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EU voted down body scanners in 2008: "degrading measure". Concerns: Effective? Health? Dignity? Privacy? Heavy cost?
Craziness is not rare, neither is Crime. Else, there would be no need for law, law enforcement, etc. etc.. Does Fear lead to solutions, or to panic, shutting out common sense and wisdom? EU Justice Chief has the answer: "We have to have a very clear line on this. We must never be driven by fear but by our values."
MEPs not yet convinced about body scanners, await impact analysis: "legitimate questions"... "Technology has become the new religion in counter-terrorism"... "Violation of dignity"... "no matter how much technology you have, terrorists will manage to circumvent it"... "great cost implications" of using body scanners, and advised against "putting burdens on airport companies" (also tax payers?) without the certainty that such scanners would be useful.
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US bailout tab: $3 trillion. Why not rescue Arizona's heritage of Nature? Prevent entire state parks to close due to budget cut
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Arizona decides to close most state parks
Facing a multibillion-dollar shortfall, the state will shut 13 parks by June. Several had already been closed. Wrestling with a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, Arizona decided Friday to close nearly all of its state parks, including the famed Tombstone Courthouse and Yuma Territorial Prison. The State Parks Board unanimously voted to close 13 parks by June 3. Eight others had already been closed, and the decision would leave nine open -- but only if the board can raise $3 million this year. The action represents the largest closure of state parks in the nation, although several other states are considering similar moves.
21 of 30 state parks will be closed: The Arizona State Parks Board voted unanimously Friday to begin shuttering state parks, a move that will leave the parks system with fewer than one third of its properties open by June 3 read more »
Arctic: pollution on its way. Oil drilling in Chukchi Sea threatens clean air, water, ocean resources & sea life
Shall we protect Nature as it is,
reserve some land, ocean, resources
for coming generations, for our children’s children?
Shall we, or shall we not? In words, or in action?
(quote) Approval of oil drilling in Chukchi Sea fails to include recent science and violates laws that protect clean air, water, and ocean resources. Oceana, together with Arctic communities and other conservation groups filed a legal challenge in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) approval of Shell Offshore Inc.’s proposed exploration drilling in the Chukchi Sea. The groups argue that MMS and Shell have not complied with federal laws that require thorough analysis of potential impacts and protections for clean air, water, and marine life. read more »
2010 International Year of Biodiversity. Ongoing extinction at 1000 times natural rate: most species to disappear in <100 years
Green sea turtles, whose ancestors evolved on land and took to the sea to live about 150 million years ago, are one of the few species so ancient that they watched the dinosaurs evolve and become extinct.
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World's biodiversity crisis needs action, says UN. With species extinction running at about 1,000 times the "natural" or "background" rate, some biologists contend that we are in the middle of the Earth's sixth great extinction - the previous five stemming from natural events such as asteroid impacts.
The United Nations has launched the International Year of Biodiversity, warning that the ongoing loss of species around the world is affecting human well being. Eight years ago, governments pledged to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, but the pledge will not be met. read more »