Saturday, December 24th, 2011
AARON VILES, Deputy Director of the Gulf Restoration Network - Care2
Stephan: The corporate media has more or less moved on; the problems have not. The Gulf of Mexico and all beings from single cell organisms to humans will pay a price for years to come.
Over a year and a half ago, BP’s Macondo well erupted, spewing over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. We continue to experience impacts from the disaster today. The oil is still washing on shore and the environmental impacts are still being revealed – the BP oil disaster is not over.
We’ve seen record numbers of dolphin mortality - nearly 500 since the disaster, low numbers of whale sharks returning to the Gulf, and deformities on the gills of the Gulf killifish - an abundant bait fish and an important food source for many marine species.
The loss of these wetlands has left coastal communities (including New Orleans) far more vulnerable to the impacts of storms and hurricanes. The natural, coastal lines of defense such as barrier islands, marsh, and cypress swamps amount to incredibly effective storm protection, knocking down as much as a foot of storm surge for every mile of intact ecosystem the surge must travel across. Basically, if Hurricane Katrina had encountered a robust coastal system, the events of 6 years ago would have been far less tragic and damaging.
Currently, the vast majority of oil production has moved offshore, leaving behind weakened, shredded […]
No Comments
Saturday, December 24th, 2011
NATASHA PINOL, - American Association for the Advancement of Science
Stephan: This is wonderful news. It will have an enormous impact on humanity for the good if it can break the chain of transmission.
The journal Science has lauded an eye-opening HIV study, known as HPTN 052, as the most important scientific breakthrough of 2011. This clinical trial demonstrated that people infected with HIV are 96 percent less likely to transmit the virus to their partners if they take antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).
The findings end a long-standing debate over whether ARVs could provide a double benefit by treating the virus in individual patients while simultaneously cutting transmission rates. It’s now clear that ARVs can provide treatment as well as prevention when it comes to HIV, researchers agree.
Myron Cohen from the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, N.C. and an international team of colleagues kicked off the HPTN 052 study in 2007 by enrolling 1,763 heterosexual couples from nine different countries: Brazil, India, Thailand, the United States, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Each participating couple included one partner with an HIV infection.
The researchers administered ARVs to half of those HIV-infected individuals immediately and waited for the other half of the infected participants to develop CD4 counts below 250 – indicative of severe immune damage – before offering treatment. (A CD4 count below 200 indicates AIDS.)
Then, earlier this year, four years […]
No Comments
Saturday, December 24th, 2011
HOPE YEN, - The Associated Press
Stephan: This has significant implications for Congressional reapportionment and, depending on the demographic leaving, varying social impact as well. I think Florida's modest increase as mentioned in the report, will stop and reverse to emigration as it becomes apparent that the state's coastal regions will be seriously affected by climate change.
WASHINGTON — Many states that posted big population gains in the 2010 census are now seeing their decade-long growth fizzle, hurt by a prolonged economic slump that is stretching into larger portions of the South and West.
New 2011 estimates released Wednesday by the Census Bureau are the first state numbers since the 2010 count, which found the nation’s population growth shifting to the Sun Belt.
As a whole, the U.S. population grew by 2.8 million, reaching 311.6 million people. That growth of 0.92 percent was the lowest since the mid-1940s, hurt by fewer births and less immigration following the recent recession. From 2000 to 2010, the government previously reported the nation grew 9.7 percent, the lowest since the Great Depression.
‘The nation’s overall growth rate is now at its lowest point since before the baby boom,’ said Census Bureau director Robert Groves.
Washington, D.C., grew faster than any state in the nation, climbing by 2.7 percent from April 2010 to July of this year. It was the first time the District led states in growth since the early 1940s. Texas was next-fastest growing, followed by Utah, Alaska, Colorado and North Dakota.
States that prospered during the real estate boom, such as Arizona, Nevada and […]
No Comments
Saturday, December 24th, 2011
CHARLES C. MANN, - Vanity Fair
Stephan: I believe this is a fairly accurate representation of the truth concerning TSA. It seems to have two purposes, to induce a sense of stress to let you know the threat is real, and your government is working to keep you safe. And to serve as a jobs program. The last time I flew, a few weeks ago, there were 23 people staffing the two checkpoints operating when I went through.
Homeland Security is inherently fascist and over-reaching, and represents a militarized vision of America. It is also enormously profitable for the community of companies that service its needs. If you are a contractor in this system, the heavens have opened and poured down gold.
Not until I walked with Bruce Schneier toward the mass of people unloading their laptops did it occur to me that it might not be possible for us to hang around unnoticed near Reagan National Airport’s security line. Much as upscale restaurants hang mug shots of local food writers in their kitchens, I realized, the Transportation Security Administration might post photographs of Schneier, a 48-year-old cryptographer and security technologist who is probably its most relentless critic. In addition to writing books and articles, Schneier has a popular blog; a recent search for ‘TSA
No Comments
Saturday, December 24th, 2011
AIMEE LEVITT, - Riverfront Times
Stephan: In even the most fundamental building blocks of life cooperation and linkage can be seen to be the most life affirming choice.
Please click through to see the extraordinary images.
No Comments
