Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/193393269?client_source=feed&format=rss
stop loss thurston moore the island the island mcdonalds beating dreamcatcher georgia tech
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Ari Solomon: Does Eating Meat Make You a Bully?
Here is the definition of the word bully: "A person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker." Many of us know firsthand what it's like to be bullied. We know what it's like to be vulnerable and scared, and to have that be taken advantage of. I never considered animals to be a part of that equation.
Then, a few years ago, a random discussion on a talk show led me to research factory farming, a practice that produces 99 percent of the animals we consume in the U.S. I not only read about the horrors of these places, but, thanks to countless undercover investigation videos posted online, I saw them. I saw baby calves being screamed at and punched in the face by desensitized farm workers. I saw turkeys being kicked and thrown against walls until their wings broke. A saw a baby pig having its head bashed in with a brick. These poor animals were being abused, tormented, and killed by merciless beings many times their size. They were being bullied.
Even though I was never in situations this extreme growing up gay, many LGBT people are. They are regularly verbally abused, physically assaulted, and even killed. And while there undoubtedly is a difference between people and animals, the question must be asked: when it comes to things such as fear, pain, and suffering, aren't animals much more like us than they are not like us?
I know we all love a good burger or turkey sandwich, but isn't our consumption of these foods perpetuating the power-hungry and cruel attitudes we so strongly oppose? Is it really such a stretch to ask that all those who feel be liberated from the suffering caused by bullying? Because whether you want to admit it or not, that's precisely what it is. This realization, subconscious at the time, led me to become a vegan. By choosing to avoid animal foods, I feel I'm sending a strong message that I won't be a party to bullying in any form.
I know it's difficult to imagine giving up some of your favorite foods (you'll discover new ones, trust me) but I invite you to learn the truth about where those foods come from. Really think about it. Sit with it. Be honest with yourself. Does knowing that you pay other people to treat animals this way feel good in your soul?
A brilliant writer, Laura Moretti, once said this about animals:
Animals are the most victimized living creatures on earth; more than children, more than women, more than people of color. Our prejudice enables us to exploit and use them, as scientific tools and expendable commodities, and to eat them. We do to them any atrocity our creative minds can summon. We justify our cruelties; we have to or we can't commit them.
Chew on that.
?
Follow Ari Solomon on Twitter: www.twitter.com/VeganAri
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-solomon/eating-meat-bullying_b_1234232.html
roasted pumpkin seeds roasted pumpkin seeds pumpkin seed recipe mark madoff disturbia nick diaz michael myers
Monday, January 30, 2012
Air Force disciplines airmen over coffin photo (Reuters)
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) ? The U.S. Air Force will discipline but not criminally charge an unspecified number of airmen over a photograph that went viral showing them clowning around with a coffin used to transport American war dead.
"No criminal conduct occurred. However, members who were involved in the photo received administrative actions documenting that their conduct brought discredit to both the military and themselves," Colonel Gregory Reese, commander of the 37th Training Group at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, told reporters on Monday.
The photograph, posted on Facebook late last year, shows 16 members of the Lackland-based 345th Training Squadron around one of the metal coffins used to transport U.S. war casualties.
An airman posed inside a coffin in chains playing dead with a noose around his neck. He is surrounded by others, some with their arms crossed. A caption reads: "Da Dumpt, De Dumpt, Sucks to be U."
Reese called it a "graduation photograph" taken as the airmen celebrated the completion of their training, which involved unloading cargo planes and had nothing to do with transporting war dead.
The Air Force placed "discredit letters" in their records, making promotion or re-enlistment difficult for them.
Air Force spokesman Gerry Proctor declined to say how many people were disciplined, who took the picture or whether that person is in the Air Force.
The photo, taken in August, came to light shortly after a U.S. investigation revealed in November the military's main mortuary -- at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware -- lost track of body parts twice and wrongfully removed a limb of a Marine.
The investigation found those who took it intended to remind colleagues they could be killed if they failed to pay attention while loading and unloading aircraft, Reese said.
When the Air Force Times reported on the picture, relatives of service members killed in action reacted angrily.
"How dare you!" said a letter published in the Times in December from Deedy Salie, who described herself as a military widow. "My husband came home in one of those boxes, not on his own two feet like these disgraceful people will. Shame on you!"
(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Daniel Trotta)
sonny rollins sweet caroline lottery winning numbers pro bowl roster quirky chrissy teigen chia seeds
Frenchman killed in armed robbery in Red Sea resort (Reuters)
CAIRO (Reuters) ? A Frenchman was killed when armed men raided a currency exchange office Saturday in the Egyptian tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea, security officials and the French embassy said.
South Sinai Governor General Khaled Fouda told Reuters that a German national had also been wounded but was in a stable condition in hospital.
The French embassy confirmed a Frenchman had been killed without giving further details.
Sharm el-Sheikh is on the Sinai Peninsula, home to many popular tourist resorts. However, many people own weapons in inland areas of the peninsula, and analysts say the region has become more lawless since an uprising ousted President Hosni Mubarak last year.
(Reporting by Yusry Mohamed in Ismailia; Writing and additional reporting by Edmund Blair in Cairo; editing by David Stamp)
honda generator cc sabathia ruth madoff ruth madoff in living color enews enews
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Iraq's Sunni-backed bloc to end parliament boycott (Reuters)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) ? Iraq's Sunni-backed Iraqiya political bloc said Sunday it would end a boycott of parliament, easing the worst political crisis in Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's power-sharing government in a year.
The decision by Iraqiya clears the way for talks among fractious Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni blocs, but deep disputes over power-sharing remain unresolved, keeping alive the risk that Iraq could fall back into widespread sectarian violence.
The crisis erupted days after the last U.S. troops left Iraq in December, when Maliki's government sought the arrest of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and moved to sideline one of his Sunni deputies who branded Maliki a dictator.
The political blocs are planning a national conference to try to ease the turmoil.
"As a goodwill gesture, Iraqiya announces its return to parliament meetings to create a healthy atmosphere to help the national conference, and to ... defuse the political crisis," Iraqiya spokeswoman Maysoon al-Damluji told a news conference.
Damluji's announcement followed a meeting of Iraqiya's top officials including bloc leader Iyad Allawi, Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, Finance Minister Rafie al-Esawi and Saleh al-Mutlaq, the deputy prime minister Maliki had tried to oust.
She said the leaders would meet again to decide whether Iraqiya ministers would return to cabinet meetings.
Iraqiya's return to parliament could shore up Maliki's position for now, but the Sunni-backed bloc is deeply divided over whether to stay in the fragile power-sharing arrangement.
Maliki says his initiative against Hashemi was judicial and not political, but his moves against two key Iraqiya figures have compounded fears among Iraqi Sunnis that he wants to consolidate Shi'ite control and his own power.
Hashemi remains in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region where his immediate arrest is unlikely.
BIDEN CALLS
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has spoken to Allawi and Nujaifi by phone over the past days to discuss "the importance of resolving outstanding issues through the political process," Biden's office said.
Saleem al-Jubouri, an Iraqiya leader, said the bloc had come under international pressure to end the boycott, which he said had forced other countries to recognize the crisis in Iraq.
"The problem still exists and it could blow up again at any minute," Jubouri said.
A senior Iraqiya Sunni leader who asked not to be named said ending the boycott was the only way to keep the bloc together.
"Many factions within Iraqiya would split off if the leaders
insisted on going into opposition or continuing the boycott," the official said.
Since the U.S. invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003, the Shi'ite majority has ascended, leaving Sunni Muslims feeling sidelined from power. Kurdish political blocs have more often reached political deals with Shi'ite parties.
The power-sharing agreement took almost a year to cobble together and has struggled to work when considering key laws such as a national hydrocarbons bill.
The political turmoil has been accompanied by a string of attacks on Shi'ite targets that have stirred worries Iraq could slide back in the kind of sectarian slaughter that killed tens of thousands of Iraqis a few years after the invasion.
(Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Jim Loney and Alessandra Rizzo)
zach braff kevin federline amy smart michael jackson dead michael jackson dead prickly pear prickly pear
Saturday, January 28, 2012
AC Milan, Valencia reach semis in domestic cups
updated 5:29 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2012
MILAN - AC Milan rallied past Lazio 3-1 Thursday night behind goals by Robinho, Clarence Seedorf and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to advance to the Italian Cup semifinals.
Djibril Cisse put visiting Lazio ahead in the fifth minute, but Robinho tied it in the 15th and Seedorf put the Rossoneri ahead three minutes later. Ibrahimovic entered in the 70th and scored in the 84th.
Aiming for its sixth title in the competition, Milan plays Serie A leader Juventus in the semifinals, while Napoli meets Siena.
___
VALENCIA, Spain (AP) ? Valencia defeated Levante 3-0 on Pablo Piatti's two goals, setting up a semifinal with Barcelona in the Copa del Rey. Valencia eliminated Levante 7-1 total goals.
Piatti assisted on Aritz Aduriz's opening goal in the 25th minute and made it 2-0 five minutes later against Valencia's crosstown rival.
Levante played from the 72nd with 10 men after recent signing Oscar Serrano received his second yellow card for fouling Piatti. Piatti scored on a rebound in the 86th minute to complete the scoring.
Valencia will host Barcelona in the first leg next week. Athletic Bilbao visits third-tier Mirandes in the other semifinal.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
advertisement
More newsAFP - Getty Images'Bad losers' and?'animals'
Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez has labeled Real Madrid's players bad losers and animals after his club won their latest ill-tempered matchup.
Yankee matchup
With the two biggest stars on the U.S. national team facing each other for the first time in 6 years, Landon Donovan?leads Everton past Clint Dempsey's Fulham.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46154092/ns/sports-soccer/
pat robertson evan rachel wood i don t know how she does it katamari roatan bobby fischer the lion king
Friday, January 27, 2012
Dwight Schrute Spin-Off From 'The Office' In Works
NBC considering launching an 'Office' spin-off focused on Rainn Wilson's Dwight Schrute character.
By Gil Kaufman
Rainn Wilson as Dwight in "The Office"
Photo: NBC
Up until now, we've gotten just an occasional glimpse at the bizarre happenings at the Schrute family beet farm. But if NBC has its way, we may be seeing a lot more of agritourism hotel owner and Assistant to the Regional Manager at Dunder Mifflin Dwight Schrute.
According to The Hollywood Reporter an unnamed source at NBC confirmed that the network is thinking about a spin-off centered on Rainn Wilson's paintball-loving character and his family's farm. The show would delve deeper into life at Schrute Farms and include a number of other Schrutes.
With "The Office" not yet picked up for a ninth season, the plan is to start testing the concept in an episode later this season. So far, it's believed that Wilson, as well as actor/showrunner Paul Lieberstein and executive producer Ben Silverman are involved.
"Paul and Rainn have been joking for years about Dwight's life on the farm, his family and how ill-suited he is to run a B&B," a source told the Deadline Hollywood. "A while ago, it started to feel like a show to them. NBC agreed, it's been further developed to include multiple generations, many cousins and neighbors. At its base it will be about a family farm struggling to survive and a family trying to stay together."
As the Reporter noted, while Wilson's quirky character has a devoted cult following -- as evidenced by such comprehensive fan sites as Schrute Space -- the spin-off concept is not necessarily a slam-dunk. Just as the short-lived, unfunny "Friends" spin-off "Joey" crashed and burned, it's possible that the shrinking "Office" fan base might not follow Dwight off into the beet fields.
"The Office" got a major overhaul at the end of last season, when star Steve Carell left and actor James Spader was brought in as new boss Robert California. So far, the strong ensemble cast has struggled to find its legs without Carell's outrageously clueless Michael Scott to ground them and average ratings have slipped down by more than a million viewers since last season. Given the show's legacy and appeal to young male viewers, though, the trade magazine said it was likely "The Office" would be picked up for another season.
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677930/the-office-spin-off-dwight.jhtml
justified southland sopa blackout protect ip act wisconsin recall wisconsin recall jim caldwell
Distimo: Being Featured In The Android Market Can Boost Apps? Rank By 172%
Earlier this morning, we looked at the findings from analytics provider?Distimo's latest report, which examined what happens when mobile apps go on sale. (Spoiler: when priced correctly, revenue goes way up). The second part of the report looked at the ranking gains that occur when an app achieves "featured" status in a mobile app store like iTunes or the Android Market.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/czzWH_6rM1c/
joost how to get ios 5 how to get ios 5 eric holder eric holder avengers trailer the avengers trailer
Thursday, January 26, 2012
NimbleBit calls out Zynga over Tiny Tower clone Dream Heights
Powerhouse social gaming company Zynga, as you may or may not know has a new app on the market called Dream Heights that looks strikingly similar to small indie developer NimbleBits's award winning Tiny Tower -- so much so that NimbleBit has called Zynga out on the matter.
 |  |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Lt9L567fVz4/story01.htm
east river east river harry shum jr workaholics workaholics new iphone 5 release mary j blige
Megaupload founder refused bail in New Zealand (Reuters)
AUCKLAND (Reuters) ? A New Zealand judge ordered the founder of online file-sharing site Megaupload.com to be held in custody for another month Wednesday, saying the suspected Internet pirate posed a significant flight risk.
Kim Dotcom, a German national also known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, was remanded in custody until Feb 22 ahead of a hearing of an extradition application by the United States.
Prosecutors say Dotcom was the ringleader of a group that netted $175 million since 2005 by copying and distributing music, movies and other copyrighted content without authorization. Dotcom's lawyers say the company simply offered online storage and that he will fight extradition.
The judge said there was a significant risk Dotcom, who had passports and bulging bank accounts in three names, could try to
flee the country.
"With sufficient determination and financial resources, flight risk remains a real and significant possibility which I cannot discount and bail is declined," Judge David McNaughton said.
Dotcom, 38, and three others, were arrested Friday after 70 New Zealand police raided his country estate at the request of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Officers cut Dotcom out of a safe room he had barricaded himself in within the sprawling mansion, reputedly New Zealand's most expensive home.
LONG BATTLE LOOMS
Dotcom, dressed in the same black trousers and track suit top he was arrested in, showed no emotion when the decision was read out, but his lawyer said he was "very disappointed" and would appeal immediately.
"The judge has agreed with much of what we have submitted but he has taken a different view on the issue of flight risk," Paul Davison told reporters.
The judge said the finding of unlicensed and illegal guns in the mansion, northwest of Auckland, pointed to possible criminal connections, which could make it easier to escape to Germany, where Dotcom would be safe from extradition.
Dotcom's lawyers said he emphatically denied the charges. They also said he was suffering from diabetes and hypertension as well as receiving treatment for a slipped disc.
He now faces four weeks behind bars in Auckland's main remand prison.
Megaupload and its related sites were among the Internet's most popular, allowing users to upload and share all kinds of content.
The site boasted having a billion users and as much as 4 percent of all Internet traffic. Prosecutors say Dotcom personally made $115,000 a day from the business in 2010.
The judge said he could not assess whether the United States had a strong enough case against Dotcom or whether he had a good defense.
"All I can says is that there appears to be an arguable defense at least in respect of the breach of copyright charges," McNaughton wrote.
McNaughton said he did not know how long a hearing would take, nor could it be heard "for some months." Legal experts said the extradition process could drag on for an extended period, as with efforts to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to Sweden from Britain.
A group of Dotcom's supporters left the court dejected and refused to talk to media.
Three other men charged with Dotcom were also remanded in custody and applied to the judge for separate hearings to make individual bail applications.
(Writing by Gyles Beckford; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Nick Macfie)
leprosy elizabeth banks demi moore gabrielle giffords gabby giffords gabby giffords seal team 6
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Administration nominees awaiting next move by GOP (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Senate Republicans are returning to Washington in an angry mood over President Barack Obama's appointments to two key agencies during a year-end break.
More than 70 nominees to judgeships and senior federal agency positions are awaiting the next move from Republicans, who can use Senate rules to block votes on some or all of Obama's picks.
While Republicans return Monday to discuss their next step, recess appointee Richard Cordray is running a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the National Labor Relations Board ? with three temporary members ? is now at full strength with a Democratic majority.
Obama left more than 70 other nominees in limbo, well aware that Republicans could use Senate rules to block them.
The White House justified the appointments on grounds that Republicans were holding up the nominations to paralyze the two agencies. The consumer protection agency was established under the 2010 Wall Street reform law, which requires the bureau to have a director in order to begin policing financial products such as mortgages, checking accounts, credit cards and payday loans.
The Supreme Court has ruled that the five-member NLRB must have a three-member quorum to issue regulations or decide major cases in union-employer disputes.
Several agencies contacted by The Associated Press, including banking regulators, said they were conducting their normal business despite vacancies at the top. In some cases, nominees are serving in acting capacities.
At full strength, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has five board members. The regulation of failed banks "is unaffected," said spokesman Andrew Gray. "The three-member board has been able to make decisions without a problem." Cordray's appointment gives it a fourth member.
The Comptroller of the Currency, run by an acting chief, has kept up its regular examinations of banks. The Federal Trade Commission, operating with four board members and one vacancy, usually makes decisions unanimously.
The State Department, however, said it's important to U.S. diplomacy to fill the post of assistant secretary for western hemisphere affairs and the ambassadorships to El Salvador and Ecuador.
""We value highly our relationship with our hemispheric partners and consider diplomatic representation at the level of ambassador a top priority. This is especially true of the top diplomat charged with hemispheric relations, the assistant secretary," said William Ostick, a State Department spokesman.
Republicans have pledged retaliation for Obama's recess appointments, but haven't indicated what it might be.
"The Senate will need to take action to check and balance President Obama's blatant attempt to circumvent the Senate and the Constitution, a claim of presidential power that the Bush administration refused to make," said Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who is his party's top member on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Grassley wouldn't go further, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky hasn't tipped his hand after charging that Obama had "arrogantly circumvented the American people." Before the Senate left for its break in December, McConnell blocked Senate approval of more than 60 pending nominees because Obama wouldn't commit to making no recess appointments.
Republicans have to consider whether their actions, especially any decision to block all nominees, might play into Obama's hands.
Obama has adopted an election-year theme of "we can't wait" for Republicans to act on nominations and major proposals like his latest jobs plan. Republicans have to consider how their argument that the president is violating Constitutional checks and balances plays against Obama's stump speeches characterizing them as obstructionists.
Senate historian Donald Ritchie said the minority party has retaliated in the past for recess appointments by holding up specific nominees. "I'm not aware of any situations where no nominations were accepted," he said. The normal practice is for the two party leaders to negotiate which nominations get votes.
During the break, Republicans forced the Senate to convene for usually less than a minute once every few days to argue that there was no recess and that Obama therefore couldn't bypass the Senate's authority to confirm top officials. The administration said this was a sham, and has released a Justice Department opinion backing up the legality of the appointments.
Obama considers the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau a signature achievement of his first term. Republicans have been vehemently opposed to the bureau's setup. They argued the agency needed a bipartisan board instead of a director and should have to justify its budget to Congress instead of drawing its funding from the independent Federal Reserve.
Cordray is expected to get several sharp questions from Republicans when he testifies Tuesday before a House Oversight and Government Reform panel.
The NLRB has been a target of Republicans and business groups. Last year, the agency accused Boeing of illegally retaliating against union workers who had struck its plants in Washington state by opening a new production line at its non-union plant in South Carolina. Boeing denied the charge and the case has since been settled, but Republican anger over it and a string of union-friendly decisions from the board last year hasn't abated.
demaryius thomas transtar 316 william daley bcs championship game alabama vs lsu alabama vs lsu
Judges weigh HIV-infected man's fight to get job (AP)
ATLANTA ? A panel of federal judges appeared skeptical Wednesday of the Atlanta police department's decision to reject a job application from an HIV-infected man.
The 40-year-old man sued the city in 2010, claiming he was denied a police officer job solely because he has the virus. Atlanta attorneys argued there are other officers on the force with HIV, and said the police department does not have a blanket policy disqualifying candidates with the virus. Gay rights groups and police agencies are closely following the case.
One of the three judges signaled the lawsuit would likely be sent back to a lower judge to reconsider.
"I don't see how we can avoid a remand in this case," Circuit Judge R. Lanier Anderson said.
The judges will issue a ruling later.
The man sued under the pseudonym Richard Roe and has requested anonymity because he believes his medical condition could prevent him from other job opportunities. He said in an interview he was a former criminal investigator with the city of Los Angeles who discovered he had HIV in 1997, but that it didn't hinder his ability to perform his duties.
Roe moved to Atlanta to find a better job and joined the city's taxicab enforcement unit. In January 2006, he decided he wanted to join the police force. He passed a series of tests, but hit a snag when a blood test revealed he had the virus that causes AIDS.
The doctor didn't do any more tests, according to records, and recommended to the city that he have "no physical contact or involvement with individuals."
Atlanta attorneys said the city follows the recommendation of the physicians who examine candidates, and in this case, the doctor advised the department to limit Roe's interaction with the public.
"We're told that he can't do the job," said Robert Godfrey, a city attorney. "We have to assume when a doctor tells us this, he can't perform the essential duties."
Roe's attorney, Scott Schoettes of gay rights group Lambda Legal, said there was no evidence that Roe posed a threat to the health and safety of others. The city violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act by not fully vetting his client, Schoettes said.
Roe's advocates said the city's position perpetuates myths about HIV that have persisted for three decades. Modern medical advances have made the disease a manageable condition that in many cases won't affect job performance even in the most demanding fields, they said.
"I really see an opportunity for the city of Atlanta to make some drastic changes and move forward," Roe said. "I think that's what this whole case is about."
___
Follow Bluestein at http://www.twitter.com/bluestein
___
Follow Bluestein at http://www.twitter.com/bluestein
cupertino htc flyer review westboro stevejobs stevejobs steve jobs commencement speech sarah palin
Foodpairing Is an Interactive Mind Map for Creating Great Drinks and Dishes [Food]
Foodpairing is a beautiful webapp for exploring new flavors and food substitutions. Say you have fresh salmon on hand or some extra sharp cheddar. Use the Foodpairing explorer tree to find ingredients to combine it with, and then even more flavor combinations.
Like Visual Thesaurus, but for food and drinks, Foodpairing is designed to inspire you in the kitchen. You can search for your main ingredient and filter by category and subcategory, or start your dish or drink by choosing the main ingredient from the Foodpairing tree. Then select a complementary ingredient from one of the branches. Foodpairing matches ingredients by major flavor components (see the science behind it here).
The site also features some recipes, like "Broth of sweet onion, onion confit and cream cheese" and "Barfood: Grey Goose l'Orange - ginger - truffel" (the site is sponsored by major food and drink brands). It's less of a recipe site, however, than a flavor mixing board.
Though targeted towards professional chefs and mixologists, if you're a food enthusiast or just tired of the same old food combos, Foodpairing can be great fun. The free account gives you access to about 100 Foodpairing trees; a paid account ($15/month or $129/year) is required for the complete database. (If you're interested in flavor combinations, by the way, The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, is a great resource on the topic in dead tree format.)
Foodpairing
walmart black friday ad walmart black friday ad rick perry gaffe rick perry gaffe graham spanier graham spanier penn state board of trustees
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
iPhone 4S and iPad 2 get Corona command line jailbreak tool
iPhone 4S and iPad 2 get Corona command line jailbreak tool originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
TechnoBolt | Email this | Comments
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Lt1ekyaL3Bw/
america got talent 2011 savannah cat rachel maddow state of the union academy award nominations oscar nominees
The big get in Florida ? Rubio ? isn't giving (AP)
MIAMI ? He's young, telegenic and charismatic. He's Hispanic, Catholic and the son of Cuban immigrants. He's a tea party favorite, a GOP star and, many say, the future of the Republican Party.
Sen. Marco Rubio's endorsement would be a big get for any of the presidential contenders ahead of the Jan. 31 Florida primary ? if only he were the giving kind.
The freshman senator, who has ties to GOP presidential front-runners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, has pledged to stay neutral as Republicans pick a challenger to President Barack Obama. But Rubio's refusal to pick sides hasn't squelched intense speculation about whether Rubio might make a surprise endorsement ? and whether he'll end up as the vice presidential nominee.
Rubio publicly insists that he's not interested in either, recently telling Fox News Channel: "I've had a lot of people running with whom I've had relationships and that have been helpful to me, so I'm really not inclined to endorse in the primary."
Aides to Romney and Gingrich say neither candidate has asked Rubio for his endorsement out of respect for the senator's decision to stay out of the race. Even so, their backers are privately hoping Rubio changes his mind, given how wide open the race is only a week before Florida's Republicans weigh in on what has been a volatile nomination fight.
Rubio, 40, is one of Florida's most popular leaders, particularly among Republicans. A Quinnipiac University poll released Jan. 10 found that nearly 80 percent of Republicans and nearly half of independents approved of the job he is doing. Only a quarter of Democrats liked his job performance.
A native of Miami, the former state legislator was the youngest person and first Hispanic to become speaker of the Florida House in 2007. He vaulted onto the national stage in 2010 when he latched onto the fledging tea party movement to challenge then-Gov. Charlie Crist, a centrist and the GOP establishment's choice, in the Republican primary for an open Senate seat. Rubio's stock rose quickly, forcing Crist to flee the GOP and run as an independent. In the end, Rubio was the GOP nominee and he went on to win in the general election.
Rubio has connections to both front-runners.
He and Gingrich have known each other for years. The freshman senator brought a photo of the former House speaker to his Washington office. And Gingrich wrote the forward to Rubio's book, "100 Innovative Ideas for Florida's Future." Rubio wrote it before taking office as Florida House speaker. Gingrich has called the book "a work of genius."
Rubio's personal friend and political ally, fellow Cuban-American U.S. Rep. David Rivera, is backing Gingrich. Rubio's former Senate campaign chief Jose Mallea is running Gingrich's Florida campaign. Rubio and Gingrich both will address the Hispanic Leadership Network's conference in Miami on Friday.
Romney, for his part, endorsed Rubio over Crist in the 2010 GOP Senate primary, calling him "an American hero" and adding: "He represents what is good and so great about this land of ours."
Nearly half a dozen Rubio staffers worked for the former Massachusetts governor's 2008 presidential campaign, including the senator's chief of staff.
Both Romney and Gingrich have called Rubio an obvious choice for a vice-presidential short-list.
"He checks a lot of boxes. He comes from Florida, and he provides balance," said former Florida Sen. Mel Martinez, a Romney backer. "I can't conceive of anyone who in a list of five or six wouldn't have Rubio there."
Bill McCollum, co-chair of Gingrich's Florida campaign, said Rubio would be among Gingrich's top picks for vice president "if and when the time occurs."
It's not just that he's from Florida, a critical general-election swing state, that has Republicans speculating about his political future.
His potential appeal to Hispanic independents could be a huge draw for the eventual GOP nominee. Rubio is immensely popular among Cuban exiles, one the GOP's most reliable and influential voting blocs in this state. And his popularity with the tea party could help inject the ticket with a dose of excitement, and help ensure these activists turn out in November to support the nominee.
"He comes across as genuine and that's why people like him," said Jennifer Korn, executive director of the center-right Hispanic Leadership Network.
Indeed, Rubio, who teaches political science at Florida International University in his spare time, is a natural on the campaign trail, equally comfortable giving passionate speeches about his parents' sacrifices as he is discussing how to restructure Social Security. He also has a captivating life story that he holds up as an example of the American Dream.
Then there's Rubio's strong record as a conservative.
He gave a wildly lauded speech on behalf of a free market and compassionate conservatism last summer at the Ronald Reagan Library in California. He opposed Obama's nomination of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a Puerto Rican-American and the first Hispanic to be named to the court. He recently blocked another Puerto Rican-American's nomination for ambassador to El Salvador. While conservatives generally applaud both moves, they're not likely to play well with central Florida's fast-growing Puerto Rican community, a major swing vote in the state.
Meanwhile, his support among Hispanics is hardly rock solid nationwide. Rubio got into a public spat with Univision over how the No. 1 Spanish-language network handled a story detailing a decades-old drug conviction of Rubio's brother-in-law. He was forced to backpedal last year when it was revealed that his parents did not flee Fidel Castro's communist government as he had claimed. They were economic immigrants who arrived in the U.S. several years before the Cuban Revolution ? though they quickly came to oppose Castro and identify with the exile community.
Rubio also opposes comprehensive immigration reform and supports Arizona's tough new law targeting illegal immigration, putting him in stark contrast with the vast majority of the country's Latino voters.
Even though he's not endorsing in the presidential race, Rubio is having at least some effect on it.
Mindful of angering Rubio, nearly all of the GOP candidates declined to participate in a proposed Univision presidential debate last year. This week, Gingrich, Romney and Santorum agreed to participate in a "Meet the Candidates" forum co-hosted by the network.
Mallea said Gingrich agreed to participate only after getting Rubio's OK.
dancing with the stars results ucla basketball walmart black friday sales walmart black friday sales michelle obama booed at nascar polio cutler
Monday, January 23, 2012
Mobile Miscellany: week of January 16, 2012
Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of January 16, 2012
Mobile Miscellany: week of January 16, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Z1pgMCmQ7mc/
jim thome jim thome fun fun fun fest fun fun fun fest move your money robert schuller guy fawkes day
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Indian casinos struggle to get out from under debt (AP)
HARTFORD, Conn. ? The warning from the ratings agency could not have been more direct: The parent company of the Mohegan Sun faces a "wall of debt" due early this year as the casino, struggling with rising competition and a weak economy that's hammered consumer spending, tries to refinance hundreds of millions of dollars in loans.
The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority has $505 million in loans outstanding and another $250 million due April 1, Keith Foley, an analyst at Moody's Investors Service, recently told investors. The gaming authority, parent company of casinos in Uncasville, Conn., and Wilkes-Barre, Pa., also has about $21 million in interest payments due Feb. 15, he said.
Mohegan Sun announced this month that fourth-quarter net income rose significantly, to $46.7 million, compared with a net loss of $26.3 million in the same period in 2010. But it also said it failed to reach an agreement to refinance debt, though lenders waived a possible default.
"They get to live another day," Foley said in an interview.
Executives at Mohegan Sun did not respond to a request for an interview.
Mohegan Sun is not alone as several Indian-run casinos ? some with plans for expansion that have been put on hold ? struggle to refinance debt after being caught short when the economy went into recession in December 2007.
Foxwoods Resort Casino in eastern Connecticut seeks to restructure debt, and the Mescalero Apache tribe restructured $200 million in bonds last year for casino resort property in New Mexico. A spokeswoman said Foxwoods is in debt talks, but would not provide details.
An advantage that Indian-run casinos have over their commercial counterparts is that they cannot file for bankruptcy and creditors can't foreclose on their properties because tribal governments are sovereign, said Clyde Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.
Valerie Red-Horse, an investment banker and financial adviser who worked on the Mecalero Apache deal, called it the "best model out there," in part because it preserved the casino's financial distributions to tribal members and tribal government while bond holders kept their stakes, she said.
Some tribes have been forced to agree to cut their distributions until debt is paid down, Red-Horse said. Making sure distributions continue is a "very delicate subject. It causes a lot of angst among tribes," she said.
Financial problems at the casino, the Inn of the Mountain Gods, were due in part to the slowing economy and faltering tourism, she said.
Indian-run casinos expanded rapidly because they are strong economic development tools for the tribes that run the casinos, said Peter Kulick, a Lansing, Mich., tax and gaming lawyer. The businesses survived economic downturns in the 1970s and 1980s and were seen as immune to recessions, he said.
"In the last go-round, that's not the case," he said.
Kulick and Barrow said competition is the newest threat to casinos, even as revenue is now rising as the economy slowly improves.
"There are some real pockets of recovery going on right now," Barrow said.
Massachusetts legalized casino gambling in November, but it will be years before the three casinos authorized will be operating.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this month that he would work with the Genting Group, one of the world's largest gambling companies, to transform the Aqueduct horse track into a megaplex that would eventually include the nation's largest convention center, 3,000 hotel rooms and a major expansion of a casino that began operating in October.
For Connecticut's two casinos, "Aqueduct could be pretty substantial competitive pressure," Barrow said.
"I don't see real revenue growth for Connecticut's casinos, he said.
Declining or stagnant revenue is bad news for Connecticut state government, which takes 25 percent of what the casinos pull in. State revenue from the two casinos reached their peak in 2007 at more than $411 million, said Kevin Lembo, Connecticut's comptroller who tracks state revenue from all sources.
That's declined to $342 million in the state's budget year that ended last June 30, down $69 million, or 17 percent.
"The loss of revenue is one obvious and immediate impact for the state," Lembo said. "What happens to jobs? What happens to future development plans? These are areas of concern for everyone at this point."
Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman said the health of the two casinos is critical because they are destinations in southeast Connecticut, drawing tourists who also visit vineyards along the shoreline, the Mystic Aquarium and other sites.
"This is a big thing for us," she said.
hunter s thompson berkman berkman new beavis and butthead game 7 anya ayoung chee peru earthquake
Kodak gets 2013 deadline to reorganize
Colorful vintage Kodak film canisters are displayed in Newtown, Pa., Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Eastman Kodak Co. has obtained a bankruptcy judge's approval to borrow an initial $650 million from Citigroup Inc. to keep operations running while it peddles a trove of digital-imaging patents. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Colorful vintage Kodak film canisters are displayed in Newtown, Pa., Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Eastman Kodak Co. has obtained a bankruptcy judge's approval to borrow an initial $650 million from Citigroup Inc. to keep operations running while it peddles a trove of digital-imaging patents. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) ? Eastman Kodak Co. has a little over a year to reshape its money-losing businesses and deliver a get-out-of-bankruptcy plan.
Girded by a $950 million financing deal with Citigroup Inc., the photography pioneer aims to keep operating normally during bankruptcy while it peddles a trove of digital-imaging patents.
After years of mammoth cost-cutting and turnaround efforts, Kodak ran short of cash and sought protection from its creditors Thursday. It is required under its bankruptcy financing terms to produce a reorganization plan by Feb. 15, 2013.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper in New York gave Kodak permission to borrow an initial $650 million from Citigroup.
He also set a June 30 deadline for Kodak to seek his approval of bidding procedures for the sale of 1,100 patents that analysts estimate could fetch at least $2 billion. No buyers have emerged since Kodak started shopping them around in July.
Through negotiations and lawsuits, Kodak has already collected $1.9 billion in patent licensing fees and royalties since 2008. Last week, it intensified efforts to defend its intellectual property by filing patent-infringement lawsuits against Apple Inc., HTC Corp., Samsung Electronics and Fujifilm Corp.
Kodak is also pursuing another high-stakes dispute before the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., against Apple and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. over image-preview technology it patented in 2002.
Kodak has said it hopes to garner $1 billion from the two-year-old claim. But the commission, a U.S. arbiter for trade disputes, recently put off its decision until September.
Founded by George Eastman in 1880, Kodak turned photography into a mass commodity at the dawn of the 20th century and was known all over the world for its Brownie and Instamatic cameras and its yellow-and-red film boxes. It was brought down first by Japanese competition and then an inability to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology.
"They're a company that knows more about imaging than anyone else in the world," said Robert Burley, a photography professor at Ryerson University in Toronto. "But I think they lost their ability in their corporate structure to turn those innovations into real-world applications and get them on the market fast.
"There were just too many fronts to deal with, too many battles all at the same time."
In its Chapter 11 filing, Kodak said its nearly decade-long overhaul has been undermined since 2008 by a sluggish economy and high restructuring costs. Its payroll has plunged below 19,000 from 70,000 in 2002, and it hasn't had a profitable year since 2007.
"At the same time as we have created our digital business, we have also already effectively exited certain traditional operations, closing 13 manufacturing plants and 130 processing labs, and reducing our workforce by 47,000 since 2003," CEO Antonio Perez said.
"Now we must complete the transformation by further addressing our cost structure and effectively monetizing non-core (intellectual-property) assets," Perez said in a statement.
Kodak's stock edged up to 32 cents in over-the-counter trading Friday afternoon. The bankruptcy filing prompted the New York Stock Exchange to delist the securities.
Associated Presskaty perry mike starr ufc 141 fight card gli joseph gordon levitt katy perry russell brand kevin durant
Saturday, January 21, 2012
[OOC] Generation X
Forum rules
This forum is for OOC discussion about existing roleplays.
This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "Generation X"
This forum is for OOC discussion about existing roleplays.
Please post all "Players Wanted" threads in the Roleplayers Wanted forum!
This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Generation X?. Anything posted here will also show up there.Topic Tags:
Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "Generation X"
You may edit this first post as you see fit.
Suffice to say, I enjoy roleplays that I can escape into.
-
Xistinna - Member for 1 years
I'm still working on setting up the RP. Please be patient more information is coming, including a dressing room where you can create, and dress your character and link the image to your character sheet.
-
Xistinna - Member for 1 years
Post a reply
-
RolePlayGateway is a site built by a couple roleplayers who wanted to give a little something back to the roleplay community. The site has no intention of earning any profit, and is paid for out of their own pockets.
If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.
Who is online
Registered users: -raven-, Addrinvan, Agent*, Airanea, AliceHearts, aprilmasterson, ArcticFox*, Arietta, Ark Reahver, Artik, Ashes-6695*, AugmentationAudit, austyn101, AutomailJunkie, AzricanRepublic*, badboyej, BakaKitty, BAWADABOO, BekaL101, BewitchedXxPirate, birdguard, Blackbird26*, BleedingCrimson, bobma, Bromander Shepard*, Caelus*, Calvazara, ChaosxChild13*, ChinaSorrows, Chrome Shiny, Cika, Cloasse, cmpuncle, CriminalMinds*, Crystal Flamedance, danm36*, dealing with it, Death of a Legend, Demon of Bereavement, Demonoid, Dr. Seuss*, Draruto, DumbDora, Dyew, Eddy V. Sovorov, Eleera Cain, emotionless, Erlanis, Ersatz Creed, Esyllia, Eyrien, Fatal_Flaw_Enki, Finalhazard3*, flying monkey child, Forevveru, Gack04, Gasmask, Google [Bot], Google Adsense [Bot], Google Feedfetcher, Guardian Angel, Hadespwr*, hayleymaee, Hazezon, Higurashi, Hitomi-san, Horseygirl, Hydrall, Iced Fire, Ikuto Tsukiyomi Fan, Inno*, Irish Wolf, Irondude1994*, I'm a Radical Dame!*, jackrules158, Jadeling Hawkins*, JayZeroSnake, Jeffrey!, Jeggy, jkin*, Kai_Hibiki, Keeley*, KenXin, Kesteven, Kestrel*, KethryMoondragon, kingjpc*, Kirai-chan, Kirinak*, Korrye, Kouyou*, Kuril, Lilaiy, littlebirddogmint, LittleMissGeorgia*, lostamongtrees*, LSunday, Lucentfir, Lux_Disraeli*, Mabs, Marcus*, Markas_Graves*, minibear, Mitsuhide Akechi, Moonscar*, Morvenrocks123*, MSNbot Media, mummydove, MusicLover, Myviewing, Nevan*, nibblesnbits, nightwolf, Nocte, NorthernSoul, Oborosen, Omega_Pancake, Oran Tarlin, OurLadyofSorrows*, Penfold, pieluver, PirateofPie, Princess Awinita*, Prose, Quitelovely487, RainWish, Red Soldier*, Rem?us*, Saviarre*, Script*, Scumbag_Brain, Scythe Massak?r, Sebito, Seiken Exsa, Selene Durlan*, Setsugie, ShadowWake, Shiva, Sibrand*, silverangel_of_light*, SkullJester, Skylark Kai*, SlightlyInsane*, Smokescreen*, SnowFox*, SolrSurfr3*, Something?, Sora112112*, Sorella*, spudjohnson, Starryskies, StrawberryFoxglove, Sugarcake101*, supertoastgirl, Sylwyn*, Terrorer, Tetsuya Shimazu, The Angry Penguin*, The Illusionist*, The Painkiller, The Sickness, TheDarkWorgen, TheJen., TheTreForce*, Thorait*, Tiko*, TinnaOsp, Tyliana*, Usui*, utahann*, vampyre_smiles, Vio-Lance*, virginny, VitaminHeart*, Walking-travesty*, Whiskey Go Dark, Wing06Twilight, wolfoftheage, Wren, Wudgeous, XavierDantius32*, xXxCryptic-AngelxXx, zen_ink, Zenia*, ZeroTolerance
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/AFOcwhhim68/viewtopic.php
2pac kabul build build miss usa 2011 miss usa 2011 stevie nicks
Our Tar-Sands Man in Washington
Illustration by Anthony?Tremmaglia.
In early October 2009, Manitoba premier Gary Doer flew to Los Angeles and wound up talking about polar bears. He was attending the Governor?s Global Climate Summit, an environmental forum hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger and other American politicians, where, at one point, a group of young activists approached him for a video interview about global warming. Doer, dressed in a pinstriped suit and looking uncomfortable in the California heat, told them about Churchill, Manitoba, where polar bears are so common that authorities prevent the animals from romping through town by capturing them in a compound??a polar bear jail,? Doer called it, with evident amusement. But because of climate change, he said, it?s now ?so warm in the summer, we?re putting air-conditioning in for the polar bears.? One of his questioners seemed astonished. ?Wow,? she said. ?What a prime?example.?
About two weeks later, Doer left provincial politics to become Canada?s ambassador to the United States. This also made him one of the world?s most important pitchmen for Alberta oil. Since his appointment, Doer has racked up countless hours and air miles trying to convince American policymakers that the infamous tar sands?the bitumen deposits championed by the Conservative government but loathed by the environmental movement?aren?t so bad after?all.
It?s an unusual task for Doer, who, as the NDP premier of Manitoba for most of the last decade, was widely seen as a doughty green crusader. In 2005, BusinessWeek named him one of the twenty most important leaders fighting climate change. Doer loudly favoured the Kyoto Accord, worked with American governors to cut tail-pipe emissions and went out of his way to protect vast swaths of Manitoba?s boreal forest. Now many environmentalists consider him a traitor, but Doer proudly calls himself a pragmatist. ?I don?t live in a world where I think you kayak to England,? he told me. ?I do believe we can improve on efficiencies on oil consumption. But I?ll still drive to the lake on the weekends. We don?t live in a world of absolutes, and I don?t?either.?
The Canadian Embassy on Pennsylvania Avenue is a sleek, white Arthur Erickson building; it looks like a Norwegian furniture designer?s idea of a DC power hub. From his sixth-floor office, Doer has a postcard view of the United States Capitol building, and Congress is close enough for politicians to dine with the Canadian ambassador before returning to the floor for a vote. This proximity is just one weapon in a lobbying arsenal that puts Doer?s team in touch with hundreds of senators, house members and White House staffers. The embassy also deals with the US Department of State, which is currently deciding whether to approve Keystone XL, a controversial pipeline extension. Proposed by Calgary energy company TransCanada, Keystone XL would send about seven hundred thousand barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the Gulf Coast of?Texas.
At times, Doer and the State Department get rather cozy. In December 2010, an official at the US embassy in Ottawa wrote an email to a TransCanada lobbyist about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:? ?Oversaw S?s trip to Ottawa yesterday for the trilat. KXL not raised, but Doer flew back on the plane with her.? A relentless traveller, Doer has met with politicians all over the US in his two years as ambassador, and usually manages to bring Canadian oil into the conversation. In public appearances, he tends to ramble and speak off the cuff. He has round shoulders, a slight stoop and a gravelly Prairies accent, and prefers hamburgers to the amuse-bouches of the Washington schmooze circuit?a down-home image he has deliberately cultivated. ?He?s the guy you want to have a beer with,? said Jared Wesley, a political scientist at the University of?Manitoba.
Doer?s lobbying for the tar sands, like his political persona, is predicated on this kind of folksy straightforwardness. ?Do I think we?re perfect and we don?t have to improve? No,? he told me. ?Obviously we have to move ahead on making that resource more sustainable.? In his charm offensives, he returns again and again to a handful of favourite expressions and anecdotes. He is fond of saying that environmentalists use ?frozen facts? on tar-sands emissions, meaning their numbers don?t reflect improved production standards. Doer often says this is like discussing computers as if they were still rooms full of machines. ?I have been surprised in Washington by some of the numbers that people are using about Alberta?s oil. When the California thermal emissions are greater than the oil sands, that?s a fact you have to point out,? he said, referring to an extraction process that involves heating wells to maximize output. ?Some of the environmentalists don?t like me saying?that.?
The ambassador frequently harps on one issue particularly resonant in Washington right now: energy security. Last January, slouching in a chair in the lobby of Chicago?s Fairmont Hotel, Doer spoke to an Illinois television host and recited one of his preferred quotes. ?I think the governor of Montana said it best just recently,? Doer began, ?when he said, ?I don?t send my National Guard from Montana to Fort McMurray, where the oil?s coming from. Unfortunately, regrettably, they?re in the Middle East risking their lives.?? Two months later, President Barack Obama gave a speech at Georgetown University in which he argued that the US should look to its more stable allies for oil?specifically, Mexico, Brazil and?Canada.
Canada is America?s largest supplier of crude oil and refined petroleum, sending nearly 2.5 million barrels south of the border every day?about 25 percent of the US?s total oil imports. Over half of that is from the tar sands alone, which export about as much oil to the US as Mexico, America?s number-two supplier, does. (Saudi Arabia, the world?s largest crude-oil exporter, comes in third.)
There are almost 170 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in the tar sands, eight times more than the proven reserves of the entire United States. But such big business doesn?t come easily. Bitumen, the tar-like form of petroleum found in Alberta, is more difficult to extract than conventional, free-flowing oil?which also makes the process more?resource-intensive.
There are two ways to get oil out of the tar sands: mining and in-situ extraction. Mining involves using hydraulic or electric shovels to dump mounds of tarry sand into trucks that are able to carry up to 350 metric tonnes. The material is then driven to another site, where it?s pounded into slurry, before being shipped away again to have the bitumen separated from the sand using a mixture of heated water and chemicals. In-situ recovery basically consists of drilling deep into the earth and shooting steam into the wells, heating the bitumen until it flows like conventional oil. These expensive techniques have only become truly cost-effective over the last decade as oil prices have skyrocketed, prompting an explosion of tar-sands?development.
Despite some improvements?like reusing water after stripping it of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide?oil production in Alberta remains dirty. According to the Pembina Institute, an environmentalist think tank, the tar sands represent the single biggest share of Canada?s greenhouse-gas emissions growth. Currently, the tar sands are responsible for 7 percent of Canada?s total greenhouse-gas emissions; by 2020, Environment Canada projects, that number will jump to 12 percent. Oil companies say that, since 1990, they have reduced the level of emissions per barrel by 39 percent. But total production is expected to rise to 2.2 million barrels a day by 2015, and Environment Canada estimates that overall tar-sands emissions will triple by 2020. ?They?ve been squeezing out efficiency gains, but when your output is going up, your emissions are going up,? said Matt Price, a former campaign director at the non-profit Environmental Defence. ?The ecosystem doesn?t care about emissions per barrel. It cares about total?emissions.?
The tar sands don?t just contribute to climate change; they also harm local communities, habitats and wildlife. Somewhere between eight thousand and one hundred thousand birds?an admittedly vague estimate?die each year from landing in Alberta?s tailing ponds, according to a 2008 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an American organization. Provincial health officials have also found unusually high rates of a rare bile-duct cancer in residents of Fort Chipewyan, a small, predominantly Aboriginal town downstream from the Fort McMurray tar sands. More than two years after the initial findings, Alberta Health recently began a follow-up study of the?community.
Some American politicians and activists have taken up the anti-tar-sands crusade. This summer, widely publicized protests against the Keystone XL pipeline descended on Washington. Over a thousand demonstrators were arrested, including a former Obama campaign worker and the author Bill McKibben. (Doer has made the approval of Keystone XL a primary goal of his ambassadorship, and he dismissed the protests as ?noise.?) Canada?s National Energy Board has already approved Keystone XL, but, in early November, the US State Department announced that it was delaying its final decision?initially expected by the end of 2011?because the pipeline ?could affect the health and safety of the American people as well as the?environment.?
Last fall, California Democrat Henry Waxman, a progressive bulldog and foe of Big Oil, attended a multiple sclerosis fundraiser at the Canadian Embassy and gave staffers an earful about the tar sands. Obama, for his part, also occasionally expresses reservations about the project?s ecological impact. ?These tar sands, there are some environmental questions about how destructive they are, potentially, what are the dangers there, and we?ve got to examine all those questions,? he told a town-hall gathering in Pennsylvania in April. The president?s remarks?and his use of the term ?tar sands? rather than the industry?s preferred ?oil sands??prompted a concerned phone call from the Canadian?Embassy.
In spring 2011, WikiLeaks released a 2008 cable from the US Embassy in Ottawa called ?Stephen Harper?s Christmas Wish List,? which mockingly compiled some of the Conservative prime minister?s dream scenarios. ?Scientists discover that Canada?s oil sands have a positive effect on climate change and can be efficiently extracted even at a world oil price of $10 per barrel,? reads one item. It ends, rather acidly, ?And may your own wishlists have better chances of?success!?
Gary Doer was born in Winnipeg on March 31, 1948, and grew up in River Heights, a wealthy Tory suburb far removed from the NDP?s Winnipeg stronghold. After attending a private, Jesuit-run Catholic high school, he enrolled at the University of Manitoba for just one year before dropping out. As Robert Wardaugh and Barry Glenn Ferguson write in Manitoba Premiers of the 19th and 20th Centuries, he quickly started working as a youth counsellor at a jail before getting a job at the Manitoba Youth Centre, where he rose through the managerial ranks. In 1979, his interest piqued by labour issues, Doer was elected president of the Manitoba Government Employees Association (now the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union), a post he held until he entered politics in 1986. At MGEA, he acquired a reputation as a skillful negotiator for issues such as pay equity and daycare for employees??children.
Doer eventually considered running for office. He had no party affiliation, and was courted by the Liberals, Tories and NDP alike. ?When he joined the NDP, some Tories were upset because they thought they had him,? said the University of Manitoba?s Jared Wesley. But the NDP gave him an easy riding, and Doer won his first election in 1986, entering Premier Howard Pawley?s cabinet?immediately.
Two years later, party dissensions brought the government down, and Pawley resigned, leaving the leadership open. Doer jumped on the opportunity, but the Progressive Conservatives and Liberals crushed the NDP in the next election. (Around this time, Doer married Ginny Devine, co-founder of the prominent polling firm Viewpoints Research. They now have two?daughters.)
It took an eleven-year slog to bring the NDP back into power. Elected to a slim majority in 1999, Doer went on to become a wildly popular premier. He had high approval ratings for most of his decade-long tenure, peaking at 81 percent in March 2008. During the next two elections?in 2003 and 2007?Doer led the NDP to successively larger majorities. His victories rested on stewarding the traditionally leftist party to the political centre on issues such as small-business tax cuts and crime. Some have compared his style to Bill Clinton and Tony Blair?s ?Third Way,? a mix of left-wing social policies and right-wing fiscal reforms. Doer rejects this. ??Third way?? We were doing some of these things long before we even knew the term existed,? he tells Wesley in a recent book on Prairies?politics.
But outside of Manitoba, Doer was best known for his environmental efforts. In 2007, he brought Manitoba into the Western Climate Initiative, an association of American states and Canadian provinces dedicated to reducing their greenhouse-gas emissions. The press release accompanying the announcement included a catalogue of Doer?s climate-change policies: instituting greener building regulations, phasing out a sclerotic coal plant, setting stronger emissions standards for cars and buses made in Manitoba. The release also contained a barb directed at Doer?s now-boss, Prime Minister Stephen Harper: ?This kind of agreement illustrates that individual state and provincial governments can take concrete actions to fight climate change in the absence of clear federal?leadership.?
The ambassador is a longtime supporter of the Kyoto Accord, which mandates that developed countries cut their greenhouse-gas emissions to at least 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. As a signatory, Canada agreed to cut its levels by 6 percent, a target it has not met, in part because of the indifference of the Harper government. But in 2008, as premier, Doer passed an ambitious bill that required Manitoba to reach its own Kyoto targets. (He has since been more dismissive of the Accord, telling the Texas oil-and-gas trade magazine E&P that the less-ambitious plan discussed at the 2009 Copenhagen Summit ?is a more doable proposal from our perspective than?Kyoto.?)
Perhaps Doer?s most notable achievement was his persistent defence of Lake Winnipeg?s east side, which is part of the world?s largest boreal forest and home to many First Nations communities. On one of the last days of his premiership, he set aside a $10 million trust fund in support of the campaign to make 4.3 million hectares on the lake?s east side a UNESCO World Heritage?Site.
Over the course of his last two years in office, Doer also battled to reroute the massive Bipole III hydroelectric transmission line?set to pass through the east side of Lake Winnipeg?along the west side. That route would be more circuitous but less environmentally destructive, and is expected to cost hundreds of millions of additional dollars. (The debate, as it played out in the press, gave rise to months of vicious ?east side? versus ?west side? sparring, bizarrely reminiscent of territorial rap feuds.) Doer?s advocacy for the lake?s east side earned him friends in the environmental movement, whose goodwill he has occasionally harnessed during his time as?ambassador.
Last March, the Canadian Embassy in Washington organized an event to cash in on Doer?s green reputation. The embassy had been taking heat over the destruction of Alberta?s boreal forest from tar-sands development, so staffers invited forestry-industry representatives and environmental activists to the Dirksen Senate Office Building to talk about the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement, a commitment between companies and advocacy groups to preserve some of Canada?s woodlands. With boreal-forest preservation, Doer was on safe ground. The real purpose of the event was not so much to discuss ?A New Model for Balancing Resource Use and Conservation,? its official billing, as to show off Doer?s sustainability bona?fides.
As the afternoon wound down, the embassy got some help from an unexpected source. Richard Brooks, a Greenpeace campaign coordinator, interrupted another participant and took the floor. Embassy staffers were nervous: they were used to Greenpeace chastising them for promoting the tar sands. But when Brooks began to speak, they grew?relieved.
?I think the ambassador was being quite humble when he was stating the developments in Manitoba during his premiership,? Brooks said. He went on to praise Doer, in detail, for establishing the $10 million Lake Winnipeg trust fund and rerouting the Bipole III line. ?Pushing the hydro corridor to the west side is potentially going to be more expensive and harder to do, but he recognized that the east side of Lake Winnipeg is some of the most pristine wilderness in Canada, and worthy of keeping intact and precious,? Brooks went on. ?So I wanted to thank him for his leadership on forest-conservation issues in?Canada.?
Despite his praise, Brooks still bristles at Doer?s apparent contradictions. ?Do I think it?s odd, given his views on climate change, that he is also promoting the use of tar-sands oil in the United States? Yeah, I think it?s odd,? Brooks told me. ?Certainly, on the surface, it doesn?t seem to line up.? In 2010, Matt Price of Environmental Defence penned an op-ed for the Winnipeg Free Press titled, ?What became of Gary Doer the green premier?? ?It is sad to lose Gary Doer to the tarsands,? Price wrote, ?and to the Harper government?s hostility to the emergence of the clean energy?economy.?
In his ambassadorial role, Doer has become skilled at painting critics of his Washington agenda as extremists. In October 2010, when CTV asked him why environmentalists opposed the Keystone XL pipeline, Doer replied, ?Of course, some people that are opposed to all fossil fuels, and some people that are opposed to the oil sands, are trying to use this expansion here in Washington and asking for the administration to not approve this?pipeline.?
But his assessment isn?t fair to some of the pipeline?s more unlikely detractors. Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns?senators from conservative Nebraska?have been sharply critical of the initial proposed route for Keystone XL, which would have run through the Ogallala aquifer, an underground water reservoir that stretches over eight states and provides drinking water for 82 percent of the area?s population. Much of the aquifer sits under Nebraska and covers all but a few slivers of the state?s territory. The senators were concerned that the oil could leak into the Midwest?s water supply. Although the Canadian Embassy said these worries were unfounded, in November TransCanada agreed to change Keystone XL?s proposed route to avoid the Ogallala?reservoir.
Johanns, in a statement on his website, took pains to distance himself from? environmentalists. ?To be clear, I am not opposed to oil pipelines in Nebraska,? he writes. ?In fact, several pipelines already cross our state. It is in our national interest to obtain oil from allies instead of those who may not share our values.? In any case, Nelson and Johanns are hardly as radical as Doer often depicts his opponents: Nelson is a conservative ?Blue Dog? Democrat, and Johanns is a?Republican.
The Canadian ambassador, however, is flatly dismissive of his detractors?especially those who accuse him of hypocrisy. ?I don?t have to respond to them,? he said of environmentalists. ?People should be judged by what they do, not by people putting their hand on the horn.? His public insults have sometimes alienated activists, and, evidently, the embassy is most comfortable reaching out to oil companies. Shawn Howard, a spokesman at TransCanada, the company behind Keystone XL, said the Canadian Embassy had consulted him for information on the pipeline, like how much it would cost and how many jobs it would create. ?Sometimes there are requests for information, so we?ll provide them with facts,? Howard said. Now Doer touts the same job-creation number?twenty thousand?that TransCanada advertises. The company told the Washington Post that the number comprises thirteen thousand direct jobs and seven thousand supply-chain jobs; the State Department, on the other hand, estimates the number of direct jobs at five to six?thousand.
The ambassador?s team is less interested in working with environmentalists. Danielle Droitsch, a former director of US policy at the Pembina Institute, said she has had three meetings with Doer?s staff, none of which the embassy sought out. In 2010, she visited the embassy with two First Nations representatives from northern Alberta?one from the Mikisew Cree, one from the Dene. They spoke to staffers about the air and water pollution from the tar sands, and the deleterious effect they have had on indigenous people?s health. The staffers nodded and smiled politely. ?I think you could call it slightly uncomfortable,? Droitsch said mildly. ?I can remember thinking, We don?t expect a lot from them.?
But even Doer?s environmental legacy?supposedly the cornerstone of his premiership?has its critics. Last February, the respected non-profit Manitoba Wildlands compiled a list of all the environment-related promises the provincial NDP had made since 1999, when Doer first became premier. The group counted 105 pledges, of which less than a third had been ?fulfilled? or ?partially fulfilled.? The broken promises mostly concerned water and forest?preservation.
Manitoba Wildlands director Gaile Whelan Enns even criticized what is supposed to be Doer?s flagship achievement: protecting the east side of Lake Winnipeg. She thinks the much-publicized $10 million trust fund is so small as to be useless. ?It looks great for him, but there?s no money,? she said. (Doer grew testy when I brought up Enns, retorting, ?She would say that if it was ten times that?amount.?)
Enns thinks that Doer was, in essence, a press-release premier, more concerned with flashy announcements??things that make people smile,? as she put it?than substantive policy. Jared Wesley, who takes a broadly favourable view of Doer?s premiership, conceded that Doer ?has no real policy legacy.? Eric Reder, Manitoba campaign director for the non-profit Wilderness Committee, echoed that assessment. ?The entirety of his term was incremental?little decisions,? Reder said.
It?s the sort of thing you expect a professional environmentalist to say about a career politician. But Reder has a point: those familiar with Doer?s political ideals say he sees compromise as a virtue in its own right. For example, during his tenure as premier, the Manitoba government raised the minimum wage from $6 an hour in 2000 to $9 in 2009?a steady, gradual increase that managed to annoy both anti-poverty activists and the business?community.
Despite his green reputation, Doer displayed the same middle-of-the-road approach to the environment when he was premier. Asked about Doer?s changed position on the Kyoto Accord, his one-time minister of conservation Stan Struthers said, ?I know with Gary, it?s always about moving forward, whether it?s using the Kyoto Accord or the Copenhagen approach.? Doer, for his part, has displayed even less attachment to Kyoto than Struthers gave him credit for. When we spoke, he explained his earlier support for the Accord in brute economic terms: he wanted to use Kyoto to help promote Manitoba?s abundant hydropower as a viable alternative to fossil?fuels.
This approach?pragmatism as principle?was also obvious in Doer?s public campaign to reroute hydro transmission lines away from the east side of Lake Winnipeg. At the time, Doer pointed out that the state of Minnesota, which receives 10 percent of its electricity from Manitoba, has environmental requirements of some of the energy it purchases. Moving the transmission line to the west side of the lake was a way to ensure that the state kept buying Manitoban energy, he argued; the extra building costs were a one-off, and insignificant in light of the yearly windfall of Minnesota?s hydroelectric shopping spree. ?The issues of customer relations, the revenue of $800 million a year, is very important to factor in, relative to the capital costs, [which are] one-time only,? he told Global TV in 2008. (Opponents retorted that many of Manitoba Hydro?s dams were too large to meet Minnesota?s environmental requirements anyway.) It was budget anxiety, rather than concerns about forests or climate change, that partially motivated Doer to take the boldest conservation step of his?premiership.
That dogged practicality hasn?t always had positive side effects for the environment. Doer enthusiastically fostered Manitoba?s own burgeoning oil boom, and, during his tenure, March 2007 was the peak of the province?s oil production, with over three-quarters of a million barrels pumped out in that month alone. In 2008, his government extended the province?s Drilling Incentive Program, which gives companies that drill new wells special breaks on taxes and Crown royalties until they reach a certain production threshold. In 2010, the year after Doer left office, Manitoba exported $371 million in?oil.
Manitoba is also an important conduit for Alberta?s oil exports. Between 2000 and 2010, an average of more than $424 million in oil flowed each year through Manitoba?s pipelines, primarily en route from Alberta and Saskatchewan to the US. Calgary energy company Enbridge has recently completed two new pipelines, Alberta Clipper and Southern Lights, both of which cross the southwestern corner of Manitoba, connecting the tar sands to American markets. As premier, Doer praised Alberta?s use of its enormous oil wealth, indicating that he hoped to follow that province?s model in his development of Manitoba?s hydro resources. ?You either build what you?ve got as strengths, like Alberta has done with oil?or we?re going to continue to be a mediocre province,? he told an interviewer in 2007, according to Manitoba Premiers of the 19th and 20th Centuries. ?Our strength is hydro and renewable?resources.?
Doer never really considered himself an environmentalist at all. ?You?re green, you?re not green. You?re this, you?re that,? he said to me. The idea that his advocacy of the tar sands might be at odds with his political record seems to him an elitist, even unhinged, notion. ?He doesn?t like academics very much?he thinks we look at the world in theoretical ways,? Wesley said. ?He doesn?t believe in the academic approach to politics. He believes in the street?approach.?
In November 2010, Doer visited the Dallas Business Club to give a speech on energy security. He was his usual mix of down-to-earth and disdainful. At one point, Doer recalled a conversation he had with Texas governor Rick Perry, when Doer was still premier and before Perry became a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Perry had mentioned that, according to his own research, Manitobans were the largest per-capita consumers of Slurpees in North America. (7/11, the Slurpee distributor, is headquartered in Dallas.) Doer, fascinated by the statistic, did some research of his own. Texans, it turns out, are the largest per-capita consumers of Manitoba-made Crown Royal whiskey. As a goodwill gesture, Doer gave Perry a Texas mickey of the stuff, sealed in a diplomatic?pouch.
The audience at the Dallas Business Club cracked up. But later in the speech, Doer started into his familiar defence of the tar sands?and his typical swipes at green critics. ?You hear environmental concerns, and I consider myself pretty close to being in touch with the environment,? he said, before launching into one of his favourite anecdotes. ?I heard a Hollywood actress that?s gorgeous, gorgeous??he paused and balled his face up for emphasis, as the crowd snickered??in a panel in Copenhagen say she weaned herself completely off of fossil fuels. She was on this panel and nobody challenged her, because she was, in fact, gorgeous.? The audience?s laughter grew louder. ?But the reality is,? Doer finished, grinning, ?that?s a long kayak ride from Hollywood to?Copenhagen.?
See the rest of Issue 42 (Winter?2011).
Subscribe?to?Maisonneuve?today.
Related on?maisonneuve.org:
?Mud and Butterflies
?Sink or Swim
?The Green?Gospel
Follow Maisonneuve on?Facebook,?Twitter?and?Tumblr.
Source: http://maisonneuve.org/pressroom/article/2012/jan/16/our-tar-sands-man-washington/
nigel tufnel day black friday deals molokai molokai ashton kutcher twitter sandusky barbados
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)