POLITICS-US: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy June 27th, 2008
Dear Editors,
I wanted to thank you and others like you who report on the one-sided nature of our democratic representation. It seems that our grand experiment called representative democracy always needs defending from within as well as from without. How can we sell out our country to corporations and foreign governments and not sound the alarm bells? When are we going to look at the problem for what it really is; treason. The basic act of patriotism calls for us to put our country and its people ahead of the interests of the privileged few within or outside our borders. The scales must be balanced.
DISARMAMENT: 2020 Vision Aimed at Dismantling Nukes June 27th, 2008
Dear Editors,
Thank you for bringing attention to the Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign. A minor correction: we do not use a semicolon in the title of our campaign, since 20:20 only makes sense in certain cultures (as a measure of visual acuity). This error might interfere when people search for our website: www.2020visioncampaign.org . The text of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Protocol and the Cities Appeal can be found there. Mayors and elected civic officials are welcomed to sign the Appeal. While the G8 Heads of Government are unlikely to visit Hiroshima as a group, the leaders of the respective parliaments will meet there in September. Mayor Akiba, President of Mayors for Peace, will have a chance to talk to them about the Protocol as a means of realize our vision of a world free of nuclear weapons by the year 2020. Please also be sure to cover the 63th commemoration of the 6 August 1945 atomic bombing.
Regards,
Aaron Tovish
International Director
2020 Vision Campaign
Mayors for Peace
MALAYSIA: Opposition Pledges Yet Unfulfilled June 27th, 2008
Dear Editors,
I think the article is not incisive enough. It must be remembered that many of the promises by the opposition were made on the premise that the opposition wins and takes over the Federal Government (not the State Governments which have limited powers). This important distinction is not made.
CLIMATE CHANGE: 100-Percent Renewables Not a Pipe Dream June 26th, 2008
Dear Editors,
“Not only is 100 percent renewable energy possible, it can be done much faster and cheaper than building coal or nuclear power plants, said Scheer. Multi-megawatt wind turbine farms and solar arrays can be up in running in 18 months. But when energy is needed, the first thing most governments want to build are big, expensive power plants.”
This is so not true. Production capacity for renewables is limited during that time, just as new oil and gas rig production. Example, GE Wind has production booked thru Q4 2009 to Q1 2010. Transmission bottlenecks at the planning stage exist so much that only 15% of wind capacity in RTO generation queues, have transmission connectivity approved with proposals! And, after that hurdle, tightening construction resources for transmission are a growing issue, once the 2+ year application siting process at the state level is successful. Digital Energy Management is the hub of the energy transformation which wind and all intermittent renewables are dependent on. Industry has just entered the 1st inning of this. The determination and condemnation of land to site renewable resources and transmission right-of-ways takes years. 18 months is a complete and utter pipedream. Perhaps opinion will change in 2030, after the energy transformation has reached the halfway point, but that’s only after the first third of implemented resources is a reality, and the world has moved forwarded with 2nd third. The final 3rd by 2050+, will complete the true possibility of fossil to clean. 18 months, please, that just inflames the resistance, and creates disbelief among the common citizen, who has no time to follow these matters. I would say this assumption is a borderline irresponsible statement, from anyone who is trying to advance the clean energy transformation.
CLIMATE CHANGE: 100-Percent Renewables Not a Pipe Dream June 26th, 2008
Dear Editors,
There has been no global warming since 2002 as is clearly demonstrated by every global temperature data set including GISS and Hadley (both of which have been used to promote the AGW concept by the use of questionable statistics), and even the IPCC has been forced to admit that the earliest return of warming may not occur until 2015 according to the article published in Nature. This is in spite of the steady rise in CO2 of 2ppmv per year which itself does not reflect the rapid increase in human CO2 emissions a fact that clearly demonstrates that something far greater than the human emissions is adding CO2 to the atmosphere at a steady rate and the magnitude of this is so great that it masks the human emissions contribution. The correlation of CO2 with global temperature over the last 6 years is negative leading to only two possible conclusions either CO2 emissions cause global cooling or there is no correlation of global temperature with increased CO2. (The first makes no sense and the second fits all the scientific evidence)
Our adherence to the concept of human caused global warming and the false representation of CO2 as a pollutant has resulted in a world food crisis from biofuels initiatives, and an unstoppable rise in oil prices because we have redefined clean coal as producing zero CO2 emissions when in fact clean coal properly defined produces only CO2 emissions and no pollution. To reduce pollution to zero increases the cost of power from coal fired power plants by about 30% but the sequestration and burial of CO2 to make the new version of “clean coal” power increases the cost by 300% and requires a large amount of energy to compress the CO2 to 30 atmospheres of pressure to liquefy it for burial adding to the drain on energy resources.
By removing coal as a competitive energy source as the world demand for energy grows pressure is put on the oil price which has caused the dramatic escalation in the price of gas at the pump.
All of this is the result of trying to fix a perceived problem that no longer exists and will not return for at least another 7 years if climate models are to be believed. The solar scientists do not predict an end to the current cooling trend until the end of solar cycle 25 around 2033 which is expected to have the a similar level of solar activity as the Maunder Minimum that brought the world the Little Ice Age of the 17th century.
CLIMATE CHANGE: 100-Percent Renewables Not a Pipe Dream June 26th, 2008
Dear Editors,
“Governments fail to vigorously switch over to renewables because the way things are works for them,” said Scheer. The extremely powerful fossil fuel lobby also wants no changes so they can continue to profit from their investments in the current energy infrastructure.”
He should know.
G.R.L. Cowan, H2 energy fan ’til ~1996
http://www.eagle.ca/~gcowan/Paper_for_11th_CHC.html
MIDEAST: Israel Training to Attack Iran June 25th, 2008
Dear Editors,
Bush wishes to ride out looking the hero, so he’s sending weapons to Israel to attack Iran, in which is no surprise, because Israel wants the land of Syria, and Iran is in the way. Bush wants control of Iran’s oil, so both are playing Hitler. I wonder what catastrophe they are cooking up; to make it look like it’s Iran’s Fault?
RIGHTS: Widows Face a Life of Quiet Destitution June 24th, 2008
Dear Editors,
There is also this situation… Suppose an elderly widow wishes to re-marry, she is forced to give up her widow’s pension. I agree she is no longer a widow but if she is the widow of for example a top civil servant, the fact of losing her pension puts her new relationship with a less well off man in jeopardy. He would feel that he was bringing her into a life of comparative depredations and in loving her, just could not do it. Yet if she was the widow of a top business man her pension would not be affected on her re-marriage.
MEDIA-MALAYSIA: Call To Boycott Newspapers For Biased Reporting June 23rd, 2008
Dear Editors,
I am a professional translator in Korea. When I read the article above, I felt everyone in the world pursue the same things, justice and freedom! Recently Korean people are boycotting three major newspapers (Chosun, Joongang, Dong-A) and asking advertisers not post advertisement on these three newspapers. As you may know, this is very tough movement. Since the newspapers have a strong and long affiliation with the Government and large companies in Korea, they are threatening Korean people who participated in the movement. Even prosecutors are supporting the newspapers. They said the activities to ask advertisers not to post advertisement on the newspapers are illegal because it may interrupt corporate activities and decrease sales revenue. I was so delighted when I found Malaysia also had boycotted mainstream newspapers. If you can tell me how it was organized, how Malaysian people boycotted the newspapers and how the advertisers cooperated with the boycott, it would be very helpful to us and encourage us. We can compare the case with ours.
DEVELOPMENT: Food Crisis Mortgages Children’s Future June 23rd, 2008
Dear Editors,
Thank you Mr. Deen for all the attention you are giving to children issues. Kul Gautan always has remarkable interventions.
In this article the only issue I missed was that because unemployed million of parents immigrate to other countries with painful consequences for their families. In my country Ecuador, remittances is the second income in the country economy, but the price is too high regarding family disintegration.
IRAQ: ‘Special Weapons’ Have a Fallout on Babies June 22nd, 2008
Dear Editors,
This statement from the story: “The Pentagon admits to having used 1,200 tones of DU in Iraq thus far,” is not sourced, and likely cannot be. I would challenge Dahr or Ali to find anyone knowledgeable in the U.S. government who would put their name on this high estimate. The Pentagon admits to using about 300 tons of DU in 1991, and all indications are that no more than 200 tons was used since 2003. (See Dan Fahey’s 2003 report, The Use of Depleted Uranium in the 2003 Iraq War, at Danfahey.com). More references available on request, but the problem for the opponents of DU munitions when confronted with such hyperbole is one of conceding an argument about harmful dose levels without good reason. Please see a discussion of this problem at “DU Disinfo Dupes Project Censored” at nuclearresister.org/du-disinfo.pdf
Sincerely,
Jack Cohen-Joppa, Co-Editor
the Nuclear Resister
“A Chronicle of Hope”
Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa, editors
Tucson AZ
http://nuclearresister.org
DEVELOPMENT-GUATEMALA: Fair Trade Begins to Bear Fruit June 21st, 2008
Dear Editors,
I read the article of Inés Benítez on Fair Trade in Guatemala, based on interviews and facts. I would like to attract your attention to the national survey of fair trade in Guatemala I have conducted in 2006 for the UNDP office and the Ministry of Economy, which was followed by recommendations for public policies. The survey was published in Dec. 2006 by UNDP, where you can find under the title “Situación actual de los mercados justos en Guatemala”.
Yes, of course, but people are generally blind to all that especially when a good percentage of that money goes into the leaders’ pockets. This is exactly what happened in Zimbabwe as well. The Chinese want one’s blood and soul, nothing less.
POLITICS-US: Christian Zionist Gathering Mired In Controversy June 17th, 2008
Dear Editors,
When you watch Rev. Hagee on his television ministry he often preaches on the “Sin of Women’s Rights”, and other anti-Freedom of Choice subjects. Of course he frequently attacks the Sodomites of homosexuality, and teaching sex education in public schools.
This is an excellent story, thank you. However, I am disgusted that the 655,000 number is being used by someone such as you at this late date. Must we minimize the death and destruction to make what has been done in Iraq more believable? That number came out in July 2006; do all the people killed after July 2006 not count?
So I have asked Ed Salpeter (astrophysicist, who now also works in medical statistics, he carefully studied the Lancet paper) to figure this new number for you and this is what he writes (feel free to quote him or just use it as your own please, the idea is to get the number RIGHT):
The Lancet study number of excess deaths (violent deaths plus increased disease deaths) of approximately 650,000 covered a period of 3.3 years (to July 2006). Since then 1.9 years have elapsed, so the simplest guess for the total from the date of the invasion to now would be (3.3 +1.9)/3.3 times 650,000 which is 1.02 million deaths. However, it is rather uncertain whether the death RATE stayed the same or went up or went down. However, most qualitative estimates have conjectured that rates have increased rather than decreased. On the side of caution, the Lancet “confidence interval” to go with the 650,000 was “between about 400,000 and 950,000 deaths “, so the equivalent range to go with the 1.02 million would be “between 630,000 and 1.6 million deaths “.
G8-BRAZIL: Guest Brings Biofuel Arguments to Summit June 16th, 2008
Dear Editors,
For me, the real question is: What percentage of the investments made by the US and European nations will end up in the pockets of corrupt politicians such as our dear president Lula? And when will they stop talking so much and actually do something to help end poverty, slavery, hunger, and racism in Brazil? Politicians like Lula end with any hope that Brazilians had for a nation of equality and harmony. The ones that do support him only do so because of small amounts of food and money the president gives them as an informal way to buy their votes. Hopefully, we will find a way to share our land and stop the concentration of land ownership that just makes the rich richer, and the poor poorer.
Sincerely,
Flora Bracco — the 16 year old Brazilian living in the US, but dreaming of Brazil.
POLITICS: Was Obama’s Rhetoric on Israel for Real? June 12th, 2008
Dear Editors,
Obama is a Manchurian candidate. This guy is a puppet — he can’t
speak without notes. Obama is real…..real bad news for anyone
who loves Israel, the USA, and any other country on the side of
liberty and freedom.
Thanks for the article. Has there ever been made an estimation of costs with regard to keeping asylum-seekers in detention / prison? Has there ever been made an alternative plan to direct the money (for administering and detention) into development program’s in the countries of asylum-seekers in order to address the reason for leaving one’s country?
HAITI: Kidnappings Rise as Economic Woes Deepen June 6th, 2008
Dear Editors,
Haiti’s has been the recipient of hundreds of Charities and NGO’s doling out food and other items to aid the people. However, great these charitable acts are the key to Haiti’s return to self reliance lies not in charity, which feeds them only for the time that the supplies given last, but, in the implementation of a plan which I have spent years devising for Haiti. As the old saying goes… give a man a fish you feed him for a day, give him a fishing pole, you feed him for life. The plan outlined at: www.mikespinelli.com.
Leadership of Haiti must use a concept known in the medical world as Triage. In this case Triage would be to take my report noted above and select the most important first and place total emphasis on this item while all others are worked upon through the minister’s offices. However, I believe that it is time for Haiti to import a “Country Manager,” just as the Cities and Towns and States in the USA have accomplished.
This Manager comes in with the talent to turn countries and companies around as they are fresh with new ideas untarnished by the past. He works directly with the President and Prime Minister to channel the power of Haiti to reverse her virtually 100% trade deficit.
POLITICS-US: Obama Walks Fine Line at Major Pro-Israel Meet June 5th, 2008
Dear Editors,
I listened to the Obama’s speech in front of AIPAC in entirety and did so carefully, but unlike what your article referenced in the subject line published in IPS suggests, I did NOT really see a big contrast between what he said and what senator McCain said to the same audience. Both speeches were full of pandering. I am not an anti-Semite and have good Jewish friends, but I am a strong believer in fairness. When Israel was dropping cluster bombs on Lebanon and killing a large number of civilians, senator Obama called it self-defense! And I strongly disagree with that. Number of civilians killed on both sides of the conflict speeks volume. According to some estimates the ratio of number of Israelis killed to number of Palestinians killed is about 1 to 40.
On the subject of Iran, Obama’s suggestion for tougher sanctions contradicts with his message of change. The approach of sanctions has been tried, and has proven its failure for the last ~30 years. The only people that may be hurt by this approach are people of Iran and businesses in the west, the U.S. businesses in particular, and people in the U.S. indirectly.
Regards,
Ramin Saeedinia
Q&A: ‘Need For a New Social Alliance’ June 4th, 2008
Dear Editors,
Why is it that when a Westerner, particularly one from the global north, argues for a return to social agricultural production they are given the status of “guru”, expert, etc. when in effect what they articulate has been clamored for by the peasants, the small agricultural producers of Latin America (the area of my research) and I am sure many other areas of the global south. There are mountains of research by Latin Americans, testimonials, oral history all of which demonstrate the point.
And despite the current tragedy these voices are never heard: to add insult to injury all of a sudden it is as if the current food mismanagement, which has its origins in development projects in conjunction with the economic interests of agri-business, but this topic is now coming to vogue. All of a sudden in our back yard, there is a possibility that our children may have to do with their bowl of rice a day. In fact it will only take escalation of oil prices at the rate the bullion once did.
Perhaps rather than writing such “learned articles” it might serve your communities well to learn other languages and translate what has already been written and opined on this subject, and rather well documented: or as the jargon would have it, more than ample cross sectioned empirical evidence has been documented since the 60s!
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