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Body scanner ineffective to single out hazards. No safe dose of ionizing radiation. THz waves rip DNA, harm health of billions
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Ben Wallace, an ex Army officer & former overseas director in the security & intelligence division at UK defense firm QinetiQ - one of the companies making the full body scanner technology - said, the "passive millimetre wave scanners", which QinetiQ helped develop, probably would not have detected key plots affecting passengers in the UK in recent years. Mr. Wallace said the scanners would probably not have detected the failed Detroit plane plot of Christmas Day. He said the same of the 2006 airliner liquid bomb plot and of explosives used in the 2005 bombings of 3 Tube trains and a bus in London. read more »
Full-body scanner cannot replace diplomacy but imposes indecency on billions. Law says indecent exposure is crime, doesn't it?
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Friday, January 8, 2010 - The full body scanners that President Obama last night authorized to be rolled out in airports across the country at a cost of over $1 billion dollars not only produce detailed pictures of your genitals, but once inverted some of those images also display your naked body in full living color. Airport screeners will have access to huge high definition images that, once inverted, will allow them to see every minute detail of your body. TV viewers have been misled by blurring of faces and genitals of people in the images. When it comes to the real thing, your sexual organs and those of your children will be on full display to officials sat alone in back rooms, and with a simple inversion trick, your daughter’s naked body in full living high definition color will be there to be enjoyed by screeners. read more »
Cop15 breakthrough: world's top 3 CO2 emitters agree on accord, foundation for eventual legally binding treaty
Only giant emitters’ cut can significantly reduce CO2 in the atmosphere - remember that 10 countries China, U.S. India, Russia, Japan… are responsible for 80% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions. “Significant breakthrough” at Copenhagen Climate Change Conference this afternoon: China, US, India & South Africa have agreed to a political accord that will “provide the foundation for an eventual legally binding treaty”, “nations will list their actions and stand behind them.” Today Chinese officials agreed to report to an international mechanism, “for the first time these emerging economies have agreed to take significant action to combat climate change,” and have agreed to the core components - mitigation, transparency, and financing. At last, we see the hope beaming to Earth, and the chance for Mankind’s survival.
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Ocean pollution. Climate change. Man-made disaster or nature's "myth"? Seeing's believing: shocking evident photos
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There are several causes of ocean pollution including oil pollution, marine debris, toxic materials, and ocean dumping and mining. Oil pollution is not only caused by large devastating tanker spills, it is also caused through runoff from land and industrial wastes which find their way to the ocean through drains. Other causes include intensive farming, septic tank, pesticide, animal dung, household waste, water table, waste water, nuclear waste...
Ocean Pollution - Ocean Garbage - Marine Debris
There are several causes of ocean pollution including oil pollution, marine debris, toxic materials, and ocean dumping and mining. Oil pollution is not only caused by large devastating tanker spills, it is also caused through runoff from land and industrial wastes which find their way to the ocean through drains. read more »
Canada to withdraw troops fr Afghanistan. Photographer's Personal Journey thru War: 'hell on earth' 'waiting' 'strays' 'grave'
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A Photographer's Personal Journey Through War
Like many of his contemporaries, American Peter van Agtmael felt compelled to cover the U.S. war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I wish these pictures could convey more of what I experienced," van Agtmael writes. "They are harsh, despite the fact that I have great affection for many of the soldiers that I met as an embedded photographer. There is much that is left out, but I see no reason to romanticize war any more than it has been and always will be. If I found any truth in war, I found that in the end everyone has their own truth."
US could provide Medicare for all citizens as Canada does if some war spending ($891,971,525,495 since 2001) spared
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The health care system in Canada is funded by a mix of public (70%) and private (30%) funding. The U.S. spends more per capita than any other nation in the world, but is the only wealthy industrialized country in the world that lacks some form of universal health care. In 2006, 70% of health care spending in Canada was financed by government, versus 46% in the United States. U.S. government expenditure on health care was just under 83% of total Canadian spending (public and private).
All Canadian citizens are covered with a provincial Medical Services Plan, which receives funds from the federal government via tax transfers. The system is therefore a single-payer one, whereby everyone contributes to the care of all citizens. Individuals choose their own physicians, who decide what care is required - not the government, regardless of what you might hear on radio and TV talk shows - and they do not have to ante up large sums for emergency and intensive care or even for infant delivery. The system works very well.
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Photos courtesy of costofwar.com and docotube.com
Original Source: Wikipedia and The Seattle Times
280 California parks bring annual $4.3 bil to state, mils locally. 200-park closure to shoot deficit? or economy?
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The State Parks use less than 1/10th of 1% of the budget, yet return $2.35 for every dollar spent in revenues from surrounding communities whose economies are boosted by (or based on) proximity to the parks.
Proposed state parks closure list is not for the faint of heart
"This morning, I glimpsed the list of California state parks earmarked for closure if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger successfully cuts funding, and I became sickened and angry. There are 220 parks, reserves and beaches on the list. That would leave a mere 59 parks for our continued enjoyment." (Comment posted by Maggie Wolfe Riley: "The State Parks use less than 1/10th of 1% of the budget, yet return $2.35 for every dollar spent in revenues from surrounding communities whose economies are boosted by (or based on) proximity to the parks.")
Earth'd be greener with less mind, less money on hate: Obama ends Bush-Era torture, "no prosecution of officials"
With less global hostility, less conflict, there would be more money to work on the fast climate change... In addition, putting aside the notion of Geneva Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, who would believe confession under torture? (see movie Goya's Ghosts)
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White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said during our exclusive interview on "This Week" that President Barack Obama will not pursue the prosecution of Bush-era officials who devised torture policy against detainees, as laid out in memos the Obama administration released this week.
Earlier in the interview, I asked Emanuel about a series of officials, including former CIA director Michael Hayden and former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who have criticized the Obama administration's decision to release the Bush-era memos outlining torture techniques of detainees. "First of all, we banned these techniques and practices. Banned them because we didn't think they were consistent with American security and its values," Emanuel said on "This Week." "Second is, we've enhanced America's image abroad. These were tools used to by terrorists, propaganda tools, to recruit new terrorists. And the fact is having changed America's image, does have an impact on our security and safety to make us stronger. read more »
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