April 21, 2012

Send John Boehner a mutant shrimp picture

http://campaigns.dailykos.com/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=123

Send John Boehner a mutant shrimp picture

With mutant seafood devastating Gulf Coast fisheries, we are sending a picture of a mutant shrimp to Speaker John Boehner. We are including a petition telling Boehner to pass legislation mandating that fines paid by BP go toward clean up and restoration of the Gulf Coast.

Please, add your name to the picture and the petition. The Senate has already passed such legislation with overwhelming, bipartisan support, and it is time for the House to do the same

To Speaker John Boehner:

It is time for the House of Representatives to join the Senate in passing legislation mandating that fines paid by BP go toward clean up and restoration of the Gulf Coast.

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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/18/1084285/--We-ve-Never-Seen-Anything-Like-This-Mutations-and-Deformities-in-Gulf-Seafood-Post-BP-Spill?detail=hide

Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 08:15 AM PDT.

"We've Never Seen Anything Like This" Mutations and Deformities in Gulf Seafood Post BP Spill

The words "We've never seen anything like it" are repeated by scientists, seafood processors and fishermen throughout the gulf region. A feature article from Al Jazeera English, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/04/201241682318260912.html
Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists, examines the alarming abnormalities turning up in fish, shrimp, crab and other species since the BP oil spill.

BP's Deepwater Horizon spill and the subsequent, unprecedented dump of toxic chemical dispersants has damaged fisheries and affected the genomes of gulf seafood.

Along with collapsing fisheries, signs of malignant impact on the regional ecosystem are ominous: horribly mutated shrimp, fish with oozing sores, underdeveloped blue crabs lacking claws, eyeless crabs and shrimp - and interviewees' fingers point towards BP's oil pollution disaster as being the cause.
The Al Jazeera piece is a must read. I can't do it justice here with just a few paragraphs but here are some quotes from various fishers and scientists interviewed for the article. The eerily constant refrain of "we've never seen anything like this" runs through the piece.

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April 20, 2012

Statement by President Clinton on the passing of Levon Helm

(posted at FB, not able to find a link)


Statement by President Clinton on the passing of Levon Helm

April 19, 2012 | New York, NY | Bill Clinton | Statements

“I was saddened to learn of the death of my fellow Arkansan Levon Helm. Levon was one of America’s great musicians. His music, with the Hawks, the Band, and throughout his career, and his standout performance in Coal Miner’s Daughter, touched a cord with me and with many Americans. He never forgot his roots. I was always grateful that he helped the annual Delta Blues Festival get off the ground. He will be deeply missed.”..

April 19, 2012

Levon Helm: A Thank-You Note For The Music / Helm visited in hospital by Robbie Robertson

Levon Helm: A Thank-You Note For The Music -- And The Example


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jesse-kornbluth/levon-helm-a-thankyou-not_b_1437271.html

He's the one who sang "The Weight" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and "Up on Cripple Creek." He played Loretta Lynn's father in Coal Miner's Daughter. He's in rock's Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone called him one of the hundred best singers of all time, but he could just as easily be in the Guinness Book of World Records as the ultimate multi-tasker: a drummer who could deliver a unique beat even as he sang a rough-hewn lyric.

And now, Levon Helm's wife and daughter have announced, he is "in the final stages of his battle with cancer."

They have asked for prayers. No doubt that happened. So did thousands of loving messages on Facebook, which his wife and daughter say they have been reading to him.

How totally now.

And how ironic, considering that Levon Helm made music that sounds timeless and, mostly, looks back.

Rock legends die all the time --- for some, death is how they become legends -- and the rituals of modern mourning follow. But losing Levon Helm feels different. He's one of the few Authentics, he's one of the deans of the Old School. As his wife and daughter say, "He loved nothing more than to play, to fill the room up with music, lay down the back beat, and make the people dance. He did it every time he took the stage."

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Last week I was shocked and so saddened to hear that my old band mate, Levon, was in the final stages of his battle with cancer. It hit me really hard because I thought he had beaten throat cancer and had no idea that he was this ill. I spoke with his family and made arrangements to go and see him.

On Sunday I went to New York and visited him in the hospital. I sat with Levon for a good while..., and thought of the incredible and beautiful times we had together. It was heartwarming to be greeted by his lovely daughter Amy, whom I have known since she was born. Amy’s mother, Libby Titus, and her husband, Donald Fagen, were so kind to help walk me through this terrible time of sadness. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife Sandy.

Levon is one of the most extraordinary talented people I’ve ever known and very much like an older brother to me. I am so grateful I got to see him one last time and will miss him and love him forever.

-Robbie Robertson

```
April 19, 2012 10:43 AM
Levon Helm visited in hospital by The Band's Robbie Robertson


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-57416363-10391698/levon-helm-visited-in-hospital-by-the-bands-robbie-robertson/

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April 18, 2012

BP Oil Spill Aftermath: Eyeless Shrimp, Clawless Crabs and Fish with Oozing Sores

http://gizmodo.com/5903021/bp-oil-spill-aftermath-eyeless-shrimp-clawless-crabs-and-fish-with-oozing-sores

BP Oil Spill Aftermath: Eyeless Shrimp, Clawless Crabs and Fish with Oozing Sores

Al Jazeera just published an astonishing report on the after-effects of the BP oil disaster, and it's not pretty. There are an alarming number of deformities in sea creatures: mutated shrimp, fish with sores and lesions, eyeless crabs and more. It's unlike anything local fisherman have ever seen.

see: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/04/201241682318260912.html

How bad is it?

The effect that the oil spill and its reckless cleanup has on sea life is frightening, damning and sad. Here's a list of deformities that Al Jazeera found in its report:

Shrimp with tumors on their heads
Shrimp with defects on their gills and "shells missing around their gills and head"
Shrimp without eyes
Shrimp with babies still attached to them
Eyeless fish
Fish without eye-sockets
Fish without covers on their gills
Fish with large pink masses hanging off their eyes and gills
Crates of blue crabs, all of which were lacking at least one claw
Crabs with holes in their shells
Crabs with shells that have no spikes or claws or misshapen claws
Crabs that are dying from within


..more..

April 17, 2012

Outrage as palm oil companies exterminate hundreds of orang-utans

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/322150


Op-Ed: Outrage as palm oil companies exterminate hundreds of orang-utans
ElizabethBy Elizabeth Batt
Mar 31, 2012


Banda Aceh - Devastating fires deliberately set by palm oil companies in Indonesia may have killed hundreds of Sumatran orang-utans. And the land grab means the creatures may have only weeks or a few months, before disappearing forever.

The fires are the latest move in a sickening and gut-wrenching war waged on orang-utans by palm oil companies over land in northern Indonesia, says the UK's Daily Mail.

Hundreds of the arboreal great apes, recognized by their reddish-brown hair and uniquely expressive faces, may have perished in the fires allegedly started by palm oil companies in the Tripa forest on the coast of Aceh province. It is one of the largest remaining populations of wild orangutans in the world.

More devastating, are the reported claims of palm oil employees forcing fleeing orang-utans back into the burning forest, to their deaths. An action, said Ian Singleton of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, that has cost the apes dearly. He told The Mail:

"It is no longer several years away, but just a few months or even weeks before this iconic creature disappears."


Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/322150#ixzz1sJndiLvT

April 12, 2012

A bill of rights for dolphins: They're so smart we must treat them as 'non human persons'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2104034/A-rights-dolphins-Theyre-smart-treat-non-human-persons-say-scientists.html?ITO=1490

A bill of rights for dolphins: They're so smart we must treat them as 'non human persons' say scientists

By Fiona Macrae
24 February 2012

Dolphins are so intelligent that they should be thought of as ‘non-human persons’ and given their own bill of rights, it is claimed.

A coalition of scientists, philosophers and animal welfare groups have come up with a declaration of dolphin rights which they hope will one day be enshrined in law.

This would stop them being kept in zoos and waterparks, and being attacked by fishermen.

Whales would also be elevated above other animals by the list of rules, leading to whalers being classed as murderers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference heard in Vancouver.
Whale watching trips would be subject to regulations which would respect the creatures’ privacy, and developers and oil companies would have to give huge consideration to the effect their projects would have on the animals’ life and culture.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2104034/A-rights-dolphins-Theyre-smart-treat-non-human-persons-say-scientists.html#ixzz1rqJQ0FSV


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http://www.thewhalepeople.com/2010/10/endangered-whales-dolphins-wipe-those-smiles-off-your-faces/


... researchers announced the discovery that dolphin DNA and human DNA aren’t that dissimilar! In fact a dolphin’s genetic makeup:

“ …is amazingly similar to humans. They’re closer to us than cows, horses, or pigs, despite the fact that they live in the water.”, as quoted by Seema Kumar of Discovery Channel Online.


“The extent of the genetic similarity came as a real surprise to us,” says David Busbee of Texas A&M University. He hopes his research will reveal how long ago humans and dolphins branched off the evolutionary tree. There’s been some speculation that dolphins and whales, who breathe air, may have returned to the water AFTER first evolving into land animals.


“Dolphins are marine mammals that swim in the ocean and it was astonishing to learn that we had more in common with the dolphin than with land mammals,” says geneticist Horst Hameister.


Busbee says, “If we can show that humans are similar to dolphins, and anything that endangers dolphins is an equal concern for humans, it may be easier to persuade governments to keep oceans clean.”

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April 5, 2012

*Should Anonymous be on the 2012 TIME 100 Poll ? vote

The 2012 TIME 100 Poll
Cast your votes for the leaders, artists, innovators, icons and heroes you think are the most influential people in the world. Official voting ends on Friday, April 6, and the poll winner will be included in the TIME 100 issue. The complete
TIME 100 list will be chosen by our editors and revealed on TIME.com on Tuesday, April 17.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2107952_2107953_2109562,00.html

Anonymous
Age: Indeterminate
Occupation: Shadowy, loose-knit cadre of hackers

Anonymous isn't a person. It's not even a group of people in any well-defined sense. But if you tick off the thin-skinned, ad hoc network of hackers who collaborate under the Anonymous moniker, get ready for trouble. Members have reportedly attacked sites ranging from the Vatican's to those of major companies such as PayPal and Sony; they apparently released 75,000 credit-card numbers belonging to customers of research firm Stratfor. Arrests of dozens of suspected participants in multiple countries haven't shut down the leaderless organization.


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2107952_2107953_2109562,00.html #ixzz1rBLDIDby

April 4, 2012

I've replied to this thread but it doesn't seem to appear on the first page if GD

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002451455

I was wondering if I have hidden it by mistake..?

March 30, 2012

Americans Still Prioritize Economic Growth Over Environment

March 29, 2012

Americans Still Prioritize Economic Growth Over Environment
But eight-percentage-point gap in favor of economic growth is smaller than last year's gap

by Dennis Jacobe, Chief Economist


http://www.gallup.com/poll/153515/Americans-Prioritize-Economic-Growth-Environment.aspx

For most of the last three decades, Americans have prioritized "the environment, even at the risk of curbing economic growth" over "economic growth … even if the environment suffers to some extent." Prior to 2001, about two-thirds of Americans routinely favored protecting the environment. Even as the recession and financial crisis were getting underway in early 2008, more Americans favored the environment than economic growth, by a seven-point margin.

This trend changed as the recession deepened in 2009, with economic growth taking priority over the environment and continuing to do so through this year. Gallup found half of Americans choosing the environment after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in May 2010, but the data suggest that this major environmental event had only a temporary effect on the trend.

The modest improvement in the U.S. economy in early 2012 may have led some Americans to be somewhat less concerned about unemployment and economic growth, perhaps explaining this year's slight shift in favor of the environment.

Gallup finds a similar trend this year in Americans' preferences for the trade-off between environmental protection and energy production.

Young People, Democrats, and Liberals Prioritize Environment

Most subgroups of Americans favor economic growth over the environment. In fact, at least half of Americans 30 or older, conservatives, and Republicans prioritize economic growth. However, half or more of younger people aged 18 to 29, Democrats, and liberals instead prioritize the environment, as they have in past years.


..more..

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March 30, 2012

Climate change: world is reaching tipping point

http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/environment/climate-change-world-is-reaching-tipping-point-1.1264515

Climate change: world is reaching tipping point

March 27 2012 at 10:20am
By Nina Chestney

London - The world is close to reaching tipping points that will make it irreversibly hotter, making this decade critical in efforts to contain global warming, scientists warned on Monday.

Scientific estimates differ but the world's temperature looks set to rise by six degrees Celsius by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are allowed to rise uncontrollably.

As emissions grow, scientists say the world is close to reaching thresholds beyond which the effects on the global climate will be irreversible, such as the melting of polar ice sheets and loss of rainforests.

“This is the critical decade. If we don't get the curves turned around this decade we will cross those lines,” said Will Steffen, executive director of the Australian National University's climate change institute, speaking at a conference in London.

Despite this sense of urgency, a new global climate treaty forcing the world's biggest polluters, such as the United States and China, to curb emissions will only be agreed on by 2015 - to enter into force in 2020.

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