TOKYO -
Toyota Motor Corp. says it has developed a way of steering a wheelchair by just detecting brain waves, without the person having to move a muscle or shout a command.
Toyota's system, developed in a collaboration with researchers in Japan, is among the fastest in the world in analyzing brain waves, it said in a release Monday.
Past systems required several seconds to read brain waves, but the new technology requires only 125 milliseconds — or 125 thousandths of a second.
The person in the wheelchair wears a cap that can read brain signals, which are relayed to a brain scan electroencephalograph, or EEG, on the electrically powered wheelchair, and then analyzed in a computer program.
Research into mobility is part of Toyota's larger strategy to go beyond automobiles in helping people get around in new ways.
The new system allows the person on the wheelchair to turn left or right and go forward, almost instantly, according to researchers.
Coming to a stop still requires more than a thought. The person in the wheelchair must puff up a cheek, which is picked up in a detector worn on the face.
Japanese rival Honda Motor Co. is also working on a system to connect the monitoring of brain waves with mechanical moves.
Earlier this year, Honda showed a video that had a person wearing a helmet sitting still but thinking about moving his right hand. The thought was picked up by cords attached to his head inside the helmet. After several seconds, Honda's boy-shaped robot Asimo, programmed to respond to brain signals, lifted its right arm.
Neither Honda nor Toyota said it had any plans to turn the technology into a product for commercial sale as each said they are still developing the research.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Lightning kills 35 in eastern India
Yahoo News, AFP
PATNA, India (AFP) – At least 35 people including eight children were killed after they were struck by lightning in the adjoining eastern Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand, officials said Monday.
Around 18 people were killed late Sunday by bolts of lightning across Bihar, including six children, State Disaster Management Minister Devesh Chand Thakur said.
"The children were playing in the pre-monsoon showers when lightning struck them," Thakur told AFP from the state capital Patna.
Twelve others who were injured were hospitalised, he said.
Torrential rains accompanied by strong winds uprooted trees, damaged houses and brought down power cables across the impoverished state on Sunday night, he said.
In neighbouring Jharkhand, 17 people including two children were killed by lightning strikes, also late on Sunday night, a disaster management spokesman said in the capital Ranchi.
Lightning strikes during the June-September monsoon season are common, with villagers housed in bamboo-and-grass huts most at risk of death and injury.
PATNA, India (AFP) – At least 35 people including eight children were killed after they were struck by lightning in the adjoining eastern Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand, officials said Monday.
Around 18 people were killed late Sunday by bolts of lightning across Bihar, including six children, State Disaster Management Minister Devesh Chand Thakur said.
"The children were playing in the pre-monsoon showers when lightning struck them," Thakur told AFP from the state capital Patna.
Twelve others who were injured were hospitalised, he said.
Torrential rains accompanied by strong winds uprooted trees, damaged houses and brought down power cables across the impoverished state on Sunday night, he said.
In neighbouring Jharkhand, 17 people including two children were killed by lightning strikes, also late on Sunday night, a disaster management spokesman said in the capital Ranchi.
Lightning strikes during the June-September monsoon season are common, with villagers housed in bamboo-and-grass huts most at risk of death and injury.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Bounce a radio signal off the moon to another part of the world
Source: Yahoo News, Reuters
Moon-lovers remember Apollo with radio chit-chat
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Radio hams and amateur astronomers around the world spent the weekend bouncing radio conversations off the Moon to one another in commemoration of the Apollo 11 landings 40 years ago, organizers in Australia said Sunday.
Although they had some clear and extensive conversations, they had to be patient. It takes around 2.5 seconds for a radio signal to reach the Moon and bounce back to another part of the Earth, so it took around five seconds to get a reply.
Initiated a few months ago by science buffs in Australia and the United States, 'Moonbounce' was just winding up on Sunday Australian time after a 24-hour special event that organizers hope will become annual.
It brought together hundreds of amateur radio hams around the world, event co-founder Robert Brand told Reuters, some armed with their own radio dishes.
It was timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary next month of the Apollo 11 landings on July 20, 1969. But as the Moon does not orbit directly around the Earth's equator, this was the nearest weekend organizers could arrange for practical reasons.
Among those taking part was Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, one of the first men to orbit around the Moon, who took a famous photograph of Earth from space now known as "Earthrise."
While most were amateurs, institutions lent equipment to the event, including a 26-meter dish at Mount Pleasant in Tasmania and a 45-meter dish at Stanford University in the United States.
"The signals go up from these dishes in a tight beam to the Moon. They actually hit the ground and at an atomic level 'shake' all the atoms on the surface of the Moon," said Brand.
"It is still taking place as we speak."
Around 1,000 people around the world are thought to have the kind of equipment to do this kind of messaging and Brand, who as a 17-year-old played a minor role in the Apollo missions by helping install telecommunications installations used by NASA in Australia, said the results were remarkably clear.
There was "very little difference quality-wise" to some common radios, he said.
Moon-lovers remember Apollo with radio chit-chat
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Radio hams and amateur astronomers around the world spent the weekend bouncing radio conversations off the Moon to one another in commemoration of the Apollo 11 landings 40 years ago, organizers in Australia said Sunday.
Although they had some clear and extensive conversations, they had to be patient. It takes around 2.5 seconds for a radio signal to reach the Moon and bounce back to another part of the Earth, so it took around five seconds to get a reply.
Initiated a few months ago by science buffs in Australia and the United States, 'Moonbounce' was just winding up on Sunday Australian time after a 24-hour special event that organizers hope will become annual.
It brought together hundreds of amateur radio hams around the world, event co-founder Robert Brand told Reuters, some armed with their own radio dishes.
It was timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary next month of the Apollo 11 landings on July 20, 1969. But as the Moon does not orbit directly around the Earth's equator, this was the nearest weekend organizers could arrange for practical reasons.
Among those taking part was Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, one of the first men to orbit around the Moon, who took a famous photograph of Earth from space now known as "Earthrise."
While most were amateurs, institutions lent equipment to the event, including a 26-meter dish at Mount Pleasant in Tasmania and a 45-meter dish at Stanford University in the United States.
"The signals go up from these dishes in a tight beam to the Moon. They actually hit the ground and at an atomic level 'shake' all the atoms on the surface of the Moon," said Brand.
"It is still taking place as we speak."
Around 1,000 people around the world are thought to have the kind of equipment to do this kind of messaging and Brand, who as a 17-year-old played a minor role in the Apollo missions by helping install telecommunications installations used by NASA in Australia, said the results were remarkably clear.
There was "very little difference quality-wise" to some common radios, he said.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Swiss team unveils prototype for sun-powered plane
Source: Yahoo News, Associated Press
By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, Associated Press Writer
[Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard explains on Friday, June 26, 2009, Solar Impulse, an innovative airplane in Zurich-Duebendorf, Switzerland. The plane is created to fly around the world powered entirely by solar energy. With lithium batteries it will be capable of flying at night as well. When finished, Solar Impulse will look like a glider with the wingspan of 63 meters (207 feet). The wings will be covered with 250 square meters of solar-cells.The plane will take part in a series of test flights over the next two years, and based on the results of those a new plane will be constructed for the big takeoff, in 2012 for the flight around the world.]
DUEBENDORF AIRFIELD, Switzerland – It has the wingspan of a Boeing 747 but weighs less than a small car. And it is powered entirely by the sun.
Adventurer Bertrand Piccard on Friday unveiled the Solar Impulse, which, with its sleek white wings and pink trimming, aims to make history as the prototype for a solar-powered flight around the world.
"Yesterday it was a dream, today it is an airplane, tomorrow it will be an ambassador of renewable energies," said Piccard, who in 1999 copiloted the first round-the-globe nonstop balloon flight.
The plane will take part in a series of test flights over the next two years, and based on the results of those a new plane will be constructed for the big takeoff, in 2012.
In a swank ceremony at a military airfield near Zurich, Piccard and co-pilot Andre Borschberg hugged as the curtain was pulled across to give the public its first glimpse of the plane. Numerous dignitaries were in attendance, including Prince Albert of Monaco and major sponsors.
The budget for the project is euro70 million ($98 million), Piccard said.
He and Borschberg said the plane will fly day and night using almost 12,000 solar cells, rechargeable lithium batteries and four electric motors. It will not use an ounce of fuel.
But the maiden flight around the planet will take time.
With the engines providing only 40 horsepower, the plane will fly almost like a scooter in the sky. It will take off at the pedestrian pace of 22 mph (35 kph), accelerating at altitude to an average flight speed of 44 mph (70 kph).
Unlike the nonstop balloon trip, the solar flight will have to make stops to allow for pilots to switch over and stretch after long periods in the cramped cockpit.
"You can see it's really small," Borschberg said. "Thirty-six hours is already a challenge. It tests your patience."
The plane's circumnavigation will be split up into five stages, with the stopovers also allowing the team to show off the plane. Borschberg said the stages in the air will last up to five days.
A nonstop round-the-world flight will have to wait until batteries can be made lighter so more pilot comfort can be added to the plane.
The first test flights will be later this year, with a complete night voyage planned for 2010.
In 1980, the fragile Gossamer Penguin ultra-lightweight experimental solar plane flew short demonstration flights with one pilot on board. A more robust project called the Solar Challenger flew one pilot from France to England in a five-hour-plus trip in 1981.
Solar plane technology is reminiscent of the early days of manned flight.
"It will be like the Wright brothers," said the 51-year-old Piccard, who comes from a long line of adventurers. His late father Jacques plunged deeper beneath the ocean than any other man, and grandfather Auguste was the first man to take a balloon into the stratosphere.
"We will start one meter (yard) above the ground, then three meters, then five meters," he said. "When that works, we'll be able to take it to altitude."
One thing a solar plane cannot handle is bad weather. Because the solar panels are needed for day flying and for charging the 400-kilogram lithium batteries that power the plane by night, it relies on sunshine.
"We'll certainly avoid stormy situations," Borschberg said. "We'll avoid rain as well, because you cannot collect energy in this weather. So the challenge for the team will be to find a path that is favorable. We've been training for five years."
Piccard says the plane should also serve as an inspiration for inventors and manufacturers of everyday machines and appliances.
"If an aircraft is able to fly day and night without fuel, propelled solely by solar energy," Piccard said, "let no one come and claim that it is impossible to do the same thing for motor vehicles, heating and air conditioning systems and computers."
Borschberg said the idea was first envisioned by Piccard and co-balloonist Brian Jones as they finished their 1999 flight with only 90 pounds (40 kilograms) left of an original supply of 3.7 tons of liquid propane, and realized "this historical success could have turned into a failure due to lack of fuel."
"At this moment Bertrand made the decision for his next flight around the world he wouldn't use any fuel, he would be totally independent of fossil energy," said Borschberg, an engineer and fighter pilot.
* For video footage go to their Youtube channel - Solar Impulse
By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, Associated Press Writer
[Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard explains on Friday, June 26, 2009, Solar Impulse, an innovative airplane in Zurich-Duebendorf, Switzerland. The plane is created to fly around the world powered entirely by solar energy. With lithium batteries it will be capable of flying at night as well. When finished, Solar Impulse will look like a glider with the wingspan of 63 meters (207 feet). The wings will be covered with 250 square meters of solar-cells.The plane will take part in a series of test flights over the next two years, and based on the results of those a new plane will be constructed for the big takeoff, in 2012 for the flight around the world.]
DUEBENDORF AIRFIELD, Switzerland – It has the wingspan of a Boeing 747 but weighs less than a small car. And it is powered entirely by the sun.
Adventurer Bertrand Piccard on Friday unveiled the Solar Impulse, which, with its sleek white wings and pink trimming, aims to make history as the prototype for a solar-powered flight around the world.
"Yesterday it was a dream, today it is an airplane, tomorrow it will be an ambassador of renewable energies," said Piccard, who in 1999 copiloted the first round-the-globe nonstop balloon flight.
The plane will take part in a series of test flights over the next two years, and based on the results of those a new plane will be constructed for the big takeoff, in 2012.
In a swank ceremony at a military airfield near Zurich, Piccard and co-pilot Andre Borschberg hugged as the curtain was pulled across to give the public its first glimpse of the plane. Numerous dignitaries were in attendance, including Prince Albert of Monaco and major sponsors.
The budget for the project is euro70 million ($98 million), Piccard said.
He and Borschberg said the plane will fly day and night using almost 12,000 solar cells, rechargeable lithium batteries and four electric motors. It will not use an ounce of fuel.
But the maiden flight around the planet will take time.
With the engines providing only 40 horsepower, the plane will fly almost like a scooter in the sky. It will take off at the pedestrian pace of 22 mph (35 kph), accelerating at altitude to an average flight speed of 44 mph (70 kph).
Unlike the nonstop balloon trip, the solar flight will have to make stops to allow for pilots to switch over and stretch after long periods in the cramped cockpit.
"You can see it's really small," Borschberg said. "Thirty-six hours is already a challenge. It tests your patience."
The plane's circumnavigation will be split up into five stages, with the stopovers also allowing the team to show off the plane. Borschberg said the stages in the air will last up to five days.
A nonstop round-the-world flight will have to wait until batteries can be made lighter so more pilot comfort can be added to the plane.
The first test flights will be later this year, with a complete night voyage planned for 2010.
In 1980, the fragile Gossamer Penguin ultra-lightweight experimental solar plane flew short demonstration flights with one pilot on board. A more robust project called the Solar Challenger flew one pilot from France to England in a five-hour-plus trip in 1981.
Solar plane technology is reminiscent of the early days of manned flight.
"It will be like the Wright brothers," said the 51-year-old Piccard, who comes from a long line of adventurers. His late father Jacques plunged deeper beneath the ocean than any other man, and grandfather Auguste was the first man to take a balloon into the stratosphere.
"We will start one meter (yard) above the ground, then three meters, then five meters," he said. "When that works, we'll be able to take it to altitude."
One thing a solar plane cannot handle is bad weather. Because the solar panels are needed for day flying and for charging the 400-kilogram lithium batteries that power the plane by night, it relies on sunshine.
"We'll certainly avoid stormy situations," Borschberg said. "We'll avoid rain as well, because you cannot collect energy in this weather. So the challenge for the team will be to find a path that is favorable. We've been training for five years."
Piccard says the plane should also serve as an inspiration for inventors and manufacturers of everyday machines and appliances.
"If an aircraft is able to fly day and night without fuel, propelled solely by solar energy," Piccard said, "let no one come and claim that it is impossible to do the same thing for motor vehicles, heating and air conditioning systems and computers."
Borschberg said the idea was first envisioned by Piccard and co-balloonist Brian Jones as they finished their 1999 flight with only 90 pounds (40 kilograms) left of an original supply of 3.7 tons of liquid propane, and realized "this historical success could have turned into a failure due to lack of fuel."
"At this moment Bertrand made the decision for his next flight around the world he wouldn't use any fuel, he would be totally independent of fossil energy," said Borschberg, an engineer and fighter pilot.
* For video footage go to their Youtube channel - Solar Impulse
Friday, June 26, 2009
Rhode Island wants to change their slavery name
Source: Yahoo News, Associated Press
By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Writer
[File photo, the seal of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is seen on the floor of the Statehouse rotunda In Providence, R.I.]
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The country's smallest state has the longest official name: "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
A push to drop "Providence Plantations" from that name advanced farther than ever on Thursday when House lawmakers voted 70-3 to let residents decide whether their home should simply be called the "State of Rhode Island." It's an encouraging sign for those who believe the formal name conjures up images of slavery, while opponents argue it's an unnecessary rewriting of history that ignores Rhode Island's tradition of religious liberty and tolerance.
The bill permitting a statewide referendum on the issue next year now heads to the state Senate.
"It's high time for us to recognize that slavery happened on plantations in Rhode Island and decide that we don't want that chapter of our history to be a proud part of our name," said Rep. Joseph Almeida, an African-American lawmaker who sponsored the bill.
Rhode Island's unwieldy name reflects its turbulent colonial history, a state that consisted of multiple and sometimes rival settlements populated by dissidents.
Banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his unorthodox religious views, minister Roger Williams set out in 1636 and settled at the northern tip of Narragansett Bay, which he called Providence Plantations. Williams founded the first Baptist church in America and became famous for embracing the separation of church and state, a legal principle enshrined in the Bill of Rights a century later.
Other settlers made their homes in modern-day Portsmouth and Newport on Aquidneck Island, then known as the Isle of Rhodes.
In 1663, English King Charles II granted a royal charter joining all the settlements into a single colony called "The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." The name stuck. Rhode Island used that royal charter as its governing document until 1843.
Opponents of the name charge argue that "plantations" was used at the time to describe any farming settlements, regardless of slavery.
Rhode Island merchants did, however, make their fortunes off the slave trade. Slaves helped construct Brown University in Providence, and a prominent slave trader paid half the cost of its first library.
Still, Stanley Lemons, a professor emeritus of history at Rhode Island College, said changing the state's name ignores the accomplishments of Williams, whose government passed laws trying to prevent the permanent servitude of whites, blacks and American Indians.
"There are different meanings for this word," Lemons said. "To try to impose their experience on everyone else wipes out Roger Williams."
By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Writer
[File photo, the seal of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is seen on the floor of the Statehouse rotunda In Providence, R.I.]
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The country's smallest state has the longest official name: "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
A push to drop "Providence Plantations" from that name advanced farther than ever on Thursday when House lawmakers voted 70-3 to let residents decide whether their home should simply be called the "State of Rhode Island." It's an encouraging sign for those who believe the formal name conjures up images of slavery, while opponents argue it's an unnecessary rewriting of history that ignores Rhode Island's tradition of religious liberty and tolerance.
The bill permitting a statewide referendum on the issue next year now heads to the state Senate.
"It's high time for us to recognize that slavery happened on plantations in Rhode Island and decide that we don't want that chapter of our history to be a proud part of our name," said Rep. Joseph Almeida, an African-American lawmaker who sponsored the bill.
Rhode Island's unwieldy name reflects its turbulent colonial history, a state that consisted of multiple and sometimes rival settlements populated by dissidents.
Banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his unorthodox religious views, minister Roger Williams set out in 1636 and settled at the northern tip of Narragansett Bay, which he called Providence Plantations. Williams founded the first Baptist church in America and became famous for embracing the separation of church and state, a legal principle enshrined in the Bill of Rights a century later.
Other settlers made their homes in modern-day Portsmouth and Newport on Aquidneck Island, then known as the Isle of Rhodes.
In 1663, English King Charles II granted a royal charter joining all the settlements into a single colony called "The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." The name stuck. Rhode Island used that royal charter as its governing document until 1843.
Opponents of the name charge argue that "plantations" was used at the time to describe any farming settlements, regardless of slavery.
Rhode Island merchants did, however, make their fortunes off the slave trade. Slaves helped construct Brown University in Providence, and a prominent slave trader paid half the cost of its first library.
Still, Stanley Lemons, a professor emeritus of history at Rhode Island College, said changing the state's name ignores the accomplishments of Williams, whose government passed laws trying to prevent the permanent servitude of whites, blacks and American Indians.
"There are different meanings for this word," Lemons said. "To try to impose their experience on everyone else wipes out Roger Williams."
The Interesting 25th Day Celebrity "Deaths"
A sister brought it to my attention that it was noticed that that a few celebrities as we call them passed away on a 25th day. For example some are:
Aaliyah died on the 25th of August
Left Eye died on the 25th of April
James Brown died on the 25th of December
Micheal Jackson died on the 25th of June
There are many others, but that is just a few. So that is interesting. Anything that was pointed out was that when celebrities (also regular folks) pass in short periods of time, it is also in 3's. Just something I wanted to point out and let folks think about.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The Amazing work of Edson Andre
Source: A good sister that put me on, edsonandre.com
“Edson Andre is a 5th year mechanical engineering major at the University of Florida. After his undergraduate study, he plan to either attend graduate school for a Masters in Aerospace Engineering (focusing in Propulsion or Structure) or acquire a job at a reputable engineering company such as Lockheed, Boeing,etc. During his staying at the UF, Edson tries to broaden his horizon by getting involved in extra-curricular activity that he is passionate about.
Beside school and extra-curricular activities, Edson stays active by being a jack-of-all-trade. If he find the slightest interest in an activity, he will pursue it for the pleasure of learning something new. Some of his current interests are in photography, graphic design, and web design. These three activities will be the focus of edsonandre.com.”
* Below is a section of photos that Edson Andre called “Pride”
“More people know me for my graphic work than my photography. As a result, I have been posting mostly photography on here to bring more exposure to that side of me. I was even about to quit doing graphic design to focus primarily on photography and web design. I decided to change my mind because graphic design is actually something I enjoy tremendously. From now on I'm going to post more of my graphic work on here. Below are three pieces that I did at different time for different reasons. The one with the little girl was done for a flyer. I ended up removing the typography on it and make it available for my friends on facebook. It became an instant classic. The one with the big booty girl with the Haitian flag was inspired by someone. The other one was done for a friend out of boredom. She saw the two aforementioned ones on facebook and wanted one for herself with the flag of her island (Sardinia). So I hooked her up.”
For more info on Edson Andre, his work, mission, other talents and support go to the link: edsonandre.com
“Edson Andre is a 5th year mechanical engineering major at the University of Florida. After his undergraduate study, he plan to either attend graduate school for a Masters in Aerospace Engineering (focusing in Propulsion or Structure) or acquire a job at a reputable engineering company such as Lockheed, Boeing,etc. During his staying at the UF, Edson tries to broaden his horizon by getting involved in extra-curricular activity that he is passionate about.
Beside school and extra-curricular activities, Edson stays active by being a jack-of-all-trade. If he find the slightest interest in an activity, he will pursue it for the pleasure of learning something new. Some of his current interests are in photography, graphic design, and web design. These three activities will be the focus of edsonandre.com.”
* Below is a section of photos that Edson Andre called “Pride”
“More people know me for my graphic work than my photography. As a result, I have been posting mostly photography on here to bring more exposure to that side of me. I was even about to quit doing graphic design to focus primarily on photography and web design. I decided to change my mind because graphic design is actually something I enjoy tremendously. From now on I'm going to post more of my graphic work on here. Below are three pieces that I did at different time for different reasons. The one with the little girl was done for a flyer. I ended up removing the typography on it and make it available for my friends on facebook. It became an instant classic. The one with the big booty girl with the Haitian flag was inspired by someone. The other one was done for a friend out of boredom. She saw the two aforementioned ones on facebook and wanted one for herself with the flag of her island (Sardinia). So I hooked her up.”
For more info on Edson Andre, his work, mission, other talents and support go to the link: edsonandre.com
Supreme Court refuses to stop US-Mexico fence construction
Source: Yahoo news, AFP
[A US border patrol vehicle patrols along the US-Mexico border fence. The Supreme Court on Monday refused to accept a case seeking to stop the federal government from building a fence along the US border with Mexico, letting stand a lower court ruling authorizing its construction.]
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Supreme Court on Monday refused to accept a case seeking to stop the federal government from building a fence along the US border with Mexico, letting stand a lower court ruling authorizing its construction.
Several US Texas border communities in 2008 sued the Department of Homeland Security challenging its authority to ignore state and local laws to build 670 miles (1,100 kilometers) of steel fences, sheet metal walls and vehicle barriers along the 3,200 kilometer (2,000 mile) long southern border.
Construction on the barrier first began in 1996, but was accelerated following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
In 2005 Congress gave the federal government sweeping authority to strengthen border security and accelerate the fence construction.
Former DHS secretary Michael Chertoff waived 36 federal laws protecting water, air quality, endangered animals, and native American sites in an attempt to meet a December 2008 deadline to raise the barrier.
The Supreme Court earlier turned down a separate lawsuit by Texas border mayors seeking to halt the fence.
[A US border patrol vehicle patrols along the US-Mexico border fence. The Supreme Court on Monday refused to accept a case seeking to stop the federal government from building a fence along the US border with Mexico, letting stand a lower court ruling authorizing its construction.]
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Supreme Court on Monday refused to accept a case seeking to stop the federal government from building a fence along the US border with Mexico, letting stand a lower court ruling authorizing its construction.
Several US Texas border communities in 2008 sued the Department of Homeland Security challenging its authority to ignore state and local laws to build 670 miles (1,100 kilometers) of steel fences, sheet metal walls and vehicle barriers along the 3,200 kilometer (2,000 mile) long southern border.
Construction on the barrier first began in 1996, but was accelerated following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
In 2005 Congress gave the federal government sweeping authority to strengthen border security and accelerate the fence construction.
Former DHS secretary Michael Chertoff waived 36 federal laws protecting water, air quality, endangered animals, and native American sites in an attempt to meet a December 2008 deadline to raise the barrier.
The Supreme Court earlier turned down a separate lawsuit by Texas border mayors seeking to halt the fence.
Spiritual Enlightenment For London Piccadilly Line – Tube - Subway
Source: Yahoo News, AFP
Train of thought: Underground gets philosophical
LONDON (AFP) – Drivers on London Underground trains have started reading out quotes from thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Mahatma Gandhi in a bid to cheer up passengers, officials said Thursday.
As well as the usual announcements urging passengers to "mind the gap" and warning of delays, Piccadilly Line drivers are now also quoting philosophy over the public announcement system in a move broadly welcomed by passengers.
The quotes include "Everyone should be respected, but no-one idolised" (Albert Einstein), "An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory" (Friedrich Engels) and "Nothing is worth more than this day" (Johann von Goethe).
They come from a book of quotations compiled by artist Jeremy Deller which has been given to drivers as part of an initiative to promote art on the London Underground, also known as the Tube.
Poems are already regularly posted up inside Tube carriages in space usually used for advertisements.
Transport for London, which runs the Tube, said in a statement it hoped the move would "lift the moods of those travelling on the Piccadilly Line".
Deller, though, highlighted the importance of drivers using appropriate quotes at appropriate times.
For example, if a train was stuck in a tunnel, "there's one that probably isn't good, it's by Jean-Paul Sartre, which is 'Hell is other people'," Deller told the BBC.
"But I suspect one by Gandhi would be great, which is 'There's more to life than increasing its speed', which I think might calm people down slightly".
Train of thought: Underground gets philosophical
LONDON (AFP) – Drivers on London Underground trains have started reading out quotes from thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Mahatma Gandhi in a bid to cheer up passengers, officials said Thursday.
As well as the usual announcements urging passengers to "mind the gap" and warning of delays, Piccadilly Line drivers are now also quoting philosophy over the public announcement system in a move broadly welcomed by passengers.
The quotes include "Everyone should be respected, but no-one idolised" (Albert Einstein), "An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory" (Friedrich Engels) and "Nothing is worth more than this day" (Johann von Goethe).
They come from a book of quotations compiled by artist Jeremy Deller which has been given to drivers as part of an initiative to promote art on the London Underground, also known as the Tube.
Poems are already regularly posted up inside Tube carriages in space usually used for advertisements.
Transport for London, which runs the Tube, said in a statement it hoped the move would "lift the moods of those travelling on the Piccadilly Line".
Deller, though, highlighted the importance of drivers using appropriate quotes at appropriate times.
For example, if a train was stuck in a tunnel, "there's one that probably isn't good, it's by Jean-Paul Sartre, which is 'Hell is other people'," Deller told the BBC.
"But I suspect one by Gandhi would be great, which is 'There's more to life than increasing its speed', which I think might calm people down slightly".
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Demand Digital Textbooks
Source: Yahoo News, Associated Press, Pictures from Google Image search
California schoolbooks going digital
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced plans to phase out school textbooks in favor of digital learning aids as the state looks to plug its massive budget hole.
The measure -- dubbed the Digital Textbook Initiative -- will see California schoolchildren ditch "outdated" traditional maths and science textbooks for digital versions later this year, Schwarzenegger said.
"Kids, as you all know, today are very familiar with listening to their music digitally and online and to watch TV online, to watch movies online, to be on Twitter and participate in that and on Facebook," Schwarzenegger said.
"So this is why I think it is so important that we move on from the textbooks," the Republican Governor told schoolchildren in Sacramento on Monday according to remarks released by his office.
"The textbooks are outdated, as far as I'm concerned, and there's no reason why our schools should have our students lug around these antiquated and heavy and expensive textbooks.
"California is the home of Silicon Valley. We are the world leader in technology and innovation, so we can do better than that."
California is the first state in the United States to introduce such an initiative, Schwarzenegger said. The move comes as Schwarzenegger looks to slash spending across a range of sectors in a bid to narrow California's projected 24 billion dollar budget deficit.
With the average price of a school textbook coming in it around 100 dollars, Schwarzenegger said initial savings from the plan would be between 300-400 million dollars. If the scheme was widened to cover more subjects, hundreds of millions more would be trimmed from the annual budget, he said.
"I know this is, of course, a dramatic shift from the status quo and there is some resistance in some cases," Schwarzenegger said.
"But I feel that this is the wrong time now to hold onto the status quo, because this is one of the worst economic and financial crises that the state has been in since the Great Depression.
"The state has a tremendous lack of money; therefore we had to make severe cuts to schools, billions of dollars of cuts, so we have to find every possible way to think outside the box."
California schoolbooks going digital
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced plans to phase out school textbooks in favor of digital learning aids as the state looks to plug its massive budget hole.
The measure -- dubbed the Digital Textbook Initiative -- will see California schoolchildren ditch "outdated" traditional maths and science textbooks for digital versions later this year, Schwarzenegger said.
"Kids, as you all know, today are very familiar with listening to their music digitally and online and to watch TV online, to watch movies online, to be on Twitter and participate in that and on Facebook," Schwarzenegger said.
"So this is why I think it is so important that we move on from the textbooks," the Republican Governor told schoolchildren in Sacramento on Monday according to remarks released by his office.
"The textbooks are outdated, as far as I'm concerned, and there's no reason why our schools should have our students lug around these antiquated and heavy and expensive textbooks.
"California is the home of Silicon Valley. We are the world leader in technology and innovation, so we can do better than that."
California is the first state in the United States to introduce such an initiative, Schwarzenegger said. The move comes as Schwarzenegger looks to slash spending across a range of sectors in a bid to narrow California's projected 24 billion dollar budget deficit.
With the average price of a school textbook coming in it around 100 dollars, Schwarzenegger said initial savings from the plan would be between 300-400 million dollars. If the scheme was widened to cover more subjects, hundreds of millions more would be trimmed from the annual budget, he said.
"I know this is, of course, a dramatic shift from the status quo and there is some resistance in some cases," Schwarzenegger said.
"But I feel that this is the wrong time now to hold onto the status quo, because this is one of the worst economic and financial crises that the state has been in since the Great Depression.
"The state has a tremendous lack of money; therefore we had to make severe cuts to schools, billions of dollars of cuts, so we have to find every possible way to think outside the box."
A Connecticut Church Performs Gay Exorcism
Source: Yahoo News, Associated Press
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer
[A sign for a Manifested Glory Ministries church is shown Wednesday, June 24, 2009 in Bridgeport, Conn. Gay rights advocates are outraged over a video that shows the Connecticut church performing an apparent exorcism of a boy to drive out what they call his homosexual demons.]
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – The video shows the 16-year-old boy lying on the floor, his body convulsing, as elders of a small Connecticut church cast a "homosexual demon" from his body.
"Rip it from his throat!" a woman yells. "Come on, you homosexual demon! You homosexual spirit, we call you out right now! Loose your grip, Lucifer!"
The 20-minute video posted on YouTube by Manifested Glory Ministries is being called abuse by gay and youth advocates, who are demanding an investigation. But a church official this week denied that the teenager was injured or that the church is prejudiced.
"We believe a man should be with a woman and a woman should be with a man," the Rev. Patricia McKinney told The Associated Press. "We have nothing against homosexuals. I just don't agree with their lifestyle."
The church posted the video on YouTube but has since removed it; it is still available on some Web sites that copied it. The church declined to make the video available for distribution by The Associated Press.
It shows church members standing the youth on his feet by holding him under his arms, and people shouting as organ music plays.
"Come out of his belly," someone commands. "It's in the belly — push."
Later, the teenager is back on the floor, breathing heavily. Then he's coughing and apparently vomiting into a bag.
"Get another bag," a participant says. "Make sure you have your gloves."
As the youth lay back on the ground, limp, church members put a white sheet over him.
It's nearly impossible to say how often similar exercises occur in churches nationwide. But Kamora Herrington, who runs a mentoring program at True Colors and has worked with the youth, said she believes it's fairly common.
"This happens all the time," she said. "This is not isolated."
Robin McHaelin, executive director of True Colors, an advocacy group for gay youths, said her organization is aware of five cases in recent years in which youths in her program were threatened with exorcism.
In one case, she said, a child called to report that his caregiver had called a priest who was throwing holy water on his bedroom door.
"I think it's horrifying," McHaelin said of the video by Manifested Glory. "What saddens me is the people that are doing this think they are doing something in the kid's best interests, when in fact they're murdering his spirit."
McHaelin said she planned to report the situation to the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. An agency spokesman said the agency does not comment on complaints or investigations.
"They have this kid in a full nelson," she said. "That just seems abusive to me."
McKinney said the youth was 18. The boy confirmed he is 16 but otherwise declined to comment, citing the advice of his pastor.
McHaelin said the boy told her staff that the church performed the ritual three times at his request. She said the boy has been engaging in risky behavior that she blames on the church's treatment.
McKinney said the youth went to the church last year and collapsed on the floor during a service.
"He was out of control in the church," she said. "This young man came to us. We didn't go to him."
McKinney denied the ritual was an exorcism, describing it instead as a casting out of spirits. She said the church took care of the youth, providing him clothes.
"He was dressing like a woman and everything. And he didn't want to be like that," McKinney said.
The teen had been in reform school for stealing but was eager to get out and go to the church to have what he thought were his demons driven out, Herrington said.
Exodus International, a Christian group that believes gays can become straight through prayer and counseling, does not advocate the church's approach, said Jeff Buchanan, director of church equipping.
The Rev. Roland Stringfellow, a minister in Oakland, Calif., said he was subject to demon casting in the 1990s when he was at a Baptist church and was struggling with his sexuality. He said he was put in front of the church as members shouted "demon of homosexuality come out of him."
"It caused nothing but shame and embarrassment," Stringfellow said.
McKinney also has a weekly radio program. She talked on Wednesday's program about being "persecuted" in recent days but did not mention the video specifically.
"It's been a hard time for me, but I'm looking good and I'm standing strong because when you have a mandate like mine you're not going to say what you want without the adversary coming after you," she said. "If you are a true prophet you're not going to be popular with the people."
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer
[A sign for a Manifested Glory Ministries church is shown Wednesday, June 24, 2009 in Bridgeport, Conn. Gay rights advocates are outraged over a video that shows the Connecticut church performing an apparent exorcism of a boy to drive out what they call his homosexual demons.]
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – The video shows the 16-year-old boy lying on the floor, his body convulsing, as elders of a small Connecticut church cast a "homosexual demon" from his body.
"Rip it from his throat!" a woman yells. "Come on, you homosexual demon! You homosexual spirit, we call you out right now! Loose your grip, Lucifer!"
The 20-minute video posted on YouTube by Manifested Glory Ministries is being called abuse by gay and youth advocates, who are demanding an investigation. But a church official this week denied that the teenager was injured or that the church is prejudiced.
"We believe a man should be with a woman and a woman should be with a man," the Rev. Patricia McKinney told The Associated Press. "We have nothing against homosexuals. I just don't agree with their lifestyle."
The church posted the video on YouTube but has since removed it; it is still available on some Web sites that copied it. The church declined to make the video available for distribution by The Associated Press.
It shows church members standing the youth on his feet by holding him under his arms, and people shouting as organ music plays.
"Come out of his belly," someone commands. "It's in the belly — push."
Later, the teenager is back on the floor, breathing heavily. Then he's coughing and apparently vomiting into a bag.
"Get another bag," a participant says. "Make sure you have your gloves."
As the youth lay back on the ground, limp, church members put a white sheet over him.
It's nearly impossible to say how often similar exercises occur in churches nationwide. But Kamora Herrington, who runs a mentoring program at True Colors and has worked with the youth, said she believes it's fairly common.
"This happens all the time," she said. "This is not isolated."
Robin McHaelin, executive director of True Colors, an advocacy group for gay youths, said her organization is aware of five cases in recent years in which youths in her program were threatened with exorcism.
In one case, she said, a child called to report that his caregiver had called a priest who was throwing holy water on his bedroom door.
"I think it's horrifying," McHaelin said of the video by Manifested Glory. "What saddens me is the people that are doing this think they are doing something in the kid's best interests, when in fact they're murdering his spirit."
McHaelin said she planned to report the situation to the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. An agency spokesman said the agency does not comment on complaints or investigations.
"They have this kid in a full nelson," she said. "That just seems abusive to me."
McKinney said the youth was 18. The boy confirmed he is 16 but otherwise declined to comment, citing the advice of his pastor.
McHaelin said the boy told her staff that the church performed the ritual three times at his request. She said the boy has been engaging in risky behavior that she blames on the church's treatment.
McKinney said the youth went to the church last year and collapsed on the floor during a service.
"He was out of control in the church," she said. "This young man came to us. We didn't go to him."
McKinney denied the ritual was an exorcism, describing it instead as a casting out of spirits. She said the church took care of the youth, providing him clothes.
"He was dressing like a woman and everything. And he didn't want to be like that," McKinney said.
The teen had been in reform school for stealing but was eager to get out and go to the church to have what he thought were his demons driven out, Herrington said.
Exodus International, a Christian group that believes gays can become straight through prayer and counseling, does not advocate the church's approach, said Jeff Buchanan, director of church equipping.
The Rev. Roland Stringfellow, a minister in Oakland, Calif., said he was subject to demon casting in the 1990s when he was at a Baptist church and was struggling with his sexuality. He said he was put in front of the church as members shouted "demon of homosexuality come out of him."
"It caused nothing but shame and embarrassment," Stringfellow said.
McKinney also has a weekly radio program. She talked on Wednesday's program about being "persecuted" in recent days but did not mention the video specifically.
"It's been a hard time for me, but I'm looking good and I'm standing strong because when you have a mandate like mine you're not going to say what you want without the adversary coming after you," she said. "If you are a true prophet you're not going to be popular with the people."
June is CARIBBEAN AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
Source: Caribbean American Month Org.
During Caribbean-American Heritage Month, we celebrate the great contributions of Caribbean Americans to the fabric of our nation, and we pay tribute to the common culture and bonds of friendship that unite the United States and the Caribbean countries. America has thrived as a country of immigrants, and we are more vibrant and hopeful because of the talent, faith, and values of Caribbean Americans. For centuries, Caribbean Americans have enriched our society and added to the strength of America. They have been leaders in government, sports, entertainment, the arts, and many other fields. Over five million Americans proudly share their Caribbean heritage, especially in promoting and celebrating Caribbean style Carnivals around the country, as well as in serving in Iraq.
This national celebration and recognition can and will only happen with all Caribbean Americans taking action to appropriately commemorate our heritage, history, culture and contributions to the US. This is the best of times to Get Involved!
"In their pursuit of success, Caribbean Americans exhibit the traits all Americans prize: determination, a devotion to community, and patriotism. They have made their mark in every facet of our society, from art to athletics and science to service. Caribbean Americans have also safeguarded our Nation in the United States Armed Forces." - President Barack Obama
During Caribbean-American Heritage Month, we celebrate the great contributions of Caribbean Americans to the fabric of our nation, and we pay tribute to the common culture and bonds of friendship that unite the United States and the Caribbean countries. America has thrived as a country of immigrants, and we are more vibrant and hopeful because of the talent, faith, and values of Caribbean Americans. For centuries, Caribbean Americans have enriched our society and added to the strength of America. They have been leaders in government, sports, entertainment, the arts, and many other fields. Over five million Americans proudly share their Caribbean heritage, especially in promoting and celebrating Caribbean style Carnivals around the country, as well as in serving in Iraq.
This national celebration and recognition can and will only happen with all Caribbean Americans taking action to appropriately commemorate our heritage, history, culture and contributions to the US. This is the best of times to Get Involved!
"In their pursuit of success, Caribbean Americans exhibit the traits all Americans prize: determination, a devotion to community, and patriotism. They have made their mark in every facet of our society, from art to athletics and science to service. Caribbean Americans have also safeguarded our Nation in the United States Armed Forces." - President Barack Obama
Some say Skids and Mudflap from Transformers 2 are "racist"?
Source: Yahoo News, Associated Press
By SANDY COHEN, AP Entertainment Writer
[Skids in the green, Mudflap in the red]
LOS ANGELES – "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" introduces some 40 new mechanized characters of all shapes, sizes and even sexes — but it's a pair of jive-talking 'bots that critics are singling out as more than just harmless comic relief.
Skids and Mudflap, twin robots disguised as compact Chevys, constantly brawl and bicker in rap-inspired street slang. They're forced to acknowledge that they can't read. One has a gold tooth.
As good guys, they fight alongside the Autobots and are intended to provide comic relief. But the traits they're ascribed raise the specter of stereotypes most notably seen when Jar Jar Binks, the clumsy, broken-English speaking alien from "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace," was criticized as a racial caricature.
Wall Street Journal film critic Joe Morgenstern described Binks in 1999 as a "Rastafarian Stepin Fetchit," a reference to a black character from the 1920s and '30s that exploited negative stereotypes for comic effect. Extending that metaphor to the "Transformers" sequel was AP Movie Critic Christy Lemire, who calls Skids and Mudflap "Jar Jar Binks in car form."
And Manohla Dargis, film critic for The New York Times, takes it a step further, writing that the "Transformers" characters were given "conspicuously cartoonish, so-called black voices that indicate that minstrelsy remains as much in fashion in Hollywood as when, well, Jar Jar Binks was set loose by George Lucas."
Director Michael Bay insists that the bumbling 'bots are just good clean fun.
"We're just putting more personality in," Bay said. "I don't know if it's stereotypes — they are robots, by the way. These are the voice actors. This is kind of the direction they were taking the characters and we went with it."
TV actor Reno Wilson, who is black, voices Mudflap. Tom Kenny, the white actor behind SpongeBob SquarePants, voices Skids. Neither immediately responded to interview requests for this story.
Bay said the twins' parts "were kind of written but not really written, so the voice actors is when we started to really kind of come up with their characters."
"I purely did it for kids," the director said. "Young kids love these robots, because it makes it more accessible to them."
Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman said they followed Bay's lead in creating the twins. Still, the characters serve no real purpose in the story, and when the action gets serious, they disappear entirely, notes Tasha Robinson, associate entertainment editor at The Onion.
"They don't really have any positive effect on the film," she said. "They only exist to talk in bad ebonics, beat each other up and talk about how stupid each other is."
Hollywood has a track record of using negative stereotypes of black characters for comic relief, said Todd Boyd, a professor of popular culture at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, who has not seen the "Transformers" sequel.
"There's a history of people getting laughs at the expense of African-Americans and African-American culture," Boyd said. "These images are not completely divorced from history even though it's a new movie and even though they're robots and not humans."
American cinema also has a tendency to deal with race indirectly, said Allyson Nadia Field, an assistant professor of cinema and media studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"There's a persistent dehumanization of African-Americans throughout Hollywood that displaces issues of race onto non-human entities," said Field, who also hasn't seen the film. "It's not about skin color or robot color. It's about how their actions and language are coded racially."
If these characters weren't animated and instead played by real black actors, "then you might have to admit that it's racist," Robinson said. "But stick it into a robot's mouth, and it's just a robot, it's OK."
But if they're alien robots, she continued, "why do they talk like bad black stereotypes?"
Bay brushes off any whiff of controversy.
"Listen, you're going to have your naysayers on anything," he said. "It's like is everything going to be melba toast? It takes all forms and shapes and sizes."
[Mudflap - Bumblebee - Skids]
By SANDY COHEN, AP Entertainment Writer
[Skids in the green, Mudflap in the red]
LOS ANGELES – "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" introduces some 40 new mechanized characters of all shapes, sizes and even sexes — but it's a pair of jive-talking 'bots that critics are singling out as more than just harmless comic relief.
Skids and Mudflap, twin robots disguised as compact Chevys, constantly brawl and bicker in rap-inspired street slang. They're forced to acknowledge that they can't read. One has a gold tooth.
As good guys, they fight alongside the Autobots and are intended to provide comic relief. But the traits they're ascribed raise the specter of stereotypes most notably seen when Jar Jar Binks, the clumsy, broken-English speaking alien from "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace," was criticized as a racial caricature.
Wall Street Journal film critic Joe Morgenstern described Binks in 1999 as a "Rastafarian Stepin Fetchit," a reference to a black character from the 1920s and '30s that exploited negative stereotypes for comic effect. Extending that metaphor to the "Transformers" sequel was AP Movie Critic Christy Lemire, who calls Skids and Mudflap "Jar Jar Binks in car form."
And Manohla Dargis, film critic for The New York Times, takes it a step further, writing that the "Transformers" characters were given "conspicuously cartoonish, so-called black voices that indicate that minstrelsy remains as much in fashion in Hollywood as when, well, Jar Jar Binks was set loose by George Lucas."
Director Michael Bay insists that the bumbling 'bots are just good clean fun.
"We're just putting more personality in," Bay said. "I don't know if it's stereotypes — they are robots, by the way. These are the voice actors. This is kind of the direction they were taking the characters and we went with it."
TV actor Reno Wilson, who is black, voices Mudflap. Tom Kenny, the white actor behind SpongeBob SquarePants, voices Skids. Neither immediately responded to interview requests for this story.
Bay said the twins' parts "were kind of written but not really written, so the voice actors is when we started to really kind of come up with their characters."
"I purely did it for kids," the director said. "Young kids love these robots, because it makes it more accessible to them."
Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman said they followed Bay's lead in creating the twins. Still, the characters serve no real purpose in the story, and when the action gets serious, they disappear entirely, notes Tasha Robinson, associate entertainment editor at The Onion.
"They don't really have any positive effect on the film," she said. "They only exist to talk in bad ebonics, beat each other up and talk about how stupid each other is."
Hollywood has a track record of using negative stereotypes of black characters for comic relief, said Todd Boyd, a professor of popular culture at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, who has not seen the "Transformers" sequel.
"There's a history of people getting laughs at the expense of African-Americans and African-American culture," Boyd said. "These images are not completely divorced from history even though it's a new movie and even though they're robots and not humans."
American cinema also has a tendency to deal with race indirectly, said Allyson Nadia Field, an assistant professor of cinema and media studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"There's a persistent dehumanization of African-Americans throughout Hollywood that displaces issues of race onto non-human entities," said Field, who also hasn't seen the film. "It's not about skin color or robot color. It's about how their actions and language are coded racially."
If these characters weren't animated and instead played by real black actors, "then you might have to admit that it's racist," Robinson said. "But stick it into a robot's mouth, and it's just a robot, it's OK."
But if they're alien robots, she continued, "why do they talk like bad black stereotypes?"
Bay brushes off any whiff of controversy.
"Listen, you're going to have your naysayers on anything," he said. "It's like is everything going to be melba toast? It takes all forms and shapes and sizes."
[Mudflap - Bumblebee - Skids]
CHEMTRAILS are real, but they blame it on human pollution
Source: Yahoo News, Associated Press, Fox News
By DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – Millions of people living in nearly 600 neighborhoods across the country are breathing concentrations of toxic air pollutants that put them at a much greater risk of contracting cancer, according to new data from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The levels of 80 cancer-causing substances released by automobiles, factories and other sources in these areas exceed a 100 in 1 million cancer risk. That means that if 1 million people breathed air with similar concentrations over their lifetime, about 100 additional people would be expected to develop cancer because of their exposure to the pollution.
The average cancer risk across the country is 36 in 1 million, according to the National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment, which will be released by the EPA on Wednesday.
That's a decline from the 41.5 in 1 million cancer risk the EPA found when it released the last analysis in 2006. That data covered 1999 emissions.
"If we are in between 10 in 1 million and 100 in 1 million we want to look more deeply at that. If the risk is greater than 100 in 1 million, we don't like that at all ... we want to investigate that risk and do something about it," said Kelly Rimer, an environmental scientist with the EPA, in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Parts of Los Angeles, Calif., and Madison County, Ill., had the highest cancer risks in the nation — 1200 in 1 million and 1100 in 1 million, according to the EPA data. They were followed by two neighborhoods in Allegheny County, Pa., and one in Tuscaloosa County, Ala.
People living in parts of Coconino County, Ariz., and Lyon County, Nev., had the lowest cancer risk from air toxics. The counties with the least toxic air are Kalawao County, Hawaii, and Golden Valley County, Mont.
"Air toxic risks are local. They are a function of the sources nearest to you," said Dave Guinnup, who leads the groups that perform the risk assessments for toxic air pollutants at EPA. "If you are out in the Rocky Mountains, you are going to be closer to 2 in a million. If you are in an industrial area with a lot of traffic, you are going to be closer to 1100 in 1 million."
The analysis predicts the concentrations of 124 different hazardous air pollutants, which are known to cause cancer, respiratory problems and other health effects by coupling estimates of emissions from a variety of sources with models that attempt to simulate how the pollution will disperse in the air. Only 80 of the chemicals evaluated are known to cause cancer, EPA officials said.
The information is used by federal, state and local agencies to identify areas in need of more monitoring and attention.
The data to be released Wednesday covers pollution released in 2002.
By DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – Millions of people living in nearly 600 neighborhoods across the country are breathing concentrations of toxic air pollutants that put them at a much greater risk of contracting cancer, according to new data from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The levels of 80 cancer-causing substances released by automobiles, factories and other sources in these areas exceed a 100 in 1 million cancer risk. That means that if 1 million people breathed air with similar concentrations over their lifetime, about 100 additional people would be expected to develop cancer because of their exposure to the pollution.
The average cancer risk across the country is 36 in 1 million, according to the National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment, which will be released by the EPA on Wednesday.
That's a decline from the 41.5 in 1 million cancer risk the EPA found when it released the last analysis in 2006. That data covered 1999 emissions.
"If we are in between 10 in 1 million and 100 in 1 million we want to look more deeply at that. If the risk is greater than 100 in 1 million, we don't like that at all ... we want to investigate that risk and do something about it," said Kelly Rimer, an environmental scientist with the EPA, in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Parts of Los Angeles, Calif., and Madison County, Ill., had the highest cancer risks in the nation — 1200 in 1 million and 1100 in 1 million, according to the EPA data. They were followed by two neighborhoods in Allegheny County, Pa., and one in Tuscaloosa County, Ala.
People living in parts of Coconino County, Ariz., and Lyon County, Nev., had the lowest cancer risk from air toxics. The counties with the least toxic air are Kalawao County, Hawaii, and Golden Valley County, Mont.
"Air toxic risks are local. They are a function of the sources nearest to you," said Dave Guinnup, who leads the groups that perform the risk assessments for toxic air pollutants at EPA. "If you are out in the Rocky Mountains, you are going to be closer to 2 in a million. If you are in an industrial area with a lot of traffic, you are going to be closer to 1100 in 1 million."
The analysis predicts the concentrations of 124 different hazardous air pollutants, which are known to cause cancer, respiratory problems and other health effects by coupling estimates of emissions from a variety of sources with models that attempt to simulate how the pollution will disperse in the air. Only 80 of the chemicals evaluated are known to cause cancer, EPA officials said.
The information is used by federal, state and local agencies to identify areas in need of more monitoring and attention.
The data to be released Wednesday covers pollution released in 2002.
Oldest Musical Instrument In The World Found In Germany
Source: Yahoo News, Associated Press
By PATRICK McGROARTY, Associated Press Writer
[Professor Nicholas Conard of the University in Tuebingen shows a flute during a press conference in Tuebingen, southern Germany, on Wednesday, June 24, 2009. The thin bird-bone flute carved some 35,000 years ago and unearthed in a German cave is the oldest handcrafted musical instrument yet discovered, archeologists say, and offers the latest evidence that early modern humans in Europe had established a complex and creative culture. A team led by Conard assembled the flute from 12 pieces of griffon vulture bone scattered in a small plot of the Hohle Fels cave in southern Germany.]
BERLIN – A bird-bone flute unearthed in a German cave was carved some 35,000 years ago and is the oldest handcrafted musical instrument yet discovered, archaeologists say, offering the latest evidence that early modern humans in Europe had established a complex and creative culture.
A team led by University of Tuebingen archaeologist Nicholas Conard assembled the flute from 12 pieces of griffon vulture bone scattered in a small plot of the Hohle Fels cave in southern Germany.
Together, the pieces comprise a 8.6-inch (22-centimeter) instrument with five holes and a notched end. Conard said the flute was 35,000 years old.
"It's unambiguously the oldest instrument in the world," Conard told The Associated Press this week. His findings were published online Wednesday by the journal Nature.
Other archaeologists agreed with Conard's assessment.
April Nowell, a Paleolithic archaeologist at the University of Victoria in Canada, said the flute predates previously discovered instruments "but the dates are not so much older that it's surprising or controversial." Nowell was not involved in Conard's research.
The Hohle Fels flute is more complete and appears slightly older than bone and ivory fragments from seven other flutes recovered in southern German caves and documented by Conard and his colleagues in recent years.
Another flute excavated in Austria is believed to be 19,000 years old, and a group of 22 flutes found in the French Pyrenees mountains has been dated at up to 30,000 years ago.
Conard's team excavated the flute in September 2008, the same month they recovered six ivory fragments from the Hohle Fels cave that form a female figurine they believe is the oldest known sculpture of the human form.
Together, the flute and the figure — found in the same layer of sediment — suggest that modern humans had established an advanced culture in Europe 35,000 years ago, said Wil Roebroeks, an archaeologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands who didn't participate in Conard's study.
Roebroeks said it's difficult to say how cognitively and socially advanced these people were. But the physical trappings of their lives — including musical instruments, personal decorations and figurative art — match the objects we associate with modern human behavior, Roebroeks said.
"It shows that from the moment that modern humans enter Europe ... it is as modern in terms of material culture as it can get," Roebroeks told The AP. He agreed with Conard's assertion that the flute appears to be the earliest known musical instrument in the world.
Neanderthals also lived in Europe around the time the flute and sculpture were made, and frequented the Hohle Fels cave. Both Conard and Roebroeks believe, however, that layered deposits left by both species over thousands of years suggest the artifacts were crafted by early modern humans.
"The material record is so completely different from what happened in these hundreds of thousands of years before with the Neanderthals," Roebroeks said. "I would put my money on modern humans having created and played these flutes."
In 1995, archaeologist Ivan Turk excavated a bear bone artifact from a cave in Slovenia, known as the Divje Babe flute, that he has dated at around 43,000 years ago and suggested was made by Neanderthals.
But other archaeologists, including Nowell, have challenged that theory, suggesting instead that the twin holes on the 4.3-inch-long (11-centimeter-long) bone were made by a carnivore's bite.
Turk did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Nowell said other researchers have hypothesized that early humans may have used spear points as wind chimes and that markings on some cave stalactites suggest they were used as percussive instruments. But there is no proof, she said, and the Hohle Fels flute is much more credible because it's the oldest specimen from an established style of bone and ivory flutes in Europe.
"There's a distinction between sporadic appearances and the true development of, in this case, a musical culture," Nowell said. "The importance of something like this flute is it shows a well-established technique and tradition."
Conard said it's likely that early modern humans — and perhaps Neanderthals, too — were making music longer than 35,000 years ago. But he added the Hohle Fels flute and the others found across Europe strengthen evidence that modern humans in Europe were establishing cultural behavior similar to our own.
By PATRICK McGROARTY, Associated Press Writer
[Professor Nicholas Conard of the University in Tuebingen shows a flute during a press conference in Tuebingen, southern Germany, on Wednesday, June 24, 2009. The thin bird-bone flute carved some 35,000 years ago and unearthed in a German cave is the oldest handcrafted musical instrument yet discovered, archeologists say, and offers the latest evidence that early modern humans in Europe had established a complex and creative culture. A team led by Conard assembled the flute from 12 pieces of griffon vulture bone scattered in a small plot of the Hohle Fels cave in southern Germany.]
BERLIN – A bird-bone flute unearthed in a German cave was carved some 35,000 years ago and is the oldest handcrafted musical instrument yet discovered, archaeologists say, offering the latest evidence that early modern humans in Europe had established a complex and creative culture.
A team led by University of Tuebingen archaeologist Nicholas Conard assembled the flute from 12 pieces of griffon vulture bone scattered in a small plot of the Hohle Fels cave in southern Germany.
Together, the pieces comprise a 8.6-inch (22-centimeter) instrument with five holes and a notched end. Conard said the flute was 35,000 years old.
"It's unambiguously the oldest instrument in the world," Conard told The Associated Press this week. His findings were published online Wednesday by the journal Nature.
Other archaeologists agreed with Conard's assessment.
April Nowell, a Paleolithic archaeologist at the University of Victoria in Canada, said the flute predates previously discovered instruments "but the dates are not so much older that it's surprising or controversial." Nowell was not involved in Conard's research.
The Hohle Fels flute is more complete and appears slightly older than bone and ivory fragments from seven other flutes recovered in southern German caves and documented by Conard and his colleagues in recent years.
Another flute excavated in Austria is believed to be 19,000 years old, and a group of 22 flutes found in the French Pyrenees mountains has been dated at up to 30,000 years ago.
Conard's team excavated the flute in September 2008, the same month they recovered six ivory fragments from the Hohle Fels cave that form a female figurine they believe is the oldest known sculpture of the human form.
Together, the flute and the figure — found in the same layer of sediment — suggest that modern humans had established an advanced culture in Europe 35,000 years ago, said Wil Roebroeks, an archaeologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands who didn't participate in Conard's study.
Roebroeks said it's difficult to say how cognitively and socially advanced these people were. But the physical trappings of their lives — including musical instruments, personal decorations and figurative art — match the objects we associate with modern human behavior, Roebroeks said.
"It shows that from the moment that modern humans enter Europe ... it is as modern in terms of material culture as it can get," Roebroeks told The AP. He agreed with Conard's assertion that the flute appears to be the earliest known musical instrument in the world.
Neanderthals also lived in Europe around the time the flute and sculpture were made, and frequented the Hohle Fels cave. Both Conard and Roebroeks believe, however, that layered deposits left by both species over thousands of years suggest the artifacts were crafted by early modern humans.
"The material record is so completely different from what happened in these hundreds of thousands of years before with the Neanderthals," Roebroeks said. "I would put my money on modern humans having created and played these flutes."
In 1995, archaeologist Ivan Turk excavated a bear bone artifact from a cave in Slovenia, known as the Divje Babe flute, that he has dated at around 43,000 years ago and suggested was made by Neanderthals.
But other archaeologists, including Nowell, have challenged that theory, suggesting instead that the twin holes on the 4.3-inch-long (11-centimeter-long) bone were made by a carnivore's bite.
Turk did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Nowell said other researchers have hypothesized that early humans may have used spear points as wind chimes and that markings on some cave stalactites suggest they were used as percussive instruments. But there is no proof, she said, and the Hohle Fels flute is much more credible because it's the oldest specimen from an established style of bone and ivory flutes in Europe.
"There's a distinction between sporadic appearances and the true development of, in this case, a musical culture," Nowell said. "The importance of something like this flute is it shows a well-established technique and tradition."
Conard said it's likely that early modern humans — and perhaps Neanderthals, too — were making music longer than 35,000 years ago. But he added the Hohle Fels flute and the others found across Europe strengthen evidence that modern humans in Europe were establishing cultural behavior similar to our own.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Russian Woman Rapes 10 Men (With Video)
Source: Perth Now powered by Sunday Times, The Young Turks
A YOUNG Russian woman, a devoted collector of horror films and spiders, is on trial for sedating and raping 10 men.
The police were shocked that 32-year-old Valeria K., a quiet good-looking woman from the city of Tambov, was the mysterious rapist who abused 10 local men after poisoning them with clonidine, Life.ru reports.
Valeria, who has already been nicknamed the Black Widow for her love of spiders, would get acquainted with men and invite them to her place.
She gave them drinks with clonidine, which almost immediately sent them to sleep for almost 24 hours.
After that, she undressed her victims and raped them, tightening a rope on their male organs to keep them erect.
Waking up in hospital with clonidine poisoning and penis trauma, all the victims could remember was a friendly brunette who gave them drinks.
Finally, local police identified the offender and arrested her.
At present, the police know about ten of Valeria’s victims, although one of them refused to file a complaint against her.
“It was great,” the unnamed man said.
“I like hot women. I only wish she hadn't use the clonidine on me.”
A YOUNG Russian woman, a devoted collector of horror films and spiders, is on trial for sedating and raping 10 men.
The police were shocked that 32-year-old Valeria K., a quiet good-looking woman from the city of Tambov, was the mysterious rapist who abused 10 local men after poisoning them with clonidine, Life.ru reports.
Valeria, who has already been nicknamed the Black Widow for her love of spiders, would get acquainted with men and invite them to her place.
She gave them drinks with clonidine, which almost immediately sent them to sleep for almost 24 hours.
After that, she undressed her victims and raped them, tightening a rope on their male organs to keep them erect.
Waking up in hospital with clonidine poisoning and penis trauma, all the victims could remember was a friendly brunette who gave them drinks.
Finally, local police identified the offender and arrested her.
At present, the police know about ten of Valeria’s victims, although one of them refused to file a complaint against her.
“It was great,” the unnamed man said.
“I like hot women. I only wish she hadn't use the clonidine on me.”
Supreme Court looks down on future MINORITY voting rights (privilege)
Source: yahoo News, Reuters
Supreme Court avoids major voting rights ruling
By Jim Vicini
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to rule on the constitutionality of part of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act which sought to protect minorities in states with a history of racial discrimination.
The nation's top court instead ruled on a more narrow constitutional question, deciding that political subdivisions within a state can apply to be exempted from the Act.
The 8-1 ruling, spurred by a Texas municipal utility district's challenge, could result in other government bodies in 16 largely Southern states seeking to be free of the Act's requirements.
Congress adopted the Voting Rights Act at the height of the U.S. civil rights movement in a bid to make it easier for millions of blacks and other minorities to vote.
Congress overwhelmingly voted to extend it in 2006 for 25 years, with then-President George W. Bush signing it into law. The central provision required approval from the Justice Department or a federal court.
Writing the court's main opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said the Texas utility district should be eligible to seek an exemption from provisions requiring federal approval for any changes to local elections.
The court held that the Texas district could apply for exemption even though it does not register voters, like states, counties, parishes and other sub-units that were the primary targets of the Act.
Roberts said the court did not address the overall constitutional question at this time because it was an important issue that required further study.
The constitutional challenge had been one of the most closely watched cases of the Supreme Court's term.
Supreme Court avoids major voting rights ruling
By Jim Vicini
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to rule on the constitutionality of part of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act which sought to protect minorities in states with a history of racial discrimination.
The nation's top court instead ruled on a more narrow constitutional question, deciding that political subdivisions within a state can apply to be exempted from the Act.
The 8-1 ruling, spurred by a Texas municipal utility district's challenge, could result in other government bodies in 16 largely Southern states seeking to be free of the Act's requirements.
Congress adopted the Voting Rights Act at the height of the U.S. civil rights movement in a bid to make it easier for millions of blacks and other minorities to vote.
Congress overwhelmingly voted to extend it in 2006 for 25 years, with then-President George W. Bush signing it into law. The central provision required approval from the Justice Department or a federal court.
Writing the court's main opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said the Texas utility district should be eligible to seek an exemption from provisions requiring federal approval for any changes to local elections.
The court held that the Texas district could apply for exemption even though it does not register voters, like states, counties, parishes and other sub-units that were the primary targets of the Act.
Roberts said the court did not address the overall constitutional question at this time because it was an important issue that required further study.
The constitutional challenge had been one of the most closely watched cases of the Supreme Court's term.
Scientist Look For Dark Matter In Underground Lab In South Dakota
Source: Yahoo News, Associated Press
Work begins on world's deepest underground lab
By DIRK LAMMERS, Associated Press Writer
[Dignitaries and board members applaud South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, at the podium, during dedication ceremonies Monday, June 22, 2009, at the future site of the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory. The event occurred at the 4,850 foot level of the former Homestake gold mine at Lead, S.D. In the near future, scientific experiments dealing with dark matter and numerous other ideas will be set up in the mine shafts nearly a mile underground, shielded from cosmic rays.]
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Far below the Black Hills of South Dakota, crews are building the world's deepest underground science lab at a depth equivalent to more than six Empire State buildings — a place uniquely suited to scientists' quest for mysterious particles known as dark matter.
Workers began construction Monday in an old gold mine that was once the site of Nobel Prize-winning physics research.
The site is ideal for experiments because its location is largely shielded from cosmic rays that could interfere with efforts to prove the existence of dark matter, which is thought to make up nearly a quarter of the mass of the universe.
The deepest reaches of the mine plunge to 8,000 feet below the surface. Some early geology and hydrology experiments are already under way at 4,850 feet. Researchers also hope to build two deeper labs that are still awaiting funding from Congress.
"The fact that we're going to be in the Davis Cavern just tickles us pink," said Tom Shutt of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, referring to a portion of the mine named after scientist Ray Davis Jr., who used it in the 1960s to demonstrate the existence of particles called solar neutrinos.
Davis and a colleague named John Bahcall won a share of the 2002 Nobel Prize for physics for their work.
The old Homestake Gold Mine in a community called Lead (pronounced LEED) was shut down in 2001 after 125 years. Pumps that kept the mine dry were turned off years ago, so workers have been drying it out to prepare for the new research.
Before the labs are built, crews must also stabilize the tunnels and install new infrastructure. The lab at 4,850 feet is not much to look at yet. A rusty orange film covers the walls, floors, ceilings and debris left behind by miners.
The first dark matter experiment will be the Large Underground Xenon detector experiment — or LUX — a project to detect weakly interacting particles that could give scientists greater insight into the Big Bang explosion believed to have formed the universe.
Shutt, along with Brown University's Rick Gaitskell and nearly a dozen collaborators will work at the site to search for dark matter, which does not emit detectable light or radiation. But scientists say its presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter.
Scientists believe most of the dark matter in the universe contains no atoms and does not interact with ordinary matter through electromagnetic forces. They are trying to discover exactly what it is, how much exists and what effect it may have on the future of the universe.
Physicists have said that without dark matter, galaxies might never have formed. By learning more about dark matter, they hope to understand better whether the universe is expanding or contracting.
The research team will try to catch the ghostly particles in a 300-kilogram tank of liquid xenon, a cold substance that is three times heavier than water. If they tried to detect dark matter above ground, the highly sensitive detector would be bombarded by cosmic radiation.
Scientists hope to start construction on the two deepest labs by 2012 and open them by 2016. The projects are expected to cost $550 million.
For more info on the quest for the mysterious dark substance go to link:
Sanford Underground Lab
Homestake DUSEL
Work begins on world's deepest underground lab
By DIRK LAMMERS, Associated Press Writer
[Dignitaries and board members applaud South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, at the podium, during dedication ceremonies Monday, June 22, 2009, at the future site of the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory. The event occurred at the 4,850 foot level of the former Homestake gold mine at Lead, S.D. In the near future, scientific experiments dealing with dark matter and numerous other ideas will be set up in the mine shafts nearly a mile underground, shielded from cosmic rays.]
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Far below the Black Hills of South Dakota, crews are building the world's deepest underground science lab at a depth equivalent to more than six Empire State buildings — a place uniquely suited to scientists' quest for mysterious particles known as dark matter.
Workers began construction Monday in an old gold mine that was once the site of Nobel Prize-winning physics research.
The site is ideal for experiments because its location is largely shielded from cosmic rays that could interfere with efforts to prove the existence of dark matter, which is thought to make up nearly a quarter of the mass of the universe.
The deepest reaches of the mine plunge to 8,000 feet below the surface. Some early geology and hydrology experiments are already under way at 4,850 feet. Researchers also hope to build two deeper labs that are still awaiting funding from Congress.
"The fact that we're going to be in the Davis Cavern just tickles us pink," said Tom Shutt of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, referring to a portion of the mine named after scientist Ray Davis Jr., who used it in the 1960s to demonstrate the existence of particles called solar neutrinos.
Davis and a colleague named John Bahcall won a share of the 2002 Nobel Prize for physics for their work.
The old Homestake Gold Mine in a community called Lead (pronounced LEED) was shut down in 2001 after 125 years. Pumps that kept the mine dry were turned off years ago, so workers have been drying it out to prepare for the new research.
Before the labs are built, crews must also stabilize the tunnels and install new infrastructure. The lab at 4,850 feet is not much to look at yet. A rusty orange film covers the walls, floors, ceilings and debris left behind by miners.
The first dark matter experiment will be the Large Underground Xenon detector experiment — or LUX — a project to detect weakly interacting particles that could give scientists greater insight into the Big Bang explosion believed to have formed the universe.
Shutt, along with Brown University's Rick Gaitskell and nearly a dozen collaborators will work at the site to search for dark matter, which does not emit detectable light or radiation. But scientists say its presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter.
Scientists believe most of the dark matter in the universe contains no atoms and does not interact with ordinary matter through electromagnetic forces. They are trying to discover exactly what it is, how much exists and what effect it may have on the future of the universe.
Physicists have said that without dark matter, galaxies might never have formed. By learning more about dark matter, they hope to understand better whether the universe is expanding or contracting.
The research team will try to catch the ghostly particles in a 300-kilogram tank of liquid xenon, a cold substance that is three times heavier than water. If they tried to detect dark matter above ground, the highly sensitive detector would be bombarded by cosmic radiation.
Scientists hope to start construction on the two deepest labs by 2012 and open them by 2016. The projects are expected to cost $550 million.
For more info on the quest for the mysterious dark substance go to link:
Sanford Underground Lab
Homestake DUSEL
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Local Towns Print Their Own Money
Source: Final Call Website
Towns print money to help local merchants By Matthew Cardinale
ATLANTA, (IPS/GIN) - In the face of an economic system in full crisis mode, a handful of communities across the U.S. and the globe have begun experimenting with alternative forms of local currency as a pathway to sustainability.
Local currencies existing today in the U.S. include the Humboldt Community Currency in Eureka, California; Berkshares in the Massachusetts Berkshire region; Bay Bucks in Traverse City, Michigan; Ithaca Hours in Ithaca, New York; Cascadia Hours, Corvalis Hours, and RiverHours in Oregon; Equal Dollars in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Madison Hours in Madison, Wisconsin, according to the E. F. Schumacher Society, which runs Berkshares.
These currencies all represent an effort to respond to the pressures of globalization, like the advent of massive chain stores competing with local merchants.
People in Great Barrington, Mass., can go to one of five participating local banks to trade 95 cents for one Berkshare, at a five percent discount to the dollar. They can then spend Berkshares at over 400 participating local stores as a direct replacement for dollars, thus saving 5 cents with every Berkshare they spend.
Even though store owners lose the 5 cents whenever they trade Berkshares back for dollars at a bank—which they have to do to buy something that can't be produced locally—they are still typically happy with the loyal, local customers they keep instead of losing them to chains like Wal-Mart, Starbucks, and Barnes & Noble.
“Local currencies are part of what educate people about the importance of their small, independent businesses,” Susan Witt, founder of Berkshares, told IPS. “It's bringing people off the internet back to Main Street, for the face-to-face exchanges. Once they're there, they like it.”
A local currency can help create a more sustainable economy in several ways, leaders in the local currency movement say.
First, since using a community currency forces people to buy locally, fewer goods have to be imported.
“By having economic transactions so focused locally, that's definitely, for one thing, reducing use of fossil fuel. If it's a local farmer's market ... food (is) produced 30 miles away instead of 3,000 miles away,” said Steve Burke, executive director of Ithaca Hours.
Trade theorists might object that it is less efficient, or less productive, for diverse goods to be produced in many communities than it is for each community to specialize in producing one product for export, even factoring in transportation costs.
A second way in which community currencies support environmental sustainability is that they can lead to reduced consumption, Ms. Witt argued. She believes people purchase more and more “stuff,” not because they need it, but to fill a void that community currency can satisfy.
“You know the full story about the goods you purchase. You know how they were produced. You know the carpenter who made the table. You know who her children are. You realize buying the table is supporting that family,” Ms. Witt said.
The products bought with local currency “link you to your neighborhood, your place, the people of your place. They're not just stuff ... they enrich your life the way that stuff would not. So you need less.”
A third way in which community currency can lead to sustainable economy is communities can print the currency they need to issue interest-free, or non-profit loans. Allowing credit to be issued interest-free eliminates the need to service growing debts. High-interest debt owed by individuals, businesses, and governments to private banks is one of the main factors pushing economies to constantly grow at an exponential rate. As these entities struggle to service the interest on their debts with a total money supply that was mostly created through issuance of credit, more and more new debt must be created in order for the system to be stable.
Thus, because high-interest debt pushes the economy to constantly grow, it also pushes industrialization into new markets, new products, and new technologies, which often lead to deforestation, air pollution, and the like.
By communities printing and issuing their own currency, in part through productive non-profit loans, the economy can function without the constant growth that is imperiling the environment.
There are at least two different models for how to organize and operate a local currency that local communities are using. One is used by Berkshares; the other was pioneered by the Ithaca Hour.
Founded in 1991, the Ithaca Hour is the oldest local currency to exist in the U.S. since local currencies disappeared in the 1900s. Numerous local currencies have since based their model on the Ithaca Hour.
Businesses become members in Ithaca Hours by purchasing a listing in the Ithaca Hours directory, and they receive two “hours” every year as part of their membership fee. Employees at these businesses then can accept hours instead of dollars for some of their wages. People can accept hours instead of dollars for services, like mowing a lawn, that they provide.
This, in addition to low-cost loans, is the primary way Ithaca Hours enter Ithaca's economy.
“There's a pretty fundamental difference between our model and the Berkshares model,” Mr. Burke said. “They sell them. With ours, you can't buy them; you can only earn them.”
They are called hours “to make a statement,” Mr. Burke said. The founders “wanted to emphasize the relationship between time and money.”
* For more info on local currency locally and globally go to link: Local Currency
Towns print money to help local merchants By Matthew Cardinale
ATLANTA, (IPS/GIN) - In the face of an economic system in full crisis mode, a handful of communities across the U.S. and the globe have begun experimenting with alternative forms of local currency as a pathway to sustainability.
Local currencies existing today in the U.S. include the Humboldt Community Currency in Eureka, California; Berkshares in the Massachusetts Berkshire region; Bay Bucks in Traverse City, Michigan; Ithaca Hours in Ithaca, New York; Cascadia Hours, Corvalis Hours, and RiverHours in Oregon; Equal Dollars in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Madison Hours in Madison, Wisconsin, according to the E. F. Schumacher Society, which runs Berkshares.
These currencies all represent an effort to respond to the pressures of globalization, like the advent of massive chain stores competing with local merchants.
People in Great Barrington, Mass., can go to one of five participating local banks to trade 95 cents for one Berkshare, at a five percent discount to the dollar. They can then spend Berkshares at over 400 participating local stores as a direct replacement for dollars, thus saving 5 cents with every Berkshare they spend.
Even though store owners lose the 5 cents whenever they trade Berkshares back for dollars at a bank—which they have to do to buy something that can't be produced locally—they are still typically happy with the loyal, local customers they keep instead of losing them to chains like Wal-Mart, Starbucks, and Barnes & Noble.
“Local currencies are part of what educate people about the importance of their small, independent businesses,” Susan Witt, founder of Berkshares, told IPS. “It's bringing people off the internet back to Main Street, for the face-to-face exchanges. Once they're there, they like it.”
A local currency can help create a more sustainable economy in several ways, leaders in the local currency movement say.
First, since using a community currency forces people to buy locally, fewer goods have to be imported.
“By having economic transactions so focused locally, that's definitely, for one thing, reducing use of fossil fuel. If it's a local farmer's market ... food (is) produced 30 miles away instead of 3,000 miles away,” said Steve Burke, executive director of Ithaca Hours.
Trade theorists might object that it is less efficient, or less productive, for diverse goods to be produced in many communities than it is for each community to specialize in producing one product for export, even factoring in transportation costs.
A second way in which community currencies support environmental sustainability is that they can lead to reduced consumption, Ms. Witt argued. She believes people purchase more and more “stuff,” not because they need it, but to fill a void that community currency can satisfy.
“You know the full story about the goods you purchase. You know how they were produced. You know the carpenter who made the table. You know who her children are. You realize buying the table is supporting that family,” Ms. Witt said.
The products bought with local currency “link you to your neighborhood, your place, the people of your place. They're not just stuff ... they enrich your life the way that stuff would not. So you need less.”
A third way in which community currency can lead to sustainable economy is communities can print the currency they need to issue interest-free, or non-profit loans. Allowing credit to be issued interest-free eliminates the need to service growing debts. High-interest debt owed by individuals, businesses, and governments to private banks is one of the main factors pushing economies to constantly grow at an exponential rate. As these entities struggle to service the interest on their debts with a total money supply that was mostly created through issuance of credit, more and more new debt must be created in order for the system to be stable.
Thus, because high-interest debt pushes the economy to constantly grow, it also pushes industrialization into new markets, new products, and new technologies, which often lead to deforestation, air pollution, and the like.
By communities printing and issuing their own currency, in part through productive non-profit loans, the economy can function without the constant growth that is imperiling the environment.
There are at least two different models for how to organize and operate a local currency that local communities are using. One is used by Berkshares; the other was pioneered by the Ithaca Hour.
Founded in 1991, the Ithaca Hour is the oldest local currency to exist in the U.S. since local currencies disappeared in the 1900s. Numerous local currencies have since based their model on the Ithaca Hour.
Businesses become members in Ithaca Hours by purchasing a listing in the Ithaca Hours directory, and they receive two “hours” every year as part of their membership fee. Employees at these businesses then can accept hours instead of dollars for some of their wages. People can accept hours instead of dollars for services, like mowing a lawn, that they provide.
This, in addition to low-cost loans, is the primary way Ithaca Hours enter Ithaca's economy.
“There's a pretty fundamental difference between our model and the Berkshares model,” Mr. Burke said. “They sell them. With ours, you can't buy them; you can only earn them.”
They are called hours “to make a statement,” Mr. Burke said. The founders “wanted to emphasize the relationship between time and money.”
* For more info on local currency locally and globally go to link: Local Currency
Artists Village Inc. a non-profit human rights organization based in Brooklyn
Source: Final Call Website
A mission to serve the people of Haiti
Darnide Cayo is the 25-year-old co-founder of Artists Village, Inc., a non-profit human rights organization based in Brooklyn, New York with volunteers, supporters and donors worldwide. The group's mission is to build self-sufficient communities by providing services in rural areas of Haiti, the small island nation of just over 9-million people. Haiti is the first post colonial independent Black nation in the Western Hemisphere. She sat down with The Final Call's Ashahed M. Muhammad recently at the 2009 National Black Power Conference in Atlanta, GA.
The Final Call (FC:) Why is the name of the group Artists Village?
Darnide Cayo (DC:) The reason it is called Artists Village is because anyone that can think of creating a better quality of life for someone in need is an artist. You don't have to be an actual artist, a painter, or a musician. As long as you can envision helping someone, then you are painting a new portrait of help for them.
FC: What forms of aid and assistance does your group provide for those in Haiti?
DC: A lot of hurricane relief. Within the past two years we have helped feed over 3,500 families who were stranded due to the flooding. We sent beans, oil and rice. We also recently donated over $13 million dollars worth of antibiotics to Haiti this past October. It was sent to help treat over 200,000 children. We have also collected sheets for hospitals and we also collect medical supplies. But the ultimate mission is to create a series of self-sufficient communities equipped with homes, vocational schools, medical clinics. While doing the research and creating a village, I found out that during the hurricanes, the reason so many people died is due to the deforestation and when you cut down the trees, the trees no longer protect the homes from wind and rain. So when I go down to Haiti and I go into the provinces, I don't have a green thumb but I have learned and I sit down with the children there and I teach them to plant mango trees and to plant avocado trees. It's also for survival and food. Should the need arise, then that means that they can feed themselves as well.
FC: Certainly there are many places here in the United States where there is a need for the services that you provide. What drew you to become active in what is going on there in Haiti?
DC: Well that's a good question. After a series of four hurricanes in 2004, I was called upon by a general counsel in New York in order to volunteer so I joined forces with BET and Metropolitan Studio because they were looking to have a telethon for the Caribbean. There was a lot of talk of having a lot of celebrities to come on and I was there to do my own humanitarian work and answering phones, as I was still in college. After two or three meetings, a Tsunami happened. So they closed up shop on the Caribbean (outreach) and all of the entertainers went over to the Tsunami efforts. So every Caribbean Island was pretty much doing for themselves and I kept researching to see if there were any organizations out there helping Haiti. My mother who is the founder of our organization—it is a mother and daughter team—has made over seven trips to Haiti and to the Dominican Republic and we found out the Haitians residing in the border of the Dominican Republic were being kicked off their land because they were building the homes there and they didn't want to house the Haitians, they were only housing the Dominicans. After a year or two the Haitians were still sleeping on lots and under tents. So we said to ourselves that it would be great if there was an organization that would go there and build homes, build vocational schools, build storm-proof homes and help them rebuild their lives. And that is when we came up with the concept of Artists Village.
FC: When many people think of Haiti or discuss the small island nation, their views seem to be informed by what they are shown in the media—primarily a picture of poverty and AIDS. What do you think would be something surprising that you could tell people about Haiti?
DC: Haiti has some of the best architecture I've ever seen. The homes are gorgeous, Beverly Hills has nothing on homes I've seen in Haiti. Unfortunately, due to the insecurity a couple of years ago, they have been building very tall walls in order to protect the homes so that architecture has been hidden. What you see in the media is the poverty but they are not going to go and show you the beautiful homes that they have. Also, what I love most is that when you are walking around Haiti (even) the poorest of the poor are clean. They are always well groomed, they have so much pride in the way they walk. They won't let you know that they are hungry and to me that was the biggest cultural shock of all. They have that warrior mentality. Haiti is just a victim of circumstances, political injustice and natural disasters.
FC: How extensive and far reaching are your plans? Do you plan for it to be a long-term effort?
DC: This is a lifetime mission. It was pretty much a dream that became a vision which, the vision became a mission and my mission became a reality, which is the best way I can describe it. I feel very blessed to be as young as I am and to know what my mission is in life very early on so I can see the transformation happen in front of my eyes.
FC: Thank you.
ArtistsVilliage.Org
A mission to serve the people of Haiti
Darnide Cayo is the 25-year-old co-founder of Artists Village, Inc., a non-profit human rights organization based in Brooklyn, New York with volunteers, supporters and donors worldwide. The group's mission is to build self-sufficient communities by providing services in rural areas of Haiti, the small island nation of just over 9-million people. Haiti is the first post colonial independent Black nation in the Western Hemisphere. She sat down with The Final Call's Ashahed M. Muhammad recently at the 2009 National Black Power Conference in Atlanta, GA.
The Final Call (FC:) Why is the name of the group Artists Village?
Darnide Cayo (DC:) The reason it is called Artists Village is because anyone that can think of creating a better quality of life for someone in need is an artist. You don't have to be an actual artist, a painter, or a musician. As long as you can envision helping someone, then you are painting a new portrait of help for them.
FC: What forms of aid and assistance does your group provide for those in Haiti?
DC: A lot of hurricane relief. Within the past two years we have helped feed over 3,500 families who were stranded due to the flooding. We sent beans, oil and rice. We also recently donated over $13 million dollars worth of antibiotics to Haiti this past October. It was sent to help treat over 200,000 children. We have also collected sheets for hospitals and we also collect medical supplies. But the ultimate mission is to create a series of self-sufficient communities equipped with homes, vocational schools, medical clinics. While doing the research and creating a village, I found out that during the hurricanes, the reason so many people died is due to the deforestation and when you cut down the trees, the trees no longer protect the homes from wind and rain. So when I go down to Haiti and I go into the provinces, I don't have a green thumb but I have learned and I sit down with the children there and I teach them to plant mango trees and to plant avocado trees. It's also for survival and food. Should the need arise, then that means that they can feed themselves as well.
FC: Certainly there are many places here in the United States where there is a need for the services that you provide. What drew you to become active in what is going on there in Haiti?
DC: Well that's a good question. After a series of four hurricanes in 2004, I was called upon by a general counsel in New York in order to volunteer so I joined forces with BET and Metropolitan Studio because they were looking to have a telethon for the Caribbean. There was a lot of talk of having a lot of celebrities to come on and I was there to do my own humanitarian work and answering phones, as I was still in college. After two or three meetings, a Tsunami happened. So they closed up shop on the Caribbean (outreach) and all of the entertainers went over to the Tsunami efforts. So every Caribbean Island was pretty much doing for themselves and I kept researching to see if there were any organizations out there helping Haiti. My mother who is the founder of our organization—it is a mother and daughter team—has made over seven trips to Haiti and to the Dominican Republic and we found out the Haitians residing in the border of the Dominican Republic were being kicked off their land because they were building the homes there and they didn't want to house the Haitians, they were only housing the Dominicans. After a year or two the Haitians were still sleeping on lots and under tents. So we said to ourselves that it would be great if there was an organization that would go there and build homes, build vocational schools, build storm-proof homes and help them rebuild their lives. And that is when we came up with the concept of Artists Village.
FC: When many people think of Haiti or discuss the small island nation, their views seem to be informed by what they are shown in the media—primarily a picture of poverty and AIDS. What do you think would be something surprising that you could tell people about Haiti?
DC: Haiti has some of the best architecture I've ever seen. The homes are gorgeous, Beverly Hills has nothing on homes I've seen in Haiti. Unfortunately, due to the insecurity a couple of years ago, they have been building very tall walls in order to protect the homes so that architecture has been hidden. What you see in the media is the poverty but they are not going to go and show you the beautiful homes that they have. Also, what I love most is that when you are walking around Haiti (even) the poorest of the poor are clean. They are always well groomed, they have so much pride in the way they walk. They won't let you know that they are hungry and to me that was the biggest cultural shock of all. They have that warrior mentality. Haiti is just a victim of circumstances, political injustice and natural disasters.
FC: How extensive and far reaching are your plans? Do you plan for it to be a long-term effort?
DC: This is a lifetime mission. It was pretty much a dream that became a vision which, the vision became a mission and my mission became a reality, which is the best way I can describe it. I feel very blessed to be as young as I am and to know what my mission is in life very early on so I can see the transformation happen in front of my eyes.
FC: Thank you.
ArtistsVilliage.Org
Zahra Haji the Yoga Goddess
Source: Shamelessmag.com
Zahra Haji is a modern day Goddess – really! A certified 10-body & Kundalini Instructor, she is the director and founder of Yoga Goddess. Running classes and workshops dedicated to “awakening, uplifting and inspiring”, Zahra educates women about their cycles and bodies through her Moon Goddess Series (I’m not psycho. I’m cyclical. Period.). Currently a contender for W Network’s Expert Contest, Zahra answers our questions and gives us a glimpse of her Yoga Goddess wisdom.
What drives you to do what you do?
I was born an educator. I relish in expanding people’s minds so they can expand their lives. My passion is educating women about their bodies. If every woman in this world could understand and embrace her cycle, there would be no need to go through “PMS bitchiness” or pop Midols to stop the cramps. That’s what drives me to do the work I do. I dream of the day when every single woman understands that she is a goddess and reclaims her feminine wisdom. I would also like to see the day, when huge corporations who make billions of dollars selling unhealthy products for women’s menstrual cycles comes to an end.
How does being a woman empower / challenge you?
When I learnt about the four phases of the menstrual cycle and the opportunities they presented to understand myself and make better use of my energy I was astonished. We as women have an innate life coaching tool inside our bodies, which most of us know nothing about! Nobody teaches you that during pre-ovulation (right after your period) you have a burst of energy, during ovulation your sex drive peaks, at pre-menstruation it’s normal to feel introverted and anti-social and menstruation is a naturally meditative state that is designed for rest and renewal.
What advice would you give to young women who want to follow in your footsteps?
Explore yourself, understand yourself, learn to work with your perceived limitations and then learn how to shift out of them. When you know how to shift out of the limited, “poor me” stuff, and you realize your own magnificence, then you can teach others. Master yourself, so you can teach from experience. Most importantly though, get excellent training. Ask for a teacher, that pushes you beyond your comfort zone. If you spend too much time in solitary self exploration, you’ll just get lost in your emotions. You need a good teacher to snap you out of ego and emotionality until you learn how to do it yourself. The best school in Toronto is The School of Yoga Therapy and Natural Medicine. Be prepared to get the ego whipped out of you, it’s not for the faint of heart.
Name one person, place, or thing every young woman should know about?
You’re not psycho, you’re cyclical, period. The four phases of the menstrual cycle give life to four different women who surface every month: 1. the go getter, full of energy and dynamism; 2. the nurturer, supportive and caring; 3. the wild woman, emotional and unpredictable; 4. the recluse, quiet and introverted. Visit Miranda Gray’s website and start charting your cycle with the moon dial. It will change your life AND you’ll start healing simply from a rising awareness.
What is the most important thing we can do in order to change the world?
As women, the most important thing we can do is to reclaim our feminine wisdom. When women understand their own power, understand their cyclical nature, and learn how to ebb and flow with their cycles, everyone will benefit. We’ll have healthier families, healthier relationships, healthier friendships, healthier work environments and most importantly healthier women.
Yoga Goddess - Zahra Haji Website
Miranda Gray Website About The Woman's Cycle
Zahra Haji is a modern day Goddess – really! A certified 10-body & Kundalini Instructor, she is the director and founder of Yoga Goddess. Running classes and workshops dedicated to “awakening, uplifting and inspiring”, Zahra educates women about their cycles and bodies through her Moon Goddess Series (I’m not psycho. I’m cyclical. Period.). Currently a contender for W Network’s Expert Contest, Zahra answers our questions and gives us a glimpse of her Yoga Goddess wisdom.
What drives you to do what you do?
I was born an educator. I relish in expanding people’s minds so they can expand their lives. My passion is educating women about their bodies. If every woman in this world could understand and embrace her cycle, there would be no need to go through “PMS bitchiness” or pop Midols to stop the cramps. That’s what drives me to do the work I do. I dream of the day when every single woman understands that she is a goddess and reclaims her feminine wisdom. I would also like to see the day, when huge corporations who make billions of dollars selling unhealthy products for women’s menstrual cycles comes to an end.
How does being a woman empower / challenge you?
When I learnt about the four phases of the menstrual cycle and the opportunities they presented to understand myself and make better use of my energy I was astonished. We as women have an innate life coaching tool inside our bodies, which most of us know nothing about! Nobody teaches you that during pre-ovulation (right after your period) you have a burst of energy, during ovulation your sex drive peaks, at pre-menstruation it’s normal to feel introverted and anti-social and menstruation is a naturally meditative state that is designed for rest and renewal.
What advice would you give to young women who want to follow in your footsteps?
Explore yourself, understand yourself, learn to work with your perceived limitations and then learn how to shift out of them. When you know how to shift out of the limited, “poor me” stuff, and you realize your own magnificence, then you can teach others. Master yourself, so you can teach from experience. Most importantly though, get excellent training. Ask for a teacher, that pushes you beyond your comfort zone. If you spend too much time in solitary self exploration, you’ll just get lost in your emotions. You need a good teacher to snap you out of ego and emotionality until you learn how to do it yourself. The best school in Toronto is The School of Yoga Therapy and Natural Medicine. Be prepared to get the ego whipped out of you, it’s not for the faint of heart.
Name one person, place, or thing every young woman should know about?
You’re not psycho, you’re cyclical, period. The four phases of the menstrual cycle give life to four different women who surface every month: 1. the go getter, full of energy and dynamism; 2. the nurturer, supportive and caring; 3. the wild woman, emotional and unpredictable; 4. the recluse, quiet and introverted. Visit Miranda Gray’s website and start charting your cycle with the moon dial. It will change your life AND you’ll start healing simply from a rising awareness.
What is the most important thing we can do in order to change the world?
As women, the most important thing we can do is to reclaim our feminine wisdom. When women understand their own power, understand their cyclical nature, and learn how to ebb and flow with their cycles, everyone will benefit. We’ll have healthier families, healthier relationships, healthier friendships, healthier work environments and most importantly healthier women.
Yoga Goddess - Zahra Haji Website
Miranda Gray Website About The Woman's Cycle
Guns from the Unites States fuel Jamaica's gang wars
Source: Yahoo News, Associated Press
By MIKE MELIA, Associated Press Writer
[In this photo taken on May 13, 2009, a Jamaican police officer marks for record a seized handgun inside a weapons depositary at a police station in downtown Kingston, Jamaica, Wednesday, May 13, 2009. The firearms pour into violent slums in cities across Jamaica, one of the world's deadliest countries, where guns are used in the vast majority of murders. Eighty percent of the weapons seized in the Caribbean island are traced back to the United States.]
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Ships from Miami steam into Jamaica's main harbor loaded with TV sets and blue jeans. But some of the most popular U.S. imports never appear on the manifests: handguns, rifles and bullets that stoke one of the world's highest murder rates.
The volume is much less than the flow of U.S. guns into Mexico that end up in the hands of drug cartels — Jamaican authorities recover fewer than 1,000 firearms a year. But of those whose origin can be traced, 80 percent come from the U.S., Jamaican law enforcement officials have said in interviews with The Associated Press.
And as the Obama administration cracks down on smuggling into Mexico, Jamaicans fear even more firearms will reach the gangs whose turf wars plague the island of 2.8 million people.
"It's going to push a lot of that trade back toward the Caribbean like it was back in the '80s," said Vance Callender, an attache at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
U.S. authorities are beginning to target the Jamaican gun-smuggling network as part of a broad effort to boost security in the Caribbean.
But they have a long way to go. Jamaican authorities have confiscated only 100 guns coming into ports in the last five years, along with 6,000 rounds of ammunition. That in turn is just a fraction of the 700 or so weapons confiscated on the streets each year.
Authorities know they're only seeing "the tip of the iceberg," said Mark Shields, Jamaica's deputy police commissioner.
With arsenals to rival police firepower, the gangs are blamed for 90 percent of the homicides in Jamaica — 1,611 last year, about 10 times more than the U.S. rate, relative to population.
Unlike in Mexico, the vast majority of Jamaican guns seized are submitted for tracing. Jamaica and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives find most of the seized weapons come from three Florida counties — Orange, Dade and Broward — all with large Jamaican populations, according to Shields.
X-ray scanners were installed two years ago at Jamaican ports, but the gangs use bribery and intimidation to get their shipments past inspectors.
In April, a newly hired customs supervisor had his tires slashed and days later was shot at on his way home from work, authorities say. The man was known for his strict scrutiny of cargo coming into a gang-infiltrated warehouse on the Kingston wharf.
When the gangs apply pressure, "no one says no," said Danville Walker, Jamaica's commissioner of customs.
"It's a massive problem," said Leslie Green, a Jamaican assistant police commissioner. "There aren't any checks or any controls on goods leaving the United States. Yet anything leaving here, we have to make sure it's double-checked and tripled-checked for drugs."
This complaint — that Americans care only what comes in, not what goes out — echoes that of Mexican authorities, who say cars going from the U.S. into Mexico aren't searched for weapons or cash.
Now hundreds of agents are participating in a $95 million outbound inspection program, stopping suspicious-looking cars and trucks as they cross the border into Mexico. Authorities don't know how many firearms get through, but more than 12,000 guns used in crimes in Mexico last year were sent to U.S. authorities for tracing, a number that grows as more agencies in Mexico are trained to submit traces.
The U.S. and Jamaica both prohibit the unlicensed transport of guns. But like Mexican smugglers, Jamaican ones depend on lax U.S. gun laws, corrupt customs inspectors and front men acting as buyers.
Florida gun laws make it relatively easy to buy a legal firearm, and much of the smuggling is done by family and friends, said Shields, the Jamaican police official.
The guns are concealed in container loads of blue plastic and cardboard barrels, the kind Jamaicans use to send household goods to their families on the island.
Some shipping companies advertise a no-questions-asked policy in soliciting customers, said Walker, the customs commissioner. He declined to single out individual companies.
In one of the few Jamaican gun-smuggling cases prosecuted in the U.S., Tawanna Banton, 36, of Florida was convicted of buying a Glock handgun later used in the gang killings of four island police officers. She said her Jamaican boyfriend arranged the purchase, and she was paid $15,000 to buy the handgun and a .50 caliber "Grizzly" rifle with a tripod mount, according to court documents.
She told ATF agents the guns were then hidden inside kitchen appliances and driven to Miami for shipment to Kingston.
Banton pleaded guilty to making false statements to the gun dealer in 2006 and served a month in prison.
Besides coming in on freighters, authorities say, guns are stolen or purchased from crooked police or in "guns-for-ganja" deals by fishermen, who bring homegrown marijuana to nearby Haiti and return with pistols, revolvers and submachine guns — many of them believed to be from the U.S. as well.
Callender's ICE unit began investigations in Jamaica last year with a focus on guns. He said agents in Miami and New York have been working to "interject themselves" into the shipping networks. Indictments are imminent in two or three cases involving suspected Jamaican traffickers inside the U.S., he said, without elaborating.
Then there's the $45 million Caribbean Basin Security Initiative on regional security, announced by U.S. President Barack Obama in April, which is designed to help the islands counter any spillover of violence from Mexico.
Meanwhile, at the ports, Jamaican customs officials are training more spotters to patrol the warehouses, including five in Kingston who process an average of 10 shipping containers daily.
But inspectors feel the odds are still stacked against them.
"The guys we're up against, they have time, they have money, and they are very resourceful," said Andrew Lamb, a supervisor with Jamaica customs' Contraband Enforcement Team. "They're pretty good at what they do."
By MIKE MELIA, Associated Press Writer
[In this photo taken on May 13, 2009, a Jamaican police officer marks for record a seized handgun inside a weapons depositary at a police station in downtown Kingston, Jamaica, Wednesday, May 13, 2009. The firearms pour into violent slums in cities across Jamaica, one of the world's deadliest countries, where guns are used in the vast majority of murders. Eighty percent of the weapons seized in the Caribbean island are traced back to the United States.]
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Ships from Miami steam into Jamaica's main harbor loaded with TV sets and blue jeans. But some of the most popular U.S. imports never appear on the manifests: handguns, rifles and bullets that stoke one of the world's highest murder rates.
The volume is much less than the flow of U.S. guns into Mexico that end up in the hands of drug cartels — Jamaican authorities recover fewer than 1,000 firearms a year. But of those whose origin can be traced, 80 percent come from the U.S., Jamaican law enforcement officials have said in interviews with The Associated Press.
And as the Obama administration cracks down on smuggling into Mexico, Jamaicans fear even more firearms will reach the gangs whose turf wars plague the island of 2.8 million people.
"It's going to push a lot of that trade back toward the Caribbean like it was back in the '80s," said Vance Callender, an attache at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
U.S. authorities are beginning to target the Jamaican gun-smuggling network as part of a broad effort to boost security in the Caribbean.
But they have a long way to go. Jamaican authorities have confiscated only 100 guns coming into ports in the last five years, along with 6,000 rounds of ammunition. That in turn is just a fraction of the 700 or so weapons confiscated on the streets each year.
Authorities know they're only seeing "the tip of the iceberg," said Mark Shields, Jamaica's deputy police commissioner.
With arsenals to rival police firepower, the gangs are blamed for 90 percent of the homicides in Jamaica — 1,611 last year, about 10 times more than the U.S. rate, relative to population.
Unlike in Mexico, the vast majority of Jamaican guns seized are submitted for tracing. Jamaica and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives find most of the seized weapons come from three Florida counties — Orange, Dade and Broward — all with large Jamaican populations, according to Shields.
X-ray scanners were installed two years ago at Jamaican ports, but the gangs use bribery and intimidation to get their shipments past inspectors.
In April, a newly hired customs supervisor had his tires slashed and days later was shot at on his way home from work, authorities say. The man was known for his strict scrutiny of cargo coming into a gang-infiltrated warehouse on the Kingston wharf.
When the gangs apply pressure, "no one says no," said Danville Walker, Jamaica's commissioner of customs.
"It's a massive problem," said Leslie Green, a Jamaican assistant police commissioner. "There aren't any checks or any controls on goods leaving the United States. Yet anything leaving here, we have to make sure it's double-checked and tripled-checked for drugs."
This complaint — that Americans care only what comes in, not what goes out — echoes that of Mexican authorities, who say cars going from the U.S. into Mexico aren't searched for weapons or cash.
Now hundreds of agents are participating in a $95 million outbound inspection program, stopping suspicious-looking cars and trucks as they cross the border into Mexico. Authorities don't know how many firearms get through, but more than 12,000 guns used in crimes in Mexico last year were sent to U.S. authorities for tracing, a number that grows as more agencies in Mexico are trained to submit traces.
The U.S. and Jamaica both prohibit the unlicensed transport of guns. But like Mexican smugglers, Jamaican ones depend on lax U.S. gun laws, corrupt customs inspectors and front men acting as buyers.
Florida gun laws make it relatively easy to buy a legal firearm, and much of the smuggling is done by family and friends, said Shields, the Jamaican police official.
The guns are concealed in container loads of blue plastic and cardboard barrels, the kind Jamaicans use to send household goods to their families on the island.
Some shipping companies advertise a no-questions-asked policy in soliciting customers, said Walker, the customs commissioner. He declined to single out individual companies.
In one of the few Jamaican gun-smuggling cases prosecuted in the U.S., Tawanna Banton, 36, of Florida was convicted of buying a Glock handgun later used in the gang killings of four island police officers. She said her Jamaican boyfriend arranged the purchase, and she was paid $15,000 to buy the handgun and a .50 caliber "Grizzly" rifle with a tripod mount, according to court documents.
She told ATF agents the guns were then hidden inside kitchen appliances and driven to Miami for shipment to Kingston.
Banton pleaded guilty to making false statements to the gun dealer in 2006 and served a month in prison.
Besides coming in on freighters, authorities say, guns are stolen or purchased from crooked police or in "guns-for-ganja" deals by fishermen, who bring homegrown marijuana to nearby Haiti and return with pistols, revolvers and submachine guns — many of them believed to be from the U.S. as well.
Callender's ICE unit began investigations in Jamaica last year with a focus on guns. He said agents in Miami and New York have been working to "interject themselves" into the shipping networks. Indictments are imminent in two or three cases involving suspected Jamaican traffickers inside the U.S., he said, without elaborating.
Then there's the $45 million Caribbean Basin Security Initiative on regional security, announced by U.S. President Barack Obama in April, which is designed to help the islands counter any spillover of violence from Mexico.
Meanwhile, at the ports, Jamaican customs officials are training more spotters to patrol the warehouses, including five in Kingston who process an average of 10 shipping containers daily.
But inspectors feel the odds are still stacked against them.
"The guys we're up against, they have time, they have money, and they are very resourceful," said Andrew Lamb, a supervisor with Jamaica customs' Contraband Enforcement Team. "They're pretty good at what they do."
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Depression May Lead to More Premature Births Among BLACKS
Source: Yahoo News, HealthDay
Depression May Lead to More Preemies Among Blacks
TUESDAY, June 16 (HealthDay News) -- Black women are twice as likely to give birth prematurely as white women, and a greater likelihood of depression may play a role in that, a new study suggests.
Researchers looked at birth-rate data collected over six years from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study, which included health information from about 5,000 young adults living in four metropolitan areas.
Of the 555 women who gave birth between 1990 and 1996 in the larger study, 18.1 percent of black women gave birth prematurely compared with 8.5 percent of white women, according to the study, which appears in the June online issue of the Journal of Women's Health.
Premature birth was defined as any birth before 37 weeks of gestation. Normal gestation ranges from 38 to 42 weeks.
"Preterm births are one of the most significant health disparities in the United States, and the overall number of these births increased from 10.6 percent in 2000 to 12.8 percent in 2005," said the study's lead author, Amelia Gavin, a University of Washington assistant professor of social work.
Researchers aren't sure of the reasons for the disparity, but pre-pregnancy depression could a role, Gavin said. Women who were depressed before becoming pregnant had a greater likelihood of giving birth prematurely.
Yet researchers can't say with certainty that depression is causing the preterm deliveries or what impact depression during pregnancy might have on gestation because the data did not include that information.
"At this point we can't say that pre-pregnancy depressive mood is a cause of preterm birth or how race affects this association," Gavin said. "But it seems to be a risk factor in giving birth prematurely, and higher pre-pregnancy depressive mood among black women compared to white women may indirectly contribute to the greater odds of preterm birth found among black women."
Another possibility is that the higher preterm birth rate among black women might be the result of "weathering," or accelerated declines in health because of socioeconomic or other factors, she said.
"What some people experience by being black takes a toll on the physiological system, and over time, wear and tear that occurs across neural, neuroendocrine and immune systems as a result of chronic exposure to stressors lead to health disparities for blacks," Gavin said. "Some of this may manifest itself in premature birth and low-birth weight."
* The question is who or what is causing the depression and bad health?
Depression May Lead to More Preemies Among Blacks
TUESDAY, June 16 (HealthDay News) -- Black women are twice as likely to give birth prematurely as white women, and a greater likelihood of depression may play a role in that, a new study suggests.
Researchers looked at birth-rate data collected over six years from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study, which included health information from about 5,000 young adults living in four metropolitan areas.
Of the 555 women who gave birth between 1990 and 1996 in the larger study, 18.1 percent of black women gave birth prematurely compared with 8.5 percent of white women, according to the study, which appears in the June online issue of the Journal of Women's Health.
Premature birth was defined as any birth before 37 weeks of gestation. Normal gestation ranges from 38 to 42 weeks.
"Preterm births are one of the most significant health disparities in the United States, and the overall number of these births increased from 10.6 percent in 2000 to 12.8 percent in 2005," said the study's lead author, Amelia Gavin, a University of Washington assistant professor of social work.
Researchers aren't sure of the reasons for the disparity, but pre-pregnancy depression could a role, Gavin said. Women who were depressed before becoming pregnant had a greater likelihood of giving birth prematurely.
Yet researchers can't say with certainty that depression is causing the preterm deliveries or what impact depression during pregnancy might have on gestation because the data did not include that information.
"At this point we can't say that pre-pregnancy depressive mood is a cause of preterm birth or how race affects this association," Gavin said. "But it seems to be a risk factor in giving birth prematurely, and higher pre-pregnancy depressive mood among black women compared to white women may indirectly contribute to the greater odds of preterm birth found among black women."
Another possibility is that the higher preterm birth rate among black women might be the result of "weathering," or accelerated declines in health because of socioeconomic or other factors, she said.
"What some people experience by being black takes a toll on the physiological system, and over time, wear and tear that occurs across neural, neuroendocrine and immune systems as a result of chronic exposure to stressors lead to health disparities for blacks," Gavin said. "Some of this may manifest itself in premature birth and low-birth weight."
* The question is who or what is causing the depression and bad health?
Friday, June 19, 2009
Abraham Lincoln encountered a fly just like President Barack Obama
Source: Yahoo News, Associated Press
By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO – President Obama launched his campaign from Abraham Lincoln's hometown, used his Bible to be sworn in and quotes Lincoln at the drop of a stovepipe hat.
Now it seems the two share something else: an encounter with a fly.
Daniel Weinberg, the owner of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago, has a photograph of Lincoln with a house fly on him.
Weinberg doesn't know if the fly survived the encounter or if it suffered the same fate as the one that had the audacity to land on Obama during a television interview Tuesday and found itself on the business end of a presidential hand.
But Weinberg joked that Lincoln likely let the fly live, something that would have pleased the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which announced it was sending Obama a contraption that traps but does not kill bugs.
"He was the great pardoner," pointed out Weinberg.
One thing Weinberg does know is that unlike the fly that landed on the current president, the one that landed on Lincoln had the upper hand — at least for a while.
That's because, said Weinberg, the two crossed paths when Lincoln was in Alexander Gardner's Washington, D.C. photo studio, when Lincoln went there to sit for a photographic portrait in August of 1863.
To sit for such a photograph at the time, Lincoln had to remain absolutely still. If he moved to, say, swat a pesky fly, it would have caused the photo to blur, Weinberg said.
So even if he knew about it, Weinberg said that if Lincoln wanted a photograph of the quality of the one he got he would have to keep his hands where they were and not do as Obama did, and, as the president said, hit that "sucker."
That doesn't mean Lincoln didn't mete out swift justice if a tiny intruder got too close.
That was clear during a speech in which Lincoln, a young congressman at the time, spoke out against President James K. Polk's Mexican War policy. Lincoln told of his experiences during the Black Hawk War.
"Did you know I am a military hero," Lincoln said in a speech in July 1848. Then Lincoln, acknowledging that he never saw combat, said he did have "a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes."
By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO – President Obama launched his campaign from Abraham Lincoln's hometown, used his Bible to be sworn in and quotes Lincoln at the drop of a stovepipe hat.
Now it seems the two share something else: an encounter with a fly.
Daniel Weinberg, the owner of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago, has a photograph of Lincoln with a house fly on him.
Weinberg doesn't know if the fly survived the encounter or if it suffered the same fate as the one that had the audacity to land on Obama during a television interview Tuesday and found itself on the business end of a presidential hand.
But Weinberg joked that Lincoln likely let the fly live, something that would have pleased the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which announced it was sending Obama a contraption that traps but does not kill bugs.
"He was the great pardoner," pointed out Weinberg.
One thing Weinberg does know is that unlike the fly that landed on the current president, the one that landed on Lincoln had the upper hand — at least for a while.
That's because, said Weinberg, the two crossed paths when Lincoln was in Alexander Gardner's Washington, D.C. photo studio, when Lincoln went there to sit for a photographic portrait in August of 1863.
To sit for such a photograph at the time, Lincoln had to remain absolutely still. If he moved to, say, swat a pesky fly, it would have caused the photo to blur, Weinberg said.
So even if he knew about it, Weinberg said that if Lincoln wanted a photograph of the quality of the one he got he would have to keep his hands where they were and not do as Obama did, and, as the president said, hit that "sucker."
That doesn't mean Lincoln didn't mete out swift justice if a tiny intruder got too close.
That was clear during a speech in which Lincoln, a young congressman at the time, spoke out against President James K. Polk's Mexican War policy. Lincoln told of his experiences during the Black Hawk War.
"Did you know I am a military hero," Lincoln said in a speech in July 1848. Then Lincoln, acknowledging that he never saw combat, said he did have "a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes."
Police arrest twin thieves in The Hague, Netherlands thanks to Google's Street View map application
Source: yahoo News, Associated Press
THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Dutch police have arrested twin brothers on suspicion of robbery after their alleged victim spotted a picture of them following him on Google's Street View map application, a spokesman said Friday.
Paul Heidanus, a police spokesman in the town of Groningen, said he believed it was the first time Street View images had been used in a Dutch criminal investigation.
"For us, it is unique," he said.
A 14-year-old boy told police last September he had been robbed of euro165 ($230) and his cell phone after two men dragged him off his bicycle in Groningen, 180 kilometers (110 miles) northeast of the capital, Amsterdam.
The victim called again in March after seeing an image of himself and two men he believed were his attackers on Street View, police said in a statement.
Heidanus said prosecutors sent a formal request to Google for the original photo because people's faces are blurred on Street View.
"You must tell Google clearly why you want them," Heidanus said of the photo request. In this case, "the photo could provide an important contribution to solving a crime."
The company complied, and a robbery squad detective immediately recognized one of the twins.
Prosecutors will now decide whether to charge the suspects, whose identities were not released.
Since it was launched in 2007, Street View has expanded to more than 100 cities worldwide. But it has drawn complaints from individuals and institutions that have been photographed, including the Pentagon, which barred Google from photographing U.S. military bases for the application.
A spokesman for Google in the Netherlands did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Dutch police have arrested twin brothers on suspicion of robbery after their alleged victim spotted a picture of them following him on Google's Street View map application, a spokesman said Friday.
Paul Heidanus, a police spokesman in the town of Groningen, said he believed it was the first time Street View images had been used in a Dutch criminal investigation.
"For us, it is unique," he said.
A 14-year-old boy told police last September he had been robbed of euro165 ($230) and his cell phone after two men dragged him off his bicycle in Groningen, 180 kilometers (110 miles) northeast of the capital, Amsterdam.
The victim called again in March after seeing an image of himself and two men he believed were his attackers on Street View, police said in a statement.
Heidanus said prosecutors sent a formal request to Google for the original photo because people's faces are blurred on Street View.
"You must tell Google clearly why you want them," Heidanus said of the photo request. In this case, "the photo could provide an important contribution to solving a crime."
The company complied, and a robbery squad detective immediately recognized one of the twins.
Prosecutors will now decide whether to charge the suspects, whose identities were not released.
Since it was launched in 2007, Street View has expanded to more than 100 cities worldwide. But it has drawn complaints from individuals and institutions that have been photographed, including the Pentagon, which barred Google from photographing U.S. military bases for the application.
A spokesman for Google in the Netherlands did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Ecuador fighting to preserve its beauty and balance development
Source : Youtube channel unitednations
United Nations, June 2009 - Decades of oil drilling in Ecuador in South America has devastated huge swaths of the Amazon rainforest and its wildlife, threatening to destroy the ancestral home of native tribes and their culture.
But some of those people are finding a way to balance development and conservation.
United Nations, June 2009 - Decades of oil drilling in Ecuador in South America has devastated huge swaths of the Amazon rainforest and its wildlife, threatening to destroy the ancestral home of native tribes and their culture.
But some of those people are finding a way to balance development and conservation.
U.S. Senate Passes Resolution Offers Apology For Enslavement And Racial Segregation Of African-Americans
Source: Yahoo News, AFP
by Olivier Knox Olivier Knox
[A man attends a rally for Reparations for Slavery in Washington, DC, in 2002. The US Senate on Thursday was to take up a fiercely worded resolution formally apologizing for the "fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery" of African-Americans. The measure takes pains not to fuel the push for the US government to pay reparations to the descendants of African slaves. - (AFP/File)]
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Senate on Thursday was to take up a fiercely worded resolution formally apologizing for the "fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery" of African-Americans.
The move came five months after Barack Obama became the first black US president, and on the eve of the June 19 "Juneteenth" celebration of the emancipation of African-Americans at the end of the US Civil War in 1865.
If approved by the Senate, the measure would go to the House of Representatives, where a similar resolution passed by voice vote in July 2008, only to wither in the upper chamber.
The bill, which does not require Obama's signature, states that the US Congress "acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws" that enshrined racial segregation at the state and local level in the United States well into the 1960s.
The Congress also "apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow laws."
And it "expresses its recommitment to the principle that all people are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and calls on all people of the United States to work toward eliminating racial prejudices, injustices, and discrimination from our society."
The measure takes pains, however, not to fuel the push for the US government to pay reparations to the descendants of African slaves.
"Nothing in this resolution (a) authorizes or supports any claim against the United States; or (b) serves as a settlement of any claim against the United States," it says.
The United States has never offered a formal apology for the chattel slavery of Africans, though former president Bill Clinton expressed regret for the practice during a March 1998 trip to Africa.
His successor, George W. Bush, called slavery "one of the greatest crimes of history" during a July 2003 visit to Goree Island, Senegal, a former slave-trade port.
Some US states have officially adopted resolutions expressing regret or remorse for slavery.
"An apology for centuries of brutal dehumanization and injustices cannot erase the past," said the Senate resolution, which was introduced by Democratic Senator Tom Harkin.
"But confession of the wrongs committed and a formal apology to African-Americans will help bind the wounds of the Nation that are rooted in slavery and can speed racial healing and reconciliation," it said.
The Senate was expected to decide the measure by voice vote, meaning that there would be no record of how individual lawmakers voted.
The debate came as the United States marked the 80th anniversary of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, who formally declared blacks in secessionist states free during the civil war in 1863.
And 2009 is also the hundredth year since the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) civil rights group.
* SLAVES or those who think they are a COLOR (hence colorable or color of law) cannot be identified, our ancestors who were taken as captives and put in servitude were PRISONERS Of WAR. So called Blacks, Negros, Afro/African American, Colored people can never get reparations. Reparations are only given from one government to another government or one nation to another nation for crimes against HUMANITY or crimes against HUMAN RIGHTS not civil rights. Understand why Malcolm X was going in front of the United Nations to fight for HUMAN RIGHTS, not CIVIL RIGHTS which are unconstitutional. Both parties must be identified and have proper standing in law and international law. So called Blacks, Negros, Afro/African American, Colored people have no government, embassy, flag, diplomat, land, treaty or constitution under those names? The so called Jews went to the United Nations as 5/5 of a being not 3/5 like Blacks, Negros, Afro/African American, Colored people today aka chattel aka 2nd class citizens aka your name in ALL CAPITAL letters on your drivers license, I.D. Bank card, ect. What is the 2/5 missing from you being 5/5, that is nationality and divine creed (ancient form of spirituality). The so called Jews went in as German nationals/citizens, they chose their divine creed as Jewish. So what is the so called Blacks, Negros, Afro/African American, Colored people NATIONALITY and DIVINE CREED? Until those are corrected there will be no reparations, no land given unless those are proclaimed and applied. Until then the injuries, genocide and inhuman acts will continue. For more go to the links:
Second Class Citizen
Jus Soli
Jus Sanguinis
by Olivier Knox Olivier Knox
[A man attends a rally for Reparations for Slavery in Washington, DC, in 2002. The US Senate on Thursday was to take up a fiercely worded resolution formally apologizing for the "fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery" of African-Americans. The measure takes pains not to fuel the push for the US government to pay reparations to the descendants of African slaves. - (AFP/File)]
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Senate on Thursday was to take up a fiercely worded resolution formally apologizing for the "fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery" of African-Americans.
The move came five months after Barack Obama became the first black US president, and on the eve of the June 19 "Juneteenth" celebration of the emancipation of African-Americans at the end of the US Civil War in 1865.
If approved by the Senate, the measure would go to the House of Representatives, where a similar resolution passed by voice vote in July 2008, only to wither in the upper chamber.
The bill, which does not require Obama's signature, states that the US Congress "acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws" that enshrined racial segregation at the state and local level in the United States well into the 1960s.
The Congress also "apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow laws."
And it "expresses its recommitment to the principle that all people are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and calls on all people of the United States to work toward eliminating racial prejudices, injustices, and discrimination from our society."
The measure takes pains, however, not to fuel the push for the US government to pay reparations to the descendants of African slaves.
"Nothing in this resolution (a) authorizes or supports any claim against the United States; or (b) serves as a settlement of any claim against the United States," it says.
The United States has never offered a formal apology for the chattel slavery of Africans, though former president Bill Clinton expressed regret for the practice during a March 1998 trip to Africa.
His successor, George W. Bush, called slavery "one of the greatest crimes of history" during a July 2003 visit to Goree Island, Senegal, a former slave-trade port.
Some US states have officially adopted resolutions expressing regret or remorse for slavery.
"An apology for centuries of brutal dehumanization and injustices cannot erase the past," said the Senate resolution, which was introduced by Democratic Senator Tom Harkin.
"But confession of the wrongs committed and a formal apology to African-Americans will help bind the wounds of the Nation that are rooted in slavery and can speed racial healing and reconciliation," it said.
The Senate was expected to decide the measure by voice vote, meaning that there would be no record of how individual lawmakers voted.
The debate came as the United States marked the 80th anniversary of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, who formally declared blacks in secessionist states free during the civil war in 1863.
And 2009 is also the hundredth year since the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) civil rights group.
* SLAVES or those who think they are a COLOR (hence colorable or color of law) cannot be identified, our ancestors who were taken as captives and put in servitude were PRISONERS Of WAR. So called Blacks, Negros, Afro/African American, Colored people can never get reparations. Reparations are only given from one government to another government or one nation to another nation for crimes against HUMANITY or crimes against HUMAN RIGHTS not civil rights. Understand why Malcolm X was going in front of the United Nations to fight for HUMAN RIGHTS, not CIVIL RIGHTS which are unconstitutional. Both parties must be identified and have proper standing in law and international law. So called Blacks, Negros, Afro/African American, Colored people have no government, embassy, flag, diplomat, land, treaty or constitution under those names? The so called Jews went to the United Nations as 5/5 of a being not 3/5 like Blacks, Negros, Afro/African American, Colored people today aka chattel aka 2nd class citizens aka your name in ALL CAPITAL letters on your drivers license, I.D. Bank card, ect. What is the 2/5 missing from you being 5/5, that is nationality and divine creed (ancient form of spirituality). The so called Jews went in as German nationals/citizens, they chose their divine creed as Jewish. So what is the so called Blacks, Negros, Afro/African American, Colored people NATIONALITY and DIVINE CREED? Until those are corrected there will be no reparations, no land given unless those are proclaimed and applied. Until then the injuries, genocide and inhuman acts will continue. For more go to the links:
Second Class Citizen
Jus Soli
Jus Sanguinis
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
NASA exposes truth that they never been to the moon
You do the Math and put it together.
Source: news.softpedia.com
Dummy Astronaut to Be Subjected to Simulated Solar Flare
Despite recent criticism and cost overrun concerns, NASA is still considering placing a man on the Moon and Mars in the near future, but, in order for it to be able to do that, it has to first know and defeat the dangers that lie ahead. The most severe issue confronting a crew leaving the Earth's magnetosphere is that of solar emissions and cosmic radiation, which can wreak havoc in electronic systems and expose the human body to massive doses of radiation. For the purpose of better understanding how much radiation a human can take, the space agency has devised a mannequin, made entirely of bones, human blood cells, sensors, and fake skin, which they plan to blast with protons.
Though it may seem like a bit of an overkill, the dummy will actually play a very important part in NASA's future planning methods for missions that leave the Earth's relatively-safe orbit. The mannequin is a real-life replica of the human torso, featuring artificial skin and organs, real human blood cells, as well as bones and hundreds of radiation-specific sensors, able to detect the slightest increase in their levels over short periods of time. The Phantom Torso will simulate the exact events that could take place when a ship heading for Mars gets struck by a solar flare.
"We put blood cells in small tubes in the stomach and in some places in the bone marrow. One of the questions we have is whether the less shielded parts of the bone marrow will be [much harder hit],” Space quotes Francis Cucinotta as saying. The expert is the chief scientist for the Radiation Program at the Johnson Space Center, in Houston. “The biological effects are very sensitive to the dose rate. A dose of radiation delivered over a short amount of time is two to three times more damaging than the same dose over a few days.”
Health experts say that large amounts of radiation hitting the human body at once could have devastating effects on organs such as the liver and the spleen, which deal in detoxifying the body, as well as on the bone marrow. They add that cells around the body, but especially in the bone marrow and the blood, could easily mutate and become cancers, which could spread out of control in a relatively-short amount of time. The purpose of the experiment is to assess exactly how long it takes for the cells to turn into cancer, or if that happens at all. The dummy will be hit with a high-energy proton beam.
* So the question is, if they been to the moon, playing, jumping around and was such a success with that technology and equipment at that time, why is it now way in the future and they have problems with modern equipment. Put on your thinking cap.
* Now for some addition info, look at this picture below:
Look where the shuttle is. What they are not showing you is where the shuttle is that is where the space station is. So the space shuttle is not in space and the space station is not in space, its actually in high regions of the earth atmosphere. So the lies, tricks continue.
By the way, the magnetosphere they mention in the article is higher than the Exosphere. Put on your thinking cap.
This is where the picture is from: Earth's Atmospheres
Source: news.softpedia.com
Dummy Astronaut to Be Subjected to Simulated Solar Flare
Despite recent criticism and cost overrun concerns, NASA is still considering placing a man on the Moon and Mars in the near future, but, in order for it to be able to do that, it has to first know and defeat the dangers that lie ahead. The most severe issue confronting a crew leaving the Earth's magnetosphere is that of solar emissions and cosmic radiation, which can wreak havoc in electronic systems and expose the human body to massive doses of radiation. For the purpose of better understanding how much radiation a human can take, the space agency has devised a mannequin, made entirely of bones, human blood cells, sensors, and fake skin, which they plan to blast with protons.
Though it may seem like a bit of an overkill, the dummy will actually play a very important part in NASA's future planning methods for missions that leave the Earth's relatively-safe orbit. The mannequin is a real-life replica of the human torso, featuring artificial skin and organs, real human blood cells, as well as bones and hundreds of radiation-specific sensors, able to detect the slightest increase in their levels over short periods of time. The Phantom Torso will simulate the exact events that could take place when a ship heading for Mars gets struck by a solar flare.
"We put blood cells in small tubes in the stomach and in some places in the bone marrow. One of the questions we have is whether the less shielded parts of the bone marrow will be [much harder hit],” Space quotes Francis Cucinotta as saying. The expert is the chief scientist for the Radiation Program at the Johnson Space Center, in Houston. “The biological effects are very sensitive to the dose rate. A dose of radiation delivered over a short amount of time is two to three times more damaging than the same dose over a few days.”
Health experts say that large amounts of radiation hitting the human body at once could have devastating effects on organs such as the liver and the spleen, which deal in detoxifying the body, as well as on the bone marrow. They add that cells around the body, but especially in the bone marrow and the blood, could easily mutate and become cancers, which could spread out of control in a relatively-short amount of time. The purpose of the experiment is to assess exactly how long it takes for the cells to turn into cancer, or if that happens at all. The dummy will be hit with a high-energy proton beam.
* So the question is, if they been to the moon, playing, jumping around and was such a success with that technology and equipment at that time, why is it now way in the future and they have problems with modern equipment. Put on your thinking cap.
* Now for some addition info, look at this picture below:
Look where the shuttle is. What they are not showing you is where the shuttle is that is where the space station is. So the space shuttle is not in space and the space station is not in space, its actually in high regions of the earth atmosphere. So the lies, tricks continue.
By the way, the magnetosphere they mention in the article is higher than the Exosphere. Put on your thinking cap.
This is where the picture is from: Earth's Atmospheres
Secrets of an Ancient Burial Ground in Senegal, Africa
Source: NationalGeographic youtube channel.
Scientists seek to unravel the mysteries of thousands of odd, ancient burial markers in Senegal.
Scientists seek to unravel the mysteries of thousands of odd, ancient burial markers in Senegal.
A 14-year old German boy was hit by meteorite
Source: Yahoo.com news and Space.com
SPACE.com Space.com Staff
space.com – Fri Jun 12, 9:45 am ET
A 14-year old German boy was hit in the hand by a pea-sized meteorite that scared the bejeezus out of him and left a scar.
"When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road," Gerrit Blank said in a newspaper account. Astronomers have analyzed the object and conclude it was indeed a natural object from space, The Telegraph reports.
Most meteors vaporize in the atmosphere, creating "shooting stars," and never reach the ground. The few that do are typically made mostly of metals. Stony space rocks, even if they are big as a car, will usually break apart or explode as they crash through the atmosphere.
There are a handful of reports of homes and cars being struck by meteorites, and many cases of space rocks streaking to the surface and being found later.
But human strikes are rare. There are no known instances of humans being killed by space rocks.
According to a SPACE.com article on the topic a few years, back:
* On November 30, 1954, Alabama housewife Ann Hodges was taking a nap on her couch when she was awakened by a 3-pound (1.4-kilogram) meteor that crashed through the roof of her house, bounced off a piece of furniture and struck her in the hip, causing a large bruise.
* On October 9, 1992, a large fireball was seen streaking over the eastern United States, finally exploding into many pieces. In Peekskill, New York, one of the pieces struck a Chevrolet automobile owned by Michelle Knapp. Knapp was not in the car at the time.
* On June 21, 1994, Jose Martin of Spain was driving with his wife near Madrid when a 3-pound (1.4-kilogram) meteor crashed through his windshield, bent the steering wheel and ended up in the back seat.
In 2004, a 2,000-pound space rock bigger than a refrigerator exploded in the late-night sky over Chicago, producing a large flash and a sound resembling a detonation that woke people up. Fragments rained down on that wild Chicago night, and many were collected by residents in a northern suburb.
SPACE.com Space.com Staff
space.com – Fri Jun 12, 9:45 am ET
A 14-year old German boy was hit in the hand by a pea-sized meteorite that scared the bejeezus out of him and left a scar.
"When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road," Gerrit Blank said in a newspaper account. Astronomers have analyzed the object and conclude it was indeed a natural object from space, The Telegraph reports.
Most meteors vaporize in the atmosphere, creating "shooting stars," and never reach the ground. The few that do are typically made mostly of metals. Stony space rocks, even if they are big as a car, will usually break apart or explode as they crash through the atmosphere.
There are a handful of reports of homes and cars being struck by meteorites, and many cases of space rocks streaking to the surface and being found later.
But human strikes are rare. There are no known instances of humans being killed by space rocks.
According to a SPACE.com article on the topic a few years, back:
* On November 30, 1954, Alabama housewife Ann Hodges was taking a nap on her couch when she was awakened by a 3-pound (1.4-kilogram) meteor that crashed through the roof of her house, bounced off a piece of furniture and struck her in the hip, causing a large bruise.
* On October 9, 1992, a large fireball was seen streaking over the eastern United States, finally exploding into many pieces. In Peekskill, New York, one of the pieces struck a Chevrolet automobile owned by Michelle Knapp. Knapp was not in the car at the time.
* On June 21, 1994, Jose Martin of Spain was driving with his wife near Madrid when a 3-pound (1.4-kilogram) meteor crashed through his windshield, bent the steering wheel and ended up in the back seat.
In 2004, a 2,000-pound space rock bigger than a refrigerator exploded in the late-night sky over Chicago, producing a large flash and a sound resembling a detonation that woke people up. Fragments rained down on that wild Chicago night, and many were collected by residents in a northern suburb.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Charles Frank "Charlie" Bolden, Jr. To Head NASA
Source: The Huffington Post
HOUSTON — The nation's turbulent space program will be run by one of its own, a calming well-liked former space shuttle commander.
President Barack Obama on Saturday chose retired astronaut Gen. Charles Bolden to lead NASA. He also named former NASA associate administrator Lori Garver as the agency's No. 2. If confirmed, Bolden, who has flown in space four times and was an assistant deputy administrator at one point, would be the agency's first black administrator.
Bolden would also be only the second astronaut to run NASA in its 50-year history. Adm. Richard Truly was the first. In 2002, then-President George W. Bush unsuccessfully tried to appoint Bolden as the space agency's deputy administrator. The Pentagon said it needed to keep Bolden, who was a Marine general at the time and a pilot who flew more than 100 sorties in Vietnam.
"Charlie knows NASA and the people know Charlie; there's a level of comfort," especially given the uncertainty the space agency faces, said retired astronaut Steve Hawley, who flew twice in space with Bolden.
Bolden likely will bring "more balance" to NASA, increasing spending on aeronautics and environment missions, working more with other nations in space, and emphasizing education, which the president often talks about when it comes to space, said former Johnson Space Center Director George Abbey, a longtime friend.
"He's a real leader," Abbey said Saturday. "NASA has been looking for a leader like this that they could have confidence in."
Bolden's appointment came during the tail end of the space shuttle Atlantis' mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope one final time. He was the pilot on the flight that sent Hubble into orbit in 1990.
Bolden, 62, would inherit a NASA that doesn't look much like the still-somewhat-fresh-from-the-moon agency he joined as an astronaut in 1980. NASA now "is faced with a lot of uncertainty," Abbey said.
To read more detail info on Charles Frank "Charlie" Bolden, Jr. go to the link - Charles Frank "Charlie" Bolden, Jr.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
President Barack Obama introduces - Minority Report - Future Crime Provention aka Prolonged Detention
LOl, I laugh, because they are really serious. The movies are the warning, blue print and conditioning to get the masses ready. So when it is here you either accept it and be numb, or you rebel and go to war against the machine.
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