24 mei 2010
23 mei 2010
Schatrijke hedgefondsbaas Ray Dalio noemt zichzelf een hyena die gnoes verslindt
By Mark Ames, Alternet, May 21, 2010
We're ruled over by people who despise us and think of us as prey and themselves as hyenas, busy devouring everything they can.
We're ruled over by people who despise us and think of us as prey and themselves as hyenas, busy devouring everything they can.
21 mei 2010
Genetische manipulatie leidt tot superonkruid
Superonkruid in een veld met genetisch gemanipuleerde maïs.
By Jeff Deasy, Alternet, May 20, 2010
Thanks to Monsanto's Roundup herbicide we've got 'superweeds' and that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the problems resulting from genetically modified foods.
(...) As for the claim that GM foods are needed to feed a hungry world, Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist in the Union of Concerned Scientists Food and Environment Program has concluded "...that GE (genetic engineering) has done little to increase overall crop yields." And a major study conducted at the University of Kansas has found that the controversial technology actually reduces crop yields.
Zie ook:
GMO Crops Super-Weed Time Bomb Explodes
Update 24 september 2010:
'Teelt gentech soja met Roundup schaadt gezondheid'
Het deze week gepubliceerde rapport 'Genetisch gemanipuleerde soja: Duurzaam? Verantwoord?' [PDF] verzamelt recent wetenschappelijk onderzoek naar de gevolgen van 15 jaar gmo sojateelt in Noord- en Zuid-Amerika. Het rapport citeert meer dan 100 studies, en concludeert dat het telen van RoundupReady soja met grote hoeveelheden Roundup de gezondheid van mensen en dieren aantast, het herbicidengebruik verhoogt, en onkruid resistent maakt tegen het middel. Het rapport weerlegt volgens de onderzoekers de claim dat de productie van RoundupReady soja 'verantwoord' zou kunnen zijn, een claim van de Ronde Tafel voor Verantwoorde Soja (RTRS)
Latere toevoegingen:
Why Is Damning New Evidence About Monsanto's Most Widely Used Herbicide Being Silenced?
Door Jill Richardson, Alternet, 27 april 2011
It turns out that Monsanto's Roundup herbicide might not be nearly as safe as people have thought, but the media is staying mum on the revelation.
Dr. Don Huber did not seek fame when he quietly penned a confidential letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in January of this year, warning Vilsack of preliminary evidence of a microscopic organism that appears in high concentrations in genetically modified Roundup Ready corn and soybeans and "appears to significantly impact the health of plants, animals and probably human beings."
Monsanto Vs Nature: The Weeds Fight Back
Door Jim Hightower, Other Words / Alternet, 5 juni 2012
So much of Monsanto's poison was spread in the past decade that weeds naturally developed a resistance to it.
15 mei 2010
Help! Wat is de remedie voor financiële waanzin?
By Les Leopold, Alternet, May 15, 2010Now that the bank lobbyists are nearly finished neutering the financial reform bill, it’s time to face reality: our financial world will continue to be run by the very financiers who crashed the system two years ago.
So the financial insanity will continue, with psychotic outcomes.
(...) The deficit hysteria drumbeat will build to a deafening crescendo.
Forget about taxing the super-rich–we’ve got to cut benefits for working people instead. Respected journalists like New York Times columnist David Leonhardt warn us that we’re all living beyond our means. It’s time to tighten our belts or we’ll end up like Greece. No more tax breaks for health and housing. We’ve got to retire later, with less money, and cut our medical expenses. And our wages have to become more “competitive.” But who is “we”? Where are all these high-living people? The average non-supervisory production worker in America (about 75 percent of the workforce) has already seen an 18 percent drop in real wages since the mid 1970s. Meanwhile productivity increased by more than 90 percent. Yet now we’ve got to tighten our belts? Where did all that money from the higher productivity go, if not to us? No surprise here: into the hands of the few.
(...) It all goes back to that most glaring symptom and cause of our psychosis: our insane maldistribution of income, which gets worse and worse every year. The richest 1 percent of Americans now earn more than the bottom 50 percent. Back in 1973, the richest 1 percent of earners collected 8 percent of the national income. By 2006, the top 1 percent got nearly 23 percent of the national income — the highest proportion since 1929. Or look at the pay gap on the job: In 1970, the top 100 CEOs earned 45 times more than their workers, on average. In 2009 the ratio was 1,071 to 1.
Here’s an example of what this maldistribution is costing us: The top 400 richest Americans have a combined wealth of more than $1.3 trillion.
(...) We need to return to Eisenhower era tax rates: 91 percent on those earning over $3 million in today’s dollars. The money would roll in, and the deficit hawks would sound like parakeets.
(...) Les Leopold is the author of The Looting of America: How Wall Street’s Game of Fantasy Finance destroyed our Jobs, Pensions and Prosperity, and What We Can Do About It, Chelsea Green Publishing, June 2009.Zie ook:
It's All About the Wages - Our Economy Would Be Fine If Everyone Made Their Fair Share
Robert Reich, 13 juli 2010
When virtually all the gains from growth go to a small minority at the top, the result is deep-seated anxiety and frustration.
Man overleden tijdens 'Facebook-borrel' vol misdragingen
Zie ook ANP / De Volkskrant, 15 mei 2010Tijdens een apéro géant - een massale borrel van 9000 mensen opgezet door middel van Facebook - is een jongeman van een brug gevallen en bezweken aan zijn letsel. De politie arresteerde tientallen mensen die zich schuldig maakten aan vandalisme, openbare dronkenschap, drugshandel, geweldpleging en diefstal.
De politie waarschuwt dat het handhaven van de openbare orde in het gedrang kan komen bij een soortgelijke borrel op 23 mei aanstaande in Parijs, waar men streeft naar 50.000 bezoekers. (Latere toevoeging: de oproep op Facebook voor die borrel schijnt inmiddels te zijn geannuleerd of weggehaald, al dan niet onder druk van Franse autoriteiten).
Vergelijk m'n blognotitie:
Leidt Web 2.0 tot een parasitaire economie en beangstigend collectivisme?
En dit artikel over A Clockwork Orange 2.0...:
Negotiating with the mob: LivingSocial harnesses Facebook-organized buying
06 mei 2010
De aarde kan te heet worden voor mensen
Brett Israel, LiveScience / Yahoo! news, May 4, 2010Update: artikel niet meer op Yahoo, wel nog gearchiveerd hier.
Toegevoegd oktober 2012:
"Lethally Hot" Earth Was Devoid of Life—Could It Happen Again?
Door Christine Dell'Amore, National Geographic, 18 oktober 2012
Zie ook m'n blognotitie:
Hansen: aarde kan tweede Venus worden
04 mei 2010
Bijen sterven massaal, zorgen over terminale neergang groeien
By Alison Benjamin, The Observer, May 3, 2010Zie voor relativerende geluiden bijvoorbeeld:
The Honeybee Crisis: Colony Collapse Disorder (Encyclopaedia Brittanica's Advocacy for Animals, June 18th, 2007)
Toevoeging februari 2012:
Have Bees Become Canaries In the Coal Mine? Why Massive Bee Dieoffs May Be a Warning About Our Own Health
Door Jill Richardson, Alternet, 12 februari 2012
What scientists are beginning to understand about the cause of colony collapse could be a message for all of us.
Later toegevoegd (mooi nieuws als het klopt):
"The Bees Are All Right
Door Matt Miller, Slate, 29 juli 2016
After years of uncertainty, honeybees appear poised to recover from collapse.
Zie ook m'n blognotitie:
Bestuiving planten gehalveerd; voedselproductie mogelijk deels in gevaar