News
May 16, 2006
What makes the Internet revolutionary is that it is democratic, open to anyone with a computer and an Internet connection. That could soon change.
As In These Times went to press, the House was setting to vote on the "Communications Opportunity Promotion and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006," a bill written by the telephone and cable TV corporations. Among other provisions, the act formally guts what is known as the First Amendment of the Internet"network neutrality." (The Senate will consider a similar bill in late May or early June.)
"Net neutrality ensures that the Read more
As In These Times went to press, the House was setting to vote on the "Communications Opportunity Promotion and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006," a bill written by the telephone and cable TV corporations. Among other provisions, the act formally guts what is known as the First Amendment of the Internet"network neutrality." (The Senate will consider a similar bill in late May or early June.)
"Net neutrality ensures that the Read more
News
Washington Post
Career appointees at the Department of Agriculture were stunned last week to receive e-mailed instructions that include Bush administration "talking points" -- saying things such as "President Bush has a clear strategy for victory in Iraq" -- in every speech they give for the department.
"The President has requested that all members of his cabinet and sub-cabinet incorporate message points on the Global War on Terror into speeches, including specific examples of what each agency is doing to aid the reconstruction of Iraq," the May 2 e-mail from USDA speechwriter Heather Vaughn
Read more News
May 4, 2006
Hindsight is often touted as better than foresight, yet such a truism should not blind us to an imminent threat before it happens. Like someone who takes up with an abusive mate and rationalizes the threat to life and limb until the battering leaves undeniable, indelible scars, there are good reasons right now to expect the worst when it comes to the survival of the free Internet. Now unfolding is a legal-political-corporate plot for turning a vibrant, democratic Internet into a global web of corporate and government deceit. The tell-tale signs exist but as in domestic abuse, the Read more
News
May 9, 2006
They dress up in pink catsuits, have names like "Spider Mum" and feel a social obligation to plunder the most expensive restaurants and gourmet delicatessens in town as part of a campaign to help the poor.
Last week the well-heeled citizens of Hamburg's Altona district got a taste of their antics when 30 of them marched into the city's luxury "Fresh Paradise Goedeken" supermarket and walked out five minutes later with €15,000 (£10,000) worth of stolen goods.
The gang's booty included magnums of Champagne at €99 a bottle, filets of Japanese Kobe beef at €108 a kilogram Read more
Last week the well-heeled citizens of Hamburg's Altona district got a taste of their antics when 30 of them marched into the city's luxury "Fresh Paradise Goedeken" supermarket and walked out five minutes later with €15,000 (£10,000) worth of stolen goods.
The gang's booty included magnums of Champagne at €99 a bottle, filets of Japanese Kobe beef at €108 a kilogram Read more
News
May 2, 2006
The higher oil prices are a threat to America's overall economy and the skyrocketing costs of heating public facilities and keeping school buses, police cars, emergency vehicles and snowplows running are wreaking havoc on local governments all across the country.
For example, in Charlotte, SC, each one cent increase in a gallon of gas means a $70,000 increase in annual fuel costs to the city budget, according to a report distributed at the League of Municipalities Conference, on
October 17, 2005.
According to district administrator, Lois Cuff, the small school Read more
For example, in Charlotte, SC, each one cent increase in a gallon of gas means a $70,000 increase in annual fuel costs to the city budget, according to a report distributed at the League of Municipalities Conference, on
October 17, 2005.
According to district administrator, Lois Cuff, the small school Read more
News
Associated Press
WASHINGTON --Venezuela will expand its discounted oil program for poor New Englanders next winter under a politically sensitive new deal brokered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., and former Massachusetts congressman Joseph Kennedy. The flow of additional cut-rate oil to the Northeast and other states would be a boon to low-income families as energy prices continue to soar.
"It will be a considerable expansion," said Delahunt, of Quincy, on Tuesday. He helped to broker the original deal with Venezuela to bring cut-rate oil to needy Read more
"It will be a considerable expansion," said Delahunt, of Quincy, on Tuesday. He helped to broker the original deal with Venezuela to bring cut-rate oil to needy Read more
News
April 4, 2006
Most Americans are pessimistic about the state of the environment and
want action taken to improve its health, according to a new national
survey conducted by Stanford University's Woods Institute for the
Environment.
Fifty-five percent of Americans surveyed said they expect the world's natural environment to be in worse shape in 10 years than it is now, and an additional 5 percent said the environment is currently in ''poor'' or ''very poor'' shape and will not improve, according to the survey.
"We refer to this group of 60 percent of Americans as 'pessimists,'" said Read more
Fifty-five percent of Americans surveyed said they expect the world's natural environment to be in worse shape in 10 years than it is now, and an additional 5 percent said the environment is currently in ''poor'' or ''very poor'' shape and will not improve, according to the survey.
"We refer to this group of 60 percent of Americans as 'pessimists,'" said Read more
News
April 3, 2006
I think this antibacterial products sham has gone way too far. Yesterday I was shopping at Office Depot, and guess what I found? Antibacterial pencils. Yes, it's true. I found some mechanical pencils made by PaperMate that have an antibacterial coating. Isn't this fascinating?
We've seen antibacterial hand soaps and dish soaps, shampoos and all sorts of other personal care and cleaning products. And we've seen all the bad news about this, as well, including the fact that they are completely and utterly useless at actually protecting people from germs, viruses or contagious disease Read more
We've seen antibacterial hand soaps and dish soaps, shampoos and all sorts of other personal care and cleaning products. And we've seen all the bad news about this, as well, including the fact that they are completely and utterly useless at actually protecting people from germs, viruses or contagious disease Read more
News
Reuters
WASHINGTON - Americans are nearly as worried about their country's dependence on foreign energy sources as they are about the war in Iraq, a poll released by the magazine Foreign Affairs showed on Thursday.
Almost half of the 1,000 Americans surveyed for the Public Agenda Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index gave U.S. policymakers a failing grade in weaning the country from foreign oil. Nearly 90 percent said the lack of energy independence jeopardizes national security.
Public Agenda, a nonpartisan group, conducted the poll in early January with Read more
News
March 22, 2006
PARIS (AFP) - Cattle ranchers and soybean farmers will destroy four-tenths of Brazil's Amazonian forest by 2050 on present trends, threatening biodiversity and adding hugely to the global warming problem, a study says.
The paper, published on Thursday in Nature, the British weekly science journal, says that the Brazilian government's conservation strategies fall far short of what is needed to prevent escalating destruction.
"Expansion of the cattle and soy industries in the Amazon basin has increased deforestation rates and will soon push all-weather highways Read more
for Economics and Trade