Bankocracy

Poll Finds Few Think We’re Winning War on Drugs

"Four decades after President Richard Nixon ushered in the modern war on drugs, fewer than one out of 20 Americans think it is being won, according to a new poll. A Rasmussen Reports poll released on Sunday found that only 4% of respondents believe that the US is 'winning' the war on drugs. Some 82% said it is 'losing.' 'Americans continue to overwhelmingly believe that the so-called war on drugs is failing, but they are more divided on how much the United States should be spending on it,' Rasmussen concluded. The Rasmussen poll also revealed a public deeply divided over what to do about it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPoll Finds Few Think We’re Winning War on Drugs

New Hampshire Cops Kill Man Fleeing Drug Sting

"Several Weare police officers and two confidential informants were outside Dunkin' Donuts in Lanctot's Plaza on US Highway 114 doing a drug sting on the target, a suspected heroin dealer. When officers attempted to detain the man, he tried to flee. Two officers then opened fire, wounding the man as he sped off in his vehicle. He made it about one hundred yards before crashing near an ice cream stand along the highway. He was taken by ambulance to a Manchester Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police have not said why they opened fire and they have not mentioned the seizure of any drugs." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew Hampshire Cops Kill Man Fleeing Drug Sting

NYC Comptroller: Legalize and Tax Marijuana

"New York City Comptroller John Liu Wednesday released a report calling for the legalization, regulation, and taxation of marijuana. Doing so would reduce the harms generated by marijuana prohibition and generate more than $400 million a year in taxes to pay for higher education, Liu said. Liu estimated the size of the city's marijuana market at $1.65 billion a year and proposed using tax revenues from the legalized trade to cut tuition at the City University of New York (CUNY) by up to 50%. 'In this way, we'll invest in young people's futures, instead of ruining them,' he said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNYC Comptroller: Legalize and Tax Marijuana

White House: Obama has no plans to reschedule marijuana

"'The administration’s position on this has been clear and consistent for some time now that while the prosecution of drug traffickers remains an important priority, the president and the administration believe that targeting individual marijuana users, especially those with serious illnesses and their caregivers, is not the best allocation for federal law enforcement resources,' Earnest replied. At the press briefing, Earnest also indicated that the Obama administration has no intention of making it easier to research the medical benefits of marijuana." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhite House: Obama has no plans to reschedule marijuana

A Solar System Is Installed in the US Every 4 Minutes

"If market growth continues at its current pace, the American solar industry could be installing a system every minute and twenty seconds by 2016. That's a dramatic difference from 2006, when installers were only putting up one system every 80 minutes. Solar is on an extraordinarily fast growth trajectory. Two-thirds of all distributed solar in the U.S. has been installed over the last 2 1/2 years. And by 2016, cumulative installations of distributed PV will double. That means the U.S. will hit 1 million cumulative residential solar installations by then -- making the market in 2016 ten times larger than it was in 2010." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Solar System Is Installed in the US Every 4 Minutes

60 Minutes: Crude Solution

"When petroleum giant BP spilled millions of litres of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico three years ago, it was the worst ever offshore oil disaster. To try and break up that massive slick, vast quantities of chemical dispersant was sprayed on the spill. It seemed to work: the oil disappeared. But people started getting sick and then people started dying. Now, this environmental disaster has become a health catastrophe. The dispersant, when mixed with the oil, increases in toxicity by 52 times. This sickly, invisible toxin, still lurks in the water and absorbs straight into peoples' skin. They're still approved for use and our authorities are clueless as to how deadly they are." Continue reading →

Continue Reading60 Minutes: Crude Solution

West Coast of North America to Be Hit Hard by Fukushima Radiation

"While many people assume that the ocean will dilute the Fukushima radiation, a previously-secret 1955 U.S. government report concluded that the ocean may not adequately dilute radiation from nuclear accidents, and there could be 'pockets' and 'streams' of highly-concentrated radiation. A team of top Chinese scientists has just published a study showing that Fukushima nuclear pollution is becoming more concentrated as it approaches the West Coast of the United States, that the plume crosses the ocean in a nearly straight line toward North America, and that it appears to stay together with little dispersion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWest Coast of North America to Be Hit Hard by Fukushima Radiation

The Gulf is Still Struggling, But BP’s Done Paying

"Three and a half years after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig dumped 205 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean, leaving 11 workers dead and damaging hundreds of miles of shoreline, the Gulf Coast is still recovering. The company has spent or earmarked $42.4 billion so far for cleanup, compensation payments and environmental fines. Its profits have suffered, and it has sold $38 billion in assets to help cover the cost. BP filed suit last week against the U.S. government for a ban on awarding the company federal contracts. BP already has $1.34 billion in contracts in place to supply fuel to the government, including the military." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Gulf is Still Struggling, But BP’s Done Paying

Report Finds “Probably Carcinogenic” Chemicals in All Municipal Water Samples Tested

"Chlorine and other water treatment chemicals, in addition to being somewhat toxic in and of themselves, react with ordinary organic particles in the water ( manure from livestock, dead animals, fallen leaves, etc.) to create hundreds of extremely toxic byproducts, which aren’t monitored or regulated at all. These toxic byproducts have been labeled 'disinfection byproducts,' or 'DBPs,' and there are 600 we know about and probably hundreds more that we don’t. Shockingly, raising concerns about the quality of your local drinking water without verifiable evidence of your claims may now be considered 'an act of terrorism.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingReport Finds “Probably Carcinogenic” Chemicals in All Municipal Water Samples Tested

New turbine to capture energy from both wind and waves slated for testing

"A Japanese company is set to test a new power generation system which -- for the first time -- should harness the energy of both the sea and the wind to feed the demand for electricity on land. That's the dream of chief visionary Takuju Nakamura, anyway. At the Tokyo headquarters of his company, Modec, Nakamura explained that the new turbine design should generate about twice as much power as a traditional wind turbine of the same diameter. Nakamura explained that 80 to 90 percent of the power generated would come from the large wind-catching turbine floating over the sea, with another underwater turbine expected to produce the rest." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew turbine to capture energy from both wind and waves slated for testing