Squatch’s Open Thread 02/04/2016

As it turned out, Lucia was very sick yesterday so I did not have a teaching session with her.  It sounds like she has the same very bad cold that I had.  So I took some time to read my book, Labyrinth of Bones by James Rollins, and enjoy some sunshine.  Tomorrow, I am going to see my mother.  The cold is sufficiently gone that I won't infect others. This week is busy as I have to take my mother to a doctor's appointment on Tuesday in addition to physio and teaching sessions, and the commencement of a new course on Thursday evening.

Short Takes

Daily Kos (classic 25/09/2011) — Why would anyone vote Republican? Well, here are 10 reasons.

1. You are a bigot

It's true that not all Republicans are bigots. But if you ARE a bigot, the Republican party will be much more your group than the Democratic party. Remember that there are lots of ways to be a bigot: You could be a racist, a homophobe, an Islamophobe, or lots of other things.

2. You like eating, drinking and breathing poison.

Many Republicans are calling for or voting for shrinking or eliminating agencies that protect us against poison. They seem to think that the corporations will do the right thing, without any pressure from the government. Uh huh. Read The Jungle.  Look at the way Monsanto is hiding facts about Round Up. Look at food safety and outbreaks of E. Coli. 

Corporations exist to make money. They will do so any way they can. The government needs to stop them from doing so in ways that hurt people.

Click through for the other 8.  Can you think of any more reasons?  The only other one that I can think of is that they all make my skin crawl!  These are all timeless.

Truthdig — As we struggle to come to terms with the latest terrorist attacks in Brussels, it is important that we understand the causes of such extremism. After all, Islamic extremism was virtually unknown fifty years ago and suicide bombings were inconceivable. And yet today it seems that we are confronted with both on a daily basis. So what happened to bring Islamic fundamentalism to the forefront of global politics? While there are many factors involved, undoubtedly one of the primary causes is Western imperialism. Western intervention in the Middle East over the past century to secure access to the region’s oil reserves established a perfect environment in which Islamic fundamentalists could exploit growing anti-Western sentiment throughout the Islamic world, with some establishing violent extremist groups. The most recent consequence of this process is the terrorist group known as the Islamic State, which emerged out of the chaos caused by the US invasion of Iraq.

ISIL fighters in Anbar province, Iraq

In order to understand the rise of the Islamic State we must first briefly review the history of Western intervention in not only the Middle East but throughout the world to reveal that Islamic extremism in not a unique phenomenon. For the past 500 years, peoples throughout the world have resorted to acts of violence that today would be classified as terrorism in efforts to resist Western imperialism. Indigenous peoples in the Americas often used violent tactics to defend themselves against the brutal European colonizers. There were also many violent slave revolts by Blacks who had been shipped from Africa to the Americas in the service of Western imperialism.

This is a long article, but from my view of history, very well thought out and true.  Only a comparatively few Muslims are terrorists.  But when will the West take responsibility for its part in the creation of Islamic terrorism?

Mother Jones — Boston and other coastal cities may want to batten down the hatches. A new study from climate scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Pennsylvania State University warns estimates of future sea level rise may be significantly underestimated. The real picture 100 to 500 years from now, they claim, will be ugly for US coastal cities from New York to Miami, which could be underwater or at risk of flooding. Boston, for example, could see about 5 feet of sea level rise in the next 100 years, according to the researchers.

The most recent prediction by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is that the sea level will rise as much as 38 inches by the year 2100 because of melting glaciers and the fact that warming makes water expand. Researchers Robert DeConto and David Pollard argue that this estimate fails to take into account atmospheric warming in Antarctica that will melt major ice shelves and elevate sea levels another three feet over earlier estimates by 2100 to six feet total, and by more than 49 feet by the year 2500.

To say the least, the southern US will be the big North American loser if climate change goes unchecked and sea level rises.  The following picture from Think Progress shows south Florida in 2100 if little is done.  Check the interactive picture of Miami in 2100.  You can also read the report, Contribution of Antarctica to past and future sea-level rise, for more information.  And remember, this is just south Florida.  What would happen in the Gulf states, especially Louisiana which already has issues.

South Florida and "Miami Island" in 2100 after 5 feet of sea level rise (via Climate Central). From Think  Progress

Alternet — Millions of Nigerians are urging the Nigerian government to reject Monsanto’s attempts to introduce genetically modified (GMO) cotton and maize into the country’s food and farming systems.  …

In a press release, the groups said they are particularly alarmed about the commercial release of Bt cotton into Nigeria, which is being phased out in Burkina Faso due to the “inferior lint quality” of the GMO cultivars.

“We are totally shocked that it should come so soon after peer-reviewed studies have showed that the technology has failed dismally in Burkina Faso,” Nnimmo Bassey, the director of theHealth of Mother Earth Foundation, one of the leading opposition groups, said in a statement. “It has brought nothing but economic misery to the cotton sector there and is being phased out in that country where compensation is being sought from Monsanto.”

This greedy corporate juggernaut has to be stopped!  The lives of many Nigerians were ruined by the oil spills of Royal Dutch Shell, among others, and now Monsanto wants to exact a pound of flesh from Nigeria.  And Nigeria is only one of many targets on Monsanto's radar globally.  Here are just a few of the petitions on the internet.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/bring-down-monsanto-monopoly/

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-the-monsanto-rider

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/stop_the_monsanto_protection_act_seize_congress/

https://action.organicconsumers.org/o/50865/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=18133

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/tell-obama-to-cease-fda

 

My Universe — 

Relaxing weekend!