"Guy McPherson was a successful professor by every imperial measure: well-published in all the right places, he taught and mentored students who acquired the best jobs in the field, and performed abundant, exemplary professional service. He earned enough to live on a third of his income and still traveled as much as he desired throughout the industrialized world.
In other words, McPherson was the perfect model of all that is wrong with the United States and, by extension, the nations looking to us for an example. Rather than questioning the system, he was raising minor questions within the system.
During the decade of his forties, McPherson transformed his academic life from mainstream ecologist to friend of the earth. He became a conservation biologist and social critic, and his speaking and writing increasingly targeted the public beyond the classroom. McPherson began teaching poetry in facilities of incarceration, trying to give voice to wise people long marginalized or ignored by industrial society. Guest commentaries in local newspapers pointed out the absurdities of American life, as well as limits to growth for the world's industrial economy. Increasingly strident essays drew the attention of university administrators who tried to fire him, and, when that failed, tried to muzzle him. Both routes proved too difficult to impinge upon a tenured full professor. Shortly after administrators gave up trying to force McPherson's departure from a major research university, he left the institution on his own terms when, at the age of 49, McPherson finally awakened to the costs of the non-negotiable American way of life: obedience at home and oppression abroad. In response, he went back to the land, where he raises goats and gardens and works with his neighbors."
And a happy birthday to Lady Liberty!
TPM: Statue Of Liberty's 125th Anniversary
Thanks to RJ at Global Glass Onion and the Ozarker at Conflicted Doomer, for their contributions and help. Be sure to check out their great blogs today and also, visit the forums linked at the bottom of this post. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and come back tomorrow and see what we have up for documentary Saturday!
Japan
Guardian: Fukushima released 'twice as much' radioactive material as first thought
Far more radioactive caesium released into the atmosphere than previously estimated, according to study
CommonDreams: Fukushima Fallout Was Almost Twice as Bad as Official Estimates, New Study Says Common Dreams - This spring’s nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant released almost double the amount of radiation the Japanese government has claimed, according to a new analysis. The authors say the boiling pools holding spent fuel rods played a role in the release of some of the contaminants, primarily cesium-137 — and that this could have been mitigated by an earlier response. Researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Air Research examined radiation monitoring stations throughout Japan and the rest of the globe, extrapolating their findings from initial radiation-release estimates. They say the amount of cesium-137, a long-lived isotope that persists in the atmosphere, was about twice as high as the Japanese government’s official estimate. That number (3.5 × 1016 bequerel, for those of you keeping track) is about half the emission from Chernobyl. The researchers also say about 20 percent of the total fallout landed over Japan, but the vast majority fell over the Pacific Ocean. (The effects of this fallout on fisheries and aquatic wildlife are still being determined.)
Global Conflict
DailyBail: MARINES TO OAKLAND POLICE: 'You Did This To My Brother'
MSNBC: Injured vet spent days at work, nights at protest - Olsen suffered a fractured skull in clash between police, demonstrators in Oakland
AbigailField: On Occupy Oakland and Policing in America - Abigail Field. Money quote:
…. consider what a Marine said: “I was involved in a RIOT in Rutbah, Iraq 2004 and we did NOT treat the Iraqi citizens like they are treating the unarmed civilians in our OWN Country. No one was brutalized because our mission was to ‘WIN the hearts and minds.’ why should I expect anything less in my OWN Country.”
WSJ: NYPD Union Warns of Lawsuits Against ‘Occupy’ Supporters - Wall Street Journal. You cannot make this stuff up. The police union is threatening to sue any organization associated with OWS if cops are hurt.
ReutersUK: Cathedral takes legal action against protest camp - - St Paul's Cathedral opened its doors to worshippers for the first time in a week on Friday and announced plans to take legal action to remove the anti-capitalist protest camp in its precincts.
The move came as Prime Minister David Cameron indicated the government would consider legislating to prevent demonstrators pitching tents outside London landmarks.
In a coordinated move, the City of London, which owns part of the land the camp is occupying, said it would seek a court injunction to force protesters to dismantle their encampment.
YahooNews: Protests hit China as property prices fall - Hundreds of angry home buyers launched a series of protests in China's commercial hub of Shanghai this week, as owners decried falling prices for their properties, state media said Thursday.
EuroNews: Gaddafi’s son ‘seeking to give himself up’
BBC: US flies drones from Ethiopia to fight Somali militants
USAToday: Gadhafi's son contacts criminal court about possible surrender
SFGate: US flying wounded Libyans to US, Germany for care
UPI: No breakthrough in Arab League Syria talks
Financial News
BlackListedNews: Dems seek $1 trillion tax hike, $3 trillion deficit cut from supercommittee
Reuters: 5 ways income inequality happened, and will continue
MyBudget360: The walking debt – U.S. public debt now surpasses $15 trillion. The financial sector has wrecked disaster in the American economy. Wall Street banks cause havoc in housing and student loans.
HuffingtonPost: Criminal Proceeds Amounted To Over $2 Trillion In 2009: UN Report
Criminals are making out like bandits with a sizable chunk of the world's economy.
Criminal proceeds amounted to 3.6 percent of global gross domestic product in 2009, according to a recent UN report -- a sum totaling more than $2 trillion. More than 2.5 percent of global GDP was likely laundered through the financial system, the report finds.
CharlesHughSmith: Obama's Re-Fi Plan: The Perfection of Debt-Serfdom
NakedCapitalism: Delaware Attorney General Sues MERS Over Deceptive Practices, Asks for Halt of Foreclosures Relying on MERS (Updated)
ZeroHedge: The Inexplicable American Consumer Strikes Again
The recent consumer confidence indices, after a pickup in the spring, have collapsed to levels not seen in years and in some cases in decades. Yet the inexplicable American consumer, the toughest and most indefatigable creature out there that no one has yet been able to beat down, struck again. Consumer spending increased at an annual rate of 2.4% during the third quarter, though the mood, as measured by the confidence indices, has become outright morose.IBTimes: FTSE 100 bosses' pay leaps, dwarves share gains
Bloomberg: States’ Medicaid Cost-Cutting May Not Control Program Spending
MSNBC: Americans spent more in Sept., but saved less
IBTimes: European Debt Crisis Rescue Plan is Brilliant, Except the "Who Pays For it" Part
YahooFinance: Whirlpool takes axe to outlook, jobs
Zerohedge: And So They Line Up At The Concessions Trough: "Irish Spy Opportunity" In Greek Debt Blue Light Special
CSMonitor: Bipartisan plea for $4 trillion in deficit cuts: why it could work - A bipartisan group of 100 House members will call for the deficit 'super committee' to make massive deficit cuts – even if it means entitlement or tax reform. The strong backing could be key.
ProjectWorldAwareness: EU bailout fund chief visits China…hmmmm - The head of the eurozone bailout fund visits Beijing on Friday as debt-laden Europe tries to persuade China and other top emerging economies to come to its rescue.
CuriousCapitalist: Europe's new debt crisis agreement: the good, the bad, the ugly
Reuters: Everyone’s housing market profits were fictitious - A big clue something had become dysfunctional at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac came in the first week of 2011, when the government mortgage market makers announced the terms of a settlement agreement they’d reached with Bank of America, and were immediately pilloried for extending the bank another “backdoor bailout” by the likes of Maxine Waters and the American Enterprise Institute.
CEPR: The NYT Touts the Fact That GDP Data Show the World Did Not End - There was no reason why people who know economics would have expected a double dip recession, absent a meltdown in the euro zone. Unfortunately, policy debate tends to be dominated by people who don't fall into this category, hence the discussion of a double dip.
NakedCapitalism: Debunking the “Paid Back the TARP” Myth: Banks Should be Paying Over $300 Billion a Year in Systemic Risk Insurance - Yves Smith This Institute for New Economic Thinking interview with economist Ed Kane discusses how systemic risk should be measured. Kane argues that taxpayer are essentially disadvantaged bank shareholders, getting the downside and none of the bennies, like dividends or capital gains. He argues that banks should be paying taxpayers for the privilege of having them and their counterparties rescued, and that is over $300 billion a year.’ And that isn’t the only freebie banks are getting. For instance, the near zero interest rates are tantamount to a tax on savers (when per above, the banks should be making payments). Some have estimated the cost to savers is over $350 billion a year.
WashingtonPost/Bloomberg: Spain unemployment rate up to 21.5 percent, jobless ranks nearly 5 million as elections near
EconomicsHelp: The Role of Price Expectations in Inflation - A key factor in determining inflation is people’s expectations of future inflation. If firms and consumers expect future inflation then it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Economix: What Does 'Recapitalizing Banks' Actually Mean? - As part of their agreement, European governments therefore will force their banks to “raise new capital,” presumably from private investors.
FTAlphaville: How gross and net CDS notionals really work - According to the DTCC, there is $75bn gross notional outstanding for CDS contracts referencing Greece.
CalculatedRisk: Personal Income increased 0.1% in September, Spending increased 0.6% - The BEA released the Personal Income and Outlays report for September: Personal income increased $17.3 billion, or 0.1 percent in September.
Peak oil and Energy News
MSNBC: Energy from hot rocks abounds
NYT: Oil Industry Hums as Higher Prices Bolster Quarterly Profits at Exxon and Shell
UPI: Obama set to kill off coal industry?
Oil&GasJournal: EIA shale predictions need closer scrutiny, peak oil group says
BigPictureAgriculture: Electricity Use Continues to Rise - Total energy consumption is falling in developed nations, but not so for the electricity sector
Forbes: Exxon Mobil: A Profit-Making Machine Despite Falling Production
OilPrice: Soaring U.S. Wind Power Sector Growing Nervous Over Tax Incentives - The US wind power sector is soaring thanks in large part to a tax policy that makes it attractive to investors, but the uncertainty surrounding those very incentives is casting a cloud over the future, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).
Commodities/Metals
MineWeb: Alcoa signs MoU with Angola to explore 750,000 mt/y aluminium smelter
GlobalPost: Occupy Wall Street-style protest in Indonesia leads to closure of world's largest gold mine - Clashes between protesting Indonesians and security forces at US-owned mine have also left four dead.
Environmental News
MSNBC: All eyes are on huge asteroid buzzing Earth on Nov. 8Astronomers around the world will be watching and measuring during rare opportunity
CNN: High tide brings flooding to Bangkok's Chinatown
IPA: Is the 7 Billion or the 1% Causing Environmental Crises?
ExtinctionProtocol: Iceland’s Katla volcano rattled by double swarm of tremors - October 27, 2011 – ICELAND – Iceland’s Katla volcano was hit by two swarms of tremors today.
ClimateProgress: People and the Planet: The World at 7 Billion
TreeHugger: Uncovered Film Footage Offers Rare Look at an Extinct Bird (Video)
America in Decline
BeforeItsNews: Police Brutality Charges Sweep Across The US
BusinessInsider: The American Worker Is Increasingly A 'Variable Cost' That Can Easily Be Cut
ATaxingMatter: Perry's Flat Tax and other "bold reform" ideas in context of the richer 1% - Linda Beale - The hard right candidates of the GOP are competing to set forth plans that demonstrate their utter and complete loyalty to the right's "make the rich richer and make businesses less accountable" economic program. This program involves the tired and failed policies of Reaganomics, just magnified:
HuffingtonPost: New Social Justice Index Places U.S. Near Bottom - A central concern for those in the Occupy movement -- that the economic system in the U.S. is rigged in favor of the well-off -- has been corroborated by a major new survey of developed nations. When it comes to social justice -- defined here as the ability each individual has to participate in the market society, regardless of their social status -- the United States ranks near the bottom of 31 developed countries, the Thursday report from Bertelsmann Foundation found. It's one thing if you live in a market economy where everyone has the same shot at success. It's quite another if fortune favors the fortunate.
BeforeItsNews: New World Order: Implantable RFID Chips Capable Of Remotely Killing Non-Compliant 'Slaves' Are Here
Food and Water
AlterNet: Worst Food Additive Ever? It's in Half of All Foods We Eat and Its Production Destroys Rainforests and Enslaves Children - The production of this ingredient causes jaw-dropping amounts of deforestation (and with it, carbon emissions) and human rights abuses.
BlackSeaGrain: Saudis to expand wheat storage to 3.2 MMT - Saudi Arabia plans to expand its wheat storage capacity to 3.2 MMT, enough to cover its annual wheat consumption. There are some projects now to add 710 KMT Work is underway to construct new silos, some of which are at main Saudi ports.
StarTribune: Feds tighten belt by cutting agriculture reports, but farmers say info important to them
Science and Technology
PopSci: Ground-Based Laser Cannon to Turn Space Debris into Self-Powered Flaming De-Orbiting Rockets
Wired: Space Junk Crisis: Time to Bring in the Lasers
VancouverSun: Facebook to build massive Arctic data centre in Sweden
Medical and Health
M&C: Hand, foot and mouth disease surges in Vietnam
ScienceDaily: Regular Aspirin Intake Halves Cancer Risk, Study Finds
MSNBC: Aspirin reduces cancer in high-risk patients - Daily aspirin dose helps Lynch syndrome sufferers diffuse chance of colon cancer
WiredScience: Man Pleads Guilty to Trafficking Kidneys in New Jersey
Mercola: The New Epidemic Sweeping Across America (and it's Not a Disease) Death by medicine is a 21st-century epidemic, and America's "war on drugs" is clearly directed at the wrong enemy!
Prescription drugs are now killing far more people than illegal drugs, and while most major causes of preventable deaths are declining, those from prescription drug use are increasing, an analysis of recently released data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by the Los Angeles Times revealed.
KurzweilAI: Synthetic blood created by British scientists could be used in transfusions in just two years
CNN: Saving mothers and their babies
Doomsteading, Gardening, Urban Farming
ModernSurvivalBlog: Prepper Wannabe’s, Take Action!
BigPictureAgriculture: Ten Miniature Cattle Breeds for your Small Farm
SHTFPlan: The Prepper Movement: Why Are Millions Of Preppers Preparing Feverishly For The End Of The World As We Know It?
Other News
CNN: Interior minister named Saudi Arabia's new crown prince
CEPR: Decreasing Inequality Under Latin America’s “Social Democratic” and “Populist” Governments: Is the Difference Real?
ST: Giant Lego man may soon be released from custody
Alarabiya: Prominent Egyptian actor Omar Sharif slaps woman at Doha Film Festival
WashingtonPost: Catholics’ Mass liturgy changing; ‘ritual whiplash’ ahead?
YahooNews: Oct. 28: Frankenstein Friday, Donner Party Famine Anniversary, Plush Animal Lover's Day, National Chocolate Day, Saint Jude's Day
GlobeandMail: The man who could be king in Saudi Arabia
Politics
NationalJournal: Tea Party Bites Bachmann
blogger says Bachmann’s floundering campaign discredits movement she embraced.
Guardian: US politics live blog: Tea Party urges Michele Bachmann to quit
A Tea Party group calls on Michele Bachmann to give it up while Obama's 2008 donors are less enthusiastic about 2012
TPM: The Origins Of Rick Perry’s Call To Release Obama’s Grades
WashingtonPost: Bogus claims that just keep getting repeated — and a further explanation of the Pinocchio scale
The Forums
TinfoilPalace:Don't put Europe's peace at risk: German Chancellor warns of war if currency fails
TinfoilPalace:Elektromagnetic torture and gangstalking is a reality!
TheOilAge:No statement, no bazooka from European summit
TheOilAge:11/9/11 is also 9/9/11
Hubberts-Arms:Violent crackdown on occupy protesters in Oakland, California
Hubberts-Arms:Okay! I don't want to hear anymore whining about the economy!
SilentCountry:Haunted House Hidden Camera
SilentCountry:Scientists Create 52 Artificial Rain Storms in Abu Dhabi Desert
Times of Indian creates the Hottest & Top Bursting Information on National politics and Present-day Matters in Indian & around the World, Cricket, Athletics, Business, Bollywood News.
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