Robert Kuttner: The Goons of August

Published on Monday, August 1, 2011 by The Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/the-goons-of-august_b_914518.html

by Robert Kuttner

Let us face the momentous truth: The United States has been rendered ungovernable except on the extortionate terms of the far-right.

For the first time in modern history, one of the two major parties is in the hands of a faction so extreme that it is willing to destroy the economy if it doesn't get its way.

And the Tea Party Republicans have a perfect foil in President Barack Obama. The budget deal is the logical conclusion of Obama's premise that the way to make governing partners of the far right is to keep appeasing them. He is the perfect punching bag. He can be blasted both as a far-left liberal and as a weakling.

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The Guardian UK: BP 'Has Gained Stranglehold Over Iraq' After Oilfield Deal is Rewritten

Published on Monday, August 1, 2011 by The Guardian/UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jul/31/bp-stranglehold-iraq-oilfield-contract

New terms mean company will be paid even when production is disrupted, critics claim

The Guardian UK

BP has been accused of taking a "stranglehold" on the Iraqi economy after the Baghdad government agreed to pay the British firm even when oil is not being produced by the Rumaila field, confidential documents reveal.

The original deal for operating Iraq's largest field – half as big as the entire North Sea – has been rewritten so that BP will be immediately compensated for civil disruption or government decisions to cut production.

This potentially could influence the policy decisions made by Iraq in relation to the OPEC oil cartel, and is a major step away from the original terms of an auction deal signed in the summer of 2009, critics claim.

"Iraq's oil auctions were portrayed as a model of transparency and a negotiating victory for the Iraqi government," said Greg Muttitt, author of Fuel on the Fire: Oil and Politics in Occupied Iraq. "Now we see the reality was the opposite: a backroom deal that gave BP a stranglehold on the Iraqi economy, and even influence over the decisions of OPEC."

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"Judith Stock" - Reconnecting Children and Nature

July 29, 2011

http://www.miller-mccune.com/environment/reconnecting-children-and-nature-34252/?utm_source=Newsletter172&utm_medium=email&utm_content=0802&utm_campaign=newsletters

It may not be recognized by the AMA, but nature deficit disorder is raising Cain with children in the industrialized world — and it can be fought.

By Judith Stock

Miller-McCune.com

Traditionally, nature has served as humanity’s greatest teacher, the place where artists, poets and scientists go for inspiration. The natural world has the ability to draw us in and allow us to experience a sense of wonder.

But what happens when children fail to bond with nature?

Nature deficit disorder isn’t a medical term but a social phenomenon identified by Richard Louv, the author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder.

Nature deficit disorder describes the high cost of separation between nature and children — including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, childhood obesity, higher rates of physical and emotional illness and vitamin D deficiency, to list a few.

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Is a 'Katrina-Like' Space Storm Brewing?

U.S. scientists worry we aren't ready for a solar space storm that could knock out our electricity, our cell phones, even our water supply. The chances of that happening are small, but it is a possibility as we move into an active period of solar storms. How do they know? Well, it's happened before. Back in 1859, a solar eruption resulted in telegraph wires burning up. Of course, the world is now covered in wires and wireless devices that could be vulnerable.

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Perfect Space Storm Could be Catastrophic on Earth, Study Concludes

The sun works on a pretty well known 11-year cycle of activity, all measured by sunspots and solar flares. But like the stock market, the sunspot cycle is unpredictable. And just when astronomers thought it had hit bottom, it went lower. It has been a bear market for sunspots for many months now. That also means there have been no major space storms, which can zap satellites and threaten power grids on Earth.

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U.S. Must Take Space Storm Threat Seriously, Experts Warn

WASHINGTON — Space weather could pose serious problems here on Earth in the coming years, the chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Saturday (Feb. 19). A severe solar storm has the potential to take down telecommunications and power grids, and the country needs to work on being better prepared, said NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Lubchenco is also the U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.

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NASA warns of global catastrophe post upcoming 'huge space storm'

NASA has warned of a once-in-a-lifetime ‘space storm’ after the sun wakes ‘from a deep slumber’ sometime around 2013, causing ‘20 times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrin

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Japan's Big Earthquake Rattled The Ionosphere

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2011

http://nanopatentsandinnovations.blogspot.com/2011/07/japans-big-earthquake-rattled.html

The giant 11 March 2011 magnitude 9 Tohoku earthquake not only shook the Earth and caused devastating tsunamis but also rattled the ionosphere, according to a new study.

Image: NASA

The ionosphere is a part of the upper atmosphere, comprising portions of the mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere, distinguished because it is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere. It has practical importance because, among other functions, it influences radio propagation to distant places on the Earth.

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Union of Concerned Scientists: Report Projects Health Impacts and Costs from Worsening Ozone Pollution in a Warming World

Ozone Pollution Could Cost Americans More Than $5 Billion in 2020

Union of Concerned Scientists, June 2, 2011

http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/climate-change-and-ozone-pollution-6211.html

WASHINGTON (June 2, 2011) – Unchecked global warming could threaten public health and increase health costs by exacerbating ground-level ozone, according to a peer-reviewed report released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

The report, “Climate Change and Your Health: Rising Temperatures, Worsening Ozone Pollution,” found climate change-induced ozone increases could result in 2.8 million additional serious respiratory illnesses, 5,100 additional infants and seniors hospitalized with serious breathing problems, and 944,000 additional missed school days in the United States in 2020.

All told, these and other health-related impacts could cost approximately $5.4 billion. And if global warming pollution continues unabated, these impacts and costs could be significantly higher.

“Even a small increase in ozone due to a warmer climate would have a significant impact on public health,” said UCS public health expert Liz Perera, a report co-author. “It would mean more asthma attacks, respiratory illnesses, emergency room trips, and premature deaths.”

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Eric Walberg: Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) versus Bilderberg -- Where are Real Decisions Being Made?

As the Western elite gathered in picturesque St Moritz to grapple with pressing world crises, the outsiders met in the bleak steppes of Central Asia.

Last week’s 10th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Kazakh capital Astana highlighted how the major rivals to empire, led by Russia and China -- themselves rivals, are trying to fashion an alternative to US hegemony.

The SCO is the only major international organisation that has neither the US nor any close US ally among its members, and its influence is growing across Eurasia. Leaders of member states Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan were joined by leaders from observers Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Mongolia. Belarus and Sri Lanka have been admitted as dialogue partners, and prior to his arrival in Astana to attend the summit, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Ukraine.

With a Chinese rhetorical flourish, the Astana Declaration stressed the goal of combatting the "three forces" of "terrorism, extremism, and separatism". The summit called for a "neutral" Afghanistan (read: no permanent US bases), supported by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, even as the US is actively discussing a post-2014 strategic partnership agreement with him. The prospect of permanent US military bases in Afghanistan lies at the core of current US-Pakistan tensions. India has indicated its aversion to "new cold war" tensions appearing in the region.

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