Jared Leto has a link up to a video against oil drilling in the rainforest of Yasuni. You might recall the Huaroani tribe was featured in the book Savages by Joe Kane. He chronicled the indigenous tribes’ slowly being overtaken by the oil companies–their health, their land, and their culture.
Yasuni is home to over 130 globally threatened species including the giant otter, white-bellied spider monkey, golden-mantled tamarin, giant armadillo and jaguar. Extinction risks are high for all threatened species.
655 different tree species have been identified within 1 hectare of land.
For reptile biodiversity, it is the 2nd richest area in the world.
More insect species are found in Yasuni than any other forest.
There are more frog and toad species within Yasuni than all of North America combined.
Ecuador has the 9th highest mammal biodiversity, and over half reside in Yasuni.
Many species are endemic to Yasuni.
It is home to the 5th largest bat reserve.
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The petition to sign here. Please don’t think because it’s *there* that it doesn’t affect us in America. It does. Everything is connected and when a species (plant or animal) dies, it affects other species….a domino effect, if you will.
Given that bats are dying of a disease of unknown origin, (yeah, it’s probably caused by chemical toxins), we should sit up and take notice that this area contains the 5th largest bat reserve.
It’s really depressing that Turkey has apparently supported the violence in Syria. More detailed report here. (hat tip to Jared Leto). I pretty much ignore the WSJ piece, given the bias of Rupert Murdoch. It starts off with the Canadian Ambassador for Religious Freedom protesting Turkey…and yet my blogs on the Canadian gov’t treatment of First Nations people smacks in the face of that.
For those who don’t know, the Armenians suffered through a massacre a hundred years ago. A survivor of the massacre tells her story.
But the federal government says to Indian people, “I will recognize your sovereignty if you have either a nuclear or toxic-waste dump or casino.” That’s pretty much the only way you get your sovereignty recognized as Indian people. Let me be clear about this: We are sovereign. I don’t care if the federal government recognizes me, my nation, and my people. That’s of little consequence to me in the long-term picture. The federal government, as far as I’m concerned, is by and large illegal. Most transactions are illegal. It’s like being recognized by a bunch of hoodlums. But under the law, they recognize your sovereignty in those two things, a dump or a casino. So Indian people are in an ironic situation, in that our choices for economic development are so limited.
In Minnesota, I see two examples. I see a reservation like Mille Lacs. They have two casinos. They built schools, houses, roads, clinics, and community buildings. They bought land. Nobody was going to do that for them. No federal appropriation was going to be made for those Indian people to do that, although their land was mostly taken from them. The federal government is supposed to provide those things for them. That’s not going to happen, so they did that with their casinos, and that’s right. They’re making some long-term investments that are smart. They don’t think those casinos are going to last forever, but they’re doing the right thing.
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I have heard of folks willing their land to a tribe native to the area. Cool.
The grassroots people of Kul Wicasa oppose the development of the power line infrastructure planned by Basin Electric. The Lower Brule substation is to be located two miles from the Big Bend Damn. The thick, corrosive nature of tarsands oil (which in its natural state is the consistency of peanut butter) requires a constant temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit and necessary dilutants to liquify it enough to be slurried through the pipeline. This will require an enormous amount of power. Basin Electric stated at a public utilities commission meeting in Winner, SD “the pipeline apparently moves oil under 1440 pounds of pressure per square inch. If the line is to move 700,000 barrels of crude per day, each pumping station requires three 6500 hp electric motors running on 17 megawatts of power night and day. If the flow rate is increased to 900,000 barrels per day, five 6500hp electric motors are required. That would use 25 megawatts of power.”
This increasing demand for electricity forces the need for the additional power station at Lower Brule. Transmission studies indicate the current system has reached its load limit. Given the location of the Lower Brule substation, 2 miles south of the Big Bend Damn, it is apparent Missouri River water will be used to produce electricity.
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Soooo…..they toss a few crumbs with wind turbines…but what they don’t tell them is that the pipeline is going to require even more energy…and precious water to move the “peanut butter” through the lines…um-hmmm…
This is just stunning:
…the land isn’t even there now; it’s an oil mine; there was a lake there that was 200 miles long and 100 miles wide. Now, the elders are saying, for the first time, the shoreline is receding and the rocks at the bottom of the lake are exposed. Water is being taken from the rivers and lakes to support the destruction by the tarsands mine.
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It’s really hard to imagine that much water being used. It’s gone. No longer usable by humans or animals.
This pipeline would destroy farmland and jobs, contrary to Big Oil myth. The First Nations are trying to support themselves with the food production, but once again Big Oil has other ideas. If you know anything about history, the Native Americans were moved to areas out West…once oil was discovered, suddenly they were in the way and once again moved. This continued on…and now we have the modern day version of it–pollute the land so it is no longer inhabitable.
Pando Daily has this up on a technology that takes pictures for advertising numbers…but has much deeper violations of privacy.
It is presented as being innocent…but we all know by now it doesn’t end up that way.
This is outrageous. Plain and simple violation of a person’s right to move about in public without being subjected to an intrusion such as being photographed.
There are so many holes in this guy’s theory it could be Swiss cheese.
For one–just because a person looks at an advertisement does not mean they will purchase that product or service. For instance, I may look at an advertisement on a professional bug killer service, but there is no way that I’m calling that service. The advertisers use bright colors, flashing words or lights, and the usual “grabs” of sex, fear, anger, and love. All of these factors may draw the human eye towards the advertising, but not mean the person will buy it.
It never ceases to amaze me how psychology is used to interpret a person’s thoughts by outward gestures or appearances, when that psychological conclusion is dead wrong.
I went online looking for Rodolfo Saccoman and found this disturbing video:
It is alarming that they are using “feel good” emotions to justify the psychology software program. They’re there to “help” with an impersonal, flawed science (in that psychology has sprouted from misogyny and bullying mindset). Saccoman states that this software will “help” those suffering from PTSD from committing suicide…but methinks that instead it will be used to either label someone as mentally ill who might be having a rough day and just need someone to talk to–not a freaking impersonal computer. Or it will be used as a tool by Big Pharma to force someone to take unproven and unsafe psychotropic drugs. I feel it in my gut that this is what is driving this “help”. I’d like to know if his brother is invested in Big Pharma…it’s not such a big leap when you consider that Saccoman mentions he loves the stocks and even built this software on that model. If they could get more poor souls buying Big Pharma drugs, well, that’s just more money for them.
And then as the video keeps rolling, we get to the *bingo!* moment…when he says he worked for Morgan Stanley. An investment banker who thinks greed is good and screw the public. He claims to hate it, but then goes on to say that he made money…so he couldn’t have hated it too much.
He looks at billboards and says they don’t have any intelligence. You don’t know if anyone is reading them. Really? Because I can think of several instances where folks have become upset at messages on billboards…so obviously people are paying attention to them.
Privacy never comes out of his mouth when speaking about how great this is and how money is being *lost* by not seizing the opportunity for yet more advertising dollars.
He attended a Tony Robbins show, er I mean, inspirational speech, where he claims they “tear you apart, then put you back together” Sounds like psychological abuse to me.
Then he shows commercials for getting people to sign up for this. Note that the target audience is the young, who don’t have the experience to understand how this violates privacy and the ramifications of that. The ignorance of the youth on their right to privacy is appalling.
They have concerns about paying for college (understandable), so this is marketed to them as being a way to pay for college. The subtle play on emotions with their “love story” also reels people in. They also use the “everybody” is doing it schtick with the line “all our awesome friends are also doing it.” Again, invading someone’s privacy and their part in it is never mentioned.
Saccoman repeatedly portrays standard advertising as “old school” dinosaurs. This is another tactic used very successfully by the marketing gurus–nobody wants to be “left behind” so they will buy the latest to be seen as keeping up with the world. This tactic really took hold in the 70s when there was plenty of money in the middle class to buy the “latest”. Thank God I have broken myself of that brainwashing.
Another aspect to this way of advertising is driving around to get the “face” quota. Using gas, spewing fumes into the air, creating more crowded roadways, and possibly causing accidents by distracting people from watching the road and the vehicles around them. Just yesterday, I saw three people talking on cell phones on Indy’s busiest roadways…and they were driving in ways that showed they were distracted and not paying attention to their own driving or those around them.
Again, the emotional tug is used when the fake “son” talks about how his fake “Mom” inspired him. It has nothing to do with the software or the advertising, but is snuck in there to give one the “warm and fuzzy’ feelings.
And the one thing I don’t see when looking at Saccoman’s actual backpack? A sign in big bold letters saying “YOUR FACE IS BEING COLLECTED FOR ADVERTISING PURPOSES” on the backpack.
Near the end, he makes an odd statement to “push” for what you want…but then he gets philosophical and says if it flows, it flows…so which is it? Does one push or just let things “flow”?
Lastly, he admires Steve Jobs and Apple. Given their illegal wage-fixing, and this response by Jobs over getting someone fired, well, it kind of speaks of character…why would one admire someone so contemptible?
The Canadian gov’t was vewy vewy skeered of those pesky indigenous whom honor their traditions and refuse to be completely assimilated. Good Grief. They act like these people have tanks, helicopters, drones, etc….like it’s a freaking war. Who…or What are they fighting against…?
And the quote that CSIS would not be involved if there wasn’t sufficient threat…who are they kidding?
My other posts:
Here we have a First Nations woman removed from a public meeting for…well, we don’t know because she wasn’t doing anything. Her mere presence, apparently, made her “guilty” of a crime.
Fred Klonsky has this up on the ethnic cleansing of Chicago Public Schools. But I would go a step further and say not just ethnic, but prejudice against the poor in general. They have made it abundantly clear that they don’t believe the poor have any worth or value or potential.
He links to the Chicago Teachers Union website. This just says it all:
Schools slated for “turn around” include McNair, Dvorak and Gresham elementary schools. At McNair, 52 percent of the staff are African American; at Dvorak 70 percent of the teachers are African Americans; and at Gresham 65 percent of educators are African American. Black students are 97.1 percent of the student body and 98 percent of them are low-income.
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They also make note that most of the educators are in their 40s and 50s–a favorite target of the schools-for-fun-and-profit mob. Get rid of the higher paid older folk, and you can a) pay younger ones much, much less, and b) get more compliant employees who are desperate for a job and will subject kids to enforced abusive testing because without a union to help them protest, they’re SOL.
How in the world does one collide with a barge? It’s not like they’re speed boats zipping past one…
…looks like another drunken captain.
The words George Bush I echo the oil man’s empty promises of safety…and clean up…as we have witnessed with every freaking oil spill since then–Kalamazoo and Arkansas and the Gulf are evidence of that. As one of the commenters said, the captain was made the scapegoat while the company escaped blame.
And Tricky Dicks’ comments? “The Alaskan pipeline is on the way…and the environment will be saved…” Priceless.
The proponents of XL pipeline are saying it’s going to create jobs…but as this video illustrates, how many jobs are lost (income lost) by the spills? How does one put a price tag on the oiled soil, water, and dead/impaired wildlife? Why are they even *considering* XL after all that has happened…?
Global News has a post up on an SFU (? university isn’t named) professor that has linked autism with Chlordane and flame retardant PBDE-28.
Chlordane was in use in the U.S. until 1988. It has been linked to testicular cancer, lymphoma, and leukemia.
It has more widespread indications of affecting the health, however:
The non-cancer health effects of chlordane compounds, which include migraines, respiratory infections, diabetes, immune-system activation, anxiety, depression, blurry vision, confusion, intractable seizures as well as permanent neurological damage,[13] may affect more people than cancer. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has defined a concentration of chlordane compounds of 20 ng/M3 as the Minimal Risk Level (MRLs). ATSDR defines Minimal Risk Level as an estimate of daily human exposure to a dose of a chemical that is likely to be without an appreciable risk of adverse non-cancerous effects over a specific duration of exposure.[14]
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Good Grief, this stuff is uber toxic! The fact that seizures and migraines are symptoms lends more credibility to it affecting neurological function…as in autism. So…it’s not just mercury and heavy metals that can be linked to autism. And multiple exposures of both just spells disaster, imo.
You know what’s missing from the wikipedia link? The manufacturer(s). I found one of them here. Big surprise, eh? /snark
When does Monsanto start to pay back for all the misery they have caused the world? Anybody?
There’s a much better written article here. Gah,the more I read, the more alarmed I get, as if I wasn’t alarmed enough. It appears to be as persistent for remaining in the environment and not breaking down, just like DDT …
It is not known whether chlordane breaks down in most soils. If breakdown occurs, it is very slow. Chlordane is known to remain in some soils for over 20 years. Persistence is greater in heavy, clayey or organic soil than in sandy soil. Most chlordane is lost from soil by evaporation. Evaporation is more rapid from light, sandy soils than from heavy soils.
Half of the chlordane applied to the soil surface may evaporate in 2 or 3 days. Evaporation is much slower after chlordane penetrates into the soil. In water, some chlordane attaches strongly to sediment and particles in the water column and some is lost by evaporation. It is not known whether much breakdown of chlordane occurs in water or in sediment.
Chlordane breaks down in the atmosphere by reacting with light and with some chemicals in the atmosphere. However, it is sufficiently long lived that it may travel long distances and be deposited on land or in water far from its source.
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More:
Finally, some chlordane may be left over from the pre-ban days. Old containers of material thought to contain chlordane should be disposed of carefully and contact with the skin and breathing vapors should be avoided.
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Here’s what bothers me about this statement–what exactly does “dispose of” mean? How should it be disposed of?
It’s just shuffling it from one area to another. It’s not a solution. It just doesn’t magically disappear. It becomes a problem for the next hapless person who comes in contact with it, unaware of the danger. And that usually means poor people, who don’t know about their toxic environment and if they did, they don’t have the $$$ attention of politicians $$$ who can do something about removing it.
Truly, the only solution is not to allow these toxic substances into the environment to begin with.
Eagle 
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