Michael Moore

An Open Letter To President Obama On Afghanistan

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new "war president"? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they've always heard is true -- that all politicians are alike. I simply can't believe you're about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn't so.

It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That's the way General Washington insisted it must be. That's what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. "You're fired!," said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in' hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).

So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea -- "Let's invade Afghanistan!" Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.

There's a reason they don't call Afghanistan the "Garden State" (though they probably should, seeing how the corrupt President Karzai, whom we back, has his brother in the heroin trade raising poppies). Afghanistan's nickname is the "Graveyard of Empires." If you don't believe it, give the British a call. I'd have you call Genghis Khan but I lost his number. I do have Gorbachev's number though. It's + 41 22 789 1662. I'm sure he could give you an earful about the historic blunder you're about to commit.

With our economic collapse still in full swing and our precious young men and women being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance and greed, the breakdown of this great civilization we call America will head, full throttle, into oblivion if you become the "war president." Empires never think the end is near, until the end is here. Empires think that more evil will force the heathens to toe the line -- and yet it never works. The heathens usually tear them to shreds.

Choose carefully, President Obama. You of all people know that it doesn't have to be this way. You still have a few hours to listen to your heart, and your own clear thinking. You know that nothing good can come from sending more troops halfway around the world to a place neither you nor they understand, to achieve an objective that neither you nor they understand, in a country that does not want us there. You can feel it in your bones.

I know you know that there are LESS than a hundred al-Qaeda left in Afghanistan! A hundred thousand troops trying to crush a hundred guys living in caves? Are you serious? Have you drunk Bush's Kool-Aid? I refuse to believe it.

Your potential decision to expand the war (while saying that you're doing it so you can "end the war") will do more to set your legacy in stone than any of the great things you've said and done in your first year. One more throwing a bone from you to the Republicans and the coalition of the hopeful and the hopeless may be gone -- and this nation will be back in the hands of the haters quicker than you can shout "tea bag!"

Choose carefully, Mr. President. Your corporate backers are going to abandon you as soon as it is clear you are a one-term president and that the nation will be safely back in the hands of the usual idiots who do their bidding. That could be Wednesday morning.

We the people still love you. We the people still have a sliver of hope. But we the people can't take it anymore. We can't take your caving in, over and over, when we elected you by a big, wide margin of millions to get in there and get the job done. What part of "landslide victory" don't you understand?

Don't be deceived into thinking that sending a few more troops into Afghanistan will make a difference, or earn you the respect of the haters. They will not stop until this country is torn asunder and every last dollar is extracted from the poor and soon-to-be poor. You could send a million troops over there and the crazy Right still wouldn't be happy. You would still be the victim of their incessant venom on hate radio and television because no matter what you do, you can't change the one thing about yourself that sends them over the edge.

The haters were not the ones who elected you, and they can't be won over by abandoning the rest of us.

President Obama, it's time to come home. Ask your neighbors in Chicago and the parents of the young men and women doing the fighting and dying if they want more billions and more troops sent to Afghanistan. Do you think they will say, "No, we don't need health care, we don't need jobs, we don't need homes. You go on ahead, Mr. President, and send our wealth and our sons and daughters overseas, 'cause we don't need them, either."

What would Martin Luther King, Jr. do? What would your grandmother do? Not send more poor people to kill other poor people who pose no threat to them, that's what they'd do. Not spend billions and trillions to wage war while American children are sleeping on the streets and standing in bread lines.

All of us that voted and prayed for you and cried the night of your victory have endured an Orwellian hell of eight years of crimes committed in our name: torture, rendition, suspension of the bill of rights, invading nations who had not attacked us, blowing up neighborhoods that Saddam "might" be in (but never was), slaughtering wedding parties in Afghanistan. We watched as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were slaughtered and tens of thousands of our brave young men and women were killed, maimed, or endured mental anguish -- the full terror of which we scarcely know.

When we elected you we didn't expect miracles. We didn't even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn't even function as a nation and never, ever has.

Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God's sake, stop.

Tonight we still have hope.

Tomorrow, we shall see. The ball is in your court. You DON'T have to do this. You can be a profile in courage. You can be your mother's son.

We're counting on you.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

01-12-2009 om 22:41 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

30-11-2009 om 22:03 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

Ce jeudi 10 décembre à 19h45, à la salle des Riches Claires (24 rue des Riches Claires, 1000 Bruxelles), nous organisons un débat sur les compteurs de gaz et d'électricité dits "intelligents". Ce débat sera modéré par Joan Condijts (journal Le Soir), en présence de Henri Autrique (Cabinet de la Ministre bruxelloise de l'Energie), Luc Hujoel (Directeur-général de SIBELGA), un représentant de la Fédération des producteurs et des fournisseurs (FEBEG) ou d'un fournisseur (sous réserve), un député européen (sous réserve), Eric De Vuyst (Coordination Gaz, Electricité Eau Bruxelles) et Arnaud Lismond (Collectif Solidarité Contre l'Exclusion). Soyez nombreux ! Pour plus d"infos, voir nos articles sur le sujet dans le denier numéro de Ensemble!

Oktober 2010 – Diverse vermeende uitkeringsfraudeurs blijken te zijn veroordeeld op basis van de onlangs geïntroduceerde “Slimme Energiemeter”. Uit de energiemeter zou blijken dat de uitkeringsgerechtigde nooit thuis was en dus vermoedelijk samenwoonden op een ander adres. Mogelijk met een andere uitkeringsgerechtigde.

Sedert november 2009 is de “Slimme Energiemeter” verplicht gesteld in alle huishoudens van Nederland. De meter zend meetgegevens door over het energieverbruik naar energieleveranciers. Het niet accepteren van de energiemeter is strafbaar. Weigering kan leiden tot een gevangenisstraf of een boete van maximaal € 17.000, zo besloot achtereenvolgens de tweede en de eerste kamer.

Naar nu blijkt geeft de energiemeter niet alleen inzicht in het energieverbruik maar ook of de bewoner zijn woning al dan niet daadwerkelijk gebruikt. Door het koppelen van gegevensbronnen en bestanden is het leefpatroon van de energieklant op de voet te volgen. Deze gegevens zijn inmiddels met succes toegepast in rechtszaken tegen vermeende uitkeringsfraudeurs.

Uit de energiegegevens zou blijken dat uitkeringsgerechtigden lange tijd niet thuis zouden zijn geweest. De gegevens zijn gebruikt in zaken waarin de “Economische Recherche” vermoeden dat bijstands-

gerechtigden samen wonen. Mogelijk met andere bijstandsgerechtigden waarvan het energieverbuik bleek toe te nemen. De advocaten van de vermeende fraudeurs verzetten zich met hand en tand tegen deze, wat zij noemen “interpretatie van energieverbruik”.

Ook stelt men dat de gegevens op oneigenlijke wijze worden misbruikt. Deze bezwaren werden echter niet gehoord door de vonnis wijzende rechters. Deze rechters zien de gegevens als “aanvullend bewijs” in deze vaak moeilijk te bewijzen gevallen van vermeende uitkeringsfraude. Een omstreden kwestie. Hoe ver mag de overheid gaan bij het monitoren van haar burgers, en tot in hoeverre mag dit meewegen als bewijs in deze en andere rechtszaken?

Er is veel bezwaar gemaakt tegen de verplichte introductie van de “Slimme Energiemeter”. Zoals bekend zonder noemenswaardig succes. Waarvoor de bezwaarmakers al vreesde blijkt nu waarheid te zijn geworden. De gegevens die worden onttrokken aan de energiemeter worden inmiddels gebruikt in rechtszaken. Niet alleen in gevallen waarin er een vermoeden bestaat van uitkeringsfraude, maar ook in gevallen van vermoedelijk illegale wietteelt en mogelijk zelfs in moordzaken.

In tenminste een geval is de energiemeter aangewend als aanvullend bewijs in een moordzaak. De verdachte claimt op de dag van de moord thuis te zijn geweest en het huis niet te hebben verlaten. De energiemeter wijst uit dat de kachel in het huis van de verdachte op 14 graden stond en er eveneens geen warm water is verbruikt op de dag van de moord. Op andere dagen bleek de verwarming op tenminste 21 graden te staan en werd er wel warm water getapt. Alhoewel het op zichzelf niets bewijst zien rechters in dit soort informatie een aanvullende bewijslast.

(Dit is een fictief nieuwsbericht. Het is evenwel geen onwaarschijnlijk nieuwsbericht. Misbruik van persoonsgegevens is geen onbekende materie. Er loopt een directe lijn van zaken als het ooit, in de jaren ‘70 verplicht gestelde moeten hebben van een bankrekening naar allerhande andere verplicht gestelde informatie verplichtingen. De “Slimme Energiemeter” lijkt daarin de volgende stap te zijn. Uw privacy staat al jaren op de tocht. Maak bezwaar tegen deze gang van zaken! Lees ook dit artikel, dit artikel, dit artikel en teken op http://www.wijvertrouwenslimmemetersniet.nl/ de petitie.)

Ook in Canada, meer bepaald in Ontario waar men de slimme meters massaal heeft ingevoerd begint men zich toch wel vragen te stellen maar men blijft daar ovrtuigd dat er energiebesparingen mee kunnen gemaakt worden...

Your smart meter is watching

Technology's ability to reveal intimate details makes useful conservation tool a threat to privacy

A smart meter could reveal whether a home alarm system was engaged.

ROBERT MAXWELL PHOTO

North America's electrical grid is one of the greatest technological achievements of the 20th century. However, at the time of its design, the main goal was to make sure the lights stayed on, with no serious thought to energy efficiency, environmental conservation, alternative energy sources, consumer-tailored choices, or cyber security. But times have changed, and today the grid offers a virtual window into your home – providing granular levels of information such as when you cook or shower, and for how long.

The information and communications technology revolution has changed our society in profound ways and these new technologies are being used to make the current electrical grid "smarter," commonly referred to as the "smart grid." But this is not the future. The deployment of smart meters in Ontario homes is already widespread, and the Ontario government has committed to installing this technology in all homes and small businesses by the end of 2010. President Barack Obama's infusion of $3.4 billion (U.S.) to build the smart grid is greatly accelerating the delivery of the program across the U.S.

Smart meters record and report electricity consumption on an hourly basis – even at the appliance level. Consumers can access their meter data and make individual choices about their energy use, benefitting by taking advantage of future rates.

While this technology is clearly beneficial in terms of valuable efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and reduce consumers' energy bills, it will also give rise to a new challenge – privacy protection. Privacy is the smart grid's sleeper issue. Whenever technology is utilized that targets individual consumers, there is invariably a dramatic increase in the amount of personally identifiable information that is collected and stored, leading to very real concerns regarding privacy. This is why we need to bake privacy into the smart grid at the design stage – known as "privacy by design" – a concept developed to ensure the protection of privacy by making privacy the default in the design of new technologies and business practices.

We must take great care not to sacrifice consumer privacy amid an atmosphere of unbridled enthusiasm for electricity reform. But we need not forfeit one for the other in a zero-sum manner; we can adopt a positive-sum approach, where both interests may prevail.

Information proliferation, lax controls and insufficient oversight of this information could lead to unprecedented invasions of consumer privacy. Intimate details of individual hydro customers' habits, from when they eat, when they shower, to when they go to bed, plus such security issues as whether they have an alarm system engaged, could all be discerned by the data, automatically fed by appliances and other devices, to the companies providing electric power to our homes.

These concerns, however, are not meant to scare us away from the value of monitoring electrical usage data on the grid – giving consumers more control over their electricity usage and giving electricity providers the ability to manage demand requirements – what we need to embrace is the idea that the dissemination of personal information must be done in a privacy protective and transparent manner.

That is why – along with co-author Christopher Wolf – we are releasing a white paper today, SmartPrivacy for the Smart Grid: Embedding Privacy in the Design of Electricity Conservation, which not only emphasizes the necessity of building privacy into the smart grid, but also provides guidance as to what concrete steps can be taken.

For example, data minimization is key: only the minimal amount of personally identifiable information should be provided, based on the nature of the relevant service, such as the first three digits of a postal code, which may be sufficient for services that allow for comparison of neighbourhood averages and other features such as regional electrical usage.

In addition, when an electrical utility company is sharing data with a third-party service provider, a pseudonym, such as a unique ID number, may be utilized instead of a customer's name or some other piece of information that can identify the individual. Further, third-party service providers should enter into contractual agreements not to correlate consumer data with data obtained from other sources, without the consent of the consumer. These are only a few of the steps that may be taken to ensure privacy protection on the smart grid.

The time for action is now, before the smart grid becomes a fully established part of our infrastructure. We cannot allow privacy to become the Achilles heel of this new method of energy management. The information collected on the smart grid will form a large and complex library of personal information, the mishandling of which could be highly invasive of personal privacy. There will be major concerns if consumer-focused principles of transparency and control are not treated as essential design principles. Both public and private sector organizations responsible for the processing of customers' personal information on the smart grid must ensure that privacy is embedded into the design of the smart grid, from start to finish – end-to-end.

Ontario smart meter rollout ahead of schedule

Toronto, ON, Canada --- (METERING.COM) --- November 24, 2009 - Ontario’s smart meter rollout is running ahead of schedule, with 3,053,931 smart meters installed in the province at the end of the third quarter of 2009, almost 1 percent more than the projected 3,035,426 meters.

Of these 2,883,139 were residential installations, compared with the baseline 2,852,553 meters. In addition 170,792 general service meters were installed, six percent below the baseline of 182,873 meters.

These data were provided by the Ontario Energy Board in its first quarterly monitoring report on smart meter deployment and the application of time-of-use pricing. The Board says these meters installed exceed the number required to achieve the 2010 target for TOU pricing of 1 million consumers, and are 85 percent of the 2011 target of 3.6 million consumers.

The baseline was based on data provided by the distributors in July 2009, following which all distributors are required to make quarterly filings of their progress so that actions can be compared to plans.

According to the report at the end of September 110,851 meters were enrolled with Toronto’s meter data management repository (MDMR). Furthermore, 91,170 consumers were being billed on TOU prices, almost 60 percent more than projected and corresponding to 9 percent of the June 2010 target.

nog een ander interessante bijdrage

Electricity Prices & Rates In Ontario: Smart Meters

Will Smart Meters Cause my Electricity ("Hydro") Bill to Increase?

(Just want to see the rates and not the commentary? Scroll to the bottom!)

Toronto (and other places in Ontario) are moving to "smart meters" for electricity billing, where you pay a different rate depending on the time of day. This makes sense, as the cost of electricity does vary throughout the day, and there's currently no incentive for people to do things like cook a lunch or vacuum their house at 2AM instead of 2PM. Now, with smart meters, you can save yourself a few nickels by waking up in the middle of the night to do these already enjoyable chores!

In theory, with smart meters, if users don't change their habits, the amount of electricity sold and it's price should not change at all. If the overall amount that the average user pays for electricity increases with time-of-day billing smart meters, then there's a stealth price increase taking place. Of course, I'm talking about averages here, you may be above or below it.

In theory, the change to smart meters should be revenue neutral at worst, and at best, decrease electricity revenue and increase electricity use, as people use more "cheap" electricity, and less "expensive" electricity.

The utilities will be sure to charge you for installing all of these smart meters of course, so you have to make enough changes in your lifestyles to counter-act this to end up saving money. I think that the cost of something represents how scarce that good is, and installing all these meters does use resources

It should be said that some small users have no chance of making enough changes to offset the cost of the meters themselves, and end up using more resources than they did before

What's the Real Price of Electricity Anyway?

The "Independent Electricity System Operator" determines the price in Ontario every 5 minutes based on supply and demand. You can see the current hourly rate here. On average, you should be paying this rate through the smart-meter. Maybe one day they'll configure the smart meters to actually charge the real-time rate, but that'll confuse people, and the backlash for paying the actual cost of something would be incredible.

An interesting aside is that electricity prices in Ontario have actually dropped significantly over the past year, due to industrial decline, but also mild seasons and changing energy use patterns. Examples of these changes include changing from incandescent lights to CFLs, tower PCs to laptops and CRT TVs to LCD TVs, all of which reduce electricity demand (and as a result, price) substantially. Appliances have steadily improved in efficiency, and those old refrigerators and such are now finally getting sent to the recyclers.

For the first week of June, the average weighted price of electricity generation in Ontario has been just above 1 cent/kwh.

Here are the average real monthly prices for electricity over the past year in Ontario:

(In other words, these are the amounts paid to electricity generators, like Ontario Power Generation)

I'd also like to point out that electricity users are paying for the real price of electricity, it is not subsidized, but it was before, and current users are paying back for it (Debt Retirement Charge), so it's actually the opposite of subsidized.

Here are the old summer electricity rates that residential users without activated smart meters pay:

5.7 ¢/kWh for the first 600 kWh in a month
6.6 ¢/kWh for each additional kWh

Of course, this is only the cost for the electricity, excluded are transmission charges, distribution charges,

Here are the new "Smart-Meter" summer electricity rates for Toronto (and the rest of Ontario):

Week-ends and holidays: 4.2 ¢/kWh

Conclusions on Smart Meters and Ontario Electricity Pricing

To be honest, based on my gut instinct, I'm calling this a (temporary) stealth price increase. It may very well be a total price increase if one's electricity consumption isn't sufficiently shifted to cover the costs of the meters themselves, which is especially true for light users (like cottagers). Many of the biggest electricity loads run during peak or mid-peak times and are almost impossible to shift, such as air conditioning, TVs, PCs, hot water usage and cooking. Most people aren't going to shift cooking dinner from 6:00PM to 10:00PM. Now there's actually less incentive to turn off that PC overnight. The only thing I think people will do is change the timing of their laundry and pool pumps, and really, during those really hot days of the year (when electricity is the most expensive), you should be drying outdoors anyway. It takes a load off your air conditioner too.

I'll bet that the Ontario Energy Board will lower these rates at their next review, since Ontarians will be overpaying for electricity with these rates.

er is ginder nog een blog dat veel aandacht besteedt aan de problematiek van de slimme meters:

Smart Meters in Ontario – Financial Ruin, or an Opportunity for Savings?

We’d like to introduce a new Columnist for us. Cornwall resident Richard Komorowski is a freelance writer with a passion for energy and environmental issues dating back to the 60s, when he studied biology in university.

Here is Richard’s first column for us. Lucky most of us live in Cornwall where we are served by Cornwall Electric.

Smart Meters in Ontario – Financial Ruin, or an Opportunity for Savings?

Like it or not, many people reading this column will have one of the new digital “smart meters” installed by the end of 2010. Once Hydro One has finished this installation program throughout the province, then the way they charge us for electricity will change. For most people, this will come as an unpleasant shock, but there are ways we can insulate ourselves from these higher costs, and actually reduce our total electricity cost, without necessarily lowering our consumption.

To understand how the new billing system will work, we need to understand how electricity is billed. We buy potatoes by the pound (or kilogram), gasoline by the litre, and electricity by the kilowatt hour. One kilowatt (one thousand Watts) is a measure of power, (in more understandable terms, one horsepower is 746 W), so we are charged for the amount of power we use over a certain time.

As an example, burning a 100W light bulb for one hour would use one tenth of a kilowatt hour. Running a 1500 watt electric fan heater for one hour would consume 1.5 kilowatt hours of electricity. How is this going to affect our electric bill? Hydro One charges a fixed monthly “cover charge”, the cost of the actual electricity used, and the cost of delivering it to you.

The electricity cost varies according to the season. During the summer, between May 1 and October 31, Hydro One sells the first 600 kWh of electricity used for 10.41¢ per kWh. If we use more than 600 kWh during the month, then the price per kWh rises to 11.32¢/kWh.

This is actually very confusing, because the actual cost for the electricity itself is only 5.7¢ for the first 600 kWh, rising to 6.6¢/kWh for anything over 600 kWh per month. The extra 4.71¢/kWh is for transmission line costs, regulatory costs, debt retirement charge, etc. In addition, a residential customer pays a flat rate of $16.35 per month, over and above the actual electricity used.

Let’s take an example. Suppose we use a total of 1250 kWh during a month. The actual cost for electricity would be 600 x 10.41¢ for the first 600 kWh ($62.46), plus 650 x 11.32¢ for the balance of 650 kWh ($73.58), for a total of $136.04, plus the 16.35 fixed charge – in all, and disregarding taxes, $152.39. (Incidentally, the monthly cost for this amount of electricity from Cornwall Electric would be about $137)!

Winter is a little different, but the idea is the same. Hydro One recognizes the need for heating, and so it allows the first thousand (rather than 600) kWh at the lower price. For 1250 kWh, the cost would be $104.10 + $28.30 + $16.35, i.e. $148.75.

However, once Smart Meters come into operation, all this is going to change. The rate at which electricity is sold will depend on the time of day – during peak periods it will cost a lot more than during quiet, or low-demand, periods. Here are the proposed rates: (click on the chart to enlarge)

As we can see, there is an enormous difference in price throughout the day, and if we continue to consume electricity in our normal pattern, the bill will come as a very nasty shock, particularly for those who rely on electric heat, as most electricity is consumed in the mid-peak and on-peak periods. However, now that we understand how the time of day affects how much electricity will cost, we can work out how we can reduce our electric bills without losing too much of the comfort and convenience of our current electric lifestyle.

And remember, too, that the table is the actual electricity cost, and does not include the 4.71¢/kWh delivery charge. If you add this, on-peak electricity will actually cost 13.81¢/kWh.

In future articles, we shall discuss ideas and technology to implement these changes and reduce the bill.

30-11-2009 om 21:39 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

Dubbel zo veel arme huurders op straat

• zondag 29 november 2009
• 
  
• Auteur: Frans De Smet

Dubbel zo veel arme huurders op straat

jimmy kets

Vrederechters bevelen dit jaar tot 60 uitzettingen per dag —

Dit jaar werden al dubbel zoveel Vlaamse gezinnen uit hun woning gedreven omdat ze de huur niet kunnen betalen. Het gaat om bijna zestig uitzettingen per dag.

29-11-2009 om 23:07 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

Recession Sends Older Americans To Food Pantries

ALBANY, N.Y. — Older Americans who were raised on stories of the Great Depression and acquired lifelong habits of thrift now find themselves crowding soup kitchens and food pantries in greater numbers for the first time after seeing retirement funds, second jobs and nest eggs wiped out by recession.

"What we see in line is lots of gray hair, lots of walkers," said Marti Forman, CEO of The Cooperative Feeding Program in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The help is crucial for many fixed-income seniors, who can't always keep up with rising food prices.

"It's a lifeline. It just means that you can function," said Ronald Shewchuk of Ithaca, N.Y. "Otherwise we would have to sell our house. I don't know what we would do. Go to an old age home."

The number of seniors living alone who seek help from food pantries in the U.S. increased 81 percent to 408,000 in 2008, compared to 225,000 in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Overall, 4.7 million households used American food pantries in 2008, compared to about 3.7 million in 2006.

"Seniors thought they were OK, but they're not OK," said Virginia Skinner, director of Development at The Association of Arizona Food Banks in Phoenix, citing the downturn in the area's housing market.

Catholic Charities USA, which has 170 agencies across the country helping the needy, issued a 2009 third-quarter report that found a 54 percent increase in requests for food and services from seniors nationwide compared to the same period last year.

Despite the increased need, it can be difficult for some older people to come forward and seek help.

America's Increasing Food Waste Is Laying Waste to the Environment

ScienceDaily (Nov. 25, 2009) — Food waste contributes to excess consumption of freshwater and fossil fuels which, along with methane and carbon dioxide emissions from decomposing food, impacts global climate change. In a new paper published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS One, Kevin Hall and colleagues at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases calculate the energy content of nationwide food waste from the difference between the US food supply and the food eaten by the population. The latter was estimated using a validated mathematical model of human metabolism relating body weight to the amount of food eaten.

The researchers found that US per capita food waste has progressively increased by about 50% since 1974 reaching more than 1400 Calories per person per day or 150 trillion Calories per year. Previous calculations are likely to have underestimated food waste by as much as 25% in recent years.

This calculated progressive increase of food waste suggests that the US obesity epidemic may have been the result of a "push effect" of increased food availability and marketing with Americans being unable to match their food intake with the increased supply of cheap, readily available food.

Hall and colleagues suggest that addressing the oversupply of food energy in the US could help curb to the obesity epidemic as well as reduce food waste, which would have profound consequences for the environment and natural resources. For example, food waste is now estimated to account for more than one quarter of the total freshwater consumption and more than 300 million barrels of oil per year representing about 4% of the total US oil consumption.

This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

29-11-2009 om 22:58 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

29-11-2009 om 16:31 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

28-11-2009 om 22:56 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

Finishing the Job at Home

How About a War on Poverty Instead?

By JAYNE LYN STAHL

The local news was replete with images of First Lady Michelle Obama in the elegant, strapless designer gown she wore for this White House's first state dinner.

Don't get me wrong, I like to look at gowns by Naeem Khan as much as anyone, but as we edge closer to that holiday most often associated with abundance, and overindulgence, one can't help but be distracted by the equally stunning number of people who find themselves hungry and poor this Thanksgiving.

More than 12% of all Americans know what it means to be poor in America. While they're conspicuously absent from reality T.V. shows, from box office movies, and political party platforms, they are increasingly visible at food banks, and shelters.

Too often, politicians of both parties speak of the need to save the middle class, but nobody talks about the working poor. There is little mention of those who return from the battlefield only to struggle to keep their homes, their dignity, and find a way to feed their families.

As the Web site Feeding America reports, in 2008:

• 40 million, or 13%, of Americans lived in poverty.
• 8 million families, or more than 10%, were in poverty
• 22 million, or nearly 12%, of people between 18-64 were in poverty.
• 14 million, or nearly 20, of children under 18 were in poverty.
• Nearly 10% of households with seniors were food insecure.
• 3.6 million seniors, 65 and older, nearly one in ten, live in poverty

In 2008, 49 million people lived didn't have enough to eat (32 million adults and 17 million children). A disproportionate number of those who face the gravest food shortages are men, women, and children of color. The number of households that experience food shortages has increased by 3.5% from 2007-2008 alone.

Ironically, the state with the second greatest percentage of hungry residents is Texas, home to our previous president, George W. Bush.

In 2002, 35 million went hungry, a number that has increased by 50% since then.

Last year, 4% of all U.S. households, nearly 5 million Americans, accessed emergency food from a food pantry one or more times.

In 2008, too, more than 50% of all households experiencing food shortages participated in one of the major federal food assistance programs, but that's not enough. Instead of the trillions of dollars this administration has committed to buying drones, building embassies in Iraq, and sending thousands of more servicemen and women into combat, we need to fight the war on poverty here at home.

According to the Oakland Institute, a staggering 50% of all Americans between 20 and 65 (4 out of every 10 adults in America) will use food stamps in their lifetimes. 85% of African-Americans will need to use food stamps. African-Americans and Hispanics make up the leading groups of those experiencing the most egregious food deprivation.

In 2008, households with children were more likely to experience food insecurity than single households. Nearly 40% of households headed by single women experience hunger while nearly 30% of households with children run by single men have dire food insufficiency.

Clearly, Congress is making a good start by working to pass legislation that will enable more Americans to get affordable health insurance, but that's only a start.

If this government devoted even half the resources to the war on poverty that it has to the war on terror not one child in America would go to sleep hungry tonight.

I don't want to be a party pooper and suggest that the mainstream media run footage at food banks, and encampments where people have now moved after losing their homes to foreclosure instead of the Obamas at tonight's state dinner. It's nice to have a break from reality once in awhile.

But, when the president announced today that he intends to "finish the job" in Afghanistan, it becomes clear the job he needs to finish is here, and not in the Middle East.

28-11-2009 om 22:48 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

27-11-2009 om 23:51 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

Gezien beste lezertjes, we hebben EINDELIJK een reactie op één van onze artikeltjes....we zijn daar erg blij mee want tot nu toe konden we slechts vaststellen dat al onze lezertjes het met ons volmondig eens waren want we kregen niks, nada reactie...Dus zijn we, echt waar, heel erg blij dat Bert reageert.

Hier zijn reactie:

Vraagje Wat wil je nu eigenlijk bewijzen met je artikeltjes over Anderlecht? Dat er geen problemen zijn - omdat jij als individuutje nog geen last hebt gehad? En dat Vandenbossche een conservatieve overdrijver is? Wake up man ! Dit heeft niets meer met politiek te maken - maar met het weefsel van de samenleving.

Groeten,
Bert

Dus beste Bert wij zullen je bepamperen en vertroetelen als was je onze eigen huiskat. Een VIP-aanpak krijg je van ons en nu moeten de anderen niet denken dat elke reactie op dergelijke voorkeursbehandeling zal mogen rekenen. Vergeet het maar. Bert krijgt die voorlopig wel. Voilà zo simpel is dat hier.

Dus, beste Bert, wat willen we bewijzen met onze artikeltjes over Anderlecht? Wel eerst toch duidelijk maken dat de eigen inbreng bij deze bijdragen erg beperkt was. De artikels zelf zijn niet uit ons brein ontsproten, zeker dat over Tsjetsenië aan de Zenne niet. Wij hebben ons enkel beperkt tot een kleine randcommentaar. We begrijpen dus niet meteen dat vele Brusselse Vlamingen en Vlamingen tout court,, zich hierdoor in hun gat gebeten moeten voelen. Want we hebben zo wel een stil vermoeden dat de opgesomde feiten die door de eigenlijke auteur, namelijk Steven Samyn,worden aangehaald wel een grote grond van waarheid bevatten. Tenzij jij, beste Bert, enige verschoningsgrond voor dit soort gedrag wenst aan te dragen of, beter nog, met de nodige bewijzen ons ervan kan overtuigen dat de feiten volledig uit de duim van de Heer Samyn werden gezogen. In beide gevallen zijn we steeds bereid het gedrag van de heer Vandenbossche te vergoeilijken of zelfs onze excuses aan te bieden. Zelfs al zijn we niet zelf de schrijvers van dit soort aantijgingen.
Je moet ons echter geloven als we zeggen dat wij onze eigen overlevingskansen bij het nemen van de metro in Aumale of Saint Guidon en tijdens het wandelen op de "place de la Vaillance" niet als referentie wensen te nemen voor het bepalen van de veiligheidssituatie in Anderlecht en bij uitbreiding over gans het Brusselse Gewest. Een meer aandachtige lectuur van onze randbemerkingen had je reeds moeten overtuigen van het feit dat wij niet wensen te ontkennen dat er wel degelijk problemen zijn in Brussel. We schrijven het zelfs zeer duidelijk. Ons individuutje werd reeds lastig gevallen in Brussel als dit je enigszins kan sterken in je mening. Maar het was zeker niet meer, eerder minder, dan in leuke vakantietripsteden als Barcelona, Athene, Palermo, Parijs, Londen of Praag. Om enkel deze te noemen die we individueel hebben bezocht en waar we werden "lastig gevallen".
Vermits een vrij belangrijk deel van onze eigen niet-autochtone (geen onbelangrijk detail) familieleden inwoners en dus ook belastingbetalers zijn van Anderlecht en Molenbeek, menen we zelfs een enigszins genuanceerd beeld te hebben van de problemen die er daar inderdaad bestaan en die we niet wensen te ontkennen. Integendeel zelfs. Als we zeggen dat de echtgenote is opgegroeid aan de beruchte "place Alphonse Lemmens" zal er wel een lampje branden vermoeden we...Al vrezen we toch dat we er niet de zelfde mening op zullen nahouden wat betreft de juiste definitie van het woord "problemen".
Op het tweede luik van je vraag of Meneer Vandenbossche een conservatieve overdrijver is, kunnen we moeilijk een objectief antwoord geven. Indien echter de aantijgingen van de Heer Samyn tegen de Heer Vandenbossche gegrond zijn - en we herhalen dat we steeds bereid zijn het tegendeel te geloven mits de nodige bewijzen- dan heb je, beste Bert, inderdaad een punt. Dan is de Heer Vandenbossche geen conservatieve overdrijver maar wat men in het schoon Brussels "een kasjoebereir" noemt en in Olland een schlemiel..
Hopelijk zijn we duidelijk geweest in ons antwoord op je vraagje. Aarzel echter niet om met ons van mening te verschillen over gelijk welk onderwerp want de gedachten zijn vrij!

Vriendelijke groeten

27-11-2009 om 23:45 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

27-11-2009 om 00:00 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

26-11-2009 om 21:35 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

25-11-2009 om 22:47 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

Recht op veiligheid, ook in Anderlecht

• woensdag 25 november 2009
• 
  
• Auteur:

De politie verliest in Anderlecht de strijd tegen criminelen van allerlei aard. pn

© Geert Vanden Wijngaert

VETERAAN VAN DE BRUSSELSE POLITIEK LUIDT ALARMBEL — 'Het is onhoudbaar geworden in Anderlecht', schrijft WALTER VANDENBOSSCHE. 'Geen mens is in onze gemeente nog in staat een normaal leven te leiden.'

Brussel is geen onveilige stad'

Hoewel mensen zich in Brussel erg onveilig voelen, gebeuren er relatief weinig gratuite en gewelddadige feiten. Diefstallen in voertuigen komen het meeste voor in de hoofdstad. Dat schrijft De Standaard maandag.

(belga) - In vergelijking met andere Europese hoofdsteden ligt het aantal moorden in Brussel relatief laag. Toch zijn de Brusselse burgers er zelf niet van overtuigd dat hun stad veilig is. Volgens een studie van The European Crime and Safety Survey, dat trends in Europese misdaad op de voet volgt, is de Brusselaar van alle inwoners van Europese steden het meest ontevreden over hoe vaak hij of zij geconfronteerd wordt met gewelddadige, criminele feiten in de stad.

Als het gaat over criminele feiten die met 'eigendom' - alle vormen van diefstal - te maken hebben, is de Brusselaar de op een na meest ontevreden inwoner van een Europese hoofdstad. Na de inwoners van Athene en Boedapest, zijn de Brusselaars het meest ontevreden over hoe vaak ze met achtergestelde buurten en de problemen die daar mee gepaard gaan, in contact komen. Volgens diezelfde studie vindt 63 procent van de Brusselaars dat de politie goed werk levert. Daarmee ligt ze een stuk onder het gemiddelde van 72 procent.

Volgens Jacques Deveaux, directeur coördinator van de federale politie in Brussel, heeft iemand die Brussel bezoekt relatief weinig kans om op straat fysiek aangevallen te worden.

25-11-2009 om 22:39 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

24-11-2009 om 23:25 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

23-11-2009 om 22:28 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

++Aufruf aus Frankreich zu europaweiten Demonstrationen++Regensburger Plenum solidarisiert sich++deutschsprachige Hochschulen zu Protest aufgefordert++

Frankreichs Lehrende und Forschende rufen ihre Kollegen auf zu einem europaweiten Aktionstag am Dienstag den 24.11.09!

Stand 21.11.09 18:24 Uhr werden auf www.frontdeluttepourleducation.fr
82 Demonstrationen angekündigt!

Wir Besetzer_innen* des Regensburger Plenums solidarisieren uns mit diesem Aufruf, um die bildungspolitische Bewegung auf internationaler Ebene voran zu treiben. Speziell die Hochschulen in deutschprachigen Gebieten forden wir auf, sich folgendem Aufruf anzuschließen:

——————————————————————————-
COMMUNIQUÉ DE LA COORDINATION NATIONALE DES UNIVERSITÉS AUX COLLÈGUES EUROPÉENS
Les enseignants-chercheurs et chercheurs des universités françaises, regroupés au sein de la Coordination Nationale des Universités, expriment leur soutien et leur solidarité aux collègues des universités italiennes, allemandes, autrichiennes, et hongroises, actuellement mobilisés.
Ils invitent les enseignants-chercheurs européens à organiser des rassemblements et manifestations le mardi 24 novembre 2009 afin d’aboutir à une première journée d’action européenne.

MITTEILUNG DER COORDINATION NATIONALE DES UNIVERSITES AN DIE EUROPÄISCHEN KOLLEGEN
Die Hochschullehrer_innen* und die Forscher_innen* der französischen Universitäten, vereint in der Coordination nationale des universités, erklären ihre Unterstützung und ihre Solidarität für die italienischen, deutschen, österreichischen und ungarischen Kollegen und Kolleginnen, die zur Zeit im Arbeitskampf sind.
Sie rufen alle Forscher_innen* und Hochschullehrer_innen* auf, am Dienstag dem 24. November Versammlungen und Demonstrationen zu organisieren, um einen ersten gemeinsamen europäischen Protesttag zu schaffen.
——————————————————————————-

In Regensburg wird es am Dienstag an der Fachhochschule eine Kundgebung mit darauf folgender Vollversammlung geben. Treffpunkt ist 14:00 Uhr in der Cafeteria Seybothstraße.

Die Besetzer_innen* der Uni Regensburg hoffen mit ihrer Reaktion auf den französischen Aufruf einen Impuls an alle anderen Unis zu geben, schnell zu reagieren und sich zu mobilisieren!

In der vergangenen Woche wurden zudem in Kalifornien Universitäten besetzt, so zum Beispiel in San Francisco und Los Angeles. Hier geht es gegen eine Anhebung der Studiengebühren um etwa 2500 Dollar pro Jahr.

Auch in Kroation und Italien scheinen Besetzungen von Universitäten kurz bevor zu stehen. Unsere Probleme sind international. Nur durch Solidarität können wir Veränderungen erreichen!

• Aachen Bildungsstreik
• Alice Salomon Hochschule
• Bangladesh brennt!
• Bildungsstreik 2009 (DE)
• Bildungsstreik Aachen
• Bildungsstreik am Niederrhein
• Bildungsstreik Coburg
• Bildungsstreik Freiburg
• Bildungsstreik Heidelberg
• Bildungsstreik Landau
• Bildungsstreik Marburg
• Bildungsstreik München
• Bildungsstreik Münster
• Bildungsstreik Passau
• Bildungsstreik Potsdam
• Blogs zu unsereuni
• Boku brennt
• Erlangen brennt
• Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb
• Frankreich: Fronte de lutte pour education
• FU Berlin
• Göttingen brennt
• Hamburg brennt
• HU Berlin
• Landau brennt
• Lüneburg brennt
• Mainz brennt
• Malen-nach-Zahlen
• Osnabrück
• sowimax Innsbruck
• TU Darmstadt
• TU Dresden
• TU Graz
• Tu Wien
• UC Berkeley
• UK: Free Education
• Uni Duisburg
• Uni Graz
• Uni Greifswald
• Uni Hildesheim
• Uni Salzburg
• Uni Tübigen
• unibrennt.tv
• unsereuni Foto-Doku
• unsereuni.ch
• unsereunis.de
• USA Solidarity
• WU Wien
• Würzburg brennt

(Reporting by Andras Gergely; additional reporting by Antonella Ciancio; editing by David Stamp)

23-11-2009 om 22:19 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

22-11-2009 om 21:57 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

17/11/2009

Today most protests as part of the "Education is NOT for $A£€ - Global Week of Action" are expected worldwide. It also coincides with the "International Students' Day"!

All groups are asked to list their reports (incl. videos and pictures) of protests today inside here or send them directly to united.for.education[at]gmail.com!

Announced actions in advance for today (as far as I know):

• Germany: protests across Germany called for by close to 100 local alliances: bildungsstreik.net
  

• U.S. of A.(San Fancisco): rally and sit-in at the San Francisco State University

• U.S. of A. (Dakota): student-led discussion on "The Role of University" at the North Dakota University

• Sierra Leone (Freetown): demonstration against tuition fees called for by the National Youth Coalition Student Assembly (NYCSA - SL)

• France: pupils across France are mobilising for protests against a reform, that aims to establish a "two-class" public education system. Demonstrations are expected in at least 26 cities. Close to 3,000 high-schools are involved: frontdeluttepourleducation.fr

• Republic of Macedonia (Skopje): Flashmobs and open discussion on the necessity of free and emancipatory public education: Sloboden Indeks (Free Index)

• Switzerland: various protests - among which are also demonstrations - are being arranged in Bern, Basel, Geneva and Zürich: unsereuni.ch

• Italy: Demonstrations in more than 50 cities across the country called for by the Unione degli Studenti (UdS)

• Austria: Day of Action across Austria - rallies, flashmobs, public discussions: unsereuni.at

• Poland: Simultaneous flashmobs in at least 7 cities: Demokratyczne Zrzeszenie Studenckie

• Hungary: Rally in front of the Austrian embassy in Budapest

• Indonesia: Demonstrations are to take place in Yogyakarta, Makassar and Palu (Sulawesi), Samarindo (Borneo), Temate (Maluku) and Mandura: lmnd-prm.blogspot.com

• Bangladesh (Dhaka): Opening of gallery on campus of Jagannah University displaying pictures of student protests from around the world.

An "overview" of further planned actions as part of the week of action can be viewed here.

22-11-2009 om 21:52 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever  

22-11-2009 om 00:12 geschreven door Vorser-Raadgever