JO CONFINO – PricewaterhouseCoopers’ latest index points to a catastrophic future unless radical action is taken now to combat climate change. “Business leaders have been asking for clarity in political ambition on climate change,” says partner Leo Johnson. “Now one thing is clear: businesses, governments and communities across the world need to plan for a warming world – not just 2C, but 4C or even 6C.”
Category: Big Picture
Food Official: Land Grabs in Africa Like the “Wild Westâ€
MARK TRAN – Amid warnings that land deals are undermining food security, the head of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has compared “land grabs” in Africa to the “wild west”, saying a “sheriff” is needed to restore the rule of law. José Graziano da Silva, the FAO’s director general, conceded it was not possible to stop large investors buying land, but said deals in poor countries needed to be brought under control.
Drones to Attack Afghanistan from Britain
MARIO LEDWITH – The hi-tech Reaper drones are primarily used to gather intelligence on enemy activity on the ground, but they also carry 500lb bombs and Hellfire missiles for precision strikes on insurgents. But the state-of-the-art American-built aircraft have sparked controversy, with human rights campaigners claiming they kill and injure large numbers of civilians and breach international law.
Special Report: Food, Beverage Industry Pays for Seat at Health-Policy Table
DUFF WILSON and ADAM KERLIN – As the world’s foremost health agency, the World Health Organization bills itself as an impartial advocate working on behalf of 194 member nations. Its mission as the public health arm of the United Nations ranges from stanching communicable diseases such as malaria and AIDS to battling what the U.N. considers the latest “global epidemic”: chronic ailments such as diabetes and heart disease caused primarily by unhealthy diets.
Millions of Unexploded Bombs Lie in Waters off U.S. Coast, Researchers Say
ALLISON BARRIE – Lurking (and leaking) beneath the world’s oceans are an estimated 200 million pounds of unexploded and potentially dangerous explosives — from bombs to missiles to mustard gas. Texas A&M oceanographers William Bryant and Niall Slowey documented two such dumpsites in the Gulf of Mexico recently. They conservatively guess that at least 31 million pounds of bombs can be found not just in the Gulf, but also off the coasts of at least 16 states, from New Jersey to Hawaii.
Yes, Coal is Dying, but No, EPA is Not the Main Reason
DAVID ROBERTS – I know lots of websites (including Grist!) allow “guest bloggers†to repost stuff. But I think of The Christian Science Monitor as something of an institution. It’s disappointing to find misleading dreck on its site. Do I have to squint at the small print before I can trust an article on CSM now? Is there no editing? You kids get off my lawn!
Oregon Supreme Court Avoids Ruling on Campaign Contribution Limits
DANIEL MEEK and LINDA WILLIAMS – The Plaintiffs and Chief Petitioners on Measure 47 are disappointed that the Oregon Supreme Court declined to rule on the Constitutionality of the campaign finance reform ballot measure enacted by Oregon voters in 2006.As Justice Robert Durham’s dissent points out: 1. The majority never reaches the substance of the Constitutional arguments; 2. The majority’s rejection of the Hazell Plaintiffs’ primary argument is based upon a perceived deficiency in the pleadings (although the State did not argue the existence of such a deficiency); and 3. The pleadings can be corrected, or the case refiled by other parties, thus presenting the Constitutional issues to the Court again.
‘Hundreds of problems’ at EU nuclear plants
BBC NEWS – Hundreds of problems have been found at European nuclear plants that would cost 25bn euros (£20bn) to fix, says a leaked draft report. The report, commissioned after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, aimed to see how Europe’s nuclear power stations would cope during extreme emergencies. The final report was to be published last Thursday. The draft says nearly all the EU’s 143 nuclear plants need improving.
Climate Change is Already Damaging Global Economy, Report Finds
FIONA HARVEY – Climate change is already contributing to the deaths of nearly 400,000 people a year and costing the world more than $1.2 trillion, wiping 1.6% annually from global GDP, according to a new study. The impacts are being felt most keenly in developing countries, according to the research, where damage to agricultural production from extreme weather linked to climate change is contributing to deaths from malnutrition, poverty and their associated diseases.
Obama Touts Transparency but Negotiates Secret Trade Deal
LORI WALLACH – On Sept. 6, as President Barack Obama promised jobs and transparency in his Democratic National Convention acceptance speech, his top trade officials were cloistered in conditions of extreme secrecy at the Lansdowne resort in Leesburg, Va., negotiating a massive “trade†agreement that will promote more U.S. job offshoring and ban Buy American procurement preferences.
Will the 2012 Presidential Election Be Stolen?
DAVID SWANSON – I’ve been trying (with virtually no success) to get everyone to drop the election obsession and focus on activism designed around policy changes, not personality changes. I want those policy changes to include stripping presidents of imperial powers. I don’t see as much difference between the two available choices as most people; I see each as a different shade of disaster. I don’t get distressed by the thought of people “spoiling” an election by voting for a legitimately good candidate like Jill Stein. Besides, won’t Romney lose by a landslide if he doesn’t tape his mouth shut during the coming weeks?
How Many Jobs Could We Fund with One CEO’s Compensation Package?
BEN FREEMAN – After hearing the hypocrisy of multi-millionaire CEO’s cry about job-losses for months, I finally decided to see just how many different jobs we could pay for with just one Pentagon contractor CEOs compensation package.
Victory: War-o-tainment Show Ends
DAVID SWANSON – Fifty thousand members of RootsAction.org signed a petition at http://StarsEarnStripes.org protesting NBC’s war-is-fun “reality” show co-hosted by former general Wesley Clark. Activists in New York have held a weekly protest and delivered the petitions. The final protest is at 5 p.m. this evening (Sept. 3) on the north side of W. 49th St. between 5th and 6th Avenues in New York City.
Arctic Ice Loss 50% Higher than Predicted
ROBIN MCKIE – Sea ice in the Arctic is disappearing at a far greater rate than previously expected, according to data from the first purpose-built satellite launched to study the thickness of the Earth’s polar caps. Preliminary results from the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 probe indicate that 900 cubic kilometres of summer sea ice has disappeared from the Arctic ocean over the past year.
Rand Paul: Government Spied on Americans ‘Gazillions’ of Times
SEN. RAND PAUL – Does the government really peer into the personal business of everyone in America? According to Judge Andrew Napolitano, Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has put the number of instances that the feds have spied on Americans in the “gazillions.â€
Eyewitness Report: When War Comes…
JANINE DI GIOVANNI – What does it feel like when a war begins? When does life as you know it implode? How do you know when it is time to pack up your home and your family and leave your country? Or if you decide not to, why? For ordinary people, war starts with a jolt: one day you are busy with dentist appointments or arranging ballet lessons for your daughter, and then the curtain drops. One moment the daily routine grinds on; A.T.M.’s work and cellphones function. Then, suddenly, everything stops.
The Shredding of Our Fundamental Rights and the Common Good
NOAM CHOMSKY – Recent events trace a threatening trajectory, sufficiently so that it may be worthwhile to look ahead a few generations to the millennium anniversary of one of the great events in the establishment of civil and human rights: the issuance of Magna Carta, the charter of English liberties imposed on King John in 1215.
‘Black Hole’ Hides Trillions in Ill-Gotten Gains
F. BRINLEY BRUTON – Thanks to lax international tax rules the world’s super rich have siphoned at least $21 trillion — more than 50 percent larger than the entire U.S. economy — into secretive tax-free havens, according to a study by UK campaign group Tax Justice Network. According to the study, the world’s top 50 private banks managed more than $12.3 trillion in 2010 in off-shore financial assets, up from $7.5 trillion five years earlier.
The Lessons Washington Can’t Draw from the Failure of the Military Option
TOM ENGELHARDT – Americans may feel more distant from war than at any time since World War II began. Certainly, a smaller percentage of us — less than 1% — serves in the military in this all-volunteer era of ours and, on the face of it, Washington’s constant warring in distant lands seems barely to touch the lives of most Americans. And yet the militarization of the United States and the strengthening of the National Security Complex continues to accelerate.
U.S. Ranked 88th or 16th in Peace Indices
SATO MATSUI and PAMMIE SHAPIRO – Recently, the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) released the annual 2012 Global Peace Index (GPI), and also the inaugural report on the Positive Peace Index (PPI), which aims to incite optimism in the analysis of global peace measurements.
Digging for China: Coal is Northwest’s Next Big Climate Struggle
JASON MARK – It’s no surprise that many Bellingham residents are against plans to make the area home to one of the country’s largest coal-export terminals. Peabody Energy, the world’s biggest non-state-owned coal-mining company, is working with developers to convert the Cherry Point piers — located just north of town on the U.S.-Canada border — into a port capable of exporting 50 million metric tons of coal a year. Locals of all stripes have come together to fight the proposal.
Lockheed’s You-May-Be-Fired Notices Called Scare Tactic
LAURA LITVAN – Companies led by Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), the world’s largest defense contractor, say federal and state laws may require them to send out blanket notifications of potential job cuts before the election unless President Barack Obama and Congress act by October to avert automatic defense reductions of $500 billion over a decade that would start on Jan. 2.
Forecast is Hot: We’re Already Topping Dust Bowl Temperatures
JOE ROMM – This heat wave has broken thousands of temperature records. Climate Central reported Satuday, “In many cases, records that had stood since the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s have been equaled or exceeded, and this event is likely to go down in history as one of America’s worst.â€
Syria: Only Diplomacy Can Stop the War
PHYLLIS BENNIS – Syria is close to full-scale civil war. If the conflict escalates further, as former UN Secretary-General and current envoy of both the UN and the Arab League Kofi Annan noted: “Syria is not Libya, it will not implode, it will explode beyond its borders.”
Drones Over America – Are They Spying on You?
BRAD KNICKERBOCKER – Thousands of drones could be routinely flying over the United States within the next 10 years. They can help with law enforcement and border control, but they also raise questions about invasion of privacy.
U.S. Sets Another Record on Defense Sales
CAREY L. BIIRON – The United States is set to far surpass previous records for defense sales this year, according to U.S. officials. “Despite the global economic strain, demand for U.S. defense products and services is stronger than ever,” Andrew J. Shapiro, an assistant secretary in the U.S. State Department, said last week.
U.S. Conference of Mayors Adopts Strong New Mayors for Peace Resolution
JACKIE CABASSO – At the close of its 80th annual meeting in Orlando Florida, on June 16, 2012, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) unanimously adopted a strong, comprehensive, new Mayors for Peace resolution: “Calling for U.S. Leadership in Global Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and Redirection of Nuclear Weapons Spending to Meet the Urgent Needs of Cities.”
Diplomats Agree on ‘Weak’ Text for Rio+20 Summit
NINA CHESTNEY AND VALERIE VOLCOVICI – Diplomats from over 190 countries agreed on a draft text on green global development on Tuesday to be approved this week at a summit in Rio de Janeiro, but environmentalists complained the agreement was too weak.
Radiation is Carcinogenic: Any Exposure Can Cause Cancer
JOHN LAFORGE – There is no safe level of exposure to ionizing radiation, only legally “allowable†doses. Types of ionizing radiation include gamma rays, beta and alpha particles, and X-rays emitted by radioactive elements — like the iodine-131, cesium-137, strontium-90 and even plutonium-239 — that have been spewed into the air and the sea in huge quantities by the triple reactor meltdowns that began in Japan last year, and that are dispersed to the air, water and to dump sites in smaller amounts by the everyday operation of nuclear power and medicine.
Justice Stevens: Citizens United Ruling Will Fall Apart
SAHIL KAPUR – Two and a half years after the landmark Supreme Court ruling that invited a flood of corporate money in U.S. elections, the justice who led the barnstorming dissent says he’s increasingly convinced the decision won’t stand the test of time.
News from Wisconsin Not All Bad
MICHAEL KEEGAN – Despite the national headlines, last night’s results from Wisconsin were a mixed bag. It appears that by just a few hundred votes, our efforts in the Racine State Senate district were successful, meaning we flipped the Senate to Democratic control and the new majority will be able to block [Gov. Scott] Walker’s aggressive ideological agenda moving forward.
House Republicans Add Gay Marriage Measure to Defense Bill
IAN DUNCAN & LISA MASCARO – Wading into the gay marriage debate, the Republican-led House tacked a provision banning same-sex marriages at military chapels onto a sweeping defense bill that is now headed to the Senate.
Majority of Americans Willing to Make Defense Cuts
STIMSOM CENTER – In a unique study, three quarters of respondents favored cutting defense as a way to reduce the deficit, including two thirds of Republicans as well as nine in 10 Democrats.
Judge Blocks Controversial NDAA
ADAM KLASFELD – A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to block provisions of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that would allow the military to indefinitely detain anyone it accuses of knowingly or unknowingly supporting terrorism.
Survey: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Defense Cuts
EYDER PERALTA – A U.S. Navy variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35C, conducts a test flight over the Chesapeake Bay in 2011. As Congress struggles to rein in the federal deficit, a new survey finds Americans preferred to cut defense spending more than any other program.
Symbolic Court Finds Bush Guilty of War Crimes
BIG NEWS NETWORK.COM – George W. Bush and several other members of his administration have been found guilty of war crimes by the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War.
Carbon Tax Needed to Protect Us from Coal
TAMATA STATON, LAURA CARVER & PHILIP CARVER -An economically efficient policy would place a price-adder (tax) on fossil fuels based on their carbon-content. Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) has introduced legislation to price carbon emissions — the Save Our Climate Act of 2011, H.R. 3242. Revenue is collected at the point of first sale or import. In the first ten years, the IRS would return 80 percent of the revenue to the public on an equal, per-person basis. The other 20 percent would go toward deficit reduction.
U.S.-Afghan Strategic Partnership: Where Are the Voices of Afghan Citizens?
ERIN E NIEMELA – As the NATO summit approaches in May, throngs of peace protestors are expected to descend on Chicago to pressure the U.S.-led, 28-nation military alliance for an end to the war in Afghanistan. But for some activists, it will be too late to protest the greatest threat to a peaceful Afghanistan: the signing of the U.S.-Afghan Strategic Partnership Agreement.
2012 U.S. Peace Index Highlights America’s Most and Least Peaceful States and Cities
MICHAEL SHANK AND CRAIG BROWNSTEIN – The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) announces the second annual release of the United States Peace Index (USPI). The 2012 USPI provides a comprehensive assessment of U.S. peacefulness at the state and city levels and analysis of the costs associated with violence and the socio-economic measures associated with peace.
The Shame of Nations: New Record Set for Spending on War
LAWRENCE S. WITTNER -“World military spending reached a record $1,738 billion in 2011 — an increase of $138 billion over the previous year. The United States accounted for 41 percent of that, or $711 billion.”
Drone Activist Denied Visa
SHAHZAD AKBAR – The drone campaign, which continues to be conducted without oversight and accountability, is documented to have taken a horrendous toll on the civilian population of these regions, the magnitude of which has only come to light through the efforts of grassroots activists such as Akbar.
Vermont Senate Votes to Amend Ending Corporate Personhood
MOVE TO AMEND – Vermont is poised to become the first state to call for an amendment to abolish the doctrine known as “Corporate Personhood†which gives corporations constitutional rights meant to protect people.
Thinking the Unthinkable on Iran
EDITOR’S NOTE – This article adds to the peace movement’s usual analysis, which views control of oil supplies as the driving force behind U.S. policy toward Iran, the notion that nuclear nonproliferation might actually be the prime objective. Whether or not you believe that nonproliferation is the most important aspect, it is reasonable to believe that it does play an important role, as author Jonathan Schell maintains.
Why the 99% Spring?
GEORGE GOEHL – We live in an America where more than 46 million Americans live below the poverty level. This is the highest poverty rate since the Census Bureau began publishing such figures.
Is New Bill a Clampdown on Protest?
RUSS BAKER – Is the president being asked to pound yet another nail into the coffin of democratic expression? So say alarmist scenarios concerning HR 347 (the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011), now on the president’s desk.
No Justice Without Peace
BY DAVID SWANSON – We’ve done something worse than get our priorities wrong when we’ve moved resources to harming people rather than helping people.
Does the United States Spend Too Much on Homeland Security?
BY JOHN MUELLER AND MARK G. STEWART – In seeking to evaluate the effectiveness of the massive increases in homeland security expenditures since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the common and urgent query has been, “Are we safer?” This, however, is the wrong question.
Tax on Out-of-State Political Money Could Outflank Citizens United
ROB HAGER – In southern Minnesota (Paul Wellstone country), a new revolt against money in politics has started. Should this revolt spread, it would provide a far quicker and more effective grassroots strategy to get big and corporate money out of more elections than the popular but misguided campaign to pass municipal resolutions in favor of a constitutional amendment against corporate personhood.
5 Freedom-Killing Tactics Police Will Use to Crack Down on Protests in 2012
STEVEN ROSENFELD – Across America many cities and police forces are eyeing new ways to crack down on protesters. The First Amendment right to assemble and protest is going to get a black eye in 2012—as it has every time there has been an upsurge in America’s social justice movements.
Even Cato Institute Agrees that Nuclear Iran is an Exaggerated Threat
MALOU INNOCENT & JONATHAN OWEN – The Republican presidential hopefuls, Ron Paul excepted, would prefer a more bellicose response to Iran’s nuclear aspirations than President Obama’s current stance. Cato Institute staff argue that this is approach is flawed.