contributions

So what’s a Syrian life worth?
Well, I’m afraid, according to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, not very much.
According to various sources, between 30,000 and 48,090 people have been killed in Syria, including 18,180–19,970 armed combatants consisting of both the Syrian army and rebel forces, and the other half civilians, and up to 2,135 opposition protesters since the country’s civil war began on 5 March 2012. That’s about 4,000 per month or more people each month than were killed when (…)

Well, that was thoroughly disappointing now, wasn’t it?
In the interest of full disclosure I declare that I was fully comMITTed and that I voted for Mitt Romney by post weeks ago.
But after the first few hours of stunned silence while staring at my laptop I thought I’d share some interesting facts in case you were thinking that last night Barack H. Obama (AKA Barry Soetoro) had achieved anything near his previous stellar performance that saw him raised from an inexperienced Senator to (…)

A very interesting discussion on Swiss TV about the U.S. election & its quarrelsome image in the world with U.S. Ambassador Donald S. Beyer
http://www.videoportal.sf.tv/video?id=ba226876-0330-4f60-bcc0-feb45cd79601&referrer=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.sf.tv&WT.zugang=front_vid

Final Conflict 2012? Engineering World War III
September 28, 2012 By ADRIAN SALBUCHI
In today’s increasingly interdependent and interactive world, every action has a myriad of causes, meanings, objectives and reactions; many visible, many invisible. Some, openly admitted and declared; others no one would dare confess.
When trying to come to grips with the many complex conflicts going on in the world and the dizzying pace at which they transpire, it would be a mistake to approach them (…)

Censorship is anathema to scholars and short circuits science-based rational risk management crucial for societal safety. The corporatist and neoliberal University of Melbourne is arguably equal top with the University of Sydney as Australia’s top university but has an appalling, continuing record of censorship that make it unfit for students and for overseas students in particular.
Recently I was obliged in the public interest to write an Open Letter to Mainstream media, MPs and academics (…)

APTN National News
Nelson: ’Chief, Tell Me What’s Your Plan?’
Terry Nelson’s trip to Iran created controversy in Canada. During his trip, Nelson spoke on Iranian television comparing reserves to concentration camps and claimed North America denied a ’holocaust’ was committed against Indigenous peoples. Nelson sat down with the APTN National News host Cheryl McKenzie to discuss his trip...
http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2012/10/2...

Source: http://chycho.blogspot.ca/2012/11/commodification-of-water-quintessential.html
Commoditization of the commons is the most important issue of our time, the most vital aspect of which is the commodification of water, usable water (pdf) to be more precise. As Global Water Corporation, a Canadian water privatization company has stated (pdf):
“Water has moved from being an endless commodity that may be taken for granted to a rationed necessity that may be taken by force.”
Strong (…)

Mr President Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington DC 20500
Mr President,
On September 25th, forty-four democrat and republican senators wrote to President Raul Castro asking him to liberate their fellow citizen Alan Gross. This man is serving a fifteen-year sentence in a Havana prison for “acts against the integrity and the independence of the nation”. In their letter, the senators noted that his prison sentence “is a major obstacle to improving (…)

JAZZMAN CHRONICLES. DISSEMINATE FREELY.
“I have a job in New Jersey that is much bigger than presidential politics… I have to say, the administration, the president, himself, and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate have been outstanding with us so far. We have a great partnership with them. I want to thank the president personally for his personal attention to this.”
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, October 30, 2012
No one can predict what will happen in the final days of a (…)

Source: Precedent Set: $5 a Gallon Gasoline Leads to Easing of Environmental Regulations for Refineries in California
On October 7, 2012, Governor Jerry Brown “directed the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to take emergency steps to increase the state’s gasoline supply and bring down fuel prices.”
Below you will find three subsections. The first is further information on this decision. The second provides a little history on air quality management in the United States focusing on (…)