Stephan: I have been appalled at the superficial nature of the media coverage of what is going on in the Ukraine. For one thing I have only heard one mention in all the stories about why Russian cares about the Crimea -- that it offers the Russian blue water navy a warm weather port. Instead the coverage is like that of a baseball game. Just incredibly vapid. Here is some useful background on what is going on that covers at least some of the major trophes.
Crimea’s new prime minister, Sergei Aksenov, has moved up the date of a planned referendum on the peninsula’s future status to March 30. Voters will be asked to vote ‘yes” or ‘no” on whether “Crimea has state sovereignty and is a part of Ukraine, in accordance with treaties and agreements.”
It seems extremely unlikely that Kiev will recognize the referendum, but with Russian troops occupying the territory, there’s not a whole lot they can do about it. Crimea, therefore, seems destined to join the ranks of the former Soviet Union’s ‘frozen conflicts.” Here’s a quick rundown over the other four:
Transnistria
Also known Trans-Dniester or Pridnestrovie, the traditionally Russian speaking region was joined by Moscow to Bessarabia, formerly part of Romania, to create the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic after World War II.
Amid rising Moldovan nationalism during the break-up of the Soviet Union, Transnistria declared its independence in 1990. After a short and bloody war, a ceasefire was declared in 1992. The region became de facto independent, backed up a significant Russian military presence, but it is not recognized by Moldova or most other countries. Transnistrians have not gained any more enthusiasm for the idea of joining Moldova – Europe’s poorest country – since […]
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Stephan: This is a new aspect of Monsanto's agricultural poisons that I had not seen before. The idea of routinely spreading these toxins all over the Earth is so obviously foolish it is hard to understand how any ethical regulatory agency could permit it. You would think the DDT mess more than half a century ago would have been warning enough. But, of course, profit trumps all.
A heretofore inexplicable fatal, chronic kidney disease that has affected poor farming regions around the globe may be linked to the use of biochemical giant Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide in areas with hard water, a new study has found.
The new study was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Researchers suggest that Roundup, or glyphosate, becomes highly toxic to the kidney once mixed with “hard” water or metals like arsenic and cadmium that often exist naturally in the soil or are added via fertilizer. Hard water contains metals like calcium, magnesium, strontium, and iron, among others. On its own, glyphosate is toxic, but not detrimental enough to eradicate kidney tissue.
The glyphosate molecule was patented as a herbicide by Monsanto in the early 1970s. The company soon brought glyphosate to market under the name “Roundup,” which is now the most commonly used herbicide in the world.
The hypothesis helps explain a global rash of the mysterious, fatal Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown etiology (CKDu) that has been found in rice paddy regions of northern Sri Lanka, for example, or in El Salvador, where CKDu is the second leading cause of death among males.
Furthermore, the study’s findings explain many observations associated […]
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Stephan: Here is what I think is the truth. We could make the conversion to non-carbon energy within a generation if we could muster the political and social will to do so. Sadly, I am afraid the secret government within the government that is controlled in large measure by carbon energy interests, combined with the almost grotesque ignorance of the American electorate will not allow it to happen. But it could be done, and it would be significantly cheaper for customers, would create tens of thousands of jobs, as weel as improving the economy.
Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment Senior Fellow Mark Jacobson says the United States has the technology and logistical ability to convert to all-renewable energy sources by 2050-if we can manage to exercise the social and political will to do so. He’s the guy who told David Letterman we already have enough wind to power the entire world ‘seven times over.” Now he has proven his point with a groundbreaking roadmap to clean energy for all 50 U.S. states.
With colleagues from academia and industry, Jacobson-a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford and a senior fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy-recently developed detailed plans that three states (New York, 2/18/13; Washington, 1/14/14; and California, yesterday-2/22/14) could use to switch over their energy infrastructures from conventional fuels to 100% renewable resources by 2050. As Jacobson uses the term, ‘infrastructure” includes electric power, transportation, heating/cooling, and industry uses. ‘Renewable power” is derived primarily from wind, water, and sunlight (WWS), generating electricity and electrolytic hydrogen.
Some findings of research behind the plans:
Powering the U.S. with only wind, water, and solar energy sources would save the average consumer $3,400 per year.
Over 15 years, driving […]
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SARAH PULLIAM BAILEY, - Religion News Service
Stephan: There has been an rash of stories concerning Theocratic Rightists caught for some kind of sexual dysfunction. I don't think it is a coincidence that most of these accounts are as much about power as they are about sex. I didn't want to run a whole bunch of them, polluting the day's edition, so let this report -- notably written by a conservative news service -- stand for all. I picked this one because this story is not just about a sexually dysfunctional clergy, but a man who was the head of a major Theocratic Right propaganda operation, pushing "conservative-value" sexuality.
At this point it is hard to tell whether Rightist leaders are just more out of control than usual, or whether the culture has shifted and this behavior is no longer being tolerated, even in conservative circles. Either way this is a growing trend.
Bill Gothard, an Illinois-based advocate for home schooling and conservative dress who warned against rock music and debt, has been placed on administrative leave after allegations of sexually harassing women who worked at his ministry and failing to report child abuse cases.
Gothard’s Institute in Basic Life Principles was once a popular gathering spot for thousands of Christian families, including the Duggar family from TLC’s ’19 Kids and Counting.” Gothard’s Advanced Training Institute conferences were also popular among devotees of the Quiverfull movement, who promote large families and eschew birth control.
He’s also rubbed shoulders with Republican luminaries. He and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee were photographed at a campaign lunch together; former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue spoke at one of Gothard’s conferences; and Sarah Palin, when she was a small town mayor in Alaska, attended his International Association of Character Cities conferences and declared Wasilla among Gothard’s ‘Cities of Character.”
In a statement posted Thursday (Feb. 27), board chairman Billy Boring told World magazine: ‘After completion of the review, the board will respond at an appropriate time, and in a biblical manner.” Until then, the statement said, Gothard ‘will not be involved in the operations of the ministry. The board of directors […]
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CLAIRE CARTER, - The Telegraph (U.K.)
Stephan: Air travel in the mid-term future is going, I believe to be subject to restrictions because of the carbon discharge of jet aircraft. This may be an alternative, and the beginning of a new trend. My great aunt Winifred, who had the opportunity to travel twice on the German pre-war Zepplins, said it was the most enjoyable and elegant manner of travel she had ever experienced. I certainly would be interested in such air travel. This may be the first of the post-carbon aeronautical technologies.
The world’s largest aircraft which can stay airborne for up to three weeks and will be vital in delivering several tonnes of humanitarian aid as well as transporting heavy freight across the world, has been unveiled.
The 300ft (91m) ship is part plane, airship and helicopter, and there are plans to eventually use it to transport hundreds of tonnes of freight across difficult terrain throughout the world as well as deliver aid to risky areas.
It is environmentally friendly, being part airship filled with inert helium, and will also be used for surveillance and communications. Developers hope to make more of the ‘green vehicles’ which they hope to make capable of taking off from land, water, desert, ice and fields.
Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd (HAV), which created the hybrid craft, said they expect there to be as many airships as helicopters in the sky in years to come as they provide an environmentally friendly and efficient solution to transporting dozens of tonnes of freight and reaching hard to access areas.
The company also expects to create ‘luxury’ hybrids, with infinity pools stretching across hundreds of feet, and planes being used for things like safaris and whale watching because they run on often just one […]
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