May 20, 2009 archive

1. Pesticides indicted in bee deaths writes Julia Scott at Salon. “The National Honeybee Advisory Board, which represents the two biggest beekeeper associations in the U.S., recently asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban” imidacloprid, the world’s best-selling insecticide created by Bayer CropScience Inc. with annual sales of $8.6 billion.

   “We believe imidacloprid kills bees — specifically, that it causes bee colonies to collapse,” says Clint Walker, co-chairman of the board.

   “Beekeepers have singled out imidacloprid and its chemical cousin clothianidin, also produced by Bayer CropScience, as a cause of bee die-offs around the world for over a decade.”

2. McClatchy reports America’s poor are its most generous givers. “The generosity of poor people isn’t so much rare as rarely noticed, however. In fact, America’s poor donate more, in percentage terms, than higher-income groups do, surveys of charitable giving show. What’s more, their generosity declines less in hard times than the generosity of richer givers does.”

   “What makes poor people’s generosity even more impressive is that their giving generally isn’t tax-deductible, because they don’t earn enough to justify itemizing their charitable tax deductions. In effect, giving a dollar to charity costs poor people a dollar while it costs deduction itemizers 65 cents.”

Four at Four continues with the CIA on trial in Italy, Republicans to offer 400 amendments to Waxman’s cap-and-trade legislation, and an update from the Swat Valley.

Betwixt and Between, I find myself. I observe the validity of D00m.P0rn shrill warnings about the future … when seen as possible outcomes rather than when seen as certainties. Yet I also see the potential for better outcomes.

And with respect to the strategy of sitting on the sidelines, weighing the likelihood of one versus the other … I’m against it. Simply the decision to sit on the sidelines makes the calamity more likely as a result. So I am for getting into the fray and trying to make the calamity less likely and the hopeful outcome more likely.

The Calamity Cavalcade

As far as potential calamities, we do not have to look far for those.

We are on track to have a higher concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere than at any other time in the Holocene. We are engaged in this experiments with absolutely no serious evidence to suggest that it is known to be safe. Indeed, those benefiting in the short term from the reckless experiment will even try to reverse the sane burden of proof and place it on those who do not approve of undertaking the reckless experiment.

The argument being, in essence, that if you are driving through a thick fog, then as long as you don’t see any cars coming, its OK to speed.

And of course, before the peril of climate chaos came to our attention, there was already the risk of ecosystem collapse hanging over our head, as more and more populations on the planet rely on an industrial technology that is quite clearly ecologically unsustainable and therefore certain to collapse sooner or later, unless we restructure our technological base to approach sustainability faster than we approach ecosystem collapse.

And then of course, even before the risk of ecosystem collapse was widely understood, the threat of nuclear holocaust.

Flood, Nuclear fire followed by Nuclear Winter, Famine and Plague … and all three involved in or certainly leading to War … surely rather than Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, there is a whole Cavalry Unit.

Against that backdrop, it may seem provincial to worry about a mere collapse of a single national economy from first world to banana republic status, but that is the specific calamity that I am focusing on here.

During the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (“Bibi”) Netanyahu with President Obama, the President pressed Bibi to agree to the two-state solution:

“It is in the interests not only of the Palestinians but also the Israelis, the United States and the international community to achieve a two-state solution,” Obama told reporters with Netanyahu sitting beside him.

Reuters

But Netanyahu would not agree even to that most basic principle.

“I did not say two states for two peoples,” Netanyahu said later at a solo briefing with reporters.

Reuters

Now, through an aide, Netanyahu called the “media” focus on a two state solution “childish and stupid.”  Of course, this media focus is there because the President of our nation is focused on a two-state solution.

More, after the fold.

Also in orange: http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

This diary is a book review of Kees van der Pijl’s (2007) work on “foreign relations,” Nomads, Empires, States.  Van der Pijl argues that the field of “foreign relations” must be rethought, and doing this will allow us to see why relations between nation-states are only one mode of foreign relations, and not necessarily the most important one in this era.  Rethinking foreign relations, then, we should be able to understand why the regime of “global governance” has failed to triumph in a world without endemic warfare between nation-states.

(crossposted at Big Orange)

Glorious news from our nation’s capital (and/or Capitol) today!

Buried deep inside a boring bill about reformin’ credit card practices was a provision that stirred my patriotic loins in a way that’s been sorely missed since President Bush left office.  Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), seein’ a major flaw in this credit card legislation, fixed it right up there by insertin’ an amendment to allow loaded guns in national parks.  Check and mate, you greedy credit card companies!

These days the Democrat party usually strips all of the patriotism right out of bills like this and replaces it with socialism.  But not this time!  Coburn’s amendment passed with the support of 27 Democrats in the Senate, includin’ the majority leader Harry Reid.  That makes TWO patriotic things Reid did in ONE day, along with his come-to-Jesus moment on not closin’ Guantanamo.  Wow!  Maybe there’s hope for this guy after all.  Or, maybe not, accordin’ to Nevada’s likely voters.