No, we aren’t being sarcastic. The Space Shuttle “Discovery”—the first sent into flight since the Shuttle fleet was grounded following the mid-flight destruction of the “Columbia” in 2003—succeeded in docking at the International Space Station this week, but only after… Read moreNASA grounds Shuttle; outer space temporarily safe from US imperialist aggression
A very interesting story today cites poll results on American versus Japanese attitudes about the likelihood of a new world war, even if random guy-on-the-street quotes are by definition never presented objectively. It is certainly very telling that Americans are… Read moreWhich world war is this?
Shades of Soylent Green. “The plankton is dying!” From AP July 14, via TruthOut: Scientists Raise Alarm about Ocean Health SEATTLE – With a record number of dead seabirds washing up on West Coast beaches from Central California to British… Read moreMeanwhile, the oceans are dying…
A friend writes on the Car Free Cities list: Terrorism, Transit and Public Safety: Evaluating The Risks In 2002 according to statistics 1,000,000 people were killed by cars: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_accident For 2003, 2004 and 2005 the numbers are (will be) higher… Read moreStatistics: cars worse than terrorism
News reports of the Deep Impact space probe’s explosive Independence Day rendezvous with a comet could not have made clearer that the whole affair was barely-disguised patriotic propaganda, very convenient at a time when the Iraq war is turning into… Read moreDeep Impact: “science” as propaganda
As we noted yesterday, reportage on the oil market jittters sparked by the Iran elections included a quote from one analyst predicting an imminent rise to $100 a barrel. This ominous figure is being heard more and more. The Wall… Read more“Peak oil” hits mainstream
A friend writes from Philadelphia, scene of the recent anti-biotech protests (where, as we noted, a police officer died of a heart attack): Please donate bail money! A dozen or so protesters were arrested at the Biodevestation protests in Philadelphia… Read moreBiodevastation protesters need help
The Inuit of Alaska and Canada’s far north, whose traditional way of life depends on hunting seals and polar bear—and therefore on cold—are not so sanguine about global warming. Thanks to TruthOut for passing on this interesting June 16 Reuters… Read moreInuit to file petition against US on climate change
Jonathan Bennett of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) sends the following observations on follow-up coverage of revleations the Bush White House altered science on global climate change: Go figure. Two days after the Times reports… Read moreQuiet exit for White House science-cooker
Kudos to TruthOut for pairing these two gems from the UK Guardian and the NY Times: Revealed: How Oil Giant Influenced Bush by John Vidal The Guardian Wednesday 08 June 2005 White House sought advice from Exxon on Kyoto stance…. Read moreExxon shaped Bush Kyoto policy
The UN conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has closed with little accomplished in the way of new ways to enforce the fast-unravelling treaty. A May 28 report in the LA Times notes: The United States tried to keep the… Read moreNPT conference ends in discord
The US defended itself May 20 against charges from states without nuclear weapons that it is failing to fulfill its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). At a month-long conference reviewing the NPT, non-nuclear states dismissed U.S. diplomats’ recitation… Read moreNon-nuclear states challenge US on proliferation
