Doug Fine: Can the Cannabis Economy Be Ecologically Sustainable? The future of sustainable cannabis agriculture might reside in the practices of a third-generation Emerald Triangle farmer known to his friends as Fuzzy. He indeed looked a good deal like Thorin Oakenshield. Based in Mendocino County, the 40-something's flowers are perennial top five finishers in California's Emerald Cup ("The World's Only Organic Outdoor Cannabis Competition"). When I asked him his secret on the soggy redwood-enshrouded Humboldt County deck outside this year's competition December 15, his answer was much more Gregor Mendel then Monsanto. "Local breeding and native soil. The guys that bring in bags of fake soil aren't ever going to win." "Organic outdoor cannabis is our brand," says Tim Blake, who founded and produces The Cup, as it's known regionally. Because of this isolation, prohibition, and now, cultural tradition, Northern California's remote Emerald Triangle is poised to provide a model for a sustainable post-prohibition cannabis industry.
Tim Carney: How corporate tax credits got in the 'cliff' deal Some tax lobbyists mostly ignored the August bill "because they thought it would be just a political document," one K Streeter told me. "They were the ones that got bit in the butt." Here's what happened: In late July, Finance Chairman Max Baucus announced the committee would soon convene to craft a bill extending many expiring tax credits. This attracted lobbyists like a raw steak attracts wolves. Former Sens. General Electric and Citigroup, for instance, hired Breaux and Lott to extend a tax provision that allows multinational corporations to defer U.S. taxes by moving profits into offshore financial subsidiaries. Liquor giant Diageo also retained Breaux and Lott to win extensions on two provisions benefitting rum-making in Puerto Rico. The K Street firm Capitol Tax Partners, led by Treasury Department alumni from the Clinton administration, represented an even more impressive list of tax clients, who paid CTP more than $1.68 million in the third quarter. But there never was a fight.
The South's Shocking Hidden History: Thousands of Blacks Forced Into Slavery Until WW2 January 15, 2013 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. On July 31, 1903, a letter addressed to President Theodore Roosevelt arrived at the White House. The sender was a barely literate African American woman named Carrie Kinsey. Kinsey had already asked for help from the powerful white people in her world. Confronted with a world of indifferent white people, Mrs. “Mr. Considered more than a century later, her letter courses with desperation and submerged outrage. As dumbfounding as the story told by the Carrie Kinsey letter is, far more remarkable is what surrounds that letter at the National Archives. “i have a little girl that has been kidnapped from me … and i cant get her out,” wrote Reverend L. A farmer near Pine Apple, Alabama, named J.
The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions | Harry J Enten (updated below - Update II) PBS' Frontline program on Tuesday night broadcast a new one-hour report on one of the greatest and most shameful failings of the Obama administration: the lack of even a single arrest or prosecution of any senior Wall Street banker for the systemic fraud that precipitated the 2008 financial crisis: a crisis from which millions of people around the world are still suffering. What this program particularly demonstrated was that the Obama justice department, in particular the Chief of its Criminal Division, Lanny Breuer, never even tried to hold the high-level criminals accountable. What Obama justice officials did instead is exactly what they did in the face of high-level Bush era crimes of torture and warrantless eavesdropping: namely, acted to protect the most powerful factions in the society in the face of overwhelming evidence of serious criminality. "In 2009, Wall Street bankers were on the defensive, worried they could be held criminally liable for fraud.
The Nefarious Ways 9-11 Turned America into a Lockdown State February 5, 2013 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com here. Consider Inauguration Day, more than two weeks gone and already part of our distant past. One subject, at least, got remarkably little attention during the inaugural blitz and, when mentioned, certainly struck few as odd or worth dwelling on. Here’s how NBC Nightly News described some of the security arrangements as the day approached: “[T]he airspace above Washington... Consider just the money. Maybe it's time to face the facts: this isn’t your grandfather’s America. Making Fantasy Into Reality Bin Laden, of course, is long dead, but his was the 9/11 spark that, in the hands of George W.
The Untouchables | FRONTLINE January 22, 2013 FRONTLINE investigates why Wall Street’s leaders have escaped prosecution for any fraud related to the sale of bad mortgages. Is SEC “Fearful” of Wall Street? Agency Insider Says Yes April 8, 2014, 3:15 pm ET · by Jason M. An SEC trial attorney used a recent retirement speech to criticize the agency for being too “tentative and fearful” in confronting Wall Street following the 2008 financial crisis. Watchdog Calls Out DOJ For Mortgage Fraud Response March 13, 2014, 6:33 pm ET · by Jason M. An inspector general’s report has called into question the Justice Department’s stated commitment to holding people accountable for misconduct that precipitated the financial crisis. How JPMorgan’s $13 Billion Settlement Stacks Up November 19, 2013, 8:57 pm ET · by Jason M. Its the largest fine against an American company ever — and here’s how it compares to other recent bank settlements. Bank of America Liable for Mortgage “Hustle” Program October 24, 2013, 3:17 pm ET · by Jason M.
Meet the Contractors Turning America's Police Into a Paramilitary Force L3 Communications L3 is everywhere. Those night-vision goggles the JSOC team in Zero Dark Thirty uses? That's L3. Oh, and drones? “L-3 Communications is one of the main subcontractors involved with production of the US’s lethal Predator since the inception of the programme. Unsurprisingly, L3 Communications is well connected beyond the national security community. L3 also supplies local law enforcement with its night-vision products and makes a license-plate recognition (LPR) device, a machine with disturbing implications. L3 Communications embodies the totality of the national security and surveillance state. In many ways, that is the most important story of the post-9/11 United States: the complete evaporation of the separation of foreign and domestic polices.
Pentagon's new massive expansion of 'cyber-security' unit is about everything except defense | Glenn Greenwald As the US government depicts the Defense Department as shrinking due to budgetary constraints, the Washington Post this morning announces "a major expansion of [the Pentagon's] cybersecurity force over the next several years, increasing its size more than fivefold." Specifically, says the New York Times this morning, "the expansion would increase the Defense Department's Cyber Command by more than 4,000 people, up from the current 900." The Post describes this expansion as "part of an effort to turn an organization that has focused largely on defensive measures into the equivalent of an Internet-era fighting force." The Pentagon's rhetorical justification for this expansion is deeply misleading. Disguising aggression as "defense" Let's begin with the way this so-called "cyber-security" expansion has been marketed. In March, 2010, the Washington Post published an amazing Op-Ed by Adm. McConnell's Op-Ed was as alarmist and hysterical as possible. "Mr. In 2010, Lawrence E.
Boulder Likely to Adopt Its Own Green Utility—and Risks of Going Solo Home Page Title: Boulder Likely to Pursue Its Own Green Utility Boulder could soon be on a long-fought path to break from utility Xcel Energy, control its own electricity and ramp up clean power. But obstacles await. For the past decade, the people of Boulder, Colo., have pursued an elusive goal: getting more clean energy into their grid. But nothing satisfied citizens and politicians, so several years ago they organized themselves into a movement for "municipalization," in which the city would split from Xcel and become its own utility. "Somebody has to stick their neck out and try this," said Boulder Mayor Matt Appelbaum , who believes Boulder will inspire other cities. Under municipalization, cities take over utilities' local electricity operations. While some 2,000 municipal utilities exist across the United States, only half a dozen were formed in recent years. Boulder's circumstances made it fertile soil for the effort. By 2009, the drive to municipalize was back on track.
Stemmen in de VS geen gemakkelijke opgave: de obstakels op een rij - Buitenland 01/11/12, 13:00 − bron: ANP © reuters. Romney op campagne De Amerikaanse verkiezingen op 6 november worden door de staten afzonderlijk georganiseerd. Die hebben ieder hun eigen regels. Ook binnen de staten kunnen de procedures variëren. - Kiezersregistratie: In een aantal staten kunnen kiezers zich op de dag van de stembusgang inschrijven, terwijl in de meeste staten de registratie eerder eindigt. - Identificatie: Volgens de federale wet moeten kiezers die voor de eerste keer hun stem willen uitbrengen eerst een geldig identiteitsbewijs overleggen. - Problemen bij stembureaus: die kunnen variëren van stemmachines die niet werken, een ongewoon hoge opkomst, een gebrek aan stembureaumedewerkers tot een tekort aan stembiljetten. - Stemmentelling: kleine verschillen kunnen tot hertellingen leiden. - Stemtechnieken: in veel staten worden elektronische stemmachines gebruikt die gevoelig kunnen zijn voor fouten, storingen, onveilige software en zelfs verlies aan stemmen.
A cogiter ... ;-)
Cré-@ctivement votre by tourist.information Jan 6