Category Archives: Uncategorized

Producing exclusively food for human consumption (Science Daily)

If we went vegan and walked or rode buses and trains – enough food for everyone at a reasonable price!?!

DESERTIFICATION

Read at :

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130801125704.htm

Existing Cropland Could Feed Four Billion More by Dropping Biofuels and Animal Feed

Aug. 1, 2013 — The world’s croplands could feed 4 billion more people than they do now just by shifting from producing animal feed and biofuels to producing exclusively food for human consumption, according to new research from the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota.

Even a smaller, partial shift from crop-intensive livestock such as feedlot beef to food animals such as chicken or pork could increase agricultural efficiency and provide food for millions, the study says.

(continued)

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Why did Home Office tweet about arrest of 139 immigrants out of 5,000 other arrests yesterday?

Same reason a peacock fans his tail – to see if anyone would notice how wonderful and powerful they are (not).

Pride's Purge

(not satire – it’s the UK today!)

We already know the answer to this one, don’t we?

Why did the Home Office decide to tweet about the arrest of 139 immigrants yesterday when around 5,000 other people are arrested every day in the UK?

According to civil service guidelines, the Home Office isn’t allowed to publicly comment on anything which may be construed as party political and must not “act in a way that is determined by party political considerations, or use official resources for party political purposes”.

With Tory campaign ‘guru’ Lynton Crosby making immigration one of the corner stones of the Tories’ re-election campaign, couldn’t Home Office civil servants tweeting about the arrest of 139 immigrants – while not mentioning anything at all about the other approximately 5,000 people who are arrested every day in the UK – be construed as using official resources for party political purposes?

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Manus Island

antoine cassar

manus-island

Manus Island, part of the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north-east of Papua New Guinea. 100 km by 30 km, population 50,321 as of the 2011 census. Known for its sea cucumbers (served as bêche de mer), the endemic emerald green snail (now an endangered species), and for its copper and gold deposits. In global focus, more recently, for hosting an “offshore refugee processing centre” on behalf of the Australian government. Having closed in 2003, the centre was re-opened in November 2012. To learn more about the conditions inside the centre, visit the website of Australian NGO ChilOut (as in CHILdren OUT of detention), or click here to watch an investigative report that goes inside the centre (ABC).

atlasThe new Atlas poem below is part of a growing series on islands and peninsulas. Judith Schalansky’s Atlas of Remote Islands, a cartographical and poetic

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SNAP Benefits Will Be Cut for All Participants in November 2013 — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

The upcoming cuts to SNAP benefits will be significant and will have far-reaching impacts on low-income individuals and families.  They will likely increase hardship for the more than 47 million Americans who rely upon SNAP to meet their basic nutritional needs.  With Congress unlikely to act to mitigate the cuts, states need to begin planning for the reduction to ensure that clients and the many organizations and SNAP stakeholders who work with them are aware of the upcoming change and its effects.

via SNAP Benefits Will Be Cut for All Participants in November 2013 — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Trying to kill Obamacare for the umpteenth time (H.R. 367) to amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide that major rules of the executive branch shall have no force or effect unless a joint resolution of approval is enacted into law; providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 2009) to prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury from enforcing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010; providing for proceedings during the period from August 3, 2013, through September 6, 2013; and providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 2879) to provide limitations on bonuses for Federal employees during sequestration, to provide for investigative leave requirements for members of the Senior Executive Service, to establish certain procedures for conducting in-person or telephonic interactions by Executive branch employees with individuals, and for other purposes. (H.Res. 322) – GovTrack.us

to prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury from enforcing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010;

via Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 367) to amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide that major rules of the executive branch shall have no force or effect unless a joint resolution of approval is enacted into law; providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 2009) to prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury from enforcing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010; providing for proceedings during the period from August 3, 2013, through September 6, 2013; and providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 2879) to provide limitations on bonuses for Federal employees during sequestration, to provide for investigative leave requirements for members of the Senior Executive Service, to establish certain procedures for conducting in-person or telephonic interactions by Executive branch employees with individuals, and for other purposes. (H.Res. 322) – GovTrack.us.

Help Support The Dream Defenders

Boycott Florida

In last week’s post on petitions we mentioned The Dream Defenders and the awesome work they are doing in Tallahassee as they camp out in the capitol building demanding the repeal of Stand Your Ground by way of the Trayvon Martin Act.

Gov. Rick Scott has continued to voice his support of the law and currently refuses to call a special legislative session to readdress the bill. More information about that is available here.

If you would like to support The Dream Defenders as they continue their sit-in to gain justice for Trayvon, click this link and go to ‘Donate’.

If Zimmerman was able to raise $200K in 2 days, we can surely raise $25, 000 to help defend the dream! Every little bit helps.

 

Six Women For Justice

#BoycottFlorida

 

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Open Letter from the Art Workers’ Self-defense Initiative to the Ukrainian and International Art Community

Art is dangerous – it frees the mind – that’s why autocrats fear it!

ArtLeaks

EN//

 
We are calling for a boycott of Mystetskyi Arsenal and all of its affiliate organizations in response to the situation surrounding the exhibition “Great and Grand,” which became part of the celebration of the 1025th anniversary of the baptism of Kyivan Rus (July 26-28, 2013).

By organizing this exhibition, Mystetskyi Arsenal revealed itself to be an ideologized, pro-regime institution, as well as an instrument for imitating cultural processes. Such activity does not correspond to the challenges of today’s world and thus does not create space for contemporary art.

The recent events involving the censorship of Volodymyr Kuznetsov’s work “Koliivshchyna: Judgment Day” and the exclusion of Vasyl Tsagolov’s painting “Molotov Cocktail” from the exhibition revealed the curatorial ineptitude of those who work for the institution Mystetskyi Arsenal.

By proclaiming the exhibition “Great and Grand” a “project of self-awareness and true lesson in national pride in Ukrainian culture,” Mystetskyi Arsenal…

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Thanks, but No Thanks, Texas

Nuestra Vida, Nuestra Voz

Post by Valentina Forte-Hernandez

Texas legislatures are attempting to disguise their anti-abortion bill as a measure of protection for teenagers and children. They are acting as if restricting abortion, limiting contraceptive care and defunding sexual education will prevent teenagers from having sex. If teenagers do not know how to have safe sex, are unable to access contraception or abortion they will stop having sex, right? Wrong. Denying youth sex ed, contraception and abortion will only ensure that there will be more unsafe sex, more unplanned pregnancies and more women turning to dangerous abortion alternatives. Saying these restrictions are to protect young people is not only preposterous, it also ignores all the adult women who are also being harmed by a lack of access to reproductive care. The anti-abortion bill and the continuous cuts to reproductive health care services hurt all Texas women. Even if you do not need an abortion…

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