Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
ARLETTE SAENZ, - ABC World News
Stephan: The media spotlight has moved on, but New Orleans is still there, and still suffering. The Gulf is still severely polluted. It is a cautionary tale. When you think in terms of the extreme weather events that climate change is bringing, imagine what is going to happen to your city.
New Orleans may always hold the nickname ‘The Big Easy,’ but its population isn’t quite as big as it was 10 years ago.
The population in New Orleans shrunk by nearly 30 percent in 10 years according to new data released last week. Much of that loss was attributed to the ravages of Hurricane Katrina which devastated the city in 2005.
The U.S. Census Bureau released local 2010 Census data, which revealed New Orleans’s population stood at 343,829 people in 2010. Ten years earlier, the city’s population sat at 484,674 people, reflecting a 29.1 percent change in the population.
This drop in New Orleans’ population size is credited to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the most destructive and costly natural disaster in the history of the United States.
‘It’s obviously a smaller city,’ Allison Plyer, chief demographer for the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, said. ‘That drop was very much expected. Obviously, Katrina had a huge impact.’
Known for its rich traditions from cultivating the foundations of jazz music to the lively atmosphere and history of the French Quarter and Bourbon Street, the city endured the worst of the 2005 storm. Nearly 80 percent of its population fled the city to safer locations in […]
No Comments
Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
ROBERET HERRIMAN, - examiner.com
Stephan: You'd hardly know the Iraq war continues, but 50,000 American troops are still there, as well as an equal number of contractors (read mostly mercenaries), and people are still dying and being maimed. And the final withdrawal of our troops remains far from a done deal, whatever the announcements say.
The final 50,000 American troops are scheduled to leave Iraq on December 31, 2011 according to the ‘Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq On the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the Organization of Their Activities during Their Temporary Presence in Iraq’ or better known as the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).
However, there are some in the Pentagon and elsewhere who say that US troops will need to remain after the December date.
Officials in the Pentagon are fearful that Iraq is becoming a ‘forgotten war
No Comments
Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
DAVE LINDORFF, - This Can't Be Happening
Stephan: This story, in addition to the specific information it contains, illustrates how very hard it is to get actual information and correct context from mainstream media.
The propagandists in the corporate media are scratching their heads trying to figure out how to paint a rosy picture using the shockingly bad employment news out of the Labor Department today.
Here’s the raw data:
The official unemployment rate fell from 9.4% to 9.0%, when the prediction had been that it was going to move up slightly to 9.5%
The number of new jobs added was a net 36,000, the lowest increase since last September, when the economy was still losing jobs.
Here are some of the media quotes:
Associated Press: ‘The unemployment rate dropped sharply last month to 9 percent, based on a government survey that found that more than a half-million people found work.
No Comments
Monday, February 7th, 2011
DANIEL BORUNDA and DAVID BURGE, - El Paso Times
Stephan: This, I think, is just the beginning.
A water crisis in El Paso continues today, causing schools to close, car washes and other businesses to shut down and authorities mandating that residents curb water use for a third day.
El Paso Water Utilities officials are trying to replenish reservoirs to normal levels in the aftermath of a winter storm that paralyzed the city last week.
‘I think (in) the best possible circumstances, and if we have good cooperation, in 24 hours we should be back in a reasonable situation,’ John Balliew, vice president of operations and technical services for the water utility, said Sunday. ‘If people don’t cooperate, and they continue using water and watering their lawn and so forth, it can extend for several days.’
Mayor John Cook on Sunday declared a ‘water emergency’ because of the low reservoir levels caused by a combination of factors following several days of sharply freezing temperatures last week.
The mayor’s emergency declaration allows El Paso Water Utilities to shut off water to car washes, laundromats and industrial water users (such as garment plants) that do not comply with the mandatory restrictions.
Water utilities spokeswoman Christina Montoya said an estimated 7,000 customers had either no water or low water pressure Sunday evening. Most of those […]
No Comments
Monday, February 7th, 2011
TOM HAMBURGER, KATHLEEN HENNESSEY and NEELA BANERJEE, - Los Angeles Times
Stephan: The naked power of the corporatocracy to just purchase the government. Do a Google and track the history of the Koch brothers, and make up your own mind. This is why I don't think there is going to be an effective American response to climate change.
The billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch no longer sit outside Washington’s political establishment, isolated by their uncompromising conservatism. Instead, they are now at the center of Republican power, a change most evident in the new makeup of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Wichita-based Koch Industries and its employees formed the largest single oil and gas donor to members of the panel, ahead of giants like Exxon Mobil, contributing $279,500 to 22 of the committee’s 31 Republicans, and $32,000 to five Democrats.
Nine of the 12 new Republicans on the panel signed a pledge distributed by a Koch-founded advocacy group – Americans for Prosperity – to oppose the Obama administration’s proposal to regulate greenhouse gases. Of the six GOP freshman lawmakers on the panel, five benefited from the group’s separate advertising and grass-roots activity during the 2010 campaign.
Claiming an electoral mandate, Republicans on the committee have launched an agenda of the sort long backed by the Koch brothers. A top early goal: restricting the reach of the Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees the Kochs’ core energy businesses.
The new committee members include a congressman who has hired a former Koch Industries lawyer as his chief of staff. Another, Rep. Morgan Griffith […]
No Comments
