Stephan: Here is the bad news about the bees. It comes at the same time as the Obama Administration has rejected a ban on the neonicotinoids. As the downward slope of the bee trend has accelerated it has become clear that neonicotinoids are only part of the problem. But why wouldn't the government solve part of the problem? I think that is a question that remains unanswered.
There are also issues like the professional beekeepers stealing too much of the bees' honey and feeding them GMO High Fructose Corn Syrup.
The real problem though, in my view, is that this is a collection of examples of an entirely wrong-headed view of the world. One that is materialist and exploitive, and fragmented, and does not see the unity of life. One thats place profit above all other considerations. The whole package is being done to make profit, not to create wellness from individual to planetary. It is not problem of technology it is a lack of vision.
Read through to the end. The final paragraphs contain an update with the very latest research findings.
Nearly one in three commercial honeybee colonies in the United States died or disappeared last winter, an unsustainable decline that threatens the nation’s food supply.
Multiple factors – pesticides, fungicides, parasites, viruses and malnutrition – are believed to cause the losses, which were officially announced today by a consortium of academic researchers, beekeepers and Department of Agriculture scientists.
‘We’re getting closer and closer to the point where we don’t have enough bees in this country to meet pollination demands,
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JOHN MCCARTHY, - Scientific American/Salon
Stephan: The Legend of NIMH becomes reality. The ethical issue being debated by ethicists: How many humans cells does it take to be considered human.
Into brains of newborn mice, researchers implanted human ‘progenitor cells.
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D.S. Wright, - Firedoglake
Stephan: Here are the utterly corrupt Congresspersons in the act of serving their corporate masters at the expense of the wellbeing of humans, and the earth alike. The level of the Congress' corruption is so blatant and breath-taking that it has come to be business as usual, and it hardly elicits a comment from mainstream corporate media which is, itself, severely debased.
Noted Wall Street ski buddy and House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling is moving to re-deregulate derivatives by gutting the Dodd-Frank Act. Apparently one financial crisis this century is not enough for Hensarling and friends as the House today is marking up a slew of bills to help Wall Street avoid derivatives oversight.
The Committee on Financial Services will meet in open session to mark up the following measures:
H.R. 701, to amend a provision of the Securities Act of 1933 directing the Securities and Exchange Commission to add a particular class of securities to those exempted under such Act to provide a deadline for such action
H.R. 801, the ‘Holding Company Registration Threshold Equalization Act of 2013
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, - Institute of Science in Society
Stephan: Additional unintended consequences of GMOS resulting from a view of the earth that values only profits, with no consideration as to wellness at any level.
Click through to see the relevant charts.
A fully referenced and illustrated version of this article is posted on ISIS members website and is otherwise available for download: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/login.php?location=GM_Crops_and_Water_a_Recipe_for_Disaster.php
Genetically modified foods are a threat to our dwindling water supplies; they are less water-efficient and contaminate fresh water, said Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji, of the London based Institute of Science in Society.
Genetically Modified (GM) crops are widely recognised for their potential to damage both human health and the environment. Evidence is now accumulating of the contamination of streams, rivers, rain, as well as groundwater with GM-associated chemicals including Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicide, while genetic elements such as antibiotic resistant genes are emerging in water-borne microbes. Further, GM crops have been shown to be less water efficient, corroborating farmer’s reports of failing GM crops during droughts. Industrial farming in general has been shown to be ill-adapted to extreme weather events such as hurricanes as well as droughts; and GM crops are not expected to do any better.
Cultivation of GM crops is a serious threat to food security particularly as global water supply is depleting (see [1] World Water Supply in Jeopardy, SiS 56) and already heavily polluted; with elicit and licit drugs (see [2] Pharmaceutical Cocktails Anyone?, SiS 56, [3] Illicit Drugs in Drinking Water ), in addition to pathogens, arsenic, fluoride, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, industrial waste products, landfill leaks, and gasoline […]
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JOSHUA PRAMIS, - Digital Trends
Stephan: This story is good news if it comes to fruition, and that matters a lot to me very personally. If you travel it will probably be the same for you.
Thanks FCC! Surfing the Web from the seat of an airplane may get a whole lot easier, due to a proposal from the Federal Communications Commission. According to a report from the New York Times, the U.S. government bureau is looking to host an auction of a handful of newly acquired airwaves. If done, this could not only provide better, faster connections – likely even 30 times speedier than the connection you have in your home – from 30,000 feet, but also could add some competition and help lower prices.
This decision shows that the FCC has its proverbial finger on the pulse, and knows that there is both the need and desire to be connected, even when flying between two destinations, whether it’s for business or pleasure. ‘The reality is that we expect and often need to be able to get online 24/7, at home, in an office, or on a plane,
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