TERRA DAILY - Pakistan most affected by climate change

by Staff Writers, TERRA DAILY
Durban, South Africa (UPI) Dec 1, 2011

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Pakistan_most_affected_by_climate_change_999.html

Pakistan topped the list in a ranking of countries that suffered the most from the effects of climate change, a new report says.

Released on the sidelines of the U.N. climate talks in Durban, South Africa, the "Global Climate Risk Index 2012" by Germanwatch, a European non-governmental organization, looked at the effects of extreme weather events from 1991-2010, based on data from insurance giant Munich Re.

"[The index] recognizes the now indisputable fact that Pakistan faces climate impacts which are not only happening in real time but in a widely diverse pattern -- ranging from extreme events such as cyclones, glacial melting and floods as well as indirect impacts such as droughts, shifting cropping patterns and climate-induced migrants," said Pakistan's former environment minister, Malik Amin Aslam, Pakistan's Express Tribune newspaper reports.

Just from the floods of 2010, which affected some 8 million people, Pakistan incurred an economic loss worth an estimated $9.6 billion, said Farrukh Iqbal Khan, a member of Pakistan's delegation to Durban.

"We have had floods again this year and we are not really prepared for extreme events of the scale we saw in 2010," Khan said. "The rising financial costs for coping with climate disasters, highlighted in the report, are also in line with our internal analysis which forecasts these climate finance needs to be in the range of $6 billion-14 billion per annum for Pakistan."

While Pakistan was ranked No. 1 on the list of countries that suffered the most from climate change in 2010, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Honduras topped the long-term index.

Sven Harmeling, author of the index and team leader of International Climate Policy at Germanwatch, said the climate summit will be decisive for necessary commitments made by governments to reverse the global emissions trend.

"The current inadequate promises of the world's governments to fight climate change will push our limits of preparing for disasters and adaptation," he said.

But the Pakistani government isn't confident it will have the opportunity to present its viewpoint in Durban, The News International reports, noting that a large number of developing countries are unlikely to have any say during the proceedings of the 10-day conference which opened Monday.

"We (the developing countries) are not able to even raise (our) voice for our rights as the developed countries enjoy strong influence over the agenda and even (the) output of these kinds of conferences," said Qamaruz Zaman Chaudhry, former director general of the Meteorological Department of Pakistan.

Zaid Jilani - Top GOP Strategist Admits He’s ‘Scared’ Of Occupy Wall Street Because It’s ‘Having An Impact’

Published on Thursday, December 1, 2011 by ThinkProgress

http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/12/01/379365/frank-luntz-occupy-wall-street/

by Zaid Jilani

The The Republican Governor’s Association met in Florida this week and featured pollster Frank Luntz, who offered a coaching session for attendees about how they should communicate to the public. Yahoo! News’ Chris Moody was there, and captured some of Luntz’s comments on Occupy Wall Street.

Luntz told attendees that he’s “scared of this anti-Wall Street effort. I’m frightened to death.” The pollster warned that the movement is “having an impact on what the American people think of capitalism.” So the pollster offered some advice for them about how to fight back. Here’s a few snippets of what he said, according to Moody:

– Don’t Mention Capitalism: Luntz said that his polling research found that “The public…still prefers capitalism to socialism, but they think capitalism is immoral. And if we’re seen as defenders of quote, Wall Street, end quote, we’ve got a problem.”

– Empathize With The 99 Percent Protesters: Luntz instructed attendees to tell protesters that they “get it”: “First off, here are three words for you all: ‘I get it.’ … ‘I get that you’re. I get that you’ve seen inequality. I get that you want to fix the system.”

– Don’t Say Bonus: Luntz told Republicans to re-frame the concept of the bonus payment — which bailed-out Wall Street doles out to its employees during holidays — as “pay for performance” instead.

– Don’t Mention The Middle Class Because Americans Don’t Trust Republicans To Defend It: “They cannot win if the fight is on hardworking taxpayers,” Luntz instructed the audience. “We can say we defend the ‘middle class’ and the public will say, I’m not sure about that. But defending ‘hardworking taxpayers’ and Republicans have the advantage.”

– Don’t Talk About Taxing The Rich: Luntz reminded Republicans that Americans actually do want to tax the rich, so he reccommended they instead say that the government “takes from the rich.”

Frank Luntz is no minor pollster. He is considered to be one of the top political communications experts in the world, having provided consulting to many of the world’s top corporations, politicians, and special interest groups. That Luntz is admitting the impact of Occupy Wall Street and the 99 Percent and telling closed-door meetings of Republicans that it frightens him is a huge victory for the movement.

SETH BORENSTEIN - Federal report: Arctic much worse since 2006

By SETH BORENSTEIN | AP

http://news.yahoo.com/federal-report-arctic-much-worse-since-2006-182055700.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials say the Arctic region has changed dramatically in the past five years — for the worse.

It's melting at a near record pace, and it's darkening and absorbing too much of the sun's heat.

A new report card from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration rates the polar region with blazing red stop lights on three of five categories and yellow cautions for the other two. Overall, these are not good grades, but it doesn't mean the Arctic is doomed and it still will freeze in the winter, said report co-editor Jackie Richter-Menge.

The Arctic acts as Earth's refrigerator, cooling the planet. What's happening, scientists said, is like someone pushing the fridge's thermostat much too high.

"It's not cooling as well as it used to," Richter-Menge said.

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AIDS - Myths and Fallacies

A special investigative report on The Progressive Commentary Hour (Every Monday night on The Progressive Radio Network)

AIDS - Myths and Fallacies 

NOVEMBER 28, 2011

Guests: Celia Farber, Professor Henry Bauer, David Crowe

 Download this episode (right click and save)

naturalnews - The science of vitamin C - The evidence of its beneficial effects on health is undeniable

www.naturalnews.com 

(NaturalNews) Among all supplemental vitamins, vitamin C may be the most controversial. The scientist most responsible for bringing vitamin C's benefits to the public, Linus Pauling, has been vilified in an attempt to kill the messenger and marginalize the message. But proof of vitamin C efficacy continues despite the medical mafia's suppressive efforts.

The November 24, 2011 Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine newsletter discussed a study referenced in PubMed that linked high blood levels of vitamin C with lower incidence of heart failure, while lower serum levels of vitamin C were connected to higher death rates. (1) The study summary abstract is here (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...).

If you peeked at the report summary, you'll have noticed that the study was based on determining if high vegetable and fruit consumption is beneficial for heart health. Most of us know this already, but the bio-marker used in the study was vitamin C serum blood levels. 

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Sciencedaily - Eating Fish Reduces Risk of Alzheimer's Disease, Study Finds

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111130095257.htm

ScienceDaily (Nov. 30, 2011) — People who eat baked or broiled fish on a weekly basis may be improving their brain health and reducing their risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease, according to a study presented November 30 at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

"This is the first study to establish a direct relationship between fish consumption, brain structure and Alzheimer's risk," said Cyrus Raji, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "The results showed that people who consumed baked or broiled fish at least one time per week had better preservation of gray matter volume on MRI in brain areas at risk for Alzheimer's disease."

Alzheimer's disease is an incurable, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and cognitive skills. According to the National Institute on Aging, as many as 5.1 million Americans may have Alzheimer's disease. In MCI, memory loss is present but to a lesser extent than in Alzheimer's disease. People with MCI often go on to develop Alzheimer's disease.

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U of ALASKA - Abrupt permafrost thaw increases climate threat

http://www.iab.uaf.edu/news/index.php?newsrel=97 U of Alaska 30 November 2011 FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- As the Arctic warms, greenhouse gases will be released from thawing permafrost faster and at significantly higher levels than previous estimates, according to survey results from 41 international scientists published in the Nov. 30 issue of the journal Nature. Permafrost thaw will release approximately the same amount of carbon as deforestation, say the authors, but the effect on climate will be 2.5 times bigger because emissions include methane, which has a greater effect on warming than carbon dioxide. The survey, led by University of Florida researcher Edward Schuur and University of Alaska Fairbanks graduate student Benjamin Abbott, asked climate experts what percentage of the surface permafrost is likely to thaw, how much carbon will be released and how much of that carbon will be methane. The authors estimate that the amount of carbon released by 2100 will be 1.7 to 5.2 times larger than reported in recent modeling studies, which used a similar warming scenario.

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JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS - Horses could soon be slaughtered for meat in US

By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS/ AP

http://news.yahoo.com/horses-could-soon-slaughtered-meat-us-080907323.html

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Horses could soon be butchered in the U.S. for human consumption after Congress quietly lifted a 5-year-old ban on funding horse meat inspections, and activists say slaughterhouses could be up and running in as little as a month.

Slaughter opponents pushed a measure cutting off funding for horse meat inspections through Congress in 2006 after other efforts to pass outright bans on horse slaughter failed in previous years. Congress lifted the ban in a spending bill President Barack Obama signed into law Nov. 18 to keep the government afloat until mid-December.

It did not, however, allocate any new money to pay for horse meat inspections, which opponents claim could cost taxpayers $3 million to $5 million a year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture would have to find the money in its existing budget, which is expected to see more cuts this year as Congress and the White House aim to trim federal spending.

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Ralph Nader - Not Made in America

Published on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 by CommonDreams.org

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/11/30-7

by Ralph Nader

"Here, look at this handsome L.L. Bean catalog and tell me what you want for Christmas," said a relative over Thanksgiving weekend. I started leafing through the 88 page cornucopia with hundreds of clothing and household products, garnished by free gift cards and guaranteed free shipping. I wasn't perusing it for any suggested gifts; instead, I was going through every offering to see whether they were made in the U.S.A. or in other countries.

This is what I found: over 97 percent of all the items pictured and priced were noted "imported" by L.L. Bean. The only ones manufactured in the U.S. were fireplace gloves, an L.L. Bean jean belt, a dress chino belt, quilted faux-shearling-lined L.L. Bean boots (made in Maine), a personalized web collar and leash (for your pet), and symbolically enough, the "made in Maine using American-made cotton canvas are the Original Boat and Tote Bags" to carry all those goodies coming in from China and elsewhere.

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Les Leopold - 6 Shocking Revelations About Wall Street's "Secret Government"

By Les Leopold, AlterNet

Posted on November 30, 2011, Printed on December 1, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/153274/6_shocking_revelations_about_wall_street%27s_%22secret_government%22

We now have concrete evidence that Wall Street and Washington are running a secret government far removed from the democratic process. Through a freedom of information request by Bloomberg News, the public now has access to over 29,000 pages of Fed documents and 21,000 additional Fed transactions that were deliberately hidden, and for good reason. (See here and here.)

These documents show how top government officials willfully concealed from Congress and the public the true extent of the 2008-'09 bailouts that enriched the few and enhanced the interests of giant Wall Streets firms. Here’s what we now know: 

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