Monday, November 28th, 2011
NAOMI WOLF, - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: I have held onto this story since the 25th because I wanted to be sure that it was not wildly over-the-top and represented a real assessment of what is going on. Based on several other reports, several of which I have published in the last two days, I am forced to conclude this is an accurate take on what is taking place in the U.S.. It appalls me. Occupy is calling forth the true face of Homeland Security, and the entire Fascist paramilitary apparatus that has been constructed under our noses over the past 10 years, under the guise of protecting us from 'terrorists.'
The fact that the Guardian is virtually the only major news source with this information tells us something itself. Only the Guardian is not controlled by corporate interests. It is owned by a trust.
US citizens of all political persuasions are still reeling from images of unparallelled police brutality in a coordinated crackdown against peaceful OWS protesters in cities across the nation this past week. An elderly woman was pepper-sprayed in the face; the scene of unresisting, supine students at UC Davis being pepper-sprayed by phalanxes of riot police went viral online; images proliferated of young women – targeted seemingly for their gender – screaming, dragged by the hair by police in riot gear; and the pictures of a young man, stunned and bleeding profusely from the head, emerged in the record of the middle-of-the-night clearing of Zuccotti Park.
But just when Americans thought we had the picture – was this crazy police and mayoral overkill, on a municipal level, in many different cities? – the picture darkened. The National Union of Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a Freedom of Information Act request to investigate possible federal involvement with law enforcement practices that appeared to target journalists. The New York Times reported that ‘New York cops have arrested, punched, whacked, shoved to the ground and tossed a barrier at reporters and photographers’ covering protests. Reporters were asked by NYPD to raise their […]
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Monday, November 28th, 2011
RICHARD BLACK, Environment Correspondent - BBC News (UK)
Stephan: Old energy, and entrenched special interests which enrich themselves through their alignment with Old Energy control -- or heavily influence -- not just the U.S. government but those of China, Brazil, and India. As a result, as this report makes clear, nothing is going to happen about climate change. I keep saying this, and am convinced of its accuracy, but even I am dumbstruck at just how great the blockage is.
In five years it will be too late to do anything much anyway and, by then, the extreme weather effects arising from climate change will be the story everyone is talking about. If you live in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, large parts of Texas, Miami-Dade or anywhere along a low-lying coast line I would start thinking about moving before your property values drop to Detroit levels.
Notice also that the only place I can find responsible information on these trends seems to be non-U.S. sources
Some of the developing world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters are bidding to delay talks on a new climate agreement.
To the anger of small islands and other vulnerable countries, India and Brazil are joining rich nations such as the US and Japan in wanting to start talks on a legal deal no earlier than 2015.
The EU and climate-vulnerable blocs want to start as soon as possible, and have the deal finalised by 2015.
The UN climate summit opens on Monday in Durban, South Africa.
Some observers say small island states, which traditionally aim their criticism at the industrialised world’s big emitters, may begin ‘naming and shaming’ developing countries that are also delaying progress.
‘They’re on the edge of a mess,’ one experienced delegate told BBC News, ‘and they may not be able to resolve this mess’.
Developing countries will certainly target rich governments such as Japan, Canada and Russia over their refusal to commit to new emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol, whose current targets expire at the end of next year.
They see this as a breach of previous commitments and of trust.
But some of the most vulnerable nations say the impasse should not delay talks on a new deal, arguing that to do so […]
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Monday, November 28th, 2011
, - Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times
Stephan: Here, and not a moment too soon, is some hard-data good news, about the Green Transition trend.
Renewable energy is surpassing fossil fuels for the first time in new power-plant investments, shaking off setbacks from the financial crisis and an impasse at the United Nations global warming talks.
Electricity from the wind, sun, waves and biomass drew $187 billion last year compared with $157 billion for natural gas, oil and coal, according to calculations by Bloomberg New Energy Finance using the latest data. Accelerating installations of solar- and wind-power plants led to lower equipment prices, making clean energy more competitive with coal.
‘The progress of renewables has been nothing short of remarkable,’ United Nations Environment Program Executive Secretary Achim Steiner said in an interview. ‘You have record investment in the midst of an economic and financial crisis.’
The findings indicate the world is shifting toward consuming more renewable energy even without a global agreement on limiting greenhouse gases. Delegates from more than 190 nations converge in Durban, South Africa, on Nov. 28 to discuss new measures for limiting emissions damaging the climate.
The renewables boom, spurred by about $66 billion of subsidies last year, intensified competition between wind- turbine and solar-panel manufacturers, gutting margins from the biggest producers led by Vestas Wind Systems A/S and First Solar Inc. The 95-member WilderHill […]
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Monday, November 28th, 2011
SPENCER ACKERMAN, - WIRED-DANGER ROOM
Stephan: This is another piece of the puzzle. An entire apparatus of control has been created using 'contractors.' That Blackwater, an evil organization, is still receiving BILLIONS of your tax dollars, in spite of a record of deceit, corruption, and violence tells you all you need to know about the real truth of what is happening in the Black-Ops world of authoritarian control, as this report attests.
Never mind the dead civilians. Forget about the stolen guns. Get over the murder arrests, the fraud allegations, and the accusations of guards pumping themselves up with steroids and cocaine. Through a ‘joint venture,
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Sunday, November 27th, 2011
MARTIN ENSERINK, - Science
Stephan: It is hard to believe how any justification can be made for the manufacture of organisms that could literally decimate humanity.
ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS — Locked up in the bowels of the medical faculty building here and accessible to only a handful of scientists lies a man-made flu virus that could change world history if it were ever set free.
The virus is an H5N1 avian influenza strain that has been genetically altered and is now easily transmissible between ferrets, the animals that most closely mimic the human response to flu. Scientists believe it’s likely that the pathogen, if it emerged in nature or were released, would trigger an influenza pandemic, quite possibly with many millions of deaths.
In a 17th floor office in the same building, virologist Ron Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Center calmly explains why his team created what he says is ‘probably one of the most dangerous viruses you can make’-and why he wants to publish a paper describing how they did it. Fouchier is also bracing for a media storm. After he talked to ScienceInsider yesterday, he had an appointment with an institutional press officer to chart a communication strategy.
Fouchier’s paper is one of two studies that have triggered an intense debate about the limits of scientific freedom and that could portend changes in the way U.S. researchers handle […]
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