links for 2010-01-30

• Osama bin Laden lends unwelcome support in fight against climate change | Environment | guardian.co.uk
  The wingnuts of Fox et al, have indeed seized upon bin laden's environmentalist message:
  "The utterance immediately got star billing on the right-wing blog Drudge Report as well as a mention on Fox News – both repositories of opposition to action on global warming. And the Conservative RedState website asked, "What is the difference between Bin Laden and Al Gore?""
  (tags: BinLaden climatechange environment politics united-states islamism islamist)
• Al Jazeera English – Middle East – Bin Laden deplores climate change
  In new tape, Bin Laden believes in anthropogenic climate change and blames the developed countries, esp the US, and condemns them for not acting. Great stuff. Though also great fuel for the rightwing nuts
  (tags: BinLaden climatechange environment politics islamism islamist international united-states)
• High speed rail: Obama to announce $8 billion in grants for high-speed rail – latimes.com
  "President Obama will announce today $8 billion in grants to high-speed rail, an investment that will give a special boost to projects in California, Illinois and Florida as part of a plan to create the nation's first nationwide program of intercity passenger rail service.

  In all, rail projects in 31 states will get money through the Recovery Act stimulus plan, passed by Congress last year to create jobs, transform travel and spur economic recovery.
  [..]
  The grants will go toward developing 13 new, large-scale high speed rail corridors, according to the administration. Officials say the investment will create well-paying jobs in track-laying, manufacturing, planning and engineering, in addition to maintenance and operations. More than 30 foreign and domestic rail manufacturers have agreed to establish or expand their operations in the U.S. if they are hired as part of the investment.
  "

  (tags: united-states transport electricity energy development economic-crisis obama)
• Empowering women | Social Sector Office
  McKinsey report (pdf) on how business can help empower women at various stages of their lives.
  (tags: women business development CSR)
• YouTube – "Fear the Boom and Bust" a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem
  (tags: economy economics economic-crisis video humor keynes politics hayek youtube)
• on office: turbine city
  Architectural concept for building wind turbine city with real-estate in the tower bases. Supposed to be in Stavanger, norway
  (tags: norway wind energy design sustainable)
• Tax Cannabis Initiative Submits Signatures to Election Officials « SpeakEasy
  Leaders and supporters of the Tax Cannabis 2010 initiative here in California are submitting signatures to election officials in all of the state’s 58 counties today — from Eureka to Calexico.

  The initiative, which would tax and regulate the sale of marijuana to adults over 21, and which would make personal possession, cultivation, and use of cannabis legal, gathered nearly 700,000 signatures. It needed only 455,971 to qualify.

  Election officials have 60 days to review the signatures. Because the campaign collected so many more than necessary, it’s virtually assured that the initiative will be confirmed to the November mid-term ballot, even if many signatures are deemed ineligible.

  (tags: california law drugs marijuana)
• What's Next for the Anti-War Movement? The War and Empire Landscape in Obama's 2nd Year | | AlterNet
  A year ago, when it seemed global capitalism really teetered at the brink of collapse, there may have been a moment of possibility for Obama to rise to greatness in spite of his limitations in the manner of his role models Lincoln and FDR – to take the kinds of dramatic measures at home[..; a] harnessing or even seizure of Detroit’s industrial apparatus and Wall Street’s financial machinery to instate a “Green New Deal” based on a crash conversion from the fossil fuel economy, [and some] degree of social leveling.
  [..]
  This lost opportunity shifts the responsibilities for addressing the global crisis even more firmly to the grassroots. Obama still represents, at least, an imperial adjustment to a new world situation that includes some hopeful signs [..]. If we [Antiwar movement] are to regain lost ground, our challenge is to remain intransigently oppositional in this period of adjustment — but in a more intelligent way, which recognizes what has changed, and to what degree.
  (tags: war activism economics politics international united-states military oil oil-dependence left economic-crisis economy obama)
• Shrimp's Dirty Secrets: Why America's Favorite Seafood Is a Health and Environmental Nightmare | Food | AlterNet
  "- Problems with irresponsible methods of farming don't end at the "yuck," factor as shrimp farming is credited with destroying 38 percent of the world's mangroves, some of the most diverse and productive ecosystems on earth. Mangroves sequester vast amounts of carbon and serve as valuable buffers against hurricanes and tsunamis. Some compare shrimp farming methods that demolish mangroves to slash-and-burn agriculture.
  – Additionally, some shrimp are wild-caught, and while they aren't raised in a chemical cocktail, the vast majority is caught using trawling, a highly destructive fishing method. Football field-sized nets are dragged along the ocean floor, scooping up and killing several pounds of marine life for every pound of shrimp they catch and demolishing the ocean floor ecosystem as they go. Where they don't clear-cut coral reefs or other rich ocean floor habitats, they drag their nets through the mud, leaving plumes of sediment so large they are visible from outer space."
  (tags: food environment biology biodiversity agriculture)
• econstories.tv
  (tags: economics video humor education economy politics youtube Keynes Hayek)