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unusualmusic_lj_archiveThe Long History of Sexual Abuse by UN PeaceKeepers
Uhhh, why exactly are US Army soldiers proselytizing to the Iraqi people, exactly? The ARMY? Really?
More than 100 countries reached agreement Wednesday to ban cluster bombs, controversial weapons that human rights groups deplore but that the United States, which did not join the ban, calls an integral, legitimate part of its arsenal. Why am I not surprised?
On Daily Kos: The United States, Russia and China are opposed. No surprise. They are the biggest producers of these weapons. Indeed, they didn't even show up at the 10-day conference in Dublin to make their case. Just thumbed their noses at the whole affair. The three prefer voluntary (read: laughable) controls as well as voluntary efforts to clean up millions of these bomblets, which kill or maim civilians from Cambodia to Lebanon, sometimes years, even decades, after they are dropped.
Cluster bombs are delivered by artillery or aircraft. Each releases hundreds of mini-bomblets that are supposed to explode upon impact. But failure rates are immense. For instance, when Israel and Hezbollah went to war in southern Lebanon two years ago, as many as 40 percent of the bomblets failed. Perhaps a million of these lethal explosives remained scattered around after the fighting stopped. When they do explode, chances are close to 50-50 that they will kill a child aged 5 to 15. Great. Perfect. To make matters worse, according to the Daily Kos writer, there's a bill in Congress. Neither Clinton or Obama are sponsoring it, and its getting no where.
Sixty years after the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, governments in scores of countries still torture or mistreat their people, Amnesty International said Wednesday in a report that again urged the United States to close down the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.
The oil giant ExxonMobil has admitted that its support for lobby groups that question the science of climate change may have hindered action to tackle global warming. In its corporate citizenship report, released last week, ExxonMobil says it intends to cut funds to several groups that "divert attention" from the need to find new sources of clean energy. Enough money has been made, after all. Time to find ways to exploit the new technologies that are coming on stream!!!
Daniel, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, got the idea for his project from everyday life.
"Almost every week I have to do chores and when I open the closet door, I have this avalanche of plastic bags falling on top of me," he said. "One day, I got tired of it and I wanted to know what other people are doing with these plastic bags."
...
He knew plastic does eventually degrade, and figured microorganisms must be behind it. His goal was to isolate the microorganisms that can break down plastic -- not an easy task because they don't exist in high numbers in nature.
Also via here: IS it True about Obama? Debunking the rumours.
Uhhh, why exactly are US Army soldiers proselytizing to the Iraqi people, exactly? The ARMY? Really?
More than 100 countries reached agreement Wednesday to ban cluster bombs, controversial weapons that human rights groups deplore but that the United States, which did not join the ban, calls an integral, legitimate part of its arsenal. Why am I not surprised?
On Daily Kos: The United States, Russia and China are opposed. No surprise. They are the biggest producers of these weapons. Indeed, they didn't even show up at the 10-day conference in Dublin to make their case. Just thumbed their noses at the whole affair. The three prefer voluntary (read: laughable) controls as well as voluntary efforts to clean up millions of these bomblets, which kill or maim civilians from Cambodia to Lebanon, sometimes years, even decades, after they are dropped.
Cluster bombs are delivered by artillery or aircraft. Each releases hundreds of mini-bomblets that are supposed to explode upon impact. But failure rates are immense. For instance, when Israel and Hezbollah went to war in southern Lebanon two years ago, as many as 40 percent of the bomblets failed. Perhaps a million of these lethal explosives remained scattered around after the fighting stopped. When they do explode, chances are close to 50-50 that they will kill a child aged 5 to 15. Great. Perfect. To make matters worse, according to the Daily Kos writer, there's a bill in Congress. Neither Clinton or Obama are sponsoring it, and its getting no where.
Sixty years after the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, governments in scores of countries still torture or mistreat their people, Amnesty International said Wednesday in a report that again urged the United States to close down the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.
The oil giant ExxonMobil has admitted that its support for lobby groups that question the science of climate change may have hindered action to tackle global warming. In its corporate citizenship report, released last week, ExxonMobil says it intends to cut funds to several groups that "divert attention" from the need to find new sources of clean energy. Enough money has been made, after all. Time to find ways to exploit the new technologies that are coming on stream!!!
Daniel, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, got the idea for his project from everyday life.
"Almost every week I have to do chores and when I open the closet door, I have this avalanche of plastic bags falling on top of me," he said. "One day, I got tired of it and I wanted to know what other people are doing with these plastic bags."
...
He knew plastic does eventually degrade, and figured microorganisms must be behind it. His goal was to isolate the microorganisms that can break down plastic -- not an easy task because they don't exist in high numbers in nature.
Also via here: IS it True about Obama? Debunking the rumours.
