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Another poultry litter facility in Minnesota already produces 55 MW. What a great idea! Take what would be landfilled or burned at expense to the company and turn it into an asset.
Neither party cares about rule of law. If they did, thousands of investment bank executives would already be in prison. But instead, they ignore the law and the Constitution in their venal and corrupt attempts to stay in power. Kunstler is correct. Both parties are on their last legs. I agree that protests at the 2012 conventions (both of them) will probably make the 1968 Chicago Convention look like a cub scout meeting. Actions of the police in Chicago in 1968 was officially ruled a “police riot.” Sen. Abe Ribicoff denounced “gestapo tactics” of the police in a speech on the convention floor. Mayor Daley yelled “fuck you, you jew bastard” at him. This clearly demonstrates how tissue-thin the supposed liberalism of the elites is. And that hasn’t changed. But the country has. Abe Ribicoff was a rarity then and his breed is nearly excinct now in both parties. Jamie at Intoxination says the firebaggers and oBots left need to stop fighting among themselves and focus on stopping the Republicans.
All true, I suppose. But from my point of view the firebaggers, while somwhat more left than the oBots, also implicitly believe that big government is, in totality, a good thing and not a belief that needs to be examined. The oBots mostly ignore the rampant corruption and cronyism (MF Global, Solyndra, gunwalking, bankster bailouts, lack of criminal prosecutions against investment banks, etc. ad nauseum) The firebaggers are more outraged by it but generally think they system simply needs reforming, that fresh blood in the Democratic Party and progressive candidates can make the needed change. I don’t think that is possible. The system itself is far too corrupt. It needs replacing, not fixing.  More land, such as the Excelsior property in Smartsville, is being saved from development. Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Falling real estate prices and stalled development have created opportunities for national and state non-profit organizations like the Conservation Fund, Save the Redwoods League and the Trust for Public Land to acquire thousands of acres in California at bargain prices.
In some cases, the owners are selling easements instead.
Some of the places saved from development include the former Bruin Ranch, now Harvego Bear River Preserve; Yuba Narrows Ranch; and Usal Redwood Forest.  Bank of America cubicles emptied of the 99% employees who used to do home loan modifications for the rest of the 99% Revolutions all over the world have been demonstrating just how critical the internet is to the modern world. It can be used to oppress and it can be used to free people from oppression. Wikileaks and other websites like it show how technology can be used to promote secrecy or to promote transparency. Here is an exclusive peak into why the federally mandated home modification program HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) isn’t working (http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/programs/lower-payments/Pages/hamp.aspx) for the overwhelming numbers of the 99% people who need it. If you empty the cubicles of most of the workers who are supposed to process HAMP modifications nothing will get done and nobody will be helped. A Bank of America whistle blower sent the photo to India. This is where being a private investigator for over 30 years and having served more than twice as long as Chairman of the Board of CALI (California Association of Licensed Investigators, the world’s largest organization of private detectives) pays off: it went right to somebody in my international network of private eyes, spies, and other assorted sleuths and came right back into my inbox. I blogged previously about the former Countrywide Mortgage (now acquired by Bank of America) executives who gave campaign contributions to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Phil Angelides and how one former Countrywide executive had to be talked out of having me murdered by his lawyers: http://janbtucker.com/blog/2011/12/22/radicalism-is-the-conservativism-of-tomorrow/. That blog apparently prompted a new whistle blower to come forward with the interesting tidbit about how Bank of America is cutting costs while insuring that the HAMP operation will accomplish little or nothing for the American people. It’s not like sacking everybody made the operation work substantially worse though. All it has done is make it working more atrociously than before. As of 2009 the statistics were that Bank of America only allowed 4% of its applicants to actually modify their loans: http://www.consumerwarningnetwork.com/2009/08/31/home-loan-modification-run-around-continues/. Bank of America probably figures that statistically, getting rid of most of its loan modification employees won’t even be noticed and can be attributed to the length of time that the program has been in operation. Company executives can always tell congress that they’ve already processed all the meritorious qualifying applicants and so that’s why their percentage of approved modifications is slacking off.  A commemorative poster of the burning of the Isla Vista Bank of America that came out spoofing the first custom “scenic checks” President Thomas Jefferson said that “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.” This danger became self-evident when former FBI Cril Payne wrote after leaving the agency that the February 25, 1970 burning of the Isla Vista (Santa Barbara) Branch of Bank of America by anti-war students was actually instigated by the FBI’s COINTELPRO program. Legitimate protests against Bank of America’s support for the Vietnam War was exploited by the government to discredit the anti-war movement by instigating acts of vandalism and violence. Later that year, in April 1970, the police wound up shooting UC Santa Barbara student Kevin Moran while he was trying to put out a fire at the temporary Bank of America facility set up after the February 25th incident.  Bank of America Isla Vista February 25, 1970 A couple of buddies of mine from the California Peace & Freedom Party were at the February 25, 1970 event. One, Gay activist Sandy Blixton, liberated a ream of Bank of America letterheads from the trash the day after the bank burning. It had been in the vault and so had survived the fire, but was considered garbage by the Banksters since it had been singed all around the edges from the heat. Sandy sold each of the 500 letterheads for upwards of $100 each to anti-war activists as souvenirs to finance his continuing actions for Gay liberation and against the war…..at least some decency came out of this otherwise indecent fiasco.  Thomas Jefferson Another thing that Thomas Jefferson once said is instructive if you think you can kick back and be complacent about the state of affairs in America:
If you are fed up with politics and economics as usual and want to fight back against the banks with organizations that are ethical and committed to rectifying the wrongs of our system, go to: and Here are pictures of four Labs. I think it’s pretty obvious which one is the Meth Lab. But I have labeled them, anyway. I hope this helps. Continue reading How to identify a meth lab  Badwater Basin, lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere, at Death Valley National Park. (Credit: Dennis Bazylinski and Christopher Lefèvre) Badwater Basin, on the edge of Death Valley National Park, is in the science and nanotech news this week. A research team led by Dennis Bazylinski and colleagues at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) has announced the discovery of a new type of magnetotactic bacteria, which are simple, single-celled organisms found in almost all bodies of water.
This multi-national research team is funded by U.S. and French governmental agencies.  The location is southwest of Phoenix. doi.gov The federal government has approved a 300 MW photovoltaic solar plant to be built in Maricopa County on public land in the Rainbow Valley south of Buckeye. The Sonoran Solar Energy Project will be the first solar project on federal land in Arizona and will provide enough power for 90,000 homes. What’s more, they seem to have done everything right. It wasn’t rushed. They consulted with Indian tribes and historical agencies first. The scale and design of the project was revised to lessen environmental impacts. This is a model for how big solar should be done. The original plan was to build a Concentrating Solar Power plant on 3,620 acres. CSP reflects the heat of the sun to a central tower where it is used to power turbines. Excess heat is stored in molten salt for use when the sun isn’t shining. While being able to store power is certainly an advantage of CSP, it comes at the expense of huge drawbacks. The biggest of these is that CSP requires water, lots of it, to power the turbines. Some types of CSP re-use as much water as possible. But even with that, the amount of water a CSP plant uses can be problematic, especially in deserts and in areas like Arizona where water wars are common. A CSP plant would have required 3,000 acre feet of water a year. (An acre foot is about 325,000 gallons.) So, they decided to use the more familiar photovoltaic technology instead, which will need a mere 33 acre feet a year. Plus it will be built on 2,013 acres of land, not 3,620. Even better, it is sited near existing transmission lines, cutting costs. Also, CSP would have required natural gas as a backup power source, thus creating some emissions, whereas photovoltaic is completely emission-free. This is important for Maricopa County as it already does not meet EPA air pollution standards. The federal government will make about $2 million a year in rental and fees from the project. About 360 workers will be employed during construction with 16 permanent employees when completed. Given our current dismal economy, these are tiny numbers of new jobs. Big renewable energy projects are not the massive job machines that some might hope they are. It’s generally just a few hundred jobs per project, which are often located in remote, hot areas where many not might want to work. Plus they require specialized skills. But every new bit of employment does help (especially if you are the one getting hired!) Considerable thought has been given to environmental effects. Perimeter fencing will prevent large animals from getting inside. Burrowing owls will be relocated elsewhere. Culverts will allow animals passage in and around the area. These issues are often the most contentious in big renewable energy projects yet have been resolved quickly and seemingly with little hassle here. A few years ago, photovoltaic solar wasn’t cost-effective as compared to CSP. But the recent steady plunge in PV prices has changed all that. Some say China is being cut-throat in their pricing and this may well be true. But such ferocious competition, as well as new advances in PV technology, means that Arizonans will be getting emission free energy created in their own state without using imported petroleum products. | 
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