March 29, 2006

1. Rumsfeld and the big picture

2. A military lawyer with principles
3. George Lakey and nonviolent movements
4. Publicity nightmare for administration
5. Don't look at the Democrats for leadership
 
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1. It seems that Rumsfeld has forgotten his own part in the big picture. James Carroll gives us a little overview of events that have led the US to where we are today vis-a-vis foreign policy.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/03/27/rumsfeld_and_the_big_picture/
 
2. This is a very heartening story, about a military lawyer defending an inmate at Guantanamo
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_us&refer=us&sid=a4x6M3Dyr6jM
 
3. In response to the Christian Peacemakers Team experience in Iraq, George Lakey offers some reflections on why nonviolent strategies are important for us to experiment with and support.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0328-26.htm
 
4. This is a very moving account of some of the Iraq vets who joined the march from Mobile to New Orleans, protesting the war and the treatment of Katrina victims.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0329-06.htm
 
5. This sums things up very nicely as I see them regarding the current crop of Democrats. Having just come from a workshop based on popular education approaches and the importance of people power, I am becoming more convinced that we cannot expect anything significant to happen at the national level. State and local is where it is at. Now, if we could just keep our money here at home.....
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0329-22.htm
 

March 19, 2006

1. British soldier refuses to fight
2. Operation Swarmer
3. New (old!) National Security Strategy
4. Small island off Denmark is example of energy self-sufficiency, nearly fossil-fuel free! Short article below.
 
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1. This British soldier refuses to fight "to conduct American foreign policy" - and he doesn't get court-martialed.
 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0312-07.htm
 
2. Operation Swarmer is clearly part of the PR campaign Bush is currently waging. This brief article is from the Independent, a British news organization.
 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article352193.ece
 
3. More international perspective, this time on the National Security Strategy statement recently released. Same old, same old.
 http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/19/news/edoped.php
 
4.  Closing with something interesting and positive!!!!!
 
The Daily Reckoning PRESENTS: Material Profits' Sara Nunnally recently traveled Denmark's small island, Samso - where there is a full-blown Eco-Revolution underway. Read on...

GOING OFF-GRID
by S.R. Nunnally

It's 8:10 p.m. Samso Time, Thursday, February 23, when the ferry pulls into dock at Kolby Kas after a two-hour float from Kaludborg. It's dark...and dusty. And cold.

There are no streetlights between cities, I notice, as I blindly follow the car ahead of me to the center of the 20-mile by 6-mile island, to Tranebjerg and Flinch's Hotel - my home base for the next two days. The island feels deserted, and it is in a way... February is Denmark's coldest month, and many of Samso's 4,300 residents are burrowed snuggly in their warm homes - a stark contrast to when an influx of several tens of thousands visit the island during the tourist season.

Many come in July for the popular music festival, the beautiful beaches, and sailing. But of late, Samso has been invaded by a different kind of tourist... an eco-tourist.

That was my mission... why I traveled over 4,000 miles: to discover Samso's Eco-Revolution.

In 1997, Denmark held a national competition. The selected winner would be home to a one-of-a-kind experiment: The winner would be expected to convert all its energy supply to 100% renewable energy within 10 years.

The small island of Samso was given the nod. Because it is an island that has no conventional energy resources of its own, Samso was an ideal choice for such a controlled experiment.

Since 1998, Samso began converting its energy into renewable energy, and has been so successful that 100% of its electricity comes from wind power and 75% of its heat comes from solar power and biomass energy.

That's a near total Eco-Revolution...but it gets better.

Here's how they do it...

Think of the amount of time that wind turbines have been around... andmultiply that by 40.

According to the Danish Wind Industry Association, wind turbines and wind mills have been "a part of the northern European landscape for more than 800 years." Now, wind power makes up approximately 20% of Denmark's power consumption... and that's with Danish wind manufacturers selling 90% of their production outside of the country.

Germany is the largest buyer of Danish wind turbines snatching up 24% of exports, and Spain comes in second with 10.5%. Big numbers for big markets. In total, Danish manufacturers held 40% of the world market for wind turbines.

That equates to over DKK21 billion, or nearly $3.4 billion here in the U.S. - about 1.8% of Denmark's GDP.

With power like that, wind is like Denmark's new currency.

Samso has taken the torch and has really shown the world what wind power can do.

With the completion of an offshore wind farm comprised of 10 beautiful turbines, Samso has become carbon neutral. The energy produced by these wind turbines compensates for the island's transportation emissions, including the ferries, and all other non-renewable energy sources.

In fact, sometimes Samso's wind turbines produce so much energy that the island sells it back to the mainland!

But wind power isn't the only thing that's super-charging Samso's Eco-Revolution...

On Samso, it's much more effective to use solar power for heating. Because of the expense of solar modules, the island has put them to use in a "collective" environment. Instead of installing solar arrays on individual homes for electricity, Samso uses solar power for heat at its district heating plants.

District heating plants pump hot water to nearby homes for individual heating purposes. The water is heated using a combination of solar panels and renewable wood pellet or straw-furnaces.

Studies have shown that it's about 20% cheaper get heat from the local district heating plants than it is to buy oil for heat.

There are about 250 homes that have installed solar cells for heating their own water tanks in instances where they reside too far from the district heating plant. In total, Samso is pushing past the 75% renewable mark when it comes to heat energy needs.

By combining solar power with local, renewable, biofuel, Samso has custom-tailored a renewable energy program that is simple and highly effective. Solar panels are so efficient that on a cloudy winter day, it can heat the water to 25 degrees above freezing on its own.

With only 25% of heat energy derived from fossil fuels, Samso's well on its way to achieving 100% renewable status ahead of schedule.

There's only one sector left to tackle, and it might prove to be the most difficult.

Samso's Eco-Revolution is in danger of stalling... so the many naysayers say. Every critic of Samso's progress ritualistically cites transportation as the missing cog in the otherwise praiseworthy renewable energy system.

Well, they'll be eating their foot once Samso's new projects have been put into place.

The experts on Samso will by applying two radically different concepts to tackle the transportation problem.

The first project is a biofuel: rapeseed oil.

Rapeseed oil can be used to fuel any vehicle once a simple adaptation is made to the engine. It is cleaner than ethanol, and does not need to be refined in a clunky, energy-consuming refinery. That wouldn't be practical for this small island.

All that you need to make your own biofuel is rapeseed, and a rapeseed press... and cows to eat the waste. Once pressed, the oil can be put directly into your fuel tank.

The island can grow approximately 600 hectares of rapeseed a year. That's not enough to run every car, but it's definitely enough to take car of the largest diesel guzzlers: farm tractors and ferrys.

To eliminate the rest of transportation's oil consumption, Samso wants to introduce a hydrogen plant, powered by all that excess wind power. That's a few years down the road, but in the meantime, the Energy and Environment Office wants to put a hydrogen-fueled truck on display at its new Energy Academy upon its completion.

The hydrogen truck, designed by H2 Logic Alps, would be a demonstration piece to start generating interest in this new, renewable fuel. Samso is planning on banning traditional combustion engines from the island once vehicles are converted to hydrogen.

Generating community interest has been a key way of developing projects and increasing investors. Samso's Energy and Environment Office was so successful because it offered more than just a great chance at a return on investments...

In order for renewable energy project to survive, they needed strong backing from the community. In that way, Samso's success goes way beyond the "greening" of energy consumption. This Eco-Revolution was not only an environmental change.

Samso's residents embraced a way to save their economy and improve their way of life.

Through investing in co-ops that financed wind power and district heating plants, islanders took personal control over their quality of life. By introducing these renewable energy projects, Samso has created new, better-paying jobs, increased tourism, and added to its economy.

"The community is more inclined to support the project because they see it as something that is done locally by local people. As such, people participate not because they are forced to by the authorities but because they want to," says Soren Hermansen, director of the Samso Energy and Environment Office, in an interview with Chan Cheng Tuan of Sunday Mail.

Community commitment is necessary for the advancement of any project, which is why Samso uses many local resources like straw and wood pellets for the district heating plants. Soon rapeseed will be added to that list.

Residents want to see Samso succeed, and understand that by participating in the islands renewable energy projects the whole island benefits.

Cheers,

S.R. Nunnall

 

March 12, 2006
1. Total Information Systems
2.  Privacy - a quaint idea.
3. DOD detention centers in the US
4. The power of propaganda
5. 911 Information
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1. There is a proposal to centralize birth and death records, with states required to comply. Access to these records will be extremely limited. And a national ID database is around the corner.
 http://www.alternet.org/rights/32242/
 
2. Electronic surveillance becomes more and more sophisticated, and privacy becomes just a quaint notion.
 http://www.alternet.org/rights/32645/
 
3. There is speculation that the Pentagon is going to be building some very large detention centers here in the US, and no one is quite sure who will be put into them.
 http://www.alternet.org/rights/32647/
 
4. Propaganda has "taken" with the troops, though they still don't see the war in Iraq as winnable.
 http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/030406a.html
 
5. This was sent to me by a non-peacenik friend, who found it very compelling. I only have dial-up so haven't watched it, but those of you with DSL or cable, let me know what you think.
 http://www.filmstripinternational.com/filmstrips.php?filmstrip=loosechange
 
March 7, 2006
1. Just how bad is it in Iraq?
2. A little context for Bush's visit to India
3. Read to the end for yet one more reason to give up red meat
4. Court-martial the commander-in-chief?
5. Is there some sort of remedial Diplomat school somewhere?
 
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1. This would be the article to forward to anyone you know who thinks, like George W. Bush, that things are going just great in Iraq.
 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022706F.shtml
 and if that isn't enough, send this one too:
 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030706K.shtml
 
2. One can never be quite certain what the motives of Bush and Co. might be, but here are some folks' ideas of why the efforts to pull India into a closer alliance with the US. It is interesting, of course, that the people of India are not so excited about Bush's visit.
 http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0228/p01s01-usfp.html
 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022806L.shtml
 
3. I can remember telling someone that water is as much of an issue as oil in terms of resource wars, much to that person's surprise. We are lucky here in NH to have plentiful water supplies, assuming we protect them as we should. Here's a brief overview of worldwide water issues.
 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0228-05.htm
 
4. Interesting analysis of the torture and military code of conduct pertaining to such behavior - with the ultimate conclusion that Bush himself could be court-martialed.
 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030706T.shtml
 
5. A remedial diplomat training program seems in order, given the brilliant ideas coming from Condi Rice these days. Not to mention how horribly ineffective she has been at generating good will toward the US - maybe they could teach her how to say things in a diplomatic manner, rather than as thinly disguised threats.
 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030706Z.shtml
 
February 11, 2006
1. Finding our version of the lunch counter
2. More reasons why we need to persevere
3. They can teach war, but not peace....
4. If anyone is still hoping the Democrats will save the day, read this.
5. Some wise words from Rabbi Michael Lerner, a good follow-up to item #4
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1. This essay expresses exactly what I have been wrestling with myself - what is today's protest version of the Woolworth's lunch counter? I haven't found the answer yet, but until we do our protests will continue to be more like the activities of gnats - small, annoying, and pretty easy to ignore.
 http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0204-24.htm
 
2. How much ignorance can this country bear? Iran is in Bush's sights, and insanity prevails in Washington. We don't have the luxury of giving up.
 http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=8519
 
3. The idea that teachers cannot mention the word "peace" in the classroom is truly frightening. I would hope that this sort of thing couldn't happen here in NH.
 http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Educators_face_blowback_for_protesting_war_0209.html
 
4. This summarizes everything the Dems aren't doing to counter the Republican agenda - I hate to be too pessimistic, but I just don't think they are going to rise to the occasion. We need to practice some toughlove on them, I think, unaffiliate, don't give any money, write letters critical of Dems as well as Republicans, hang up on Dem fundraising phone calls, whatever will send the message that they shouldn't just assume all anti-Bushites will follow meekly. There may still be a prayer of lighting a fire under them. We don't have anything to lose, do we?
 http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0209-31.htm
 
5. Rabbi Lerner talks about some of the things Tom and I have been discussing, regarding how to get people more active in taking a public stance. We know that facts won't do it for most people, we need to offer a vision and a call to their higher selves. Maybe we need to get his book and do a study group???
 http://www.alternet.org/story/32032/
 
January 20, 2006
1. Another voice weighs in on Impeachment
2. The larger issue that Alito represents
3. Real cost of Iraq war
4. Soldiers seeking to get out of the service
5. Military curbing soldiers' blogs
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1. Impeachment argument from Elizabeth Holtzman, who voted to impeach Nixon way back when.
 
2. Alito and the constitutional crisis - a few articles including a link to Gore's MLK day speech
3. This analysis includes the long term costs of war, such as disability etc. The real cost could be as much as 1 TRILLION dollars. Republicans as financial conservatives? When will people wake up to that big lie?
 
4. More and more soldiers are trying to get out of the military- and this article even made it into a South Caroline Newspaper!
 
5. If you're interesting in this item, e-mail me for a copy. the link I have is no longer active, but I have the article.