Look what we're doing:

Look what they're doing in our name:
======
Israel to get U.S. "bunker buster" bombs
Reuters 7/24/6
http://www.shunpiking.com/DODU/MA0002-WA-deple.htm
http://corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13944
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L24887074.htm
The United States will soon provide Israel with some 100 "bunker buster" bombs
======
From:

Depleted Uranium in Bunker Bombs
America’s big dirty secret

March 2002
by Robert James Parsons
http://www.rawa.org/du.htm

...DU is pyrophoric, burning on impact or if it is ignited, with a melting point of 1,132°C; it is much easier to process; and as nuclear waste, it is available free to arms manufacturers. Further, using it in a range of weapons significantly reduces the US nuclear waste storage problem....

...The DU explosive charges...can weigh as much as one and a half metric tons (as in Raytheon’s Bunker Buster - GBU-28)...

...once DU dust has been inhaled, it becomes an internal radiation source; international radiation protection standards, the basis of expert claims that DU is harmless, deal only with external radiation sources...

...Uranium from reactors, recycled for use in munitions, contains additional highly toxic elements, such as plutonium, 1.6 kilogrammes of which could kill 8bn people. Rather than depleted uranium, it should be called uranium plus...
======
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/corporate/dd/afghanmil.html
...GBU-28 Bunker-buster
The Guided Bomb Unit-28 (GBU-28), often known as a "bunker buster,"...cost: $145,600...
======
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/corporate/dd/bechtell.html
"We are not in the construction and engineering business. We are in the business of making money."
--Steve Bechtel Sr.
From the most natural and essential resource on earth – water – to nuclear power and weapons that can potentially cause the extinction of all life, Bechtel Group has manipulated both elements to build a business empire....
Bechtel’s close relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency helped influence overthrows of several foreign governments perceived as unfriendly to American business goals; and allowed the company to be at the right place at the right time to take advantage of new business opportunities with puppet regimes...
======
http://www.stopthenato.org
http://www.livescience.com/environment/060713_global_warming.html
http://pgh-psc.org
http://www.greensingles.com links
http://www.vegtv.com/links.htm
http://www.biodieselamerica.org
======
From:

A Republic or an Empire?

by Paul Craig Roberts 7/9/6
Paul Craig Roberts...Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration...
was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review

http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/editorials/signs20060710_ARepublicoranEmpire.php
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13933.htm

...With the electronic voting machines supplied by Republican firms and programmed by Republican operatives, Bush can control election results. Don't bet very heavily that Americans will regain the constitutional protections and democratic accountability that they enjoyed in the 20th century.
===

purity of heart

Looks to me we're in an age of purification by fire. I remember the story of Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego. They went into and came out of the fire. The tempering of iron to become steel, a more orderly molecular structure. The forests are burning at a greater rate. We have to keep redefining what is life.
Simply love.
======
"The universe is a living manifestation of God."
- [don't know author]
======
"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war."
- Einstein
http://zmag.org/quotes/quotesResults.cfm?topic1=War
======
From:

The Real Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Those Who Won't Give Them Up
by Dr. Helen Caldicott 10/24/5
http://www.backbonecampaign.org/conversation.cfm?ID=24

There are 30,000 nuclear weapons in world. Russia and America have 97 percent of those...The only wmd in the world is the Hydrogen Bomb, which can vaporize and kill about three million people in a flash of light...Britain, France and China are major nuclear powers and they have said that if America and Russia abolish their weapons then they will too...the earth is in the intensive care unit, terminally ill. We have an acute emergency on our hands and I think it should be dealt with not slowly but with great haste...

...All our problems are solvable. But the decision makers governing the world don't understand how science is being applied and how dangerous this direction we are heading is. I think as a physician and a scientist, we must take over the governments of the world and put in scientifically literate people in those offices. Otherwise I think we may not make it...

...There are 40 H Bombs targeted on New York from Russia right now. Russia's early warning system is in decay, none of its satellites work, there are 50 bombs targeted on DC. Every American city and town with a population of 50,000 or more is targeted with at least one Hydrogen Bomb...

...uranium has a half life of 4.5 billion years...

The US is spending a half trillion dollars...It would take a minute amount of that to secure and decommission the nuclear weapons and decommission all the plutonium stockpiles in the world which are hanging around relatively unguarded. Terrorist threat is nothing compared to the threat of a bi-lateral nuclear exchange against America. There is the effects of the explosion, the radioactive fall out and cause a nuclear winter blocking out the sun for a year causing a short ice age with the only thing surviving would probably be the cockroaches and lichen and algae. That could happen tonight...

...There is no dose of radiation that is so low that you can say it causes no harm....

...The nuclear industry is adding enormously to background radiation in our environment, such as irradiating food. This bioconcentrates in the food chain...

...America is using depleted nuclear weapons. releasing millions of tons of uranium 238, (depleted uranium,) causing cancer, environmental poisoning Uranium 238 is a heavy metal, radioactive waste, America is conducting a nuclear war in Iraq, through use of depleted uranium on Iraqis. There is a huge incidence of cancer among the Navajos who are subject to tons of depleted uranium tailings.

In 1991 the US used 360 tons of this in Basra. 3 years after those weapons used, incidence of cancer among children in Iraq increased 7 times. Because of sanctions imposed by US no drugs were/are available for treatment. There has been a severe increase in severe congenital deformities - babies born without brains, with one eye or no eyes, no arms or legs, and because of the half life of uranium 238 this will be present forevermore. Incidence increased 7 times. Some of this caused by presence in semen which is also showing to be in the semen of American servicemen...

Nuclear power contributes substantially to co2 levels and global warming; other global warming gases made as well. Any "environmentalist" in favor of nuclear power as a solution to global warming is scientifically ignorant...

The Department of Energy...continue to make 450 new bombs each year...

If Sec of Energy I would:

1. totally cut off all funding for nuclear power except to fund the decommissioning of every nuclear bomb and every nuclear power plant in America 103 such plants.

2.immediate mandated policy for every American to conserve energy - turn off all lights except what using, no clothes dryers

3.subsidize hybridized cars and make SUVs/Humvees illegal

4. wind farms across US

5.mandate that all new buildings are solar powered with water catchment systems, solar panels on roofs, houses be well insulated and deciduous trees around houses to insulate and shade

6.geothermal heating for buildings

7.biomass energy

8.cogeneration - recycling heat and energy from industry that is currently wasted.

These things would be compulsory. Just like people stop at red lights, they have to conserve energy and if they don't they will be fined...

Act Locally - Invest in Renewables...substantial bicycle trails. fund weatherized, solarized houses, wind farms...grassroots efforts in democracy. Everyone now must take up the torch...

...It's a great privilege and an honor and a sacred trust to live in a democracy...
======
Women's Action for New Directions
http://www.wand.org
======
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation
http://armscontrolcenter.org
======
Nuclear Policy Research Institute
http://www.nuclearpolicy.org
======
Northside Common Ministries
http://ncmin.org
======
http://votetoimpeach.org
http://www.takingitglobal.org/understanding/
http://dontbuyexxonmobil.org
http://thedayaftertomorrow.com
http://theyrule.net
http://exxonsecrets.org
http://www.sustainusa.org
http://www.familyfarmer.org
http://defenders.org
http://www.fungiperfecti.com
======
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
http://www.pcrm.org
======
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
http://www.iatp.org
======

Biobutanol: One Among Many Energy Alternatives

======
"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a
mosquito."
- the Dalai Lama
http://journeytoforever.org/at.html
======

Biobutanol: One Among Many Energy Alternatives

Decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels involves discussion of so many
alternative strategies - from increasing efficiency to lowering demand to
wind to solar to geothermal to tidal to renewables - that I couldn't begin
to even properly summarize the areas of work in the energy transition we
are going through. I only want to add one more type of biofuel being
researched for application, and list some of the other biofuels I have
been reading about to show that we do have alternatives to increasing
worldwide competition over fossil fuels.

Butanol right now is mostly made from oil, but biobutanol - made via a
fermentation process - is being talked about to make energy from
cellulosic biomass. It may be one way entrepreneurs can compete at the
gas pump, and from local materials.
======
Websites having to do with biobutanol:
http://listproc.ucdavis.edu/archives/cbx/log0606/0090.html
http://www.butanol.com
http://www.answers.com/topic/butanol
http://butanol.getfast.info/biobutanol
======
A definition of biofuel:
http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?query=biofuel&action=Search+OMD
gaseous, liquid, or solid fuel that is rendered from raw biological
material (plants, sewage, dry waste, cane sugar or wood pulp) through
combustion or fermentation.
There are a variety of ways to convert these bulky materials into fuels
useful for industry and transport. The major biofuels produced
biologically are biogas generated by anaerobic digestion (biomethanation)
and fuel ethanol generated by a yeast-based fermentation of molasses,
sugar cane juice, or hydrolysed seed .
======
Some interesting websites related to biofuels:
http://goyellowlivegreen.com
http://byodiesel.com
http://www.biopellet.net
http://www.ezbiodiesel.com
http://www.dogwoodenergy.com
http://www.gm.com/company/onlygm/energy_flexfuel.html
http://www.ems.org
http://www.ethanolrfa.org
http://pittsburghvoyager.org
http://www.gasp-pgh.org
http://www.drydipstick.com/peakoil-prepare.html
http://www.energyfarms.net/node/85
http://postcarbon.org
http://www.climateark.org/links/Renewable_Energy/Biofuels/welcome.asp
======
The End of Petroleum Man
by Mike Stout
http://www.mikestoutmusic.com
======
http://www.butanol.com
...'92 Buick Park Avenue got 24 miles per gallon on butanol with no
modifications - normally gas is 22 mpg...In ten states Butanol reduced
Hydrocarbons by 95%, Carbon monoxide to 0.01%, Oxides of Nitrogen by
37%... ...can be blended in any percentage with gasoline seamlessly with
increase in performance....can be used in Biodiesel applications can be
made from anything that grows on the planet not just corn. We are scaling
up and developing our "Pilot Plant"...
======
http://www.answers.com/topic/butanol
======
http://goyellowlivegreen.com
...What is cellulosic ethanol? Though the majority of ethanol produced in
the U.S. is made from corn, new technology has been developed to make
ethanol from a wider variety of "cellulosic" sources. These cellulosic
sources for ethanol include corn stover (the stalks and residue left over
after harvest), grain straw, switchgrass, quick-growing tree varieties
(such as poplar or willow), or even municipal waste...
======
http://butanol.getfast.info/biobutanol
Biobutanol has low vapor pressure and tolerance to water contamination in
gasoline blends, facilitating its use in existing gasoline supply and
distribution channels. It has the potential to be blended into gasoline at
higher concentrations than existing biofuels without the need to retrofit
vehicles and it offers better fuel economy than gasoline-ethanol blends,
improving a car's fuel efficiency and mileage. Biobutanol also enhances
the performance of ethanol blends in gasoline... ...will provide
significant environmental benefits over petroleum-derived transportation
fuels...
======
Novozymes enters development cooperation on biomass for biofuel in
China...
http://www.novozymes.com/cgi-bin/bvisapi.dll/search/get_article.jsp?id=35968&lang=en&subsite=8883
+ China Resources Alcohol Corporation
http://peakoil.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=16510> +
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/06/sunopta_novozym.html#more
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/06/sunopta_novozym.html> +
======
Food and Bioprocess Engineering Group
http://www.pre.wur.nl
======
http://www.nature.com - search "biofuel"
======
From: Towards a green energy pact between Europe an Africa Biobutanol and
Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells...
http://biopact.com/2006/06/biobutanol-and-direct-alcohol-fuel.html
Now that biobutanol is in the spotlight because of BP and Dupont's
announcement, we can look back at the work that's being done on Direct
Alcohol Fuel Cells (DAFC's)...these cells, for which platinum-free
catalysts have been developed, operate on hydrogen, methanol, ethanol and
more complex hydrocarbons (such as ethylene glycol). Biobutanol can be
added to that list. This is another argument for the development of the
alcohol economy - as opposed to the problematic hydrogen economy.
Biobutanol gets the most out of a sugar or starch rich biomass feedstock
stream. Combined with the high efficiency (50%) and low production cost of
the DAFC's, we might soon see our laptops, our motorcyles and our cars
making use of a 'bio-fuelcell' power system running on biobutanol, ethanol
or any blend with gasoline...
======
It's Corn vs. Soybeans in a Biofuels Debate
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/13/business/13ethanol.html?ex=1310443200&en=18940dcb5e7837a3&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
Published: July 13, 2006
CHICAGO, July 12 — Biodiesel produced from soybeans produces more usable
energy and reduces greenhouse gases more than corn-based ethanol, making
it more deserving of subsidies, according to a study being published this
month in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/p/proceedings_of_the_national_academy_of_sciences/index.html?inline=nyt-org>.
The study, done by researchers at the University of Minnesota

and at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., points to the environmental
benefits of the biodiesel over ethanol made from corn, stating that
ethanol provides 25 percent more energy a gallon than is required for its
production, while soybean biodiesel generates 93 percent more energy.
The study's authors also found that ethanol, in its production and
consumption, reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent, compared with
fossil fuels. Biodiesel, they said, reduces such emissions 41 percent,
compared with fossil fuels.
The study concludes that the future of replacing oil and gas lies with
cellulosic ethanol produced from low-cost materials like switch grass or
wheat straw, if it is grown on agriculturally marginal land or from waste
plant material.
Indeed, the study published by the National Academy of Sciences
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_academy_of_sciences/index.html?inline=nyt-org>
found that neither ethanol nor biodiesel can replace much petroleum
without having an impact on food supply. If all American corn and soybean
production were dedicated to biofuels, that fuel would replace only 12
percent of gas demand and 6 percent of diesel demand, the study notes.
Researchers at universities and at the United States Agriculture
Department
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/agriculture_department/index.html?inline=nyt-org>
have debated ethanol's benefits as policy makers continue to struggle with
how to respond to high gasoline prices and how to reduce America’s
dependence on foreign oil.
Some lawmakers have urged an end to federal subsidies of 51 cents a gallon
for ethanol refiners. The subsidies have helped create a boom in ethanol
production and have made ethanol more profitable than ever.
The researchers in the latest study question ethanol’s environmental
benefits, noting that despite the 12 percent reduction in greenhouse
gases, ethanol has “greater environmental and human health impacts because
of increased release of five air pollutants and nitrate, nitrite and
pesticides.”
Neither biofuel was cost-competitive in 2005 without subsidies. Biodiesel
cost 55 cents a liter to produce, or 20 percent more than ethanol.
Wholesale gasoline prices in 2005 averaged 44 cents a liter, or 4 percent
less a liter to produce than ethanol, the study said. Still, biodiesel
receives a subsidy that is 45 percent greater a liter than ethanol.
Analysts agreed with the study’s conclusion that biodiesel compares
favorably with ethanol from an environmental standpoint. “Biodiesel is
much cleaner-burning fuel and much less harmful to the environment,”
Daniel W. Basse, president of AgResource in Chicago, an economic
forecasting firm, said Wednesday.
But Mr. Basse said ethanol production is far more efficient, with some 420
gallons of ethanol produced per acre of corn versus only 60 gallons of
biodiesel per acre of soybeans. If biodiesel use ever increased greatly,
Mr. Basse said, the cost of soybean oil would rise significantly.
Brent Erickson, executive vice president of the Biotechnology Industry
Organization, based in Washington, agreed that biodiesel’s potential was
limited. “If you look at the amount of biodiesel you can produce, it is a
drop in the bucket compared to the amount of cellulosic ethanol that could
be produced one day,” he said.
The Minnesota researchers write that with a projected doubling of global
demand for food within 50 years and an even greater expected increase in
demand for transportation fuels, “there is a great need for renewable
energy supplies that do not cause significant harm and do not compete with
food supply.”
======

Our Common Problems and Solutions

Our Common Problems and Solutions

Those with the most power in our society are, naturally, the least likely to want any kind of changes to destabilize their comfortable situations. So proposed changes must be desirable or at least acceptable to these key decisionmakers. For the most part the comfortable elite are reluctant to jeopardize their advantageous positions. So, regardless of how bad things get for some or all of the rest of us - or how available good changes are - we're still going to be stuck on stupid until those on top recognize their own benefit with the proposed changes.

Take coal, for instance. It doesn't matter that there are so many possible alternative ways to generate energy. It doesn't matter that all our lungs suffer for the profits of a few, or that - as with other fossil fuels - excessive CO2 production is destabilizing Earth's climate more and more each year - and at a faster rate more recently. Coal is the status quo energy of choice. Big industrial users and mininig concerns have lobbyists with big bucks and plenty of time to pretend the world's use of coal is okay. But it's not. The pollution from this and other fossil fuels is becoming unbearable for the planet and all living on it. Coal mining is literally leveling the most gorgeous state of West Virginia, which has been called "Almost Heaven" for good reason.

Behind the scenes ones who want to do so many good things are often targeted as enemies by those who see no reason to change. For those who know that the changes would be for the good of all, the job is either to attract the contented powerful ones with possible better futures or to convince them that they are in trouble too.

It may be dangerous to speak out, but not speaking has it's dangers too. Think what's going to happen if we let things drift the way they are going now. Maybe the melting of the tundra will release so much CO2 as the previously frozen vegetation rots that it won't matter if we drastically cut our burning of fossil fuels.

Maybe some other feedback mechanism will precipitate abrupt rather than slow climate change.

Maybe the ozone layer will become so damaged as to blind a large percentage of animals on Earth. When are we going to stop thinking we are solving problems by selling and buying uv-b eyeglasses and cataract surgeries and admit that we'll NEVER be able to handle the damage to all human and other animals' eyes by the increasing levels of ultraviolet light entering our atmosphere? And eyes are not the only things damaged. Ocean life and productivity is being affected, and there are agricultural problems.

It's easier to enjoy what we have personally rather than look for ways to make the pie bigger for all. But working for the common good is the only way to be able to enjoy looking toward a better future.

Forget your scariest book or movie; imagining and discussing what may actually be OUR future on Earth requires far more courage. Open your eyes or you don't have a chance. Act like you're powerless and you will be. We're all parts of the problems; only by trying to be parts of the solutions can we avoid making enemies of each other.

Use your imagination. Talk about the problems we all share. Cry about them, scream about them - whatever it takes to get us into gear. Because it's getting unbearable to let things go the way they are.
Unbearable for EVERYBODY.

Transport wisdom and knowledge rather than materials.

http://www.tomdispatch.com
http://www.globalpolicy.org
======
India: Wheeling and (nuclear) dealing
by Siddharth Srivastava 7/6/6
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HG06Df01.html
...congressional approval of the deal would give Lockheed Martin (the maker of F-16 fighter jets) a reasonable chance to get a $4-billion-to-$9-billion contract to supply 126 combat fighter planes to the Indian Air Force, a contract that India would have been unlikely to approve while sanctions were in place.

The Boston Globe said, "For Indian entrepreneurs, it is an opportunity to make money on privatized nuclear power plants and buy high-tech equipment that has been restricted for decades. For US businesses, it is a chance to invest in India's rapidly growing energy sector, to sell supplies to Indian nuclear reactors, and - for the first time - to have a shot at large-scale military contracts."

...The Pentagon expects India to start purchasing as much as $5 billion worth of conventional military equipment...
======
http://www.oceana.org
http://www.douglasfarah.com/
http://www.justiceinitiative.org/partners/partners_abc
http://www.wavygravy.net/links/links.html
http://msbioscience.com
======
The love of all creatures is the most noble aspect of man.
- Darwin
======
Save the Environment to save yourself
- A. Mani Prakash
======
http://heartofdarkness.org
======
Southwestern Pennsylvania AIDS Planning Coalition
http://www.swpapc.org
======
http://biblicalgardenpittsburgh.org
http://rodefshalom.org/who/garden/
======
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com
http://tpmmuckraker.com
http://www.trivalleycares.org/links.htm
http://disarmamentactivist.org
http://www.august6.org/pittsburgh
======
Otterville cartoon
http://peace.mennolink.org/cgi-bin/m.pl?a=293
======
http://www.pbs.org/now