LilBambi’s Blog – BambisMusings

Adding insult to injury … Virginia waterways ranks second-dirtiest in country (HamptonRoads.com)

Virginia has the second-dirtiest waterways among the 50 states.

That’s according to a recent study by the Environment America advocacy group tallying the amount of pollutants discharged into bodies of water across the nation.

Based on numbers reported to federal authorities, only Indiana had more toxic chemicals released into its waterways by industry than Virginia’s 18 million-plus pounds in 2007.

Sad. Really sad.

So yeah, I see where they are going … the state’s waterways are already a disaster area, so let’s let ODEC add insult to injury by building the state’s largest coal fired power plant – running 24/7 at 1500 MW in Dendron, (Surry, VA.) Hmmm….

Air Pollution Increases Infants’ Risk Of Bronchiolitis (ScienceDaily.com)

Infants who are exposed to higher levels of air pollution are at increased risk for bronchiolitis, according to a new study.

The study appears in the November 15 issue of the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

“There has been very little study of the consequences of early life exposure to air pollution,” said Catherine Karr, M.D. PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and the paper’s lead author. “This study is unique in that we were able to look at multiple sources including wood smoke in a region with relatively low concentrations of ambient air pollution overall.”

Much more in the article!

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine – part E. Environmental and Occupational Lung Disease of the current November 15, 2009 issue.

Registration is required to read the full article however, the abstract is available here which includes the conclusions below:

Conclusions: Air pollutants from several sources may increase infant bronchiolitis requiring clinical care. Traffic, local point source emissions, and wood smoke may contribute to this disease.

Under measurements and readings above the conclusions states:

An interquartile increase in lifetime exposure to NO2, NO, SO2, CO, wood-smoke exposure days, and point source emissions score was associated with increased risk of bronchiolitis…

What pollutants do coal plants introduce? At least a few of those listed, plus more: Power Plant Emissions Publications

The Quiet Coup — How Bankers Seized America (Mercola.com):

The economic crash has made many unpleasant truths about the United States apparent. One of the most alarming, according to a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the financial industry has effectively captured the U.S. government.

If the IMF’s staff could speak freely to the U.S. government, it would say what it says to every country in such a situation: Recovery will fail unless the financial oligarchy blocking essential reform is broken. And if the U.S. is to avoid a true depression, time is running out.

The article from The Atlantic linked below details how the U.S. financial crisis is shockingly similar to problems more commonly associated with the third world — and the harsh and necessary steps needed to get out of it.

Very interesting video with Bill Moyers and William K. Black linked on the article page and some great commentary by Dr. Mercola as well on this and an article from The Atlantic.

Here’s more on the big mess with Broadband carriers, caps, metered billing and tiered access!

Five Days on the Digital Dirt Road (InternetForEveryone.org):

In North Carolina alone, nearly 5 million residents don’t have high-speed Internet. According to a July 2007 study, 30 percent or more of the state’s population in 21 rural counties did not have high-speed Internet connectivity. In many cases, telephone and cable companies have refused to provide service to people living in the remote and rural areas of the state, while some people are simply priced out of buying expensive broadband service.

They aren’t the only areas, I hope InternetForEveryone.org comes to rural Southside/Hampton Roads, VA too. There are areas like the tiny depressed area of Dendron, VA where the only ‘broadband’ is via cellular Internet that is either capped at 5GB/mo, or ’supposed’ unlimited that throttles you, and at times has speeds of less then dialup. Anyone who can’t afford the $59-$60/mo. is stuck on dialup or equally expensive satellite Internet with massive lag times. Unless you have enough money to pay for a Fractional T1 or a T1 that is. Have any of you priced those lately?

There are many rural areas still waiting for Cable/DSL in Sussex, Surry, Isle of Wight, Smithfield, and surrounding areas.

Those of us who are trying to run a small business in this economy are really having a struggle especially if your business depends on the Internet.

Wired Less: Disconnected in Urban America (InternetForEveryone.org):

For many Americans living in urban areas, high-speed Internet access remains elusive.

Much of the discussion about broadband expansion in the United States focuses on the rural areas that still lack this essential infrastructure. As we documented in our earlier report, Five Days on the Digital Dirt Road, residents in rural areas are struggling to live and work without high-speed Internet.

Even with these sad statistics, it’s nice to know there are some successes along the way.

Score the First Round for the Public (SaveTheInternet.org)

Today, I want to thank everyone involved in the grassroots movement that helped secure this first-round victory in the battle over broadband tiered pricing. Through the power of the people, together we were able to persuade Time Warner Cable to abandon its download-based tiered-billing plan in four markets: Rochester, N.Y., San Antonio, Texas, Austin, Texas, and Greensboro, N.C.

Even though we won this first fight together, there is still much to be done to ensure that download-based caps do not emerge elsewhere.

Internet Users Roar. Cable Giant Blinks. (SaveTheInternet.org)

Time Warner Cable on Thursday afternoon shelved its plan to impose excessive Internet fees against those who use the Web for more than email and basic surfing.

The cable giant backed down under intense public pressure that bubbled up from the grassroots and culminated in calls by leading politicians to end the price gouging.

Time Warner Cable had been testing new Internet use penalties on people in Beaumont, Texas, and planned later this year to launch trials in Rochester, N.Y.; Austin and San Antonio, Texas; and Greensboro, N.C. If successful, Time Warner Cable execs planned to impose this cost structure upon the company’s 8.4 million broadband subscribers in 32 states.

As posted in my earlier post today, there is much work to be done here. And we need to make sure we know what they are up to.

TWC to Customers: You Don’t Want Tiers, You Don’t Get Super-fast Broadband (GigaOM):

Updated: Well, I hope all of you who complained about Time Warner Cable’s plans for metered broadband are happy. Shortly after the cable company pulled its metered broadband trials, it’s also rethinking its deployment of super-fast broadband in San Antonio and Austin, Texas; Greensboro, N.C., and Rochester N.Y. Whiny citizens in those communities (including me) apparently don’t deserve super-fast broadband speeds of 50 Mbps unless it’s accompanies by tiers.

I really am sorry that you won’t get the super-fast broadband, but at least you already have Cable/DSL broadband!

Like one thing really has anything to do with the other…

And as one comment noted, moving to DOCSIS 3.0 is not a major cost when compared with the losses they will sustain when FiOS comes knocking.

Bogus Consumer Group To ‘Educate’ You On Metered Billing (by Karl Bode, DSLReports.com)

Last week, Time Warner Cable shelved the expansion of their metered billing plan in reaction to unprecedented consumer backlash. However, the tone of their announcement made it very clear they’d be returning to the plan after they “educated” all of their “confused” customers.

That education process began over the weekend, when a group called the American Consumer Institute penned a missive declaring that metered billing is a great idea for consumers, while unabashedly throwing their support behind Time Warner Cable.

The ‘bogus’ consumer group? ACI, aka The American Consumer Institute. The article goes on to say that the WhoIs information for the American Consumer Institute shows it is owned by a telecom consultant and former chief economist for Bell Atlantic, Stephen Pociask. Here’s an article from 2007 about the group and Stephen Pociask:

‘Consumer’ Group Fails Smell Test (MediaCitizen Blog)

A shadowy “consumer” group emerged from obscurity today to bleat about the dangers of Net Neutrality. And no sooner had their press release hit the PR Newswire than a chorus of industry apologists began waving it around as proof positive that Net Neutrality is a cancer on the Internet.

That the shills have circled alone should be evidence that something here doesn’t quite smell right. That this group is little known to the established consumer groups that form the SavetheInternet.com Coalition should set off every olfactory alarm.

And so it has. Bob Williams who blogs for the Consumers Union was the first to cry foul.

“We had no idea that Net Neutrality — the concept of preventing Internet providers from speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination — would be so devastating to consumers,” Williams writes in a sincerity-laced response to the American Consumer Institute’s report against Net Neutrality.

Much more in MediaCitizen’s Blog article.

And sure enough, here’s part of the current WhoIs on Internic which shows:

Domain Name:THEAMERICANCONSUMER.ORG
Created On:16-Jun-2005 22:26:15 UTC
Last Updated On:20-Aug-2008 20:10:41 UTC
Expiration Date:16-Jun-2016 22:26:15 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Tucows Inc. (R11-LROR)
Status:OK
Registrant ID:tuICKLUi0fVRpW3y
Registrant Name:Stephen Pociask
Registrant Organization:The American Consumer Institute
Registrant Street1:P.O. Box 2161
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Reston
Registrant State/Province:VA
Registrant Postal Code:20195
Registrant Country:US

Certainly NOT the first time this has been tried. But it’s good to know who/what is behind them eh?

I guess they figured it has worked for other real and/or wanna be advocacy groups, so maybe it was worth a try to them as well. Could make them quite a bit of money if metered billing and caps were to be accepted by consumers (unlikely).

The Big Takeover by Matt Taibbi over at RollingStone.com

The global economic crisis isn’t about money – it’s about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution

Thanks Mudhead for letting me know about this article at RollingStone!

It’s over — we’re officially, royally f**ked. no empire can survive being rendered a permanent laughingstock, which is what happened as of a few weeks ago, when the buffoons who have been running things in this country finally went one step too far. It happened when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was forced to admit that he was once again going to have to stuff billions of taxpayer dollars into a dying insurance giant called AIG, itself a profound symbol of our national decline — a corporation that got rich insuring the concrete and steel of American industry in the country’s heyday, only to destroy itself chasing phantom fortunes at the Wall Street card tables, like a dissolute nobleman gambling away the family estate in the waning days of the British Empire.

Much, much more in Matt Taibbi’s great 8 page article at RollingStone. Must Read.

And they wonder why many Citizens are so fed up and so angry about what they are doing?

This has been the largest transfer of wealth, actually it’s not wealth per se, it’s people’s livelihood’s and retirement’s into the hands of irresponsible government, banking cartels and corporations in the world’s known history.

They should all be ashamed but they are not. They are laughing all the way to the bank.

If you are very, very quiet, you can almost hear them laughing and patting themselves on the back at their own ability to scheme, use our own government against ‘We The People”, as well as their good fortune that the government was that gullible … while the rest of us are forced by our, errr, their paid ‘representatives’ in the government to quietly just bend over…

Why, oh, why didn’t the government heed the warnings of the likes of Ron Paul, Peter Schiff, and so many others more responsible then they?

The Collapse of ‘09 by Gerald Celente (LewRockwell.com):

The “Panic of ’08″ will be followed by “The Collapse of ’09.” In 2008, when the world’s largest financial firms and equity markets crumbled, Wall Street’s woes preoccupied the media.

In 2009, the focus will broaden to include a range of calamities that will leave no sector unscathed. Next in line is retail, which accounts for some 70 percent of consumer spending, 26 percent of which is holiday sales.

After the numbers are tallied to reveal a dismal retail Christmas, more big chain bankruptcies will follow. Besides leaving masses unemployed, defunct retailers will leave behind thousands of empty stores. Who will rent them? Nobody!

Much more in the article. Must read.

Gerald Celente is founder and director of The Trends Research Institute, author of Trends 2000 and Trend Tracking (Warner Books), and publisher of The Trends Journal. He has been forecasting trends since 1980, and recently called “The Collapse of ’09.”

I do not think he has overstated things as some will claim. I think we will see this and much more before it’s all said and done. Even areas of the country that seemed to be somehow charmed initially seem to be feeling it now. With people trying to hold on to their money … and who can blame them.

Many who had much to start with may not be feeling it as badly as those who had little to lose, but I think everyone is now feeling it.

I know some folks who have excellent credit and had very low interest rates, all of a sudden, and out of the blue, been told their credit card rates would be going from the single digits to double digits plus prime! For no apparent reason. Their credit score hadn’t changed. Nothing had changed except the state of the economy. If I personally know folks that this has happened to, how wide spread do you think it really is?

This is like getting slapped in the face. Financial institutions get obscene amounts of money, from our taxes, and still they raise interest rates for folks with excellent credit? It’s like getting slapped with double, no triple (due to the tax liability from the bailouts), whammy!

If this is happening to those with excellent credit, what of those who not so great credit?!?! My God.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” (quote from movie Star Wars)

RIAA NAZIS DETERMINED TO DESTROY NEW AND FRINGE MUSIC:

I just got this new directive from the CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) in the USA that applies to all public radio stations. Here’s an excerpt:

“In any three (3) hour period you can transmit up to three (3) different selections of sound recordings from any one CD, but you can transmit no more than two (2) consecutively. Additionally, in any three (3) hour period you can transmit up to four (4) different selections by the same featured artist, or up to four (4) different selections of sound recordings from any set or compilation of CD’s, but you can transmit no more than three (3) consecutively.”

As the Just As We Thought Blog noted — so much for dedicating programs to artists when they die or to honor birthdays.

Sad. They have to feel in total control! That is such an alien concept … controlling music. Music is all about freedom and speaking out, revolution, love, deep thoughts. That is so contrary to control!

I will be so happy when artists finally say, “That’s it! I have had enough of this!”

That will be a truly great day for all music lovers the world over.

Microsoft: Litigate on FAT, and you’ll be the next Unisys (ZDNet.com)

Remember “Burn All GIFs” from 1999? In 2009, the Open Source mantra of choice could very easily turn into “Destroy all FATs”

The ‘Burn Your GIFs” campaign of 1999 has a follow up and for just as insidious reasons!

Please, take a few minutes to check out this ZDNet.com article and read up on this insidious mess that Microsoft has been pulling on Linux builders and users behind their backs!

This is a major issue and one that needs to be dealt with swiftly by anyone who uses GNU Linux knowingly or unknowingly (such as through your GPS device or smart phone).

We really need to wake up on this issue. Device creators are trying to keep the cost of their devices down to the customer and this is how we and they get paid back!

I get so angry that companies will take advantage of GNU Linux and then bite the very hand that feeds them with double deals under the table with large bully proprietary companies.

It really, really ticks me off.

Remember a certain company that created a Linux Distribution a while back and then turned around and started suing left and right? Making claims that GNU Linux violated their patents?

SCO -vs- IBM (and by extension GNU Linux)

Thank you TomTom for NOT violating the GPL! Thank you also for bringing this dirty little dealing to light! I hope you are eventually vindicated for being true to the GPL and Linux which buttered your bread — unlike some other companies.

New plan may tax U.S. drivers for every mile traveled, says Transportation Secretary Roy LaHood (NYDailyNews)

What the…!?!

I can not believe this! How dare they! Do they know how many small businesses depend on driving to meet/have appointments with their clients? Small businesses that are struggling badly already!!

How dare they even consider this. It was bad enough when it was gas prices out of sight. But this is unbelievable. More TAX! More TAX that will not only hurt the small businesses in this country but every other American when they go to buy ANYTHING that is delivered to the grocery store, retail outlets, gas stations, shipping for packages, etc. etc. etc. … the list goes on forever!

Not to mention the curbing of individual freedoms with excessive taxation. How many people will be able to travel after this goes into effect? How many children and grand children will see their grand parents and vice versa after all the toll of this goes into effect.

Do they not remember what happened when there were extremely high gas prices? Or are they so beyond the pay level of the average American family to even have a clue how the rest of the country survives?

This is President Obama’s answer? This is the ‘leaders’ of various States answer?

Go back to the drawing board. Start cutting salaries of elected officials. That would likely take care of it right there.

Between everything else that’s been going on and this I am thoroughly disgusted.