not A Millionaire? You're A Jackass If You Vote Republican
• GOP Rep. Tiberi Defends Tax Hikes For The Poor Because They ‘Don’t Have Skin In The Game’

Taxing the Rich

• Robert Reich: Why We Must Raise Taxes on the Rich
• Romney Tax Tips: 10 Ways to Stiff the IRS
• Loopholes: Spending Dressed Up as Tax Cuts?
• Tax-Us '5 percenters' group holds S.F. rally
• For Two Economists, the Buffett Rule Is Just a Start Salon
• Americans Favor "Buffett Rule" by 60% to 37%--Apparently, the Senate doesn't favor it at all.
• France tightens grip on super rich--"French election candidates François Hollande and Jean-Luc Mélenchon promise to cap fat cat salaries and change tax system."

Public-Private Partnerships

• This American Life: Take the Money and Run for Office--"For anyone who has ever heard the term 'Washington insider' and felt outside — we are with you. So this week, we go inside the rooms where the deals get made, to the actual moment that the checks change hands — and we ask the people writing and receiving the checks what, exactly, is the money buying?"
• Why Lobbyists Dodge Calls From Congressmen--"We imagine the lobbyist stalking the halls of Congress trying to use cash to influence important people. But it doesn't always work that way. Often, the Congressman is stalking the lobbyist, asking for money."
• Supreme Court case with the feel of a best seller--Gaming the legal system
• How Political Corruption Is Responsible for 80% Of Your Cell Phone Bill
• Corruption Is Why You Can’t Do Your Taxes in Five Minutes
• Who Wants Taxes To Be More Complicated?--"An unholy alliance of tax prep firms and conservative activists, that’s who."
• Ethics Complaint Filed Against 43 Republican WI Legislators Alleging Inappropriate Gifts from ALEC
• Mayor's speed cameras would help political ally

Oily

• The High Cost of Gambling on Oil--"Because of speculation, today’s oil prices of about $100 a barrel have become disconnected from the costs of extraction, which average $11 a barrel worldwide. Pure speculators account for as much as 40 percent of that high price...." NYT
• These Five Guys Bribed Congress And Got $20 Billion Dollars For It
• America’s gas entitlement problem--"Even at $4 a gallon, Americans are paying far, far less at the pump than the rest of the world." Salon

The 1%

• How billionaires destroy democracy Salon
• Scientific American: How Wealth Reduces Compassion
• Five Reasons Why The Very Rich Have NOT Earned Their Money
• 6 Things Rich People Need to Stop Saying
• Cenk slams millionaire CNN host Erin Burnett for 'protecting the rich'

That's Rich

• Spanish king criticized for elephant hunting trip
• $30,000 Watch Vanishes Up Church Leader’s Sleeve NYT
• Pile-up on Japanese expressway claims 14 luxury cars, including eight Ferraris and a Lamborghini, in what may be the most expensive car wreck of all time.
• California mansion fire sale: the fall of a billion-dollar realtor
• Unveiled: Britain's first £2m underground mansion designed to keep away prying eyes

Occupy Movement, Protests, Snake Oil, Money Talks, Accountability, Bad Company, The 1%

Occupy Movement

• A Violent Weekend Recharges Occupy Wall Street--TheYoungTurks take a look.
• As Occupy Arrestees Arraigned, Iris Scans Affect Bail
• You Can't Occupy This--"The government says the anti-protest bill was just a small tweak of the existing law. Don't believe it."
• In Georgia, Tea Partiers And Occupiers Unite To Fight Corporate Assault On The First Amendment
• Documents show NYPD infiltrated liberal groups

Protests

• The myth of freedom in the land of the free--"The US touts itself as the land of free, but it has laws which are designed to crush criticisms of the state."
• Go to Trial: Crash the Justice System NYT
• Jury nullification a danger, judge says--Really? Then you should read all about it.

Snake Oil

• Senate defeats measure to nix ‘Big Oil’ tax breaks, 51-47--As expected.
• GOP Votes to End Medicare In Order to Finance Giveaways to the Wealthy, Big Oil
• Senate GOP Try To Shift Blame From Big Oil For Rising Gas Prices With Blatant Falsehoods

Money Talks

• 'Big Government' Isn't the Problem, Big Money Is
• America’s bankrupt morality--"It's not just Wall Street. Every profession from medicine to academia has been corrupted by our money obsession." Salon
• Report: Lawmakers Opposing Volcker Rule Receive Four Times As Much From Financial Sector As Those Supporting It
• Bully Nation--"Rockwell does not pay a single dollar of state taxes on almost 5 billion in annual revenue. To the contrary, the Citizens of Iowa pay Rockwell Collins $14 million in annual tribute to keep the Rockwell jobs in town."
• Lessig: An Open Letter to the Citizens Against Citizens United

Accountability

• SEC Inspector General Probes Khuzami's Role in Citi Settlement--"The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's internal watchdog is reviewing an allegation that Robert Khuzami, the agency's top enforcement official, gave preferential treatment to Citigroup Inc. executives in the agency's $75 million settlement with the firm in July."
• Wells Fargo Should Be Forced to Meet Subpoenas, SEC Says--"Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) failed to hand over documents demanded in U.S. subpoenas and should be forced to cooperate with a probe into its sale of almost $60 billion in residential mortgage-backed securities, regulators said."
• Congressional Panel Finds Former MF Global CEO Ordered JPM Fund Transfer
• Ex-SEC Chairman Defends Goldman: 'Nobody Really Puts Customers First'--If these guys don't care about your business, move your money.
• Giant banks are the problem Salon

Bad Company

• The Age of Double Standards--"American Airlines can declare bankruptcy and wipe away debt. But you can't—and that's just the beginning."
• Newspaper Giant Gives CEO $32 Million Severance Package After Laying Off 20,000 Workers In Six Years
• Bank of America Chief’s Pay Jumps to $8.1 Million NYT

The 1%

• The rich are different; they get richer
• The rich will pay the lowest taxes since the Hoover Administration over 80 years ago
• You can tell Monopoly is an old game...

Energy, Oil, Environment, Spills, Logging, Ecology

Energy

• President Obama Compares GOP to Flat Earth Society
• AP Fact Check: In 36 Years Of Data, Not A Shred Of Evidence That Drilling Reduces Gas Prices
• Inching Toward Energy Independence in America NYT
• Georgia Power Monopoly Hurts Georgians, Economy
• Why power generators are terrified of solar--"Deutsche Bank solar analyst Vishal Shah noted in a report last month that EPEX data was showing solar PV was cutting peak electricity prices by up to 40%...."

Oil

• Bam Goes After Big Oil
• Bill ending oil company tax cuts clears Senate hurdle--"Legislation repealing tax breaks for major oil companies passed its first hurdle in the Senate on Monday, but is unlikely to become law, as Republicans and Democrats seek to score political points over rising gasoline prices."
• Shell boss took home £10m amid oil price surge
• Exxon Mobil's Tax Rate Drops To 13 Percent, After Making 35 Percent More Profits On Rising Gas Prices In 2011
• Alec Baldwin Attacks 'Oil Whore' James Inhofe

Environment

• PA Passes The Most Anti-Democratic, Anti-Environmental Law in The Country
• For Pennsylvania's Doctors, a Gag Order on Fracking Chemicals--"A new provision could forbid the state's doctors from sharing information with patients exposed to toxic—and proprietary—fracking solutions."
• Obama administration sets limits on power plant emissions
• Counting the cost: the hidden price of coal power--"Melissa Ahern of Washington State University described some of the environmental impacts that have resulted from the mountaintop removal process in Appalachia: over 500 peaks gone, 2,000 miles of streams eliminated, and over 140 billion gallons of coal slurry currently held in storage ponds."
• As eco-terrorism wanes, governments still target activist groups seen as threat
• Scientists call for fundamental governance overhaul to ensure Earth's sustainability
• The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows

Spills

• BP's Influence Peddling In Congress Bears Fruit Two Years After Gulf Spill
• Chevron executives barred from leaving Brazil over spill
• Shell Sued in U.K. Over 'Massive' 2008 Nigerian Oil Spills

Logging

• Illegal logging makes billions for gangs, report says
• The rigged illegal logging game--"The World Bank reports that corrupt officials and gangs profit while poor workers face prosecution." Salon
• Logging blamed for Philippine flood deaths--"Two months after floods in the southern Philippines killed more than 1,000 people, the illegal logging that exacerbated the disaster continues unabated."

Ecology

• Dugongs cruelly slaughtered in illegal meat trade
• Appetite for shark fin soup 'causing decline of blue sharks in UK waters'
• Japan ends whaling season short of quota

Gas Prices, Heartland Institute, BP, Environment, Ecology, Food Security

Gas Prices

• Oil prices: Not Obama’s fault--"There's nothing the president can do about rising fuel costs -- and a new poll shows most Americans know that." Salon
• Obama Calls for an End to Subsidies for Oil and Gas Companies NYT
• Wall Street fights rule limiting oil speculation--"Wall Street is pushing to stop a new rule that would crack down on speculation in the energy markets, which many blame for contributing to the spike in gas prices."
• Bloomberg News: Keystone XL Will Raise Gas Price
• Reality Check: The Fiat Dollar is the Real Reason for High Gas Prices--Says it;s because the dollar is worth less.

Heartland Institute

• Leak exposes how Heartland Institute works to undermine climate science--"Libertarian thinktank keeps prominent sceptics on its payroll and relies on millions in funding from carbon industry, papers suggest."
• EXPOSED: The 19 Public Corporations Funding The Climate Denier Think Tank Heartland Institute
• Climate Whistle Blower Outed--" But instead of being lauded as a public hero for uncovering the coordinated plot to undermine scientific truth with ideology, he’s being publically shamed by colleagues and critics alike...."

BP

• BP expects to pay $7.8B in Gulf spill suit deal
• US government to continue BP Deepwater Horizon case
• BP Oil Still Tars the Gulf

Environment

• Obama: Conservation boosts the economy--"The argument that environmental conservation stands in the way of economic growth is 'a false choice.'"
• Amazon defenders face death or exile--"Brazilian activists who inform on illegal loggers laying waste to the rainforests can expect a visit from the gunmen."
• Activists Fight Green Projects, Seeing U.N. Plot NYT
• One Month in Beijing = Smoking 5 Cigarettes
• The next 'revolution' for Nicaragua: energy independence--"Oil dependent Nicaragua is battling high energy costs and trying to build a sustainable economy by focusing on wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal."

Ecology

• Nearly 450 Elephants Killed in Cameroon
• New taste for Thai elephant meat--"A new taste for eating elephant meat — everything from trunks to sex organs — has emerged in Thailand and could pose a new threat to the survival of the species."
• Indonesia's tiger habitat pulped for paper, investigation shows
  
• Carbon emissions could wipeout marine species
• Overfishing leaves swaths of Mediterranean barren
• Rhino dies in anti-poaching demo by conservationists--Poor Spencer.
• High demand for sea turtles in China sends poachers toward Philippines

Food Security

• Bill Gates pushes 'green revolution' for small farms in developing world
• Comic book superheroes take on world hunger
• IBM tracks pork chops from pig to plate

That's Oil Folks, War on Terror, Wikileaks, Unfriendly Skies, TSA

That's Oil Folks

• Obama mocks GOP on gas price issue
• Goldman Sachs Admits Record Speculation To Blame For Skyrocketing Gas Prices--But guys like Rove and Hannity don't care about that.
• U.S. Gas Exports Force Drivers Into Bidding War With Mexico At Pump
• Fear of Iran is inflating gas prices--And them stopping oil exports to England and France is conflating things.
• Fox Still Struggling With Basic Chart Concepts: Gas Price Edition

War on Terror

• Hypnotized into an endless dirty war Salon
• How the FBI Invents Terrorists Like the U.S. Capitol 'Suicide Bomber'
• Feingold: Voting against the PATRIOT Act 'one of the best things I’ve done'
• CIA Claims Release of its History of the Bay of Pigs Debacle Would "Confuse the Public"
• Marines Nazi-Flag Whistleblower Comes Forward

Wikileaks

• Wikileaks Banned From UN Conference on Wikileaks--UNESCO ironically justifies this as "an exercise of 'freedom of expression.'"
• WikiLeaks suspect charged with 'aiding enemy'
• WikiLeaks Diplomatic Cables FOIA Documents

Unfriendly Skies

• Court Revives Challenge to No-Fly List--"A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived a Malaysian woman's legal fight against the United States' no-fly list, ruling that she may challenge her two-hour airport detention on allegations she was wrongly singled out as a suspected terrorist."
• Tigard businessman blocked from returning to U.S. after humanitarian trip to Libya--"When FBI agents told him he needed to take a lie detector test before being allowed to return to the United States, Tarhuni agreed -- against the advice of a Tunisian attorney and his Portland lawyer, his daughter said. But he later refused after another FBI employee tried to get him to sign a paper without reading it, his daughter said. When he finally saw it, she said, it appeared to be a waiver of his constitutional rights, which angered him."
• Passengers face body scans before flights--"Passengers at airports across Australia will be forced to undergo full-body scans or be banned from flying under new laws to be introduced into Federal Parliament this week."

TSA

• Female Passengers Say They Were Targeted for TSA Body Scanners--They're, of course, denying it, which is pretty much their response to any criticism: deny, downplay, and deflect.
• Alaska Bill Would Criminalize TSA Screening Procedures
• TSA expands PreCheck expedited airport screening program
• Bill would give loose change left at airports to USO not TSA--"In 2010, the TSA's most recent count, it amounted to $409,085."
• C&H: Airport Insecurity

Oil, Iran, Iraq, Middle East, Military Machine

Oil

• European crude drives up U.S. gas prices
• Get Ready for $5 Gas This Year: Ex-Shell CEO
• Oil Prices Are Rising Despite Lowest Demand Since 1997

Iran

• The Generals try to stop an Iran War
• Iran sanctions crippling food imports
• Iran cuts off internet access
• Iran's Undisputed Weapon: Power to Block the Strait of Hormuz
• Iran Warns 6 Countries in Europe It Will Cut Off Oil--Did they or didn't they? NYT
• Israeli Ad Jokes About Attacks Against Iran's Nuclear Facilities
• Greenwald: U.S. media takes the lead on Iran--"[T]ime and again, Americans support whatever new war of aggression their government proposes, then come to regret that support and decide the war was a 'mistake,' only to demonstrate that they learned no lessons from their "mistake" by eagerly supporting whatever the next proposed war is." Salon
• Krauthammer: Israel 'will strike' Iran to 'prevent a second holocaust'--The little drummer boy.

Iraq

• DOD Official Says U.S. Overestimated Al Qaeda's Capabilities After 9/11
• RAF helicopter death revelation leads to secret Iraq detention camp--"Death in RAF helicopter and secret prison camp in Iraq desert raises questions about legality of British and US operations."
• Anonymous says it will leak giant cache of Iraq war e-mails

Middle East

• The Afghanistan Report the Pentagon Doesn't Want You to Read
• Army Whistleblower Lt. Col. Daniel Davis Says Pentagon Deceiving Public on Afghan War
• Why American 'democracy promotion' rings hollow in the Middle East

Military Machine

• U.S. to pull half its troops out of Europe by 2014
• Gates: GOP Claims That Obama Is Ushering U.S. Military Decline Are 'Ridiculous'
• White House To GOP: Only One Way Around Defense Cuts — And You’re Not Gonna Like It
• Iran War Would Cost Trillions: Will the GOP Pay More Taxes for That?
• Why Pentagon, facing 'doomsday' spending cuts, refuses to plan for them
• Military Wants $3 Billion for a War It Isn't Fighting
• 'Starve the Beast': Instead of firing teachers, closing libraries and senior centers, and cutting bus routes, let's put the Pentagon on a diet.
• 2013 Pentagon budget: Why so much spending on big-war weapons?

Congress, Earmarks, Public-Private Partnerships, Republicans, Energy, Alabama

Congress

• Congress' Job Approval at New Low of 10%
• Poll: Random People In A Phonebook Would Do Better Than Current Congress
• G.O.P. Leaders in House Remove Part of Ethics Bill NYT
• Eric Cantor strips strict lobbying rules from STOCK Act
• It's deja vu as Congress tackles payroll tax cut extension again
• The Judicial Confirmation Crisis in One Easy Chart--Obstructionism at work.
• Increasing number of ethics probes rattles House Republicans--"An increasing number of House Republicans are getting wrapped up in allegations of ethics violations ahead of the November elections, handing Democrats easy campaign fodder and putting the GOP in an unexpected bind."

Earmarks

• Congress Appears to Be Trying to Get Around Earmark Ban NYT
• Congressional earmarks sometimes used to fund projects near lawmakers' properties
• Earmark investigation: Rep. Norm Dicks and Puget Sound

Public-Private Partnerships

• Oops: Florida Republican Forgets To Remove ALEC Mission Statement From Boilerplate Anti-Tax Bill
• Rep. Lamar Smith, Top Border Security Hawk, Invested In Border Monitoring Tech Company Before Gov. Grant
• $6 Billion for a Nuke-Building Shed?--"American taxpayers are getting fleeced for a New Mexico bomb facility we don't need."

Republicans

• President Obama Takes Republican Senator Mike Lee To The Woodshed Over His Threat To Obstruct--"Lee threatened to block all of President Obama's nominees if he doesn't remove Richard Cordray from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Republicans think the President violated the Constitution by appointing Cordray during the recess."
• Wisconsin releases recall petition names amid safety concerns--"Wisconsin released the names of more than 1 million people who signed a recall petition against Gov. Scott Walker, state officials said, despite safety concerns among petition signers."
• New Hampshire Republicans Propose Bill To Eliminate Workers' Lunch Breaks

Energy

• Auction 2012: Energy Lobby Finds Power In Money And Fear
• Landmark diesel exhaust study stalled amid industry and congressional objections--"Twenty-year investigation of miners exposed to toxic fumes still unpublished."
• 'Gasland' Journalists Arrested At Hearing By Order Of House Republicans
• Dangers of Fracking
• Why Is America's Transportation System Stuck in the 1950s?--An upcoming Republican transportation bill "zeroes out funding for biking and walking infrastructure and cuts Amtrak's budget by 25 percent, while lavishing care on cars and the highways that carry them using revenues from increased gas and oil drilling."

Alabama

• U.S.-Born Children Denied Food Stamps Under Alabama Immigration Law
• Alabama Immigration Law Costs $11 Billion, Study Shows
• This American Life: Reap What You Sow--"Alabama's new immigration law aims to make life so difficult for illegal immigrants that they will 'self-deport.' And in a way it's working. Immigrants are fleeing Alabama...but not just the undocumented ones."

Do-Nothing Congress, Keystone XL, Lobbying, Debt and Taxes, Bailout and Bonuses

Do-Nothing Congress

• House Republicans Fear They Really Are a Do-Nothing Congress
• Obama blames a "deeply ideological" Congress for lack of action--"President Obama says it's not his relationship with Congress that's to blame for the lack of congressional action on his agenda -- but a 'deeply ideological' Congress that 'sees a political advantage in not getting stuff done.'"
• Congress logs most futile legislative year on record
• Polls: Job approval for Congress sinks to new low--How low can they go?
• NBC/WSJ poll: Majority would vote out every member of Congress
• Congress Doesn't Want to Give Up Its Insider Trading Privileges
• Republicans derail US ambassador to El Salvador

Keystone XL

• Obama rejects Keystone pipeline from Canada to Texas
• Demand That John Boehner Be Expelled Or Resign For Keystone XL Scandal--"Boehner's official acts on behalf of Canada's tar sands industry are scandalous because he owns stock in the aforementioned seven companies, and he is using his financial gain as impetus to hold 160 million Americans’ tax cuts hostage in return for immediate approval of the Keystone pipeline."
• Lobbying Disclosures Reveal Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels Used State Dollars To Lobby For Keystone XL Pipeline--And Rep. Waxman wants to 'subpoena the Koch Brothers!'
• Republicans attempt to strip Obama of authority to reject oil pipeline plans.
• GOP tries new strategy to get Canada pipeline--By piggybacking it on a bill.

Lobbying

• Elizabeth Warren: 'Washington Now Works for Those Who Can Hire an Army of Lobbyists'
• Obama Campaign Refunding Money Donated by Federal Lobbyists
• Political Contributions from Financial Sector Increased 700% Since 1990

Debt and Taxes

• What If We Paid Off The Debt? The Secret Government Report
• Higher Taxes Help the Richest, Too NYT
• Billionaire Bill Gates Calls For Increasing Taxes On The Rich: 'That's Just Justice'
• Wealthy Bloomberg Subscribers Call for Higher Taxes
• Norquist: Republicans Will Impeach Obama If He Doesn't Extend Bush Tax Cuts
  
• Obama's and Bush's effects on the deficit in one graph
• Comparing Obama and Reagan’s economic records

Bailout and Bonuses

• Treasury Department approves huge paydays for execs at firms who received TARP bailout money--"Government approved pay packages worth $5M or more for 49 executives."
• Report: Taxpayers still owed $133B from bailout
• Barclays chief: Large bankers' bonuses 'rewards for success'

Oil Embargo, Iran, Israel, War on Terror, Police State and Surveillance, TSA, Feds

Oil Emargo

• EU Iran sanctions: Ministers adopt Iran oil imports ban--Around 95% of the world's tankers won't be transporting the oil.
• Sanctions take toll on ordinary Iranians
• Strait of Hormuz Will Stay Open, U.S. NATO Ambassador Says--And Britain, US and France sent warships there.
• Iran oil ban will up oil prices by 30%: IMF
• Tehran Pushes to Ditch the US Dollar--Wasn't this what Gadaffi wanted to do before?
• Revenge for EU Sanctions: Iran Set to Turn Off Oil Supply to Europe
• We've hit "peak oil"; now comes permanent price volatility

Iran

• How the media is legitimising war with Iran as if Iraq never happened
• US has arrested Iranian scientist--"The United States has arrested and charged an Iranian semiconductor scientist with violating U.S. export laws by buying high-tech U.S. lab equipment, a development likely to further worsen Iranian-U.S. tensions."
• 'Israel will indeed strike Iran in 2012'
• Israel Senses Bluffing in Iran's Threats of Retaliation NYT
• History of U.S. Intervention in Iran - 1953 Until Present

Israel

• Publisher Regrets Suggesting That Israel Assassinate Obama
• The "anti-Semitism" smear campaign against CAP and Media Matters rolls on Salon
• An interview with Norman Finkelstein: Israel 'has lost a lot of ground'
• UN tells Israel to halt demolition of Palestinian homes
• Secret EU report launches scathing attack on Israel

War on Terror

• US marine in Haditha case 'should serve no time'--"A US marine who admitted charges linked to the killing of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in 2005 should face no time in detention, a judge has recommended."
• Rules of American justice: a tale of three cases Salon
• Former CIA officer charged in leaks--What about those who were engaged in torture?
• Railroad Association Says Hack Memo Was Inaccurate--Was the DHS crying wolf?
• We Are Not The Dead: soldiers' faces before, during and after serving in Afghanistan

Police State and Surveillance

• Creeping authoritarianism on Capitol Hill Salon
• Judge: Americans can be forced to decrypt their laptops
• CIA Tracks Public Information For The Private Eye
• WikiLeaks Supporters Lose Court Bid to Protect Twitter Records
• FBI releases plans to monitor social networks
• Hawaii may keep track of all Web sites visited
• Supreme Court Court Rejects Willy-Nilly GPS Tracking

TSA

• TSA turns away Sen. Rand Paul at airport checkpoint--His father, Sen. Ron Paul, says that the "police state in this countrry is growing out of control."
• Opting Out of Naked Scans at the Airport: A Protest Movement--"[T]he status quo demeans a free people; and unless a critical mass of Americans gum up the works, TSA is sure to transgress against us more in time.
• TSA agents steal $40,000 from passenger luggage; sentenced to only five months in prison--" Any normal person found guilty of stealing $40,000 from, say, a bank or an employer, would likely be sentenced toat leastfive years of prison. But when you work for the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA), you can expect to be given special legal treatment and sent on your way."
• Woman Claims Husband's Ashes Went Missing After TSA Made Her Move Them To Checked Baggage
• Random Acts of TSA Kindness, and Other (Mainly) Good Airport News
• More Friendly TSA Tales -- Plus, Is It Possible Ever to Change?
• It's fun to stay as the TSA

Feds

• FBI agent admits deleting emails amid terror probe--"An FBI agent testified Thursday that she deleted potentially sensitive emails covering several months when she was helping spearhead an investigation of a terror suspect."
• ICE mistakenly deports a 14-year-old U.S. citizen to Colombia: The Colombian govt is now refusing to release her from a detention center
• Another one in the net: Thou shalt not watch whales eating

Lego Week, Iran, War on Terror, Torture, Guantanamo, TSA. Oil

Lego Week

• Lego Barad-dûr
• Lego: Star Wars
• Lego Hawking
• Lego-Saurus
• Lego Kraken

Iran

• Iran car explosion 'kills nuclear scientist' in Tehran--Iran says the US and Israel were behind the 'terrorist' blast and are looking to retaliate (NYT).
• Who is responsible for the Iran nuclear scientists attacks?
• This covert war on Iran is illegal and dangerous
• Le Figaro: Israel's Mossad recruiting Iranian dissidents to work against Tehran regime
• US sends top Iran leader warning on Hormuz threat--"Officials say closing the strait is a 'red line' that would provoke response."
• Iran: The Neocons Are At It Again
• Jon Stewart issues some advice to Iran Salon

War on Terror

• Fears of 'Taliban video' backlash
• Afghanistan Still Completely FUBAR
• US troops 'told to lie' about Iraqi killings
• Obama vows US will stay world's top military power
• Obama Makes Arms Sales A Key Tool Of U.S. Foreign Policy
• Military containers from Afghanistan arrive missing equipment and full of rocks and sand
• Iraq war to impose burden on taxpayers for decades--And the miltary industrial complex moves on.

Torture

• Scotland Yard Report Finds British Citizen Was Tortured in Secret CIA Site
• U.K. Spies Won't Face Criminal Charges For Torture
• Gitmo’s evil twin: Afghanistan slams torture in US-run Bagram jail

Guantánamo

• Ten years of 'Gitmo' -- and more to come
• Guantanamo Bay Turns 10: A Wound We Won't Let Heal--"It is the legacy of a country, known for its civil liberties, which allowed government power to exceed reason or justice or morality."
• Give Guantánamo Back to Cuba NYT
• Notes From a Guantánamo Survivor--How an innocent man ended up in Guantánamo. NYT
• Britain's last Guantánamo Bay prisoner held without charge after 10 years

TSA

• Proposed law prohibits TSA employees from dressing like cops
• TSA Funding Up In 2012 Consolidated Appropriations Act
• TSA officers jailed for stealing $40,000 in cash from a passenger's bag
• TSA Arrests Me for Using the Fourth Amendment as a Weapon
• 'Security Theater'? TSA Confiscates Woman's Frosted Cupcake--Their M.O. seems to be defend everything, even the stupidest thing.
• What do cupcakes and lightsabers have in common? Salon
• TSA's brags about not catching any terrorists, proves its own irrelevance

Oil

• Western oil firms remain as US exits Iraq--But a former Bush aide says the troops should stay too.
• The Gasoline Export Scam--"Gasoline prices in the US are rigged."
• Nigerian oil union issues shutdown deadline

Lego Week, Iran, Venezuela, Tyranny, Hacking, International News

Lego Week

• 'Brick' breaker: Lego bible too racy for Sam's Club
• These Are the First Lego Sets Ever Launched Into Space
• Lego Army from the Sarasota Chalk Festival
• Incredible LEGO Daily Planet Pits Superman and Young Justice Against Brainiac
• If Area Dad Steps On Legos One More Time The Onion

Iran

• Iran nuclear crisis: Sanctions 'beginning to bite'
• Iran Calls Threat of Sanctions From European Union 'Economic War' NYT
• Iran Is Now Gearing Up For Its 'Greatest War Games Ever' In The Strait Of Hormuz
• Iran says it will close Strait of Hormuz if crude exports blocked
• Iran judge sentences American, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, to death for spying

Venezuela

• Venezuela Will Not Recognize World Bank Ruling in Exxon Case NYT
• US expels Venezuela's Miami consul Livia Acosta Noguera
• Iran's Ahmadinejad begins 4-nation Latin American tour in Venezuela, seeking allies' support

Tyranny

• Alastair Smith on political tyranny: How to be a dictator
• The Unconstitutional Constitution--Hungary's slide to dictatorship
• Inside Turkmenistan's Surreal Presidential Election--"The only real question: By what margin will tyrant Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov rig the vote?"
• Yemeni Government Approves Immunity for President
• Iran squeezes Web surfers, prepares censored national intranet

Hacking

• Gordon Brown's Downing Street emails 'hacked'--"Computer crime by press may be as widespread as phone scandal."
• James Murdoch: I didn't read crucial phone-hacking email
• Phone hacking: Andy Coulson sues News Group Newspapers--"Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson is suing his ex-employer over its refusal to pay the legal fees he's incurred in the phone-hacking scandal."

International News

• German president urged to resign over threats to newspaper editor--But he says he's not going to resign.
• Viewpoint: Anwar acquittal boosts Malaysia's opposition--"To the great surprise of many of his followers, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was found not guilty of the sodomy charge brought against him by a former aide."
• India fails to pass anti-corruption law: Attention now turns to electoral politics, and who takes the blame
• China activist Ni Yulan and her husband go on trial--"Two Chinese rights activists have gone on trial in Beijing, accused of fraud and libel for their work providing legal help to people whose homes have been seized by the government."
• Justice delayed 30 years in Guatemala
• Haiti 2 years later: Half a million still in camps
• MP Aidan Burley sacked after 'Nazi' party guest photo--Guess his regrets weren't good enough.