azimagery AZ Bike & Peace: November 2008

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

www.naomiklein.org

Naomi Klein: Disaster Capitalism

http://www.naomiklein.org/main

http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/naomi_klein

Once oil passed $140 a barrel, even the most rabidly right-wing media hosts had to prove their populist cred by devoting a portion of every show to bashing Big Oil. Some have gone so far as to invite me on for a friendly chat about an insidious new phenomenon: "disaster capitalism."It usually goes well--until it doesn't.

For instance, "independent conservative" radio host Jerry Doyle and I were having a perfectly amiable conversation about sleazy insurance companies and inept politicians when this happened: "I think I have a quick way to bring the prices down," Doyle announced. "We've invested $650 billion to liberate a nation of 25 million people. Shouldn't we just demand that they give us oil? There should be tankers after tankers backed up like a traffic jam getting into the Lincoln Tunnel, the Stinkin' Lincoln, at rush hour with thank-you notes from the Iraqi government.... Why don't we just take the oil? We've invested it liberating a country. I can have the problem solved of gas prices coming down in ten days, not ten years."

There were a couple of problems with Doyle's plan, of course. The first was that he was describing the biggest stickup in world history. The second, that he was too late: "We" are already heisting Iraq's oil, or at least are on the cusp of doing so.

It's been ten months since the publication of my book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, in which I argue that today's preferred method of reshaping the world in the interest of multinational corporations is to systematically exploit the state of fear and disorientation that accompanies moments of great shock and crisis. With the globe being rocked by multiple shocks, this seems like a good time to see how and where the strategy is being applied.

And the disaster capitalists have been busy--from private firefighters already on the scene in Northern California's wildfires, to land grabs in cyclone-hit Burma, to the housing bill making its way through Congress. The bill contains little in the way of affordable housing, shifts the burden of mortgage default to taxpayers and makes sure that the banks that made bad loans get some payouts. No wonder it is known in the hallways of Congress as "The Credit Suisse Plan," after one of the banks that generously proposed it.

Iraq Disaster: We Broke It, We (Just) Bought It

But these cases of disaster capitalism are amateurish compared with what is unfolding at Iraq's oil ministry. It started with no-bid service contracts announced for ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP and Total (they have yet to be signed but are still on course). Paying multinationals for their technical expertise is not unusual. What is odd is that such contracts almost invariably go to oil service companies--not to the oil majors, whose work is exploring, producing and owning carbon wealth. As London-based oil expert Greg Muttitt points out, the contracts make sense only in the context of reports that the oil majors have insisted on the right of first refusal on subsequent contracts handed out to manage and produce Iraq's oil fields. In other words, other companies will be free to bid on those future contracts, but these companies will win.

One week after the no-bid service deals were announced, the world caught its first glimpse of the real prize. After years of back-room arm-twisting, Iraq is officially flinging open six of its major oil fields, accounting for around half of its known reserves, to foreign investors. According to Iraq's oil minister, the long-term contracts will be signed within a year. While ostensibly under control of the Iraq National Oil Company, foreign firms will keep 75 percent of the value of the contracts, leaving just 25 percent for their Iraqi partners.

That kind of ratio is unheard of in oil-rich Arab and Persian states, where achieving majority national control over oil was the defining victory of anticolonial struggles. According to Muttitt, the assumption until now was that foreign multinationals would be brought in to develop brand-new fields in Iraq--not to take over ones that are already in production and therefore require minimal technical support. "The policy was always to allocate these fields to the Iraq National Oil Company," he told me. This is a total reversal of that policy, giving INOC a mere 25 percent instead of the planned 100 percent.

So what makes such lousy deals possible in Iraq, which has already suffered so much? Ironically, it is Iraq's suffering--its never-ending crisis--that is the rationale for an arrangement that threatens to drain its treasury of its main source of revenue. The logic goes like this: Iraq's oil industry needs foreign expertise because years of punishing sanctions starved it of new technology and the invasion and continuing violence degraded it further. And Iraq urgently needs to start producing more oil. Why? Again because of the war. The country is shattered, and the billions handed out in no-bid contracts to Western firms have failed to rebuild the country. And that's where the new no-bid contracts come in: they will raise more money, but Iraq has become such a treacherous place that the oil majors must be induced to take the risk of investing. Thus the invasion of Iraq neatly creates the argument for its subsequent pillage.

Several of the architects of the Iraq War no longer even bother to deny that oil was a major motivator. On National Public Radio's To the Point, Fadhil Chalabi, an Iraqi advisor to the State Department in the lead-up to the invasion, recently described the war as "a strategic move on the part of the United States of America and the UK to have a military presence in the Gulf in order to secure [oil] supplies in the future." Chalabi, who served as Iraq's oil under secretary, described this as "a primary objective."

Invading countries to seize their natural resources is illegal under the Geneva Conventions. That means that the huge task of rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure--including its oil infrastructure--is the financial responsibility of Iraq's invaders. They should be forced to pay reparations. (Recall that Saddam Hussein's regime paid $9 billion to Kuwait in reparations for its 1990 invasion.) Instead, Iraq is being forced to sell 75 percent of its national patrimony to pay the bills for its own illegal invasion and occupation.

Oil Price Shock: Give Us the Arctic or Never Drive Again

Iraq isn't the only country in the midst of an oil-related stickup. The Bush Administration is busily using a related crisis--the soaring price of fuel--to revive its dream of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). And of drilling offshore. And in the rock-solid shale of the Green River Basin. "Congress must face a hard reality," said George W. Bush on June 18. "Unless members are willing to accept gas prices at today's painful levels--or even higher--our nation must produce more oil."

This is the President as Extortionist in Chief, with gas nozzle pointed to the head of his hostage--which happens to be the entire country. Give me ANWR, or everyone has to spend their summer vacations in the backyard. A final stickup from the cowboy President. Despite the Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less bumper stickers, drilling in ANWR would have little discernible impact on actual global oil supplies, as its advocates well know. The argument that it could nonetheless bring down oil prices is based not on hard economics but on market psychoanalysis: drilling would "send a message" to the oil traders that more oil is on the way, which would cause them to start betting down the price.

Two points follow from this approach. First, trying to psych out hyperactive commodity traders is what passes for governing in the Bush era, even in the midst of a national emergency. Second, it will never work. If there is one thing we can predict from the oil market's recent behavior, it is that the price is going to keep going up regardless of what new supplies are announced.

Take the massive oil boom under way in Alberta's notorious tar sands. The tar sands (sometimes called the oil sands) have the same things going for them as Bush's proposed drill sites: they are nearby and perfectly secure, since the North American Free Trade Agreement contains a provision barring Canada from cutting off supply to the United States. And with little fanfare, oil from this largely untapped source has been pouring into the market, so much so that Canada is now the largest supplier of oil to the United States, surpassing Saudi Arabia. Between 2005 and 2007, Canada increased its exports to the States by almost 100 million barrels. Yet despite this significant increase in secure supplies, oil prices have been going up the entire time. What is driving the ANWR push is not facts but pure shock doctrine strategy--the oil crisis has created the conditions in which it is possible to sell a previously unsellable (but highly profitable) policy.

Food Price Shock: Genetic Modification or Starvation

Intimately connected to the price of oil is the global food crisis. Not only do high gas prices drive up food costs but the boom in agrofuels has blurred the line between food and fuel, pushing food growers off their land and encouraging rampant speculation. Several Latin American countries have been pushing to re-examine the push for agrofuels and to have food recognized as a human right, not a mere commodity. United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte has other ideas. In the same speech touting the US commitment to emergency food aid, he called on countries to lower their "export restrictions and high tariffs" and eliminate "barriers to use of innovative plant and animal production
technologies, including biotechnology." This was an admittedly more subtle stickup, but the message was clear: impoverished countries had better crack open their agricultural markets to American products and genetically modified seeds, or they could risk having their aid cut off.

Genetically modified crops have emerged as the cureall for the food crisis, at least according to the World Bank, the European Commission president (time to "bite the bullet") and Prime Minister of Britain Gordon Brown. And, of course, the agribusiness companies. "You cannot today feed the world without genetically modified organisms," Peter
Brabeck, chairman of Nestle told the Financial Timesrecently. The problem with this argument, at least for now, is that
there is no evidence that GMOs increase crop yields, and they often decrease them.

But even if there was a simple key to solving the global food crisis, would we really want it in the hands of the Nestls and Monsantos? What would it cost us to use it? In recent months Monsanto, Syngenta and BASF have been frenetically buying up patents on so-called "climate ready" seeds--plants that can grow in earth parched from drought and salinated from flooding. In other words, plants built to survive a future of climate chaos. We already know the lengths Monsanto will go to protect its intellectual property, spying on and suing farmers who dare to save their seeds from one year to the next. We have seen patented AIDS medications fail to treat millions in sub-Saharan Africa. Why would patented "climate ready" crops be any different?

Meanwhile, amid all the talk of exciting new genetic and drilling technologies, the Bush Administration announced a moratorium of up to two years on new solar energy projects on federal lands--due, apparently, to environmental concerns. This is the final frontier for disaster capitalism. Our leaders are failing to invest in technology that will actually prevent a future of climate chaos, choosing instead
to work hand in hand with those plotting innovative schemes to profit from the mayhem.

Privatizing Iraq's oil, ensuring global dominance for genetically modified crops, lowering the last of the trade barriers and opening the last of the wildlife refuges... Not so long ago, those goals were pursued through polite trade agreements, under the benign pseudonym
"globalization." Now this discredited agenda is forced to ride on the backs of serial crises, selling itself as lifesaving medicine for a world in pain.

About Naomi Klein

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist and syndicated columnist and the author of the international and New York Times bestseller The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (September 2007); an earlier international best-seller, No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies; and the collection Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate (2002).more...

the shock doctrine - A Film by Naomi Klein and
by airmediatic

Nation columnist Naomi Klein explores a key argument from her new book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism: After 9/11 the Bush Administration launched a new economy, driven by the notion of an endless war against an undefined notion of evil. Read more in her 2005 Nation column The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

CORRECTION: This article originally stated that Dr. Fadhil Chalabi was "one of the primary Iraqi advisers to the Bush administration in the lead up" to the Iraq war and that he "met with the oil majors" prior to the invasion. Dr. Chalabi participated in meetings with the US State Department with other Iraqi academic experts to discuss the options for the reconstruction of Iraq after the war and how Iraq's oil could finance the reconstruction, but he did not offer any political advice or hold or attend any meetings with oil companies. The article has been amended accordingly.

Monday, November 17, 2008

hard-right political leaders to apply brutal economic shock therapy

Time to Sell Your Car02/19/03 By: Dave Snyder Source: SFBG.com
AS THE COUNTRY prepares to embark on yet another oil war, it's important not to forget the costs that our overreliance on the automobile impose on us closer to home. Air pollution, global warming, loss of habitat due to urban sprawl ? our subservience to our cars is so pervasive that it's easy to lose track of just how much damage the automobile-highway-military-petroleum complex has inflicted on American society. Overdependence on the automobile also exacts a toll on a very personal level. The average U.S. household spends 15 percent of its after-tax income to own, insure, fuel, store, and maintain a car. For low-income people, that percentage is even higher. In terms of the health impacts of pollution and the budgetary impacts of paying for car access, the costs fall most heavily on those who can least afford them. Because the physical landscape has been planned around the assumption of universal car ownership for so long, there are many destinations, from jobs and relatives' homes to basic necessities like grocery stores, that are hard or impossible to get to without a car. But as people drive more, the amount of land taken up to park cars keeps expanding, filling our cities with parking lots and literally spreading us farther apart from one another. This cannot go on. It's time to sell your car. This used to be a difficult life choice for many people, but it doesn't have to be anymore. City CarShare will celebrate its two-year anniversary this March. Those of us who are lucky enough to live in San Francisco now have a way to get a car when we need one, without having to own it. City CarShare vehicles are kept all over the city (and throughout Berkeley and Oakland too), with new locations opening each month. Members reserve cars online or by phone, in about half a minute, and get billed at the end of the month. The beauty of car-sharing is that you're only charged for the time you use the car. Unlike private car owners, who pay for their vehicles while they sit in the garage, City CarShare members pay based on how much they drive. This means good things for San Francisco. First of all, we don't have to build enough parking spaces for every person to own a car. So far, a City CareShare membership survey shows that for every new City CarShare vehicle that gets put into service, six privately owned cars are sold. Second, the total amount of driving in the city will decrease. When people own a car, they tend to overuse it; the incremental costs of each added trip are small. When people share a car, they tend to use it only when it's the best way to do something or to get somewhere ? mainly to carry heavy things or to leave the city. And finally, we can give people of all income levels access to a car without imposing the exorbitant costs of ownership. City CarShare is doing just this thanks to a recent grant that is helping the group expand to at least four low-income neighborhoods in San Francisco and further subsidize the usage rates for members from those communities. I believe that in the future very few people who live in cities will actually own cars. Car-sharing allows people to get whatever kind of care they want while saving a ton of money. It's just cooler than owning a car. I think it is realistic for San Francisco ? as the center of the antiwar movement in the United States ? to lead the country in the abandonment of private car ownership. Selling your car is a quiet, meaningful way to align your lifestyle with your values. If you go to www.citycarshare.org/, they'll make it even easier for you. Dave Snyder is a member of the SF Green Party County Council and executive director of Transportation for A Livable City.
lefteyepro.com

http://www.azcentral.com/ 11/16/2008

Even as winds calm, more Californians flee fires
Fires have destroyed hundreds of homes, blanketed the region in smoke.

Man struck, killed by Hummer in parking lot

Pedestrian, 18, killed in hit-run The teen was crossing 35th Avenue near Indian School Road in the middle of the block, when he was hit by a early-90s model, dark blue Ford pickup truck at about 11:30
Gilbert teen dies on way to parade Mesa police say an impaired driver triggered a crash early Saturday that killed a 16-year-old girl and injured her 17-year-old brother as they drove to a school band event.

Showdown looms over automaker rescue

Obama will not drive a car or go anywhere by himself. It is a good bet he has not since he got Secret Service protection early last year. He will not live alone in the Capitol Hill apartment just off Stanton Park anymore.

security-kill security-pollution warmer-globe usa-money

Friday, November 14, 2008

global warming, global issues, world population, deforestation, environmental damage

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

1,000 veterans at VA day!! suicide every month Shh!

Pulitzer-Winning Author Alice Walker on Obama's First White House Visit as President-Elect

One day after Barack Obama’s first visit to the White House as President-elect, we speak to the Pulitzer-winning novelist Alice Walker. In a recent open letter to Obama, Walker writes, “Seeing you take your rightful place, based solely on your wisdom, stamina and character, is a balm for the weary warriors of hope, previously only sung about.” [includes rush transcript] http://www.theroot.com/id/48726

http://www.democracynow.org/features/winter_solider

On Veterans Day, 15 Vets of Iraq and Afghanistan Face Trial for Antiwar Protest

Today, on Veterans Day, we turn to the voices of veterans who are speaking out about the crimes they committed and the impact of the war on their lives. http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier/ Fifteen antiwar veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of disorderly conduct at a protest last month outside the final presidential debate. We speak to IVAW member Sgt. Matthis Chiroux, who refused an Iraq deployment after fighting in Afghanistan; and Aaron Glantz, http://www.warcomeshome.org/ an independent journalist who reported extensively from Iraq and has been covering the stories of American military veterans since his return. [includes rush transcript–partial] http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081124/glantz http://iwitnessvideo.info/

I-Witness Video Blog : The Policing of Protest

Iraq Vet Crushed By Police Horse at Presidential Debate

Video Captures Shocking Image

Wednesday, 22 Oct 2008

by Eileen Clancy and Emily Forman

Nick Morgan of Iraq Veterans Against the War is trampled by a police horse outside the last presidential debate. © Emily Forman, I-Witness Video

Watch video: YouTube blip.tv | QuickTime still images

Last Wednesday, while presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain debated domestic policy issues in front of a live television audience at the Long Island campus of Hofstra University, Nassau county police faced off with a few hundred spirited but peaceful demonstrators. And using excessive force, police -- on horses and in full riot gear -- trampled several people including Iraq vet Nick Morgan. I-Witness Video member Emily Forman captured the ensuing bedlam, police violence, and injuries on tape.

Earlier that night, a group of protesters from Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) had, in accordance with a pre-announced plan, assembled on the streets outside the Hofstra University venue where the debate was being held. IVAW had informed the police in advance that several of their members would be participating in a symbolic, non-violent, civil-disobedience action: attempting to deliver two questions for the candidates. The group has engaged in similar actions before, at the Democratic National Convention in Denver and the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Last week, at the presidential debate, the veterans hoped to ask Barack Obama if he would support soldiers who do not want to be deployed to an illegally occupied Iraq, and to ask McCain why he has voted against funding for the Veterans Administration since the beginning of the war in Iraq.

But the veterans' efforts to stage a peaceful protest last week were countered by violent police actions. After a small group of veterans was calmly taken into custody in a choreographed arrest, the police became very aggressive. The police commander on the scene ordered the horses and lines of riot police to push the crowd from the street
onto the sidewalk. Mounted police officers charged into the assembled vets and other protesters, pushing the frightened people backwards and up onto the sidewalk. Riot police then forced some demonstrators to the ground, where police horses rode over them.

Former Army Reserve Sergeant Nick Morgan was caught under the hooves of a horse ridden by Nassau County police officer Quagliano. The horse stepped on Morgan's face, breaking his lower orbital (cheekbone) in three places. Bleeding heavily from his face, Morgan drifted in and out of consciousness until another police officer appeared and dragged him away from the scene. After a delay in which Nassau County police refused to take Morgan to the hospital, he was finally taken to Nassau County Medical Center, handcuffed to a gurney, given Motrin and a prescription for antibiotics, and sent on to jail.

Besides Morgan, several others were injured in the crush of horses and police, including Nadine Lubka, whose nose was broken. Fifteen people in total were arrested; they all received disorderly conduct charges.

Except for a brief Associated Press story and some video and photos uploaded to CNN's iReport website by citizen journalists, there has been almost no corporate media coverage of this story.

PERMANENT LINK

not wish to be identified. It provides some insight into the history of the relationship between Revlon and the NYPD.

NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau and CCRB investigate theft of Flux's camera

Wednesday, 31 Jan 2007

by Eileen Clancy

FluxRostrum, whose videocamera was stolen by NYPD officers on October 30, 2006, is still fighting for possession of his camera and tape. Sources tell us that the Civilian Complaint Review Board has opened an investigation into the matter. The blogger Aldon Hynes sent a complaint to the NYPD via e-mail and received a follow-up phone call from a Sgt. Hanlon of Internal Affairs. Hynes reports

Tuesday, 23 Jan 2007

by Eileen Clancy >> PLAY VIDEO

After 26 years on the police force, two-star NYPD Chief Bruce Smolka is retiring and leaving for a security job at Revlon. The timing of his departure is both striking and curious. Since the Street Crimes Unit which he commanded was forced to close after the killing of Amadou Diallo, Chief Smolka has had a meteoric rise within the NYPD. He is currently the borough commander of Manhattan south of 59th Street,
which is the plum patrol assignment at his level within the department.

Why would Chief Smolka choose to leave now, at the height of his career, holding one of the most prestigious assignments the department has to offer?

http://www.warcomeshome.org/blog

Violence in the heart of Afghanistan

Posted on: October 30, 2008 - 7:26am by Pratap Chatterjee

A suicide bombing deep inside the heart of an Afghan ministry in Kabul has raised concerns about the ability of the country’s new security forces to tackle the Taliban, the country’s former fundamentalist rulers who were ousted by the U.S. in 2001.
One person was killed and nine wounded on Thursday morning at the Ministry of Information and Culture in central Kabul in an explosion believed to have been set off by a man disguised as a police officer. Part of the Ministry wall was destroyed in the blast.

Pratap Chatterjee's blog

Afghanistan 2008: Seven Years After Invasion

Posted on: October 27, 2008 - 7:45am by Pratap Chatterjee

Seven years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban, the country faces an increasingly uncertain future. While it has made great strides forward, political and religious killings are increasingly common in Kabul and southern Afghanistan. Pratap Chatterjee and Nobu Sakamoto return to the country as part of a CorpWatch/KPFA collaboration to take stock.Pratap Chatterjee's blog

Winter Soldier On Capitol Hill * Live Blog

Posted on: May 14, 2008 - 3:55pm by KPFAThursday, May 15, 6am-10am PDT - Nine members of Iraq Veterans Against the War testify under oath before the Congressional Progressive Caucus about rules of engagement, the killing and abuse of civilians, the use of drop weapons, and the true consequences of the troop "surge". Hosted by Aimee Allison and Aaron Glantz. LiveBlog moderated by Rose Ketabchi.KPFA's
blog

Winter Soldier on Capitol Hill: Thursday, May 15, 6am-10am PDT

Posted on: May 14, 2008 - 2:42pm by KPFA

KPFA will broadcast the Winter Soldier hearing on Capitol Hill, where nine members of Iraq Veterans Against the War will testify under oath before the Congressional Progressive Caucus about rules of engagement, the killing and abuse of civilians, the use of drop weapons, and the true consequences of the troop "surge". The coverage of the special hearing to the Congressional Progressive Caucus will be hosted by Aimee Allison and Aaron Glantz, part of the team that recently was nominated for a Project Censored award for KPFA's coverage of the Winter Soldier gathering in Silver Springs, Maryland this March. Hearing participants will include CPC Co-Chairs Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, Barbara Lee, and Maxine Waters.

This broadcast is another program in KPFA/Pacifica's recent coverage of returning veterans' issues, including "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan" and "The Crisis in Veterans' Healthcare."
KPFA's blog

"Shh!".... 1,000 veterans at VA attempt suicide every month

Posted on: April 22, 2008 - 10:05am by KPFA

In one e-mail made public during the trial, the head of the VA's mental health division, Dr. Ira Katz advised a media spokesperson not to tell reporters 1,000 veterans receiving care at the VA try to kill themselves every month. The e-mail beings with "Shh!..." Click here to read the email (pdf).
KPFA's
blog

Comment Here: "Crisis in Veteran's Healthcare" Broadcast Open Thread

Posted on: April 21, 2008 - 5:24pm by KPFATell us what you think, ask our hosts Aimee Allison and Aaron Glantz a question, or respond to what other people are posting! You can also send our on air hosts an email at vets@kpfa.org. Click here to post a comment, or read how others have responded. Some responses may be read during the April 22nd Crisis in Veterans' Health Care broadcast on KPFA.KPFA's
blog

KPFA Asks: "Support the Troops" has been a mantra of those supporting the Iraq War. What are your feelings about the slogan?

KPFA asks listeners: "Support the Troops" has been a mantra of those supporting the Iraq War. What are your feelings about that slogan, and the intent behind it? Click here to post your response, or read how others have responded. Some responses may be read during the April 22nd Crisis in Veterans' Health Care broadcast on KPFA.KPFA's
blog

KPFA Asks: What responsibility does the VA have in the suicides of US servicemembers? What if the veterans don't seek help?

Posted on: April 21, 2008 - 5:06pm by KPFAKPFA asks listeners: What responsibility does the VA have in the suicides of US servicemembers? What if the veterans don't seek help? Click here to post your response, or read how others have responded. Some responses may be read during the April 22nd Crisis in Veterans' Health Care broadcast on KPFA.

KPFA's blog

Antiwar Soldier Promoted to Staff Sergeant

Posted on: April 15, 2008 - 10:05am by Aaron Glantz

One of the leading voices of dissent inside the U.S. Army has been promoted. Sergeant Ronn Cantu -- who signed a petition to Congress demanding the U.S. withdraw from Iraq and gave interviews to the news shows "60 Minutes" and "Democracy Now!", as well as IPS detailing his opposition -- has seen his rank upgraded to staff sergeant

Download this clip (mp3, 3.64 MBytes)

Aaron Glantz's blog

http://www.warcomeshome.org/How_Washington_Cheats_Veterans_out_of_their_Benefits
KPFA 94.1 fm 2007. KPFA is the United States' first listener supported radio station.
The War Comes Home project is completely sponsored by your listener donations.
Please support KPFA by becoming a member at kpfa.org

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Vision, Values and Goals Transportation Master Plan

http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/boards/Trans.asp

http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/departments/Transportation/Transportation_Master_Planning.asp

Transportation Master Planning

GOALS
The Vision, Values and Goals component of the Transportation Master Plan identifies over-arching goals (based on the General Plan Community Mobility Element goals and additional goals regarding sustainability and regional coordination).
• Direct transportation policies, investments and decisions in ways which support the community’s adopted vision and values.
• Increase the range and convenience of transportation choices.
• Direct transportation policies, investments, and decisions to design contextsensitive responses.
• Coordinate transportation policies, investments and decisions with neighboring communities and the larger region, while effectively managing impacts of increasing demand for regional highway travel.
• Focus investments on improvements which add long-term value; and maintain the transportation system in ways which minimize life cycle cost. These goals reflect the goals of the General Plan Community Mobility Element, as well as a policy of sustainability. Further description of these goals can be found in the Vision, Values, and Goals section of the Master Plan. In addition, the following goals apply directly to the Streets Element:
• Maintain and improve citywide traffic circulation by widening roadways where appropriate and in concert with citywide goals of neighborhood protection; by using the ITS and access control to manage traffic flow; by identifying major intersections for improvements, and by continuing a program of capacity improvements as part of the Capital Improvement Plan to respond quickly to capacity restrictions.
• Provide a framework for the development of a transportation system for Scottsdale that is based on the complete streets concept, where streets are designed and constructed in a manner compatible with the surrounding land uses for use by all users.
• Encourage a mix of land uses that reduce overall auto use and are compatible with the function of the adjacent street network.
• Protect neighborhoods from negative impacts of traffic.
• Develop and manage the street network in a manner that places reliance on improving the efficiency of the existing system before expanding that system.
• Pursue development of a highly connected and continuous road system allowing for convenient and efficient travel by all modes.

Contacts:

Teresa Huish, Principal Transportation Planner
Phone: (480) 312-7829
Email: thuish@ScottsdaleAZ.gov

Reed Kempton, Principal Transportation Planner
Phone: (480) 312-7630
Email: rkempton@ScottsdaleAZ.gov

John Lynch, Senior Transportation Planner
Phone: (480) 312-7077
Email: jlynch@ScottsdaleAZ.gov

Dave Meinhart, Transit and Transportation Planning Director
Phone: (480) 312-7010
Email: dmeinhart@ScottsdaleAZ.gov

Evelyn Ng, Transportation Planner
Phone: (480) 312-7637
Email: eng@ScottsdaleAZ.gov

10 !!! lanes

A multi-modal approach includes all users (pedestrians, bicyclists, transit vehicles and users, equestrian users and motorists of all types) of all ages and abilities. This
approach aims to create a comprehensive, integrated, connected network. Understand that a universal “rule” on all streets cannot be applied – for example, pedestrian and
bicycle access on highways or freeways is not generally encouraged.? Provide facilities and amenities that are recognized as contributing to Complete Streets, including: roadway and pedestrian-level street lighting; pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements; access improvements in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act; transit facilities accommodation, including but not limited to pedestrian access improvement to transit stops; street trees and landscaping; and street furnishings that are sensitive to the local context.

http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/traffic/alttransmethod/bikeways.asp

Indian Bend Wash
Scottsdale’s Indian Bend Wash is much more than just a few miles of path. This greenbelt is one of the nation's most well-known floodcontrol (water split)
projects. Seven and a half miles of parkland provide lakes, golf courses, many recreational facilities, and an extensive multiuse path system for skating, biking, walking, and jogging. The wash was once an eroded eyesore running through the center of the community.

The details of how this project was developed can be found on-line at Residential properties, attractive shopping centers, resorts, and schools now line the slopes
the wash. Scottsdale has made the Indian Bend Wash greenbelt an integral part of its outdoor lifestyle. Due to the City’s linear shape, about 80 percent of Scottsdales citizens are within walking distance of the Wash. Estimates are that one million people make use of the greenbelt annually. The Wash has attracted residential and commercial activity that thrive on the traffic generated around and through the area.

http://www.ci.scottsdale.az.us/Parks/docs/IndianBendWashBook.pdf
Reed Kempton, Transportation Planner (Bicycle)
Phone: (480) 312-7630
Email: rkempton@ScottsdaleAZ.gov

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Cynthia McKinney & Rosa Clemente represent the kind of politics we all need to see in our own countries

Greens in the News

http://www.runcynthiarun.org.

Cynthia McKinney for President web page

http://www2.runcynthiarun.org/

Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente for Presdient web page2

http://votetruth08.com/

Cynthia McKinney thanks Noam Chomsky for endorsement

Cynthia McKinney today expressed her appreciation for the support of Professor Noam Chomsky, noted linguist tenured at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In private emails with campaign supporters this week, the respected social critic noted that he had voted Green in 2004, and would be voting for the party ticket next Tuesday, as well.
2008-11-04

Cynthia McKinney & Rosa Clemente represent the kind of politics we all need to see in our own countries
I read the other day that Toni Morrison will be voting for Obama. A couple of weeks ago it was Alice Walker writing what I described
as "driveling bullshit." and one more example of the mainstreaming of the progressives - Rosa Clemente has a more definitive list here. Obama talks about bringing "fundamental change" but the only fundamental change is his colour and when one looks more closely even his colour is not that fundamental after all. Obama is intrinsically tied to the mainstream, pro-Zionist war mongering American superstructure. Though disappointing it is not so surprising that so many millions all over the world have been drawn in by Obama who panders to black and white notions of a "post racial" America and world. An imaginary world of convenience particularly for the millions of white people who will vote him into the White House. http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/cynthia_mckinney_rosa_clemente_represent_the_kind_of_politics_we_all_need_to_see_in_our_own_countries.html#more-2119

2008-11-03

Labor Struggles

As Lear workers' jobs vanish, their prospects fade
Working an auto electronics assembly line, Elizabeth Rondon, Nedra Banks and Eric Franks probably don't spend a lot of their busy lives contemplating the pros and cons of a merger between General Motors and Chrysler.
2008-11-02

First-Ever Layoffs Loom at Postal Service
The U.S. Postal Service faces a serious financial shortfall that is accelerating reductions in its workforce and raising the possibility of the first-ever layoffs of career employees. Reduced mail volume, rising costs, and a newly enacted cap on rate increases all have taken a toll on the Postal Service's finances. A gradual shift to electronic communications and bill payment is shrinking the number of first-class letters, a mainstay of postal revenues. And the current economic downturn has led to drops in advertising mail volume.
2008-11-01

Around The World

Mining for minerals fuels Congo conflict
The conflict in eastern Congo is being fueled and funded by a tussle for mineral resources that end up in cell phones, laptops and other electronics - deepening the stakes in a war that sprung out of festering hatreds from the Rwandan genocide.
2008-11-01

Climate change at the poles IS man-made
Changes to the climate due to human activity can now be detected on every continent, following a study showing that temperature rises in the Antarctic as well as the Arctic are the result of man-made emissions of greenhouse gases.
2008-10-31

GP.org Newscenter

-Greens: what's the difference?
-Who really spoiled?
-Why are people turning off the Presidential Debates?

http://gp.org/2008-elections/2008-Presidential-Ballots_1.htm

2008 Criteria for including Third Parties on
The Green Papers website as Major Third Parties

http://www.thegreenpapers.com/T08/Criteria.phtml

Those Third Parties (Parties which- unlike the Democrats and Republicans did not receive Electoral Votes through winning a plurality of a State's [or
the District of Columbia's] Popular Vote) receiving a minimum of 2/10ths of 1 percent of the nationwide Popular Vote in any Presidential Election between 1976 and 2004 and which fielded candidates in the previous presidential election (2004) are hereby defined as Major Third Parties for the purposes of The Green Papers website, subject to an additional criterion (which will be described below).

(NOTE: Excluded from this definition re: Major Third Parties are the following non-Party so-called Independent bids for President which also received at least 0.2% of the nationwide popular vote between 1976 and 2004:

Eugene McCarthy in 1976
John Anderson in 1980
Ross Perot in 1992
Ralph Nader in 2004

[NOTE: while it is true that John Anderson called his organization the National Unity Campaign and Ross Perot's first bid was under the guise of United We Stand, neither of these campaign organizations were, in any way, true political Parties. In addition, although Ralph Nader did gain ballot access in several States for 2004 via having been nominated in those States by a number of Third Parties (Populist, Reform, Peace and Justice, etc.) acting locally, his nationwide campaign was that of an Independent candidacy.])

The Third Parties whose candidate for President of the United States did receive a minimum of 0.2% of the nationwide Popular Vote in at least one Presidential Election between 1976 and 2004 were as follows: http://www.bloggingthedebates.com/

AMERICAN INDEPENDENT PARTY 1976
CITIZENS PARTY 1980
GREEN PARTY 1996 2000
LIBERTARIAN PARTY 1976 thru 2004
NEW ALLIANCE PARTY 1988
REFORM PARTY 1996 2000

However, the AMERICAN INDEPENDENT PARTY (along with other lineal successors to the AMERICAN INDEPENDENT PARTY of George Wallace in 1968, such as the AMERICAN PARTY) has been, for all intents and purposes, defunct since the 1992 election; the CITIZENS PARTY has not been active in national presidential politics since the 1984 election,; while the NEW ALLIANCE PARTY has not fielded a national presidential ticket since 1992. This leaves, as potentially Major Third Parties under our 0.2% of the popular vote in any election 1976-2004-based definition: the GREEN, the LIBERTARIAN and the REFORM Parties.

In addition, however, we also now apply an additional criterion before finally accepting, for purposes of this website, a given Third Party as a Major Third Party and that is this:In order to be considered a Major Third Party by 'The Green Papers', a Third Party [again, not Democrat or Republican] which has received at least 0.2% of the nationwide Popular Vote in at least one Presidential Election between 1976 and 2004 must have also been on the ballot (voters having the ability to cast a write-in do not count), in enough jurisdictions, back in 2004, so as to allow that Third Party to have been able to, however theoretically, actually win the Presidency in the most recent Presidential Election. Put another way: a Third Party- even if it has received at least 2/10ths of 1 percent of the vote between 1976 and 2004- cannot be at all considered Major unless it had also gained the ability to win at least 270 (a majority) of the 538 Electoral Votes via actually having been on the ballot in enough jurisdictions (the 50 States plus D.C.) containing at least said 270 Electoral Votes in the most recent Presidential Election.

Under the above additional criterion, the REFORM PARTY (which only appeared on the ballot in 5 jurisdictions having a total of but 52 Electoral Votes in 2004) no longer qualifies as a current Major Third Party for purposes of 'The Green Papers'; whereas the LIBERTARIAN PARTY (on the ballot in 49 jurisdictions with 527 Electoral Votes in 2004) and the GREEN PARTY (on the ballot in 28 jurisdictions with 286 Electoral Votes in 2004) do so qualify- and, therefore, are hereby defined- as Major Third Parties for purposes of this website.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Demokrasi Video by the Abjeez

The latest Abjeez video, for the song Demokrasi, went live on YouTube this Saturday, and like their other videos, its pretty brilliant. Demokrasi has the sisters posing as TV reporters - they sing the entire song with vapid news-anchor faces, and at the bottom of the screen, the scrolling news ticker is a translation of the lyrics they re singing. (A side note: the song is spelled DemoKracy on YouTube but Demokrasi on their album - but they dont spell imminent correctly in the video either, so who knows?) This song is by far the most political on their album, and their delivery here gives it extra sting.

To see their other videos, check out the Abjeez YouTube channel, and see this post in the Pars Arts archives for more on the Abjeez

Sisters Safoura and Melody Safavi – the very name Abjeez is Iranian slang for sister are true world citizens: born in Iran, raised in Sweden, at home in Paris or Mumbai or San Francisco. Little sister Safoura trained in flamenco guitar at Spain's prestigious Fundacion Christina Heeren del arte flamenco; now she's the Abjeez composer and lead guitarist. Lyricist Melody draws inspiration from their families' ancient Persian lineage.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-dajani/what-happens-in-syria-sta_b_139628.html

Another bizarre incident was added to the string of assassinations and attacks that have plagued Syria for the past year. On October 26th an American commando raid on a farm in Syria near the Iraqi border claimed the lives of eight civilians, including a woman and three children according to both the Syrian government and the gruesome images beamed on several Arab satellite television networks across the Arab world.

One of the injured told Syrian Television that he saw four helicopters coming from the border area under a heavy blanket of fire. Someone else shot a video of the planes using his cell phone camera. "One of the helicopters landed in an agricultural area, and eight members disembarked," a man in his 40s said. "The firing lasted about 15 minutes, and when I tried to leave the area on my motorcycle, I was hit by a bullet in my right arm," he added.
Syria TV also showed the building guard's injured wife in a hospital bed with a tube in her nose, saying that two helicopters had landed, while two remained in the air during the attack.
The United States claimed that the intended target was a leading al-Qaeda member called Badran Turki al-Mazidih, aka Abu Ghadiya, who operated a network to smuggle fighters and weapons into Iraq. However, the only images of the dead and injured are poor, illiterate laborers and their families.

On Thursday, thousands of people demonstrated in the Syrian capital, Damascus, to condemn the attack, which was referred to as a "criminal and terrorist aggression" by Syrian foreign minister Walid al Mualem. This prompted the U.S. Embassy to close its doors.

What makes this raid odd is the fact that it comes shortly after U.S. commanders praised Syria for reducing the flow of insurgents into Iraq from 100 per month to 20. Syria has also shown unusual cooperation and willingness to reach out to the West and its neighbors. Two weeks ago, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered his government to establish full diplomatic relations with Lebanon. Syria also seems to be back on the good side of EU countries after a rapprochement with France, and it has been engaged in on again, off again indirect negotiations with Israel as well.

Even odder, Syria is in the thick of confrontations with militant Salafi and al-Qaeda type groups. Mysterious assassinations have been occurring, starting with the explosion in February that took the life of Imad Mughniyeh, the guerrilla mastermind of Hizbullah, followed in August by the killing of a leading Syrian general and security advisor to the President, Muhammad Suleiman, who was murdered under strange circumstances in the coastal town of Tartus. In September, a car bomb in the outskirts of Damascus killed 17 people, and most recently there have been reports of shooting in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp.

Now what's strange about the latest event is its timing. -- Why now?

With John McCain trailing in the polls and with a few days left to the U.S. presidential elections, many analysts in the Middle East believe that this recent American incursion on Syrian territories was intended to boost John McCain's standing as the man best fit to lead the U.S. troops in a time of crisis. Claiming the "surge" in Iraq as a military success has done very little to help John McCain in this last stretch of the race. Attacking Iran this late in the game seems to be off the table, and with Bin Laden still alive and roaming free, what's left?

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but could this be a parting gift from George Bush to a desperate John McCain? Is this the "October Surprise" that has gone awry?

I guess we will never know, since what happens in Syria stays in Syria.
- Jamal Dajani produces the Mosaic Intelligence Report on Link TV

Saturday, November 1, 2008

endofsuburbia

If you want peace - Something Good

Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years, so too has the suburban way of life become embedded in the American consciousness.

Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American way of life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Peak Oil and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary.

The consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are enormous. What does Peak Oil mean for North America? As energy prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of their dream? Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done NOW, individually and collectively, to avoid the end of suburbia? LEARN MORE: Visit The End of Suburbia online. http://www.endofsuburbia.com/