Tag Archives: european

Carbon-Neutral Sail-Powered Cargo Ships Scheduled to Return to European Waters in 2012

image: B9 Energy What comes after fossil fuel powered containers shipping is a pet topic of mine to contemplate and a new story from CNN on what the folks at B9 Energy (primarily a wind power company…) are planning in the way of carbon-neutral three-masted cargo ships is really pretty inspiring–even if some of the react and contextual quotes in the article show a decided lack of vision. But the ultra-cool you’ve got to go backward to progress cargo ship first…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Carbon-Neutral Sail-Powered Cargo Ships Scheduled to Return to European Waters in 2012

Carbon-Neutral Sail-Powered Cargo Ships Scheduled to Return to European Waters in 2012

image: B9 Energy What comes after fossil fuel powered containers shipping is a pet topic of mine to contemplate and a new story from CNN on what the folks at B9 Energy (primarily a wind power company…) are planning in the way of carbon-neutral three-masted cargo ships is really pretty inspiring–even if some of the react and contextual quotes in the article show a decided lack of vision. But the ultra-cool you’ve got to go backward to progress cargo ship first…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Carbon-Neutral Sail-Powered Cargo Ships Scheduled to Return to European Waters in 2012

You Are No Longer Free To Move About the Country

Janet Napolitano said last month that we should expect to soon see tighter restrictions at bus, train, and marine transportation centers, too. Here's a report about TSA, Border Patrol, and local police setting up a checkpoint at a Greyhound station in Tampa. Note how quickly preventing a possible terrorist attack expands to include catching illegal immigrants, and preventing drug and what sounds like “cash smuggling.” (It's hard to tell from the audio.) Note also the complete and utter reverence the local news report bestows on these government agencies, who after all are merely “teaming up to keep your family safe.” A liberal blogger wrote to me in an email this week that libertarians who call the TSA pat-downs a violation of their civil liberties do a disservice to actual violations of civil liberties. It's not difficult to envision the day where anyone wishing to take mass transportation in this country will have to first submit to a government checkpoint, show ID, and answer questions about any excess cash, prescription medication, or any other items in his possession the government deems suspicious. If and when that happens, freedom of movement will essentially be dead. But it won't happen overnight. It'll happen incrementally. And each increment will, when taken in isolation, appear to some to be perfectly reasonable. added by: Darevalo

Fed Opens Books, Revealing European Megabanks Were Biggest Beneficiaries

The Huffington Post NEW YORK — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday reluctantly opened the books on its monumental campaign to save the financial system in the midst of the recent crisis, revealing how it distributed some $3.3 trillion in relief. The data revealed that the Fed's aid was scattered much more widely than previously understood. Two European megabanks — Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse — were the largest beneficiaries of the Fed's purchase of mortgage-backed securities. The Fed's dollars also flowed to major American companies that are not financial players, including McDonald's and Harley-Davidson, through unsecured short-term loans. The measure, initiated in Jan. 2009 to stimulate the flow of credit and keep household borrowing costs low, led the nation's central bank to purchase more than $1.1 trillion in mortgages packaged into the form of securities. The mortgage bonds are backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the twin mortgage giants now owned by taxpayers. Deutsche Bank, a German lender, has sold the Fed more than $290 billion worth of mortgage securities, Fed data through July shows. Credit Suisse, a Swiss bank, sold the Fed more than $287 billion in mortgage bonds. The data had previously been secret. It was released Wednesday per the recently-enacted law overhauling the federal financial regulation. The Fed, ferociously backed by the Obama administration, fought lawmakers' desire for full disclosure throughout the financial reform debate. The mortgage purchase program has come under withering criticism by economists and financial experts who believe the Fed's initiative has unnecessarily inflated the housing market, and prevented the cleansing that pretty much all experts believe is necessary for a full economic rebound. However, the program has also been heavily praised for preventing an Armegedon-type situation in which mortgage costs could have skyrocketed, collapsing the housing market and leading to even more foreclosures. Data released Wednesday shows which Wall Street firms have been the biggest beneficiaries of the Fed's bond buying program. The fact that foreign lenders benefited the most is sure to irk lawmakers. Story continues at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/01/fed-opens-books-revealing_n_790529.html http://investletters.com/blog/why-does-anyone-listen-to-ben-bernanke/ added by: ThatCrazyLibertarian

Curse of the Black Gold (Video)

“Set against a backdrop of what has been called the scramble for African oil, Curse of the Black Gold is the first body of work to document the consequences of a half-century of oil exploration and production in one of the world’s foremost centers of biodiversity, the Niger Delta. Kashi's photographs expose the reality of oil’s impact and the absence of sustainable development in its wake, providing a compelling pictorial history of one of the world’s great deltaic areas. The photographs capture local leaders, armed militants, oil workers, and nameless villagers, all of whose fate is inextricably linked, illustrating the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty.” http://www.foto8.com/new/online/photo-stories/1124-curse-of-the-black-gold Great work in raising awareness! Join the Organic Movement: http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/ added by: lookatmypix

Despite massive protests, US Senate passes S 510 Food Safety Bill

(NaturalNews) The new Food Tyranny Act — called the “Food Safety Modernization Act” in the U.S. Senate — has been passed by the senate today. It would give the FDA vast new powers to criminalize and imprison farmers and food producers while doing absolutely nothing to address to real root of the food contamination problem: Factory animal farm operations (which are regulated under the USDA, not the FDA). The bill passed 73 to 25, with Sen Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) emerging as the greatest “voice of reason” in the debate. His last-ditch amendment to reduce the scale of the bill was defeated this morning. Here's the official vote record:http://www.senate.gov/legislative/L… Notably,there wasn't a single Democrat who opposed the bill. This bill, as originally written, would have outlawed most nutritional supplements through “harmonization” with European laws. It also would have authorized ten-year prison sentences for farmers sellingraw milkto their neighbors. Both of those provisions were eventually stripped out of the bill thanks to some last-minute amendments, but it gives you an idea of the outright police state mentality of the original bill authors who attempted to put in place completegovernmentcontrol over food, gardens, rawmilkand more. To give you an idea ofhow cluelessU.S. Senators are aboutfood, the New York Times is reporting that whenSenatestaff members met to discuss this bill, they would eat Starburst candies and jellybeans. As the NYT reports, “In the midst of negotiations, the negotiators — nearly allwomen– took a field trip to a nearby food market so that a Republican staff member could teach theDemocratshow to buy high-quality steaks.” So what we have here is a new foodtyrannylaw that was essentially negotiated by a group of women who eatdeadfoods, animals products and candy. No wonder they still don't get it. Thecontaminationof lettuce and other fresh produce is caused byfactory animals farms, not by produce farms. (E.coli can only thrive in the digestive tracts of animals, not plants.) The “small farms” exclusion will soon be meaningless The Tester Amendment of the bill did manage to excludesomesmallerfarmersfrom the more tyrannical provisions of the bill. As currently stated, this would exclude small farms that sell less than $500,000 worth of food and which sell most of their food locally. However, Senators failed to consider what's going to happen when theFederal Reservekeeps printing counterfeitmoney, devaluing the dollar and causing massive food price inflation. A farm that right now produces merely $100,000 worth of food (which could be a small, two-person farm) will soon find itself producing $500,000 worth of food (or more) due to the rapidly falling value of the U.S. dollar. This is how the Federal Reserve's money counterfeiting actions will further destroyAmericaand place small family farms under the tyranny ofthe FDA. What's next: Defeat the bill in committee The Senate version of the bill must now be reconciled with the House version that was passed last year. This reconciliation committee must hammer out the differences between the two bills. Democrats are urgently rushing to do this during their “lame duck” session in order to avoid moreRepublicansgetting involved who would seek to scale back thepowerand size of the federal government. Some House Democrats are even suggesting they would support passing the Senate version of the bill as it is written, without requiring any changes whatsoever, just to rush it through before the end of the year.NaturalNewsand other health freedom organizations intend to fight this effort, hoping to stall the bill until the newCongresscan enter the picture and hopefully interject some common sense into the negotiations. Please don't feed the monster If signed into law by the President (who is sure to sign it), this Food Safety Bill would provide yet more power and funding to one of the most dangerous monsters our nation has ever known: TheFDA. This is the agency responsible for the death of more Americans than all the wars our nation has ever been involved with — combined! ( http://www.naturalnews.com/030461_S…) The idea that we're going to save a few lives from food poisoning while subjectingeveryoneto yet another layer ofBig Governmenttyranny is so abhorrent and downright evil that if our country's founding fathers saw all this going on, they would be stunned into silence that it's happening in “the land of the free.” Fresh milk being criminalized? You've got to be kidding… Only they're not kidding. The FDA is the agency that has raided vitamin companies ( http://www.naturalnews.com/021791.html ), arrestednutritional supplementmanufacturers and ordered the destruction of books containing stevia recipes. This is the agency that censors the scientific truth aboutnaturalfoods like cherries and walnuts ( http://www.naturalnews.com/029698_c…) while promoting the outright fraud and quackery of the pharmaceutical industry. And now the FDA is to be rewarded for its malfeasance with yet MORE power andauthority? This is how Washington works, folks. The government always thinks it's here to save you, and the Democrats want Big Government to be your nanny and “take care of you.” (The Republicans, for their part, just want to bail out the wealthy banksters with your money.) And yet, when it all comes down to it, these people are justtyrantswho have forgotten American history and abandoned the Constitution and its founding principles. Mark my words: Five years down the road, when the FDA's armed “food police” are running rampant across America, arresting farmers and imprisoning lettuce growers, people will be appalled, and they'll wonder, “How could we have let this happen!?” The answer is right here: You let it happen because you allowed Big Government to rule overthe food supply. And if there's one thing we know about Big Government, it's thatit always wants to get bigger. It always wants more power. More authority. More funding. And more excuses to function as a dictatorship that rules over the American people. The Food Safety Modernization Act is to thefood supplywhat the Patriot Act is to the Bill of Rights. We must make every effort to prevent this from becoming law, lest we find ourselves living under afood dictatorshipwhere only dead, fumigated or irradiated food will be allowed to be sold to the public. The “food irradiation plot” has been the plan from the very beginning of all this ( http://www.naturalnews.com/023015_f…) . Of course, once the real food is all criminalized and outlawed, there's alwayssoylent green. That might not be too far off, come to think of it. Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/030576_Food_Safety_S_510.html#ixzz16nMK85q5 ARTICLES RELATED TO THIS ARTICLE: •The Honest Food Guide empowers consumers with independent information about foods and health •Interview with “Kevala” Karen Parker, master raw foods chef •Cigarettes, Lies, and Pet Food Advertising •The true horrors of pet food revealed: Prepare to be shocked by what goes into dog food and cat food •Interview: Raw food guru David Wolfe explores the healing energy of living foods •Boku Super Food: An Astonishing New Premium Superfood Product Reviewed by the Health Ranger Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/030576_Food_Safety_S_510.html#ixzz16nNAqgn4 added by: GLOBALPOLITICAL

The return of neo-Nazism in Latvia – Latvian veteran found guilty of fighting again nazism in WWII

The international human rights movement World Without Nazism consider the decision of the ECHR’s Grand Chamber as a review of the results of the Nuremberg Trials at the level of European justice. “It is a very dangerous trend,” the movement's deputy council head Valery Engel said. He took part in a video link-up between Riga and Moscow with Kononov’s participation on Thursday. The event was organized by the Russian Public Chamber. The Kononov case is another sign of the revival of neo-Nazism in Latvia, believes World Without Nazism presidium member Iosif Koren. As former Soviet partisans are persecuted in the country, people “linked to the Waffen SS” are elected to the parliament, he noted. The ECHR should take “an objective, not politicized” decision while reviewing the case, Aleksandr Brod, a human rights activist and the chamber’s member, said. Kononov’s lawyer Mikhail Ioffe is now busy filing an appeal against the Strasbourg court’s decision. There have been few cases in history when such complaints have been considered by the court. “I never thought that in my old age I would be accused by [Latvian and Strasbourg] courts of committing crimes which never took place,” 87-year-old Kononov said during the video link. According to the veteran, the ECHR was “under unprecedented pressure.” This case is being considered as West European countries show their loyalty to “the return of neo-Nazism and rehabilitation of SS forces,” Kononov said. The veteran asked the Russian leadership and “millions of ordinary people” to help him fight against the unjust accusation. The Public Chamber has promised to help Kononov in the future. The Moscow international conference on “World without Nazism – the global goal of the entire humankind” due to be held at the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, on December 17, will also discuss the case of the Latvian veteran. added by: MotherForTruth

A New Planet — from Beyond the Galaxy

Billions of years before the Sun was born, the Milky Way galaxy flicked out its gravitational tongue and slurped down a tiny neighboring galaxy that had ventured too close. The evidence for that ancient act of cosmic cannibalism is the still-digesting remains of the meal: a handful of relatively nearby stars known as the Helmi Stream, whose weird orbits — above and below the plain of the galaxy — are a tipoff to their weird origin. Now one of those stars has a second claim to fame. HIP 13044, as it's unglamorously known, has a planet whirling around it — the first planet ever found from outside the Milky Way. Aside from its extra-galactic origin, the planet itself, found with a medium-size telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, and described in a new paper in Science, isn't especially remarkable. It's a bit bigger than Jupiter and orbits its parent star in about 16 days — a “year” so short it would once have been considered impossible for so giant a planet, until multiple discoveries of many similar worlds proved such a revolution rate to be pretty common http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2032054,00.html added by: unimatrix0

Kim Kardashian’s Boobs Do Oktoberfest

It seems that Kim Kardashian is still hanging out with that drag queen Liza Minelli impersonator while on her European vacation. This time the odd couple have found themselves in Germany just in time for Oktoberfest where I’m sure they’ll be stuffing themselves silly with giant sausages. What? That’s what they eat there no? Anyhow, nothing says Oktoberfest like some American reality TV lady douche dressed up in her traditional German outfit with her big old boobs hanging out. Enjoy.

Mapping Stereotypes: Yanko Tsvetkov Puts Our Stereotypes on Map

Bulgarian graphic designer and illustrator Yanko Tsvetkov has revealed seven maps of Europe reproducing what he saw as stereotypes that different nations have about European countries. http://www.theblogismine.com/2010/09/21/mapping-stereotypes-yanko-tsvetkov-puts-… added by: theblogismine