Big Picture

Pentagon Preparing for Mass Civil Breakdown

June 17, 2014

DR. NAFEEZ AHMED - A US Department of Defense (DoD) research programme is funding universities to model the dynamics, risks and tipping points for large-scale civil unrest across the world, under the supervision of various US military agencies. The multi-million dollar programme is designed to develop immediate and long-term "warfighter-relevant insights" for senior officials...

Tags: Dr. Nafeez Ahmed, Minerva Research Initiative, National Science Foundation, Sierra Club
Posted in Big Picture, June 2014 | No Comments »

Georgia School Shooting: Bookkeeper Uses Nonviolence to Protect Everyone

May 22, 2014

MATT SMITH - As the kids trooped back into the suburban Atlanta elementary school that was stormed by a gunman on Tuesday, August 20, 2013, everyone was talking about Antoinette Tuff. The bookkeeper, an eight-year veteran of the DeKalb County school district, talked suspect Michael Brandon Hill into surrendering after a brief standoff with...

Tags: Matt Smith
Posted in Big Picture, May 2014 | No Comments »

Georgia OKs “Guns Everywhere” Bill

May 12, 2014

SCOTT NEUMAN - Georgians will now be able to carry firearms in such places as schools, bars, churches and government buildings under a sweeping new law signed by the governor on Wednesday.

Tags: Scott Neuman, Second Amendment
Posted in Big Picture, May 2014 | No Comments »

Kitzhaber Comes Out Against Coal Exports

May 2, 2014

GOVERNOR JOHN KITZHABER - The future for Oregon and the West Coast does not lie in nineteenth century energy sources. The 21st century will mark the transition to clean energy sources, and the regions that lead this transition will be the places where our families will find the jobs of the future. I intend...

Tags: Ambre Energy, climate change, John Kitzhaber, Oregon League of Conservation Voters, Washington Governor Jay Inslee
Posted in Big Picture, May 2014 | No Comments »

China to Shut Down 2,000 Coal Mines This Year

April 10, 2014

CECILIA JAMASMIE - China will shut down roughly 2,000 small coal mines this year, with a total capacity of 117.48 million tonnes, as part of the Beijing’s ongoing plan to reduce the alarming rates of air pollution and reduce the nation’s dependency on the fossil fuel.

Tags: Cecilia Jamasmie
Posted in April 2014, Big Picture | No Comments »

Evangelicals Call for Action on Climate Change

April 8, 2014

ALAN NEUHAUSER - Hundreds of evangelical Christians gathered across the country Thursday for a “Day of Prayer and Action” on climate change. The event, made up of vigils, speeches and discussions, was part of a weeklong series being held on 20 Christian college campuses this week, all geared toward spurring churches and local communities...

Tags: Alan Neuhauser, climate change, global warming
Posted in April 2014, Big Picture | No Comments »

NSA Phone Collection Does Not Prevent Terrorism, According to Report

March 27, 2014

ANITA KUMAR - A new analysis of 225 terrorism cases in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks indicates that the National Security Agency's massive collection of phone records had a "minimal" on preventing acts of terrorism, according to a report released Monday by the New America Foundation, a...

Tags: Anita Kumar, Edward Snowden, NSA
Posted in Big Picture, March 2014 | No Comments »

The Man Behind the Exploding Trains

March 6, 2014

ERIC DE PLACE and RICH FELDMAN - In our previous installment, we explored how unsafe DOT-111s, the Ford Pinto of rail cars, make up the vast majority of oil-filled tank cars now riding the rails in North America. With DOT-111s, there is no margin for error. A serious derailment will almost always lead to...

Tags: American Association of Railroads, Bakken crude, BNSF Railway Company, Eric de Place, Federal Railroad Association, National Transportation Safety Board, North American Freight Car Association, Railway Supply Institute, Rich Feldman, Warren Buffett
Posted in Big Picture, March 2014 | No Comments »

Encouraging News from Oregon’s Junior Senator

March 3, 2014

JEFF MERKLEY - As a new member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I've fought to invest in, rather than undermine, our environment. And I have some good news: in the compromise spending bill that passed Congress (in late January), we secured renewed support for our Northwest environment, and succeeded in pushing back on several...

Tags: Clean Water Act, EPA, Jeff Merkley, Keystone XL pipeline, Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund, Senate Appropriations Committee
Posted in Big Picture, March 2014 | No Comments »

Update: Radiation Leaks from New Mexico Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Facility

March 1, 2014

SUSAN GORDON - Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) has carefully followed information about the radiation leak from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) that was first identified at approximately 11:30 pm on Friday, February 14, 2014. (See PeaceWorker article, "Excessive Radiation Levels Detected at New Mexico Waste Site," published Feb....

Tags: Susan Gordon, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)
Posted in Big Picture, March 2014 | 1 Comment »

U.S. Examines Afghanistan Option that Would Leave Behind 3,000 Troops

February 26, 2014

KAREN DEYOUNG - One of the four options President Obama is considering for a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan beyond this year would leave behind 3,000 troops, based in Kabul and at the American installation at Bagram, U.S. officials said. The other options include more troops in two scenarios and none in another.

Tags: Afghan President Hamid Karzai, drone warfare, Haqqani network, Karen DeYoung, NATO, Pakistan
Posted in Big Picture, February 2014 | No Comments »

Excessive Radiation Levels Detected at New Mexico Waste Site

February 22, 2014

LAURA ZUCKERMAN - Underground sensors have detected excessive radiation levels inside a nuclear waste storage site deep below New Mexico's desert, but no workers have been exposed and there was no risk to public health, U.S. Department of Energy officials said on Sunday.

Tags: Laura Zuckerman, U.S. Department of Energy
Posted in Big Picture, February 2014 | No Comments »

Obama Prepares Plan for Deeper Greenhouse Gas Pollution Cuts

February 20, 2014

LISA F. FRIEDMAN - The Obama administration is quietly working on new greenhouse gas emissions targets to deliver to the United Nations, even as it struggles to craft regulations that will enable the United States to meet its current carbon-cutting goals.

Tags: Carbon offset, Center for American Progress, Climate Action Plan, coal-fired power plants, Copenhagen climate agreement (2009), EPA, global warming, Lisa Friedman, Union of Concerned Scientists
Posted in Big Picture, February 2014 | No Comments »

Heads of 31 Nations Declare Zone of Peace

February 16, 2014

DAVID SWANSON (post) - The Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), gathered in Havana, Cuba on January 28 and 29, 2014 at the Second Summit, declared a Zone of Peace.

Tags: David Swanson, international law, United Nations Charter
Posted in Big Picture, February 2014 | No Comments »

World’s 85 Richest have Same Wealth as 3.5 Billion Poorest

February 10, 2014

RT - The world’s 85 wealthiest people have as much money as the 3.5 billion poorest people on the planet – half the Earth’s population. That’s according to Oxfam’s latest report on the risks of the widening gap between the super-rich and the poor.

Tags: Oxfam, RT, World Economic Forum
Posted in Big Picture, February 2014 | No Comments »

Most Americans Agree About Global Warming, But Not Congress

February 9, 2014

WENDY KOCH - The vast majority of Americans in each of 40-plus states surveyed say global warming is real, serious and man-made, and the concerns tend to be slightly higher in coastal or drought-stricken areas, says an analysis out today.

Tags: EPA, Tea Party, Tea Party Republicans, Wendy Koch
Posted in Big Picture, February 2014 | No Comments »

Kentucky Senators Boost Your Electric Bill

January 30, 2014

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON - Kentucky's two Republican senators, who built their political careers railing against unions and government spending, stuck people and businesses in the Pacific Northwest with hundreds of millions of dollars of debts plus higher costs for electricity. They did it to save union jobs by wasting millions in federal dollars. Confused?...

Tags: BPA, David Cay Johnston, Energy Department, Natural Resources Defense Council, Senator Mitch McConnell, Senator Rand Paul, Tennessee Valley Authority
Posted in Big Picture, January 2014 | No Comments »

Vietnamese Cyber-Army Hacks Pro-Democracy Activists, Analysts Say

January 26, 2014

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - HANOI, Vietnam - Working on her blog in California one day, Vietnamese democracy activist Ngoc Thu sensed something was wrong. It took a moment for a keystroke to register. Cut-and-paste wasn't working. She had "a feeling that somebody was there" inside her computer. Her hunch turned out to be right.

Tags: Google, Human Rights Watch, National Security Agency, Oxfam, The Associated Press
Posted in Big Picture, January 2014 | No Comments »

Former NSA Whistleblowers Plead for Chance to Brief Obama on Agency Abuses

January 16, 2014

RT.COM - A group of former National Security Agency insiders who went on to become whistleblowers have written a letter to President Barack Obama requesting a meeting with him to offer “a fuller picture” of the spy agency’s systemic problems.

Tags: Edward Snowden, Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, NSA, rt.com, whistleblowers
Posted in Big Picture, January 2014 | No Comments »

Defense Secretary Hagel Reaffirms Climate Change, Sustainability are Central Military Concerns

January 6, 2014

BENJAMIN SCHNEIDER - It may come as a surprise to many Americans that the U.S. military is deeply committed to addressing the threat of climate change and developing renewable energy sources. That’s what Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel spoke about on Friday, Nov. 22, 2013, at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia,...

Tags: Benjamin Schneider, Halifax International Security Forum, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel
Posted in Big Picture, January 2014 | No Comments »

U.S. Judge Says NSA Phone Surveillance is Lawful

January 2, 2014

JONATHAN STEMPEL - (Reuters; Dec. 27, 2013) - A federal judge ruled that a National Security Agency program that collects records of millions of Americans' phone calls is lawful, calling it a "counter-punch" to terrorism that does not violate Americans' privacy rights.

Tags: ACLU, Edward Snowden, Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Jonathan Stempel, NSA, Rep. Peter King, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon
Posted in Big Picture, January 2014 | No Comments »

Japan’s Deadly New ‘Fukushima Fascism’

December 23, 2013

HARVEY WASSERMAN - Fukushima continues to spew out radiation. The quantities seem to be rising, as do the impacts. The site has been infiltrated by organized crime. There are horrifying signs of ecological disaster in the Pacific and human health impacts in the U.S. But within Japan, a new State Secrets Act makes such...

Tags: Harvey Wasserman, Hiroshima, Japan's States Secret Act, Tokyo Electric Power
Posted in Big Picture, December 2013 | No Comments »

350 Or Bust: Scientists Warn Even 2°C Warming Leads To ‘Disastrous Consequences’

December 17, 2013

JOE ROMM - Humanity is choosing to destroy a livable climate, warn 18 of the world’s leading climate experts in a new study. Led by James Hansen, they make the strongest case to date for a target of 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 in the air, or about 1°C (1.8°F) total warming.

Tags: carbon emissions, climate change, James Hansen, Joe Romm, Michael Mann
Posted in Big Picture, December 2013 | No Comments »

Climate Scientists: “We Have to Consume Less”

December 1, 2013

KEVIN ANDERSON and ALICE BOWS-LARKIN, interviewed by AMY GOODMAN - A pair of climate scientists are calling for what some may view as a shocking solution to the global warming crisis: a rethinking of the economic order in the United States and other industrialized nations. Kevin Anderson and Alice Bows-Larkin of the influential Tyndall...

Tags: Alice Bows-Larkin, Amy Goodman, carbon dioxide emissions, Earth Summit in Rio, global warming, James Hansen, Kevin Anderson, lifestyle changes, low-carbon energy supply, U.N. Climate Change Summit
Posted in Big Picture, December 2013 | No Comments »

Dave Barry’s Holiday Gift Guide

November 29, 2013

DAVE BARRY - The holidays are a wonderful time of year, but too often, in all the excitement and craziness, we forget the real “reason for the season.” The holidays are not about parties, or decorations, or Frosty the Snowperson. Those things are fun, but they are not the true purpose of the holidays....

Tags: Dave Barry
Posted in Big Picture, November 2013 | No Comments »

Oregon Reps Oppose Fast Track Trade Negotiations

November 25, 2013

THE LINCOLN COUNTY DISPATCH - Wednesday, 13 November 2013 14:26: Fair trade advocates praised the release of a letter today voicing congressional opposition to fast track, a policy-making process that allows trade pacts to circumvent ordinary congressional review, amendment and debate procedures. Three quarters of the House Democratic caucus—including Oregon congressional representatives Kurt Schrader...

Tags: "Fast Track" Trade Promotion Authority, Earl Blumenauer, Kurt Schrader, NAFTA, Peter DeFazio, Sierra Club, Suzanne Bonamici, Trans-Pacific Partnership, United Brotherhood of Carpenters
Posted in Big Picture, November 2013 | No Comments »

Absence of Global Climate Agreement Threatens Promising Carbon Reduction Scheme

November 13, 2013

SUSANNA TWIDALE - Investors and the panel overseeing the U.N.’s carbon market for developing countries have called on delegates at next month’s climate meeting in Warsaw to rescue the ailing scheme, which the U.N. estimates has provided $315 billion in funding to low-carbon projects to date.

Tags: 1997 Kyoto Protocol, carbon credits, Green Climate Fund, Susanna Twidale
Posted in Big Picture, November 2013 | No Comments »

Obama Approves Raising Permissible Levels of Nuclear Radiation in Drinking Water

November 7, 2013

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY - The White House has given final approval for dramatically raising permissible radioactive levels in drinking water and soil following “radiological incidents,” such as nuclear power-plant accidents and dirty bombs. The final version, slated for Federal Register publication, is a win for the nuclear industry which seeks what its...

Tags: EPA, Fukushima nuclear disaster, Gina McCarthy, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), Safe Drinking Water Act and Superfund
Posted in Big Picture, November 2013 | No Comments »

Today Peabody Would Lose Money on Coal Exports

October 28, 2013

CLARK WILLIAMS-DERRY - On Oct. 22, 2013, Sightline released a new report: Peabody Energy, Gateway Pacific, and the Asian Coal Bubble. The report shows that at today’s prices, there’s no way for Peabody to make money shipping coal to Asia. Peabody’s strategy is now to hope that the Asian coal bubble re-inflates—which is an...

Tags: Clark Williams-Derry, Gateway Pacific terminal, Peabody Energy, Powder River Basin coal mines
Posted in Big Picture, October 2013 | No Comments »

Is Stable Climate a Thing of the Past?

October 24, 2013

DORSI DIAZ - The climate is indeed changing - and rapidly. So fast that it's startling even climate scientists and blowing previous "computer modelings" out the window.

Tags: climate change, Dorsi Diaz, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Paul Beckwith
Posted in Big Picture, October 2013 | No Comments »

Unclean at Any Speed

October 22, 2013

OZZIE ZEHNER - Electric cars don’t solve the automobile’s environmental problems. Note: Although we at The PeaceWorker are electric vehicle fans, this article raises many good questions that EV buffs need to consider. We run it in the interests of fairness and useful dialogue.

Tags: battery, carbon dioxide emissions, coal, electric vehicle subsidies, green technology, Journal of Industrial Ecology, mineral extraction, Ozzie Zehner, Pareto principle, rare earth metals, solar cells, Union of Concerned Scientists
Posted in Big Picture, October 2013 | No Comments »

Fight Back – Know What They Don’t Want You to Know

October 20, 2013

LAURA POITRAS - The detention of David Miranda -- partner of the Guardian journalist involved in the NSA revelations -- and the destruction of hard drives in the British newspaper's basement reveal one thing: Governments do not want their citizens to be informed when it comes to the topic of surveillance.

Tags: "Five Eyes" nations, "Tempora", Britain's GCHQ, David Miranda, Edward Snowden, Laura Poitras, NSA, Terrorism Act
Posted in Big Picture, October 2013 | No Comments »

Poll: Small Business Owners Support Progressive Policies

September 22, 2013

STEPHEN MICHAEL - On August 19, 2013, the Main Street Alliance of Oregon released their most recent report, Voices of Main Street, which challenges conventional perceptions of rural small business owners’ thoughts on key policy issues. It details responding business owners’ views on economic, tax, immigration and health care issues facing Oregon and the...

Tags: "single payer" system, Affordable Care Act, corporate tax code, health care, immigration policy, local banks, Medicare for All, rural small business owners, Stephen Michael, Supreme Court Citizens United decision, Wall Street banks
Posted in Big Picture, September 2013 | No Comments »

Something in the Air: Lead Poisoning from Aircraft Fuel

September 18, 2013

MICHAEL BEHAR - The health risks of leaded gasoline are a thing of the past, right? Wrong. While jets and turboprops run on kerosene-based fuels, the majority of general aviation aircraft are piston-powered and consume aviation gasoline, or avgas. Populations close to “general aviation” airports (a term that covers nearly all types of flight...

Tags: Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Aviation Fuel Club, aviation gasoline (avgas), Clean Air Act, Earthjustice, EPA, EPA's 2005 Renewable Fuel Standard, ethanol, FAA, Friends of the Earth, General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Hillsboro Airport, Michael Behar, National Air Transportation Association, National Ambient Air Quality Standard, Oregon Aviation Watch, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Representative Henry Waxman, tetraethyllead
Posted in Big Picture, September 2013 | 1 Comment »

Health Co-Ops Pave the Way for Change in Oregon

September 16, 2013

CHRIS THOMAS - In less than two months, Oregonians who need to shop for health coverage will be able to find and compare plans in the new health insurance marketplace, called Cover Oregon.

Tags: Chris Thomas, Dr. Ralph Prows, health insurance co-ops, health insurance marketplace, health insurance premiums, MDs, naturopaths
Posted in Big Picture, September 2013 | No Comments »

New Waste Slashing Energy Legislation Promises Savings, Jobs

September 14, 2013

AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT ECONOMY (ACEEE) - Proposed bipartisan energy efficiency legislation has the potential to save the nation billions while creating domestic jobs and reducing energy waste, according to a new analysis released today by ACEEE.

Tags: energy efficiency, Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, energy waste, greenhouse gas emissions, National Association of Manufacturers, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Senator Rob Portman
Posted in Big Picture, September 2013 | 1 Comment »

New Poll Suggests Climate Change Action Strategy

September 6, 2013

A report from ecoAmerica outlines how public opinion trends around climate change in the U.S. have moved from being a niche issue to the mainstream.

Tags: climate change, ecoAmerica, myth of environment vs the economy
Posted in Big Picture, September 2013 | No Comments »

New Material May Make Solar Power “Dirt Cheap”

September 4, 2013

KEVIN BULLIS - A new type of solar cell, made from a material that is dramatically cheaper to obtain and use than silicon, could generate as much power as today’s commodity solar cells.

Tags: Kevin Bullis, solar cells, Solar Panels, solar power, U.S. Department of Energy
Posted in Big Picture, September 2013 | No Comments »

New NSA Revelation – Spying Goes Beyond Metadata

August 23, 2013

JAMES BALL and SPENCER ACKERMAN - The National Security Agency has a secret backdoor into its vast databases under a legal authority enabling it to search for US citizens' email and phone calls without a warrant, according to a top-secret document passed to the Guardian by Edward Snowden.

Tags: Barack Obama, DOJ, Fisa Amendments Act (FAA), James Ball, National Security Agency, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, PRISM program, Section 702 of the FAA, Senator Mark Udall, Senator Ron Wyden, Spencer Ackerman
Posted in August 2013, Big Picture | No Comments »

New Company Earns B Corps Certification

August 15, 2013

SARA SCHNEIDER - Notogroup, a Portland-based, national executive search firm, has been awarded B Corp certification after undergoing a comprehensive examination of its business practices, by the nonprofit B Lab. Companies that are designated B Corps meet high standards for social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.

Tags: B Corps certification, Fair Trade certification, LEED certification, Sara Schneider
Posted in August 2013, Big Picture | No Comments »

Schrader Unveils Bipartisan Government Reform Package

August 5, 2013

KURT SCHRADER - No Labels and Congressional Problem Solvers are providing some of the only forums in Washington for Members on opposite sides of the aisle to sit down with one another and work through issues that ordinarily push us far apart. Among other efforts, the bipartisan group of Problem Solvers is unveiling...

Tags: bipartisan, gridlock in Congress, Kurt Schrader, No Labels, No Labels Make Government Work, No Labels Problem Solvers Coalition
Posted in August 2013, Big Picture | No Comments »

Snowden Seen as Whistle-Blower by Majority in New Poll

July 18, 2013

JONATHAN D. SALANT - A majority of U.S. registered voters consider Edward Snowden a whistle-blower, not a traitor, and a plurality says government anti-terrorism efforts have gone too far in restricting civil liberties, a poll released recently shows.

Tags: anti-terrorism, Booz Allen Hamilton, civil liberties, Edward Snowden, Jonathan D. Salant, Quinnipiac, war on terrorism
Posted in Big Picture, July 2013 | No Comments »

Statistics Show Nonviolence Works – Here’s How

July 16, 2013

INTERVIEW BY TERRY MESSMAN - Erica Chenoweth and her co-author, Maria Stephan, reveal in their book, Why Civil Resistance Works, that during the period of 1900 to 2006, nonviolent resistance campaigns are about twice as effective as violent ones in achieving their immediate goals of either regime change or territorial change. They also found...

Tags: Civil-War, cognitive liberation, democratic consolidation, durable peace, Erica Chenowith, methods of dispersion vs. methods of concentration, mobilization, nonviolence, nonviolent resistance campaigns, norms of consent, occupy movement, organized nonviolence, social-change movements, Terry Messman
Posted in Big Picture, July 2013 | No Comments »

‘The real threat to our future is peak water’

July 14, 2013

LESTER BROWN - Peak oil has generated headlines in recent years, but the real threat to our future is peak water. There are substitutes for oil, but not for water. We can produce food without oil, but not without water.

Tags: aquifers, climate change, dustbowls, grain harvests, irrigation, Lester Brown, overpumping, Peak Oil, Peak Water, reservoirs, soil erosion, water rights
Posted in Big Picture, July 2013 | No Comments »

Local Lawmaking: A Call for a Community Rights Movement

July 12, 2013

THOMAS LINZEY - Many have now concluded that our legislatures, environmental agencies and courts have all been privatized – and are now used by a corporate minority as just one more means to get oil and gas out of the ground, to run family farmers out of business, and to take everything of value...

Tags: "new" activism, community majorities, community rights' network, corporate minorities, corporate state, corporatization, local activism, local bills of rights, local lawmaking, local self-government, privatization, sustainability
Posted in Big Picture, July 2013 | No Comments »

Advanced Battery Technology Opens New Vistas for Electric Vehicles

July 10, 2013

MARC CARTER, BRIT LIGGETT, TAZ LOOMANS - Four articles at Inhabitat.com tout recent advances in battery technology that open new horizons for electric vehicles. Inhabitat.com is a weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and...

Tags: Brit Liggett, electric cars, electric vehicles, EV batteries, graphene -- a form of carbon, lithium batteries, Marc Carter, range anxiety with electric vehicles, Taz Loomans
Posted in Big Picture, July 2013 | 1 Comment »

Welch Leads Bipartisan Coalition in Congress to Block U.S. Intervention in Syria

July 8, 2013

OFFICE OF PETER WELCH - Washington, DC (June 27th) - Rep. Peter Welch joined with Rep. Chris Gibson (R-NY), Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), and Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) at a press conference today to unveil bipartisan legislation to block U.S. military intervention in Syria without an affirmative vote of Congress.

Tags: bipartisan legislation on Syria, Congressional authorization of military intervention, Iraq and Afghanistan lessons, Rep. Peter Welch, Syrian conflict
Posted in Big Picture, July 2013 | No Comments »

Climate Change Poses Grave Security Threat

July 4, 2013

DAMIAN CARRINGTON - Climate change poses as grave a threat to the UK's security and economic resilience as terrorism and cyber-attacks, according to a senior military commander who was appointed as William Hague's climate envoy this year. In his first interview since taking up the post, Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti said climate change was...

Tags: alternative fuels, climate change, Damian Carrington, economic insecurity, global trade network, global warming, military readiness and global warming, UK's Ministry of Defense
Posted in Big Picture, July 2013 | No Comments »

Obama Launches ‘Coordinated Assault’ Against Warming

June 26, 2013

JEAN CHEMNICK - In a speech on Tuesday, June 25, at Georgetown University, President Obama said that rather than waiting for Congress to act on climate change, his administration would move forward in every way it could -- curbing emissions, shoring up American infrastructure and heading "a coordinated assault" abroad on global warming.

Tags: Cap and Trade, carbon dioxide rules, carbon tax, Clean Air Act, climate change, coal-fired power plants, EPA utility rules, Jean Chemnick, Keystone XL pipeline
Posted in Big Picture, June 2013 | No Comments »

Military Quietly Grants Itself the Power to Police the Streets Without Local or State Consent

June 24, 2013

JED MOREY - By making a few subtle changes to a regulation in the U.S. Code titled “Defense Support of Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies” the military has quietly granted itself the ability to police the streets without obtaining prior local or state consent, upending a precedent that has been in place for more than...

Tags: 2007 Defense Authorization Bill, article IV of the Constitution, defense support of civilian law enforcement, Insurrection Act of 1807, Jed Morey, limits to executive authority over domestic military action, Posse Comitatus Act of 1878
Posted in Big Picture, June 2013 | 1 Comment »

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