Koch Industries spent more than $1 million trying to sabotage California's clean energy future with Proposition 23 -- but you've probably never even heard their name before.
As co-owner David Koch brags, Koch Industries is "the largest company that you've never heard of."
Koch has been very effective in spending tens of millions to bankroll the climate denial movement -- and until recently, they've stayed out of the headlines.But now you should know the threat they pose to our planet.
Check out the facts on Koch Industries and share them with your friends and family.It's time to shine a spotlight on this shadowy corporation. America needs to know that Koch Industries spends millions of dollars each year to misrepresent the science of climate change, lobby against clean energy legislation and keep us addicted to fossil fuels.
The web of funding from Koch Industries to climate denialists, anti-regulation think tanks and oil industry front groups is so complicated that we've made this site to share some of their worst offenses:
www.KochIndustriesFacts.com
Until now, the misdeeds of this key player in the oil sector have remained a secret. Now you know. What you do about it is your own business. Pass this information on or ignore it. At least you’re aware of it now.
AS IT STANDS My name is Dave Stancliff. I'm a retired newspaper editor/publisher; husband/father, Vietnam vet, Laker fan for 63 years. All opinions are mine unless otherwise noted. I also share original short stories.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Koch Industries: Bankrolling the Big Oil climate denial movement
Omega the Chimp stops smoking but continues eating magic mushrooms every day!
At one time Omega the Chimp packed hookas for people until he pissed the management off and they sold him.
He was sold to someone in Beirut who kept him in a tiny cage and provided him with cigarettes and magic mushrooms. I can’t imagine Omega’s state of mind. He’s been “rescued” by some folks who took him to a sanctuary in Brazil where they proceeded to get him to stop smoking. The mushrooms however, appear to be another story!
Cover-up revealed: White House altered report justifying drilling ban
This news comes as no surprise to me. The cover-up involving the Deepwater Horizon goes deep. There was complicity at all levels – BP, Halliburton, and the US government. Big Oil rules this country. It’s as simple as that.
Inspector general finds it was altered to imply it was peer reviewed
“An inspector general says the White House edited a report about the administration's moratorium on offshore drilling to make it appear that scientists and experts supported the idea of a six-month ban on new drilling.”
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
1st Stand Down Revisted : Hope in Helping Others, the message stays the same this Veterans Day
Editor’s Note:
The following article was written during the 1st Stand Down held in Ferndale (2004). I’m reproducing it here because the web site that carries it year-round, VA Watch Dog Dot Org, is shutting down. It’s founder, a great veteran’s activist, Larry Scott, is dealing with health issues and cannot continue keeping his informative blog up any longer.
Photo: Dave and Shirley Stancliff stocking food to take to the Stand Down.
By Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
Dave Stancliff's adult life can, in many ways, be broken into two parts: two years of military service and more than 30 years of pain.
Unlike some war veterans, whose wounds can be seen in the form of missing limbs and shrapnel injuries, Stancliff's wounds are less visible and more elusive, but no less painful. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has wreaked havoc on Stancliff's life, manifesting itself in the form of panic attacks, flashbacks, agoraphobia, nightmares and a general distrust of humanity.
For Stancliff, a light is emerging at the end of a long tunnel and, through helping others, he is beginning to help himself. Working with the inaugural North Coast Stand Down -- an outreach program for local veterans taking place this weekend at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds in Ferndale -- Stancliff is realizing he is not alone and, in fact, his story has universal themes that are all too common. Meanwhile, the local community is showing its support for those in Stancliff's shoes by firmly standing behind the event.
Stancliff's pain is one that is hard for most non-veterans to understand. It's the pain of seeing one of his best friends killed in an ambush in Cambodia. It's the pain of witnessing carnage so savage that movies and stories can't capture it. But, perhaps most of all, it's the pain of being abandoned.
After serving in Vietnam, Stancliff returned to the United States not to a parade or a sea of understanding, but to anger pointed directly at him. He was spit on, he said, and called a baby killer.
Haunted by the hatred he felt and the carnage he witnessed, Stancliff tried to go on with life the best he could. He went to Humboldt State University and became a newspaper editor. Things seemed OK, but never good, until 1991 when he was the managing editor of five weekly papers in Southern California.
”After the Gulf War in 1991, something snapped,” Stancliff said, adding that the sight of parades welcoming troops home, in contrast to his own homecoming, was too much for him to handle.
”I was pissed at the world,” he recalled. “I couldn't even deal with my editors and writers anymore.”
Consumed by an anger he couldn't explain, Stancliff returned to Humboldt County and, in his own words, became somewhat of a hermit.
Senqi Hu, chairman of the Humboldt State University psychology department, said this is a common story. He said PTSD is a response to traumatic events like natural disasters, sexual assault and, in veterans' cases, combat.
”After a disastrous event, people develop chronic, long-term psychological distress, depression for example, chronic fear and anxiety, and sometimes mental dysfunction,” Hu said. “Symptoms often include recurrent and intrusive memories of the traumatic event, recurrent distressing dreams that replay the event and extreme psychological and physiological distress.”
In Stancliff's case, this meant rarely leaving the house, preferring to remain in surroundings that he could control. He couldn't work, couldn't take his wife, Shirley, out to dinner and he could not bring himself to attend his three sons' high school graduations.
”I can't say how bad I felt,” he said.
Though he has spent years in therapy, Stancliff has just recently begun to come out of his shell, as he put it. About a year and a half ago, Stancliff's brother died and something inside told the veteran that he needed to make a change.
A short time later, Stancliff placed a call to the local veterans center and asked what he could do to help.
It just happened that plans were in the works to hold a Stand Down, a massive outreach event to link up veterans with social services to improve their lives -- from legal and psychiatric advice to help with housing and medical aid. According to the event's Web site ( http://www.vietvets.org/ncsd/ ), “the term 'stand down' is a military one that is used when combat troops are pulled out of action, and sent to an area of relative safety to get medical attention, clothing and other supplies.”
With his background in the newspaper business and his personal battle with PTSD, Stancliff seemed a perfect fit to be the event's public affairs coordinator.
”I feel that God has really worked me into this position,” Stancliff said. “It's therapeutic, the idea of getting outside yourself and helping others. It's been stressful, I won't lie to you, but the bottom line is I'm doing something I never thought I would be able to do.”
Stand Down Director Carl Young understands Stancliff's fight, because in many ways it is similar to his own.
After leaving Vietnam in 1974, where he served in the Navy, Young arrived in his hometown of Santa Cruz dressed in a pearly white uniform and was in no way prepared for the reception he received.
”I got off the Greyhound bus and had a gal run up to me and spit on me and call me a baby killer,” Young said, adding that the experience was enough for him to fall into a six-month bout of depression.
Young has also found solace in helping others. He helped organize the first Stand Down in the north San Francisco Bay Area and, after moving to Fortuna a year and a half ago, jumped on board planning the first Stand Down in Humboldt County.
Also living with PTSD, Young said he deals with his issues, in a large part, through writing and helping others by organizing Stand Downs, which were nowhere to be found when he returned home from Vietnam.
He still marvels at how a Stand Down could have changed his life.
”I would have found out that a lot of other people had similar experiences and there were a lot of positive things out there,” he said. “I would have been able to turn around a lot of things with my life.”
Both Stancliff and Young said they feel this is a critical time for outreach because they know the statistics.
They know that, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, 200,000 of the nation's veterans don't have a house to sleep in on any given night, even though 89 percent of them received honorable discharges from the military. They know that, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, there are more than 14,000 veterans in Humboldt County. They also know that every day troops are returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq with the scars of war.
According to a 2003 study in the New England Journal of Medicine, about 17 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq come home with PTSD. Stancliff and Young said they have heard about studies, some by the Defense Department, that put that number closer to 30 percent.
Hu warned that even those numbers are flawed, since many returning soldiers don't seek help, pre- ferring to keep their problems to themselves, and thus don't show up in surveys and studies. Hu added that it is important for people with PTSD to get professional treatment as soon after the traumatic experience as possible because it increases the success rates of treatment.
”With the help of psychologists, they can talk about the issues and the psychologist can guide them to a new way of thinking,” he said. “That's why psychological treatment is so important.”
Young said this is an urgent community issue affecting many aspects of society.
”There's a real need to come to the forefront on this because the government isn't going to,” Young said. “I really feel that doing these stand downs, and outreach in general, should be a national priority.”
Judging from the response to the North Coast Stand Down, many locals seem to agree.
Mary Vellutini, who owns the Vellutini Baking Co. in Eureka, has a World War II veteran father and a son currently serving overseas. She jumped at the chance to do something to help out, and her baking company is donating 3,200 cookies to the event.
”Being a small business, we can't give financially as much as we would like, but we can give products,” she said. “We can give cookies.”
She said helping was kind of a non-decision.
”You want to help because everyone is someone's son or brother or father,” Vellutini said. “It's just important to acknowledge what they do. There aren't enough heroes in the world. I don't even know how to put it into words.”
Shirley Stancliff, who recently agreed to be the event's food coordinator, said the outpouring of community support has been both unbelievable and heartwarming. With a host of donations from local businesses and community members, coupled with a large, private donation from Esther Phelps of Ferndale, Shirley Stancliff has compiled enough food to feed 400 people three meals a day for the entire weekend.
She said a donation by the Humboldt County Cattlewomen's Association of $350 worth of tri-tip, coupled with the grilling services volunteered by Rob Dunn of McKinleyville's farmers market fame, will give veterans a special Sunday treat.
”It's awesome to offer these vets the opportunity to have the kind of food they might not have otherwise just to make it special for them,” she said. “I want them to know they're honored and respected.”
Though the community's support brings a smile to Shirley Stancliff's face, nothing makes her happier than seeing her husband out in the world again.
”It's just awesome seeing him do this,” she said after spending hours shopping with him recently at Costco. Despite breaking out in a sweat, Dave Stancliff made it through the shopping trip, hurdling personal demons on his way to helping others fight the same battle he confronts daily.
He said he takes things day to day. He still takes sleeping pills to block out the nightmares, struggles to forget while still remembering, and he still likes to sit with his back to the wall in public places to make sure nobody is coming up from behind. He has hope, though, which wasn't always the case -- hope for himself, for others and for his country.
”These guys have no hope and think their lives are gone, and it's not true,” Dave Stancliff said of some of his fellow veterans. “Give them a hand up, not a hand-out, that's our motto. This is an example of taking care of our own. I can't change everything everywhere else, but we can all make a difference right here where we live. If we serve one person and change their life, (the event) will be a success.”
A mystery 'missile' or contrail? Authorities acting baffled
I honestly don’t know what to think about this development. One wag commented that it was probably the cartels testing new weapons. The Pentagon is doing it’s Alfred E. Newman “What Me Worry?” imitation. All really interesting stuff, don’t you think? View this and share what you think on comments below
Here’s a shout out to Tom Sebourn: “Contrails? What do you think it was?”
The Pentagon says it's baffled, but scientists suggest it's just a jetliner with spectacular contrail
Tug boats, USS Ronald Reagan to assist disabled cruise liner
Engine-room fire leaves Carnival Splendor without air conditioning, hot food, phone service
My youngest son just returned from a cruise aboard The Liberty (sister ship to this one). My wife, who really wants to go on a week cruise, sighed when she heard the news, and said, “Now we’ll never go on an ocean cruise. You’re going to be paranoid about something like this happening.”
I have to admit that I hate being on boats and the idea of boarding and de-boarding with 4000 people at every port-of-call gives me stomach cramps! Too many people. Not wanting to be an old fart (even if I am one), I suggested she get a friend to go with her. She’s seriously considering the idea…
Twelve unorthodox but promising green technology innovations
While politicians stumble to reach a consensus, researchers are pushing forward with new, if unusual, solutions.
From algae farms to wave energy, here are a dozen ecofriendly but odd ways to create clean energy.
PHOTO - Don Long / Richmond Times Dispatch-AP
Monday, November 8, 2010
Inspirational Story: Boy’s $12 monster drawings help fund his chemo
Aidan Reed’s family has sold almost 2,500 silly, scary drawings to help offset expenses
Aidan Reed, 5, has always — always — loved monsters. Read his story here.
Hunt for value has taken stigma off Goodwill, store brands, fast food
If anything good has come from our Great Recession, it’s the fact that people are learning to become more frugal and to make do with less.
“In the wake of the Great Recession, the stigma attached to certain consumer behavior has fallen away. What some people once thought of as lowbrow, they now accept — even consider a frugal badge of honor.”
PHOTO - The Paramus, N.J., store is one of 100 new locations for the nonprofit Goodwill. Many are in middle-class suburbs. The strategy: Attract not only people in need, but also the many Americans who are looking for more value.
Performance artists stage ‘Kaiju Big Battel’ for dedicated fans
Take Mexican Wrestling, add Japanese Monsters(!), mix in a lot of fun and you get Kaiju Big Battel (the misspelling is intentional, by the way).
The creation of Boston performance artists David Borden and Rand Borden, it's a chance for fans to root for everything from the heroic Atomic Trooper Robo to the nasty Call-Me-Kevin.
image credit: Brian McCarty, via)
(image credit: Studio Kaiju)
Fear doctors (mad scientists?) use tarantulas to terrify volunteers
When I was in grade school in La Puente my buddy and I use to catch tarantulas in the nearby hills. We poured water down a hole, they came up, and we scooped them into jars.
Then the fun really started. We’d each take one to school with us and would release them in a classroom! Never got caught releasing them either. What an uproar they caused, especially with the girls!
I never considered tarantulas scary and would let them walk all over me to impress friends (and foes). But it looks like a lot of people are afraid of the little guys as evidenced by this new story:
“To observe the brain’s panic-response network in full freak, British researchers asked 20 volunteers to lie inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine. One by one, the scientists then had each person view a screen that showed a tarantula crawling closer ... and ... closer to the subject’s feet.” Read the rest here.
Blog Break Until Presidential Election is Over
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It's hard to believe that so many people viewed this column ( There's a monopoly on marijuana growing & research in America. &q...
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