Dogs Becoming Latest Casualty Of S. Fla. Foreclosures (via CBS Miami)

Isn’t this pitiful. We live in a country where the recession has gotten so severe that families are unable to keep their pets.

James Pilant

HOMESTEAD (CBS4) – Near the border of where rural meets desolate you'll see them: Packs of dogs roaming Homestead and Florida City. The animals are clearly on their own.  They look starved, thirsty, and many appear injured.  And Everglades National Park ranger Mirta Maltez sees them all the time.  She calls out to the dogs around an abandoned house as she gives us a tour on her own time. "We took out five yesterday and we have five to go." Maltez … Read More

via CBS Miami

An Economic Wake Up Call (via Here’s What Nancy Thinks)

Income inequality in the developed nations is almost exclusively an American phenomenon. As you can see from the graph, we are more equivalent to African nations with limited economic development in terms of income

Another interesting article is the graph on the origins of our budget problems. Please pay attention to the enormous role played by the Bush tax cuts in destroying revenue.

James Pilant

I don't want a "share the wealth" society in the sense that Republicans like to threaten the people with… You have to admit, though, that there used to be a time when money made it to the top, the top would keep a little and spend the rest to grow their business by hiring new people and so forth. When the money trickled down, there was more money to trickle back up. Now, the mighty dollar is harder to come by because the money makes it to the t … Read More

via Here's What Nancy Thinks

they tell us what they want (via getting lost in skylines; trying to forget)

I think this level of anger entirely appropriate. I was appalled by the “newspaper’s” conduct in hacking the voice mails of crime victims and their families.

James Pilant

I just want to express my disgust and disbelief at what has been uncovered about the News of the World and their phone hacking. It's absolutely obscene. I also want to applaud the Guardian for their efforts in revealing it. This is one of the first times in history that one newspaper has investigated another (acc to tonight's This Week on BBC1), and given the results, you can see why that is. It's no surprise that they're the ones to have done it … Read More

via getting lost in skylines; trying to forget

Greenpeace Hangs a Banner on Mattel HQ

Greenpeace in its effort to bring attention to Mattel’s use of rogue paper companies in Sumatra hangs a banner on one of their buildings (they also bring in a barbie look alike). The paper company in Sumatra destroys tiger habitat and is big into deforestation.

Let’s join Greenpeace’s effort to discourage Mattel from using this brand of paper. You don’t have to agree with all of Greenpeace’s philosophy. This is a good fight.

James Pilant

Barbie Gets Dumped for Being an Environmental Wrecker (via Brisbane Times)

Barbie gets dumped as part of a new campaign by Greenpeace targeting the toy industry for its connections to deforestation in Indonesia.

SHE is more likely to be cruising yards in a pink convertible, plucking an item from her glamorous wardrobe or generally enjoying the lifestyle afforded an international fashion icon.

Up until now Barbie has yet to be seen with a chainsaw, hacking her way through pristine rainforests.

But a Greenpeace campaign is seeking to do exactly that as part of a global campaign to highlight the destruction of rainforests for pulp paper used in the toy’s cardboard packaging.

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/conservation/barbie-gets-dumped-for-being-an-environmental-wrecker-20110607-1fr4i.html#ixzz1OjZj85Wx

This is just too much fun but the comedy doesn’t end here. Here is Mattel’s response -

A letter from Mattel’s director of corporate responsibility Kathleen Shaver, which Greenpeace showed to the smh.com.au, said it was “advancing its sustainability strategy” by printing its catalogues on paper with a minimum of 10 per cent of recyclable materials and that its annual report and office paper was printed on paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Mattel has faield to return emails from Farifax but a spokeswoman for APP said met all the legal requirements for logging in Indonesia and called upon Greenpeace to make public its analysis.

“Greenpeace may think citing popular children’s toys is a cute way to get attention for its extreme position. However, we believe it’s irresponsible to play on the emotions of children and their parents to rehash old, discredited allegations in order to attack the industry of a developing nation,” she said.

Wow, looks like Greenpeace hit a nerve. Apparently all that PR training can’t conceal a little arrogance about the “industry of a developing nation.”

James Pilant

Ken Dumps Barbie (via The Chatterjis Blog)

This is delicious. This campaign is clever and fun. It shows how corporate PR and the billions spent on advertising and brand recognition can be turned against the company.

As time goes by, this kind of clever anti-marketing is going to become a necessity as corporate power in the government increases. More and more it will be necessary to turn the company’s power against it. It’s very much like judo.

James Pilant

The “Ken dumps Barbie” campaign launched by Greenpeace to protect the natural habitat of the Sumatran tigers, orang-utans and elephants was being promoted globally this week. The campaign is to stop Mattel from using Indonesia’s most notorious rainforest destroyer Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) for their packaging.       There is strong global pressure from corporate business and trade organisations for APP to change its method and practice of clearin … Read More

via The Chatterjis Blog

“We don’t need nuclear plants” in Kamakura (via Japan Nuclear Crisis)

Kanagawa Prefecture is just below Tokyo. Perhaps it is a cultural stereotype, but I consider the Japanese to be much more passive about these things than Americans and Americans much more passive than Europeans.

But there is always something salutary about people marching for their beliefs. It’s a democratic thing.

James Pilant

May 22, 2010 – Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture video report by OurPlanet-TV Despite rain, about 200 people marched on the street of Kamakura behind the banner saying, “Imagine the Future without Nuclear Power Plants”. In the interview, one of the organizers of this protest said that they had fewer participants than the last one on April 10th because of rain, but the people could meet the others who shared similar o … Read More

via Japan Nuclear Crisis

Couple Claims They Were Duped By Bank Into Foreclosure (via CBS Chicago)

The same sad story over and over again. The bank says no problem, sets up a trial period and then forecloses. It’s a trap.

The post says the family “claims” they were duped.

“Claims,” yeah right, we’ve seen this technique over and over again. The bank literally takes the property legally by manipulating the families into a “trial” period, which they will then (to no one’s surprise) find the deal inadequate and then foreclose.

For cruelty and cold blooded maliciousness, it would be hard to find worse.

James Pilant

CHICAGO (CBS) –- A local couple said they did what the bank told them to do—and now they are facing foreclosure on their home. As CBS 2’s Kristyn Hartman reports, it has happened to hundreds of thousands of homeowners.  The house they were happy to build, is now a source of hurt for LaRae Alvarado and her husband. They are fighting their home mortgage default—and they say it isn’t their fault. … Read More

via CBS Chicago

New Video From Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Shows Containment Vessel Dome Amid Debris (via EHS & Safety News America)

The containment is not installed. It sits to one side where it was placed after it was removed for maintenance.

I’d like to you to watch the film. The building looks like it was direct hit by a half dozen bombs. It’s hard to see anything besides pipes, crushed concrete and steel reinforcement rods sticking out in every direction like match sticks.

James Pilant

My thanks to EHS & Safety News America.

The video was shot on Friday by an unmanned micro-helicopter, the Tarantula-Hawk, called the T-Hawk for short. The bright yellow dome of the steel containment vessel at Unit 4, Fukushima Daiishi nuclear power plant (FDI) is clearly visible amid the pulverized remains of the building in a new video released by the Tokyo Electric Power Company. The dome is first seen a … Read More

via EHS & Safety News America

Fukushima Cleanup: 30 Years, $12 Billion (via Mostly Tech)

How much alternative energy can you buy with 12 billion dollars over thirty years?

James Pilant

“Damaged reactors at the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant may take three decades to decommission and cost operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. more than 1 trillion yen ($12 billion), engineers and analysts said. Four of the plant’s six reactors became useless when sea water was used to cool them after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out generators running its cooling systems. The reactors need to be decommissioned, Tepco Chairma … Read More

via Mostly Tech