by selling drilling rights to their habitat: Reuters, etc via Grist
The U.S. Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service plans to offer offshore oil and gas drilling rights to 29.7 million acres of Alaska’s Chukchi Sea. The area is home to one of two U.S. polar bear populations; interestingly enough, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — also a part of the Interior Department — is within days of deciding whether to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. “The polar bear is in need of intensive care, but with this lease sale the Bush administration is proposing to burn down the hospital,” says clever analogizer Brendan Cummings of the Center for Biological Diversity. Environmentalists and some congressfolk had asked the MMS to delay the lease sale plan for at least three years; its failure to do so, says Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), is “the height of irresponsibility and short-sightedness.”
I guess we can expect this stepped-up pace of destruction of public lands, natural resources, and nearly endangered species to continue right on through January 19, 2009.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The government decided Wednesday to withdraw from an internationally brokered cease-fire that had largely collapsed since the resurgence of fighting in Sri Lanka’s civil war two years ago, an official said.
The Cabinet unanimously approved the prime minister’s proposal to pull out from the 2002 truce, Media Minister Anura Yapa told The Associated Press.
The cease-fire, brokered by Norway, had been considered the best chance of ending two decades of civil war between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels, who seek an independent homeland for ethnic Tamils in the north and east. But major fighting erupted again two years ago.
“Today it was proposed to the Cabinet by the honorable prime minister that the cease-fire is no longer valid and it’s time to withdraw from the cease-fire agreement,” Yapa said. “All the ministers agreed to the proposal.”
Under the agreement, both sides must give 14 days notice before officially withdrawing from the truce.
Norwegian authorities said they “regretted” a decision by the Sri Lankan government to terminate a 2002 ceasefire agreement with Tamil rebels. The decision is a major setback to Norway’s efforts to broker peace on the troubled island nation.
Norwegian diplomats had worked long and hard to negotiate and maintain the truce between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Erik Solheim, a special UN envoy who now is Norway’s government minister in charge of the environment and international development, was instrumental in bringing about the ceasefire agreement.
Neither are Texan, but it doesn’t matter. Oilmen are the same everywhere. I was worried about putting two oilmen in office, but I hoped that it was just that I am more familiar with that type of corruption, than other industries. Maybe I was right after all, or maybe we would have gotten the same from two of any industry.
Looks like having a different economic background might be more important than having a different geographic background when picking running mates.
A law school student and former beauty queen who has posed for a racy calendar while brandishing a weapon has been accused of kidnapping, biting and threatening a former boyfriend with a handgun.
Kumari Fulbright, 25, who is midway through her second year in law school, faces a long prison term if convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated robbery and two counts of aggravated assault.
Maybe she was working on a secret law school project?
The director of an Angolan crime film says police have shot dead two of his actors after mistaking them for real armed robbers. The duo were carrying unloaded firearms as they filmed a scene in a rough suburb of the capital Luanda.
The film director, Radical Ribeiro, told AFP that police arrived at the scene in a pick-up truck and “started shooting at everybody at close range”. He was “stunned” when he saw the two actors fall down, he added. “They went on shooting until I shouted out: ‘Please don’t shoot, this is a movie.'”
Angolan officials have not commented on the incident. Mr Ribeiro says he had permission to film in the area.
by selling drilling rights to their habitat: Reuters, etc via Grist
I guess we can expect this stepped-up pace of destruction of public lands, natural resources, and nearly endangered species to continue right on through January 19, 2009.
Here we go again:
Sri Lanka Government Ends Cease-Fire
Peace efforts fail on Sri Lanka
It never ends, does it?
What about state’s rights?
California wants to control emissions.
And Colorado wants roadless wilderness.
With two Texas oilmen in power, we could be looking at another civil war. Oh nevermind – there’s a circus in Iowa.
The states would probably do a better job of protecting their environmental resources at this point, wouldn’t they?
And don’t remind me of that Iowa circus. 🙂 I’m trying to find non-candidate news this morning, and believe me, it’s hard wurk.
Neither are Texan, but it doesn’t matter. Oilmen are the same everywhere. I was worried about putting two oilmen in office, but I hoped that it was just that I am more familiar with that type of corruption, than other industries. Maybe I was right after all, or maybe we would have gotten the same from two of any industry.
Looks like having a different economic background might be more important than having a different geographic background when picking running mates.
like they used to, do they? AP/Yahoo
Maybe she was working on a secret law school project?
.
The director of an Angolan crime film says police have shot dead two of his actors after mistaking them for real armed robbers. The duo were carrying unloaded firearms as they filmed a scene in a rough suburb of the capital Luanda.
The film director, Radical Ribeiro, told AFP that police arrived at the scene in a pick-up truck and “started shooting at everybody at close range”. He was “stunned” when he saw the two actors fall down, he added. “They went on shooting until I shouted out: ‘Please don’t shoot, this is a movie.'”
Angolan officials have not commented on the incident. Mr Ribeiro says he had permission to film in the area.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."