For all the talk from the various corporate media sources expressing puzzlement at exactly what the mission of the Occupy Wall Street and its sister protests around the world, you’d think that we haven’t had massive income inequality, exponentially rising costs of living with stagnant wages, high unemployment, huge multi-national corporations outsourcing and paying no taxes and all the associated symptoms of economic injustice. But just in case the rest of the media needs a refresher course, Keith Olbermann reads the first collective statement from the Occupy Wall Street participants: As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies. As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known. They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage. They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses. They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization. They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices. They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions. They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right. They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay. They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility. They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance. They have sold our privacy as a commodity. They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit. They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce. They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them. They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil. They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit. They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit. They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media. They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt. They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas. They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. * To the people of the world, We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power. Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone. To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal. Join us and make your voices heard! Bottom line: We are the 99 percent tired of being exploited by the 1 percent.
Continue reading …For all the talk from the various corporate media sources expressing puzzlement at exactly what the mission of the Occupy Wall Street and its sister protests around the world, you’d think that we haven’t had massive income inequality, exponentially rising costs of living with stagnant wages, high unemployment, huge multi-national corporations outsourcing and paying no taxes and all the associated symptoms of economic injustice. But just in case the rest of the media needs a refresher course, Keith Olbermann reads the first collective statement from the Occupy Wall Street participants: As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies. As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known. They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage. They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses. They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization. They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices. They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions. They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right. They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay. They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility. They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance. They have sold our privacy as a commodity. They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit. They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce. They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them. They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil. They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit. They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit. They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media. They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt. They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas. They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. * To the people of the world, We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power. Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone. To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal. Join us and make your voices heard! Bottom line: We are the 99 percent tired of being exploited by the 1 percent.
Continue reading …For all the talk from the various corporate media sources expressing puzzlement at exactly what the mission of the Occupy Wall Street and its sister protests around the world, you’d think that we haven’t had massive income inequality, exponentially rising costs of living with stagnant wages, high unemployment, huge multi-national corporations outsourcing and paying no taxes and all the associated symptoms of economic injustice. But just in case the rest of the media needs a refresher course, Keith Olbermann reads the first collective statement from the Occupy Wall Street participants: As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies. As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known. They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage. They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses. They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization. They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices. They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions. They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right. They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay. They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility. They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance. They have sold our privacy as a commodity. They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit. They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce. They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them. They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil. They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit. They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit. They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media. They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt. They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas. They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. * To the people of the world, We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power. Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone. To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal. Join us and make your voices heard! Bottom line: We are the 99 percent tired of being exploited by the 1 percent.
Continue reading …The solution to America’s endless economic woes is apparently the Olsen twins’ $39,000 backpack. In a Women’s Wear Daily interview from last week just getting some attention , Ashley explains why she and her sister thought extreme luxury might sell: “During our last economic crisis in the US, the only…
Continue reading …This is sure to ramp up the debate over whether the US was right to kill one of its own citizens, Anwar al-Awlaki: Reuters reports that a secretive panel places militants like him on a kill or capture list, and that there are no public records of the panel’s operations…
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The Duchess of Alba—one of Spain’s wealthiest women—has defied her children’s wishes and married a civil servant 24 years her junior. On Oct. 5 the 85-year old exchanged vows with Alfonso Diez, 61, at a small ceremony held at Palacio de las Duenas, her 15th-century residence in Seville’s old quarter. The eccentric duchess, who has
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Until recently, Huaxi was a poor farming community, typical of eastern China. Now,
Continue reading …Until recently, Huaxi was a poor farming community, typical of eastern China. Now,
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Carbon plan to be shelved over funding shortage as fears grow for Tories’ green agenda after chancellor’s ‘austerity’ remark Scottish Power is understood to have pulled the plug on a major green energy scheme at Longannet power station, Fife, close to the Firth of Forth. The threatened scrapping comes amid growing concern that David Cameron and George Osborne want to scale back the green agenda on the grounds that low carbon technology, such as carbon capture storage (CCS) and offshore wind power, cost too much in a time of austerity. The chancellor told the Conservative conference this week that if he had his way the UK would cut “carbon emissions no slower but also no faster than our fellow countries in Europe”. Scottish Power and its partners Shell and the National Grid have just completed a detailed study of the Longannet scheme. They are concerned about its commercial viability without more public backing.The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) had promised £1bn but the developers are understood to be saying they cannot proceed unless more money is provided to enable them to trial a scheme which involves burying carbon emissions in the North Sea. Both sides insist “talks are ongoing” but well-placed industry and political sources say the process is “pretty much over” and a statement is expected shortly. Jeff Chapman, chief executive of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association, said the collapse of Longannet would be a “severe disappointment” for the wider hopes of the sector. A senior Conservative backbencher with knowledge of the energy sector told the Guardian he expected the CCS deal to collapse within weeks. He said blame lay with the Labour government, which had dithered in awarding the CCS demonstration contract until only one bidder was left, leaving the government in an impossible negotiating position. A DECC spokesman said Longannet was only one CCS project and the government still planned to choose another three that could be eligible for cash from an EU fund by the end of the year. In May DECC submitted seven UK-based CCS projects for European funding, including Longannet, but the Fife scheme was by far the most advanced and is spearheading the drive to develop the new technology in Britain. Ministers have repeatedly stressed the importance of CCS as a way to keep coal and possibly other fossil-fuel burning power stations in operation without undermining moves to cut carbon emissions and counter global warming.But they have already seen E.ON back out of plans to construct a new coal-fired power station with prototype CCS technology at Kingsnorth in Kent. At 2,400MW, Longannet is the third largest coal-fired power station in Europe and was once highlighted as Scotland’s biggest single polluter. In 2009 at the launch of a small-scale pilot study Ignacio Galán, the chairman of Scottish Power and its Spanish parent group Iberdrola, highlighted the importance of the scheme. “We believe that the UK can lead the world with CCS technology, creating new skills, jobs and opportunities for growth,” he said. “There is the potential to create an industry on the same scale as North Sea oil, and we will invest in Scotland and the UK to help realise this potential.” Charles Hendry, the energy minister, said in May that Longannet and other CCS schemes in the UK showed it was “at the cutting edge of the low carbon agenda.” But an industrialist in the department told the Guardian ministers were now privately questioning renewable power and other schemes that involved substantial public subsidies. Ministers have come under sustained lobbying from traditional power companies and energy intensive manufacturers to concentrate on lower priced, higher carbon fuels such as gas. WWF Scotland’s Director, Dr Richard Dixon, said: “This news is deeply worrying. If the UK truly wants to lead the development of this technology, as many politicians have said, then we hope that all those involved can find a way to make this project happen. It would be a major blow to international efforts to develop carbon capture and storage if this scheme were not to happen at Longannet. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) Energy Fossil fuels Carbon emissions Climate change Coal Renewable energy Scotland Green politics George Osborne Conservatives Terry Macalister Damian Carrington guardian.co.uk
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Carbon plan to be shelved over funding shortage as fears grow for Tories’ green agenda after chancellor’s ‘austerity’ remark Scottish Power is understood to have pulled the plug on a major green energy scheme at Longannet power station, Fife, close to the Firth of Forth. The threatened scrapping comes amid growing concern that David Cameron and George Osborne want to scale back the green agenda on the grounds that low carbon technology, such as carbon capture storage (CCS) and offshore wind power, cost too much in a time of austerity. The chancellor told the Conservative conference this week that if he had his way the UK would cut “carbon emissions no slower but also no faster than our fellow countries in Europe”. Scottish Power and its partners Shell and the National Grid have just completed a detailed study of the Longannet scheme. They are concerned about its commercial viability without more public backing.The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) had promised £1bn but the developers are understood to be saying they cannot proceed unless more money is provided to enable them to trial a scheme which involves burying carbon emissions in the North Sea. Both sides insist “talks are ongoing” but well-placed industry and political sources say the process is “pretty much over” and a statement is expected shortly. Jeff Chapman, chief executive of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association, said the collapse of Longannet would be a “severe disappointment” for the wider hopes of the sector. A senior Conservative backbencher with knowledge of the energy sector told the Guardian he expected the CCS deal to collapse within weeks. He said blame lay with the Labour government, which had dithered in awarding the CCS demonstration contract until only one bidder was left, leaving the government in an impossible negotiating position. A DECC spokesman said Longannet was only one CCS project and the government still planned to choose another three that could be eligible for cash from an EU fund by the end of the year. In May DECC submitted seven UK-based CCS projects for European funding, including Longannet, but the Fife scheme was by far the most advanced and is spearheading the drive to develop the new technology in Britain. Ministers have repeatedly stressed the importance of CCS as a way to keep coal and possibly other fossil-fuel burning power stations in operation without undermining moves to cut carbon emissions and counter global warming.But they have already seen E.ON back out of plans to construct a new coal-fired power station with prototype CCS technology at Kingsnorth in Kent. At 2,400MW, Longannet is the third largest coal-fired power station in Europe and was once highlighted as Scotland’s biggest single polluter. In 2009 at the launch of a small-scale pilot study Ignacio Galán, the chairman of Scottish Power and its Spanish parent group Iberdrola, highlighted the importance of the scheme. “We believe that the UK can lead the world with CCS technology, creating new skills, jobs and opportunities for growth,” he said. “There is the potential to create an industry on the same scale as North Sea oil, and we will invest in Scotland and the UK to help realise this potential.” Charles Hendry, the energy minister, said in May that Longannet and other CCS schemes in the UK showed it was “at the cutting edge of the low carbon agenda.” But an industrialist in the department told the Guardian ministers were now privately questioning renewable power and other schemes that involved substantial public subsidies. Ministers have come under sustained lobbying from traditional power companies and energy intensive manufacturers to concentrate on lower priced, higher carbon fuels such as gas. WWF Scotland’s Director, Dr Richard Dixon, said: “This news is deeply worrying. If the UK truly wants to lead the development of this technology, as many politicians have said, then we hope that all those involved can find a way to make this project happen. It would be a major blow to international efforts to develop carbon capture and storage if this scheme were not to happen at Longannet. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) Energy Fossil fuels Carbon emissions Climate change Coal Renewable energy Scotland Green politics George Osborne Conservatives Terry Macalister Damian Carrington guardian.co.uk
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