Category Archives: U.S.

International, U.S.

German reporter banned from U.S. due to investigation of U.S. Official kidnapping children

“It seems to me that the attitude of the State Department has to do with my investigations in the U.S. National Archives.”-Gabriela Weber, investigative journalist

Gabriela Weber, known for investigating NAZI war criminals in South America, has followed a trail of illegal child adoptions right to the United States government.  And that has gotten her banned from entering the U.S. legally.

Weber discovered that U.S. embassy officials were involved with illegal adoptions of children belonging to people who were “disappeared” during Argentina’s “dirty war“.

U.S. officials refuse to comment on the grounds it would violate the privacy of those who were “adopted”.

Weber claims that she has evidence directly linking former U.S. military attache William Desreis to the illegal “adoptions” of Argentinian children, whose parents were “disappeared” by the military dictators of Argentina, at that time (1976-1983).

Weber tried to go to the United States in 2010, to follow the trail, and confirm her findings in Argentina, but she was thrown out after only seven hours, even though she had proper visa documents.

Business/Economics, International, Opinion, U.S.

Former U.S. official says don’t blame China for U.S. economic problems, yet

“If we didn’t import from China, we’d import from somewhere else.”-Henry Paulson, former U.S. Treasury Secretary

Henry Paulson is saying that if U.S. corporations didn’t have China to ship jobs to, they’d ship off U.S. jobs somewhere else.  He, and others, believe that by shipping off U.S. jobs to other countries, it helps to keep inflation down.

Of course it does, because that means less people working which brings down consumer spending which helps keep inflation down.  Inflation traditionally goes up when the economy is good and people spend more money, which is what is happening in China right now.

There is worry that the fast growing inflation in China could spread to the rest of the world.  For those countries whose economies are in trouble it’s not a good thing: “If China has problems, our problems would be more difficult.”-Henry Paulson

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

North Dakota flooded, Red River flooding Canada, called “unprecedented”, will affect wheat production

The Red River has flooded North Dakota, now flooding in Manitoba, Canada is being called “unprecedented”.

Emergency Measures Minister, Steve Ashton, says this is one of the worst flood situations Manitoba has seen in 150 years.  The flood is expected to hit Winnipeg by the first of May.

“Flood fighters” in North Dakota are still dealing with the flooding.  Officials there say it’s being caused by ground that is too saturated to handle the snowmelt, along with rain.   The flooding will affect U.S. spring wheat production, and sugar beat production.

In Canada, the flooding will affect wheat and canola production.

It’s not just the Red River that’s flooding.  About 100 North Dakota National Guard personnel are working to shore up the levee along the Sheyenne River.

Flooding in Canada also damaged rail lines used by the Canadian Pacific railways.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Credit Rating of United States trashed, kind of

Today, April 18, Standard & Poors downgraded the long term credit rating of the U.S., to a negative rating!

“More than two years after the beginning of the recent crisis, U.S. policymakers have still not agreed on how to reverse recent fiscal deterioration or address longer-term fiscal pressures.”-Nikola Swann, Standard & Poor’s

Standard & Poor’s is one of three major agencies that evaluate government and corporate debt.  The S & P analysts think the division between Democrat and Republican law makers is too far apart for them to make any real progress in dealing with the country’s public debt.

Investors with the Dow Jones reacted by dropping the industrial average by 200 points in the first half hour of trading.

The downgrade of the U.S. follows the downgrading of Ireland’s banks, as well as several other international financing issues.   Even though S & P dropped the U.S. credit rating to “negative”, they still maintain a AAA/A-1+ rating on U.S. sovereign debt.

Long term debt, money borrowed from financial institutions, is debt that will take more than ten years to be paid back.  Sovereign debt refers to government bonds.

 

 

International, U.S.

U.S. Air Force sends help to fight Mexican Coahuila Fire

About 30 USAF reservists, from Colorado, headed to Texas on April 16.  They will be using their C-130 Hercules transports to drop fire retardant on the Coahuila fire in Mexico.   That fire is the largest fire in Mexico’s history, as of April 16 it was within 96.5km (60 miles) of the Texas border.

The USAF is also using C-130s to fight the largest fires in Texas’ history as well.

 

 

U.S.

Texas fire 1 million+ Acres, Texas asks Obama for help

I used to live in Texas, back in the mid 1980s, and asking the Federal government for anything was a dishonorable thing to do, if you’re from Texas.  I guess things are pretty bad if Texas Governor Rick Perry is asking President Obama for help.

“Texas is reaching its capacity to respond to these emergencies and is in need of federal assistance. I urge President Obama to approve our request quickly.”-Rick Perry, Texas Governor

One person has been arrested for starting one of the fires, near Austin.

Because of bad weather conditions, drought and winds, it looks like the fires will get worse: “It doesn’t look good, going into the season, to already have a fire this size, without any rain in sight.”-Chris Morris, National Weather Service.

Texas Forest Service officials say conditions are still explosive.  The fire is now burning residential areas.  Officials say, as of April 17, the fires have burned one million acres (404,685 hectares)

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, Opinion, Technology, U.S.

Wind Power not welcome in Idaho? Turn around for Pocatello?

For those of us, in Idaho, that like the idea of renewable, clean, energy sources, like wind and solar, it seems efforts to bring wind power to our state is blowing against the wind.

Just a few years ago the Idaho media was full of positive stories about wind energy bringing needed jobs, and power, to the state.

Now efforts to stop wind power expansion in the state, in the past couple of years, have made it all the way to the state capitol.  In April the legislature refused, by a slim margin, to extend tax credits for wind farms.

A lobbyist for one company said they would not be able to build any new wind projects without it.  It’s also true that many big (and evil) companies have gotten their hands in the Idaho wind power cookie jar, like General Electric (Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster) and British Petroleum (Gulf of Mexico oil disaster), so  those particular corporations certainly don’t need tax breaks.

The point is that for the past couple of years there has been an all out effort to stop wind power development in the state of Idaho.

Here on the eastern side of the state, one city who originally welcomed the wind, is now saying they made a mistake.

Idaho Falls, in Bonneville County, is energy independent, providing their own power from hydroelectric dams on the Snake River.  But as their city grew, their electric power couldn’t keep up.  Idaho Falls looked to wind power to maintain their energy independence.  Now you can see wind turbines east of the city.  To independent minded tech junkies it looks cool, but, apparently to home buyers it’s a blight.

Idaho Falls real-estate agents claim they lost sales because of the wind farms: “There is nothing more tempting to the buyer than the smell of freshly baked cookies,” but when they saw the “…monstrous turbines, they marched right out of the house.”-Connie Clawson, Idaho Falls real-estate agent

Property near the turbines have seen their values go down.  Cities and counties don’t like that ’cause that’s where they get most of their tax revenues from.  As a result Idaho Falls halted any more wind turbine development.

In Bingham County, Idaho, officials denied the second phase of a proposed wind farm, after approving the first phase.  Officially it was blamed on a vague 1984 county code.  But one county commissioner admitted that property values was a factor:  “My biggest concern was probably property values that would be affected.”-Ladd Carter, Bingham County Commissioner

Here’s a point I’d like to make about property values.  Think of who really benefits from high property values:  Real estate agents, counties and cities and school districts that rely on the property tax, and property speculators (remember, those people who created the housing market bubble).  High property values don’t really benefit the people who plan on living in their homes for a long, long time.

Several years ago, people in Pocatello wondered what was to become of the abandoned FMC/Astaris phosphorus refining plant.  The city announced a plan to turn it into a coal fired power plant.  Residents were shocked, mainly because the FMC site was the cause of a Federal Superfund cleanup, and the nearby Native American reservation had successfully sued over pollution issues.

FMC site

People thought; we have plenty of wind here, why not a wind farm?  The elected officials (supposedly representing the “people”) of Pocatello, and the county of Bannock, played a delaying game with the public.  They held several public hearings, in which it became clear they did not want to hear from people arguing for the wind farm.  Finally the officials declared that there would be no more public hearings on the issue, and nothing has been heard since about using the old FMC/Astaris site for a wind farm.  (Apparently the company involved in the coal fired plant plan, decided to abandon the FMC/Astaris site, and look into a site nearer to American Falls)

Pocatello did have a wind turbine manufacturer in operation, but right before December 25, 2010, they announced they were leaving town.  Nordic Windpower moved to Kanasas City, Missouri, after less than two years of operations in Pocatello.

There is some hope for wind power.  Pocatello voters elected new officials, and recently the city revised building codes for small wind mills.  “If we really want to promote wind power in the city, which I believe we do, we need to make it easier for wind turbines to go in and delineate where they would be welcome and where they maybe would be inappropriate.”-Marjanna Hulet, Pocatello Planning and Zoning Commission

The Pocatello Community Charter School became the first site for small wind mill (so small you have to look for it).  It wasn’t cheap, even though it was part of the ‘Wind for Schools’ program, they still had to raise funds from sponsors.

 

Charter school windmill in Pocatello.

There is a new project in Downey (same county that Pocatello is in; Bannock), Idaho, that will use “accelerated wind turbines”.  The company, Pavilion (PVRE), claims the turbines will maximize wind, so even areas with low wind speeds can use wind power.  That company is also looking at using the former Nordic Windpower facilities (in the old Pocatello naval gun plant) as a factory for its accelerated wind turbines.

Then there is the Federal BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land in south east Idaho, that’s scheduled for use as a wind farm.  Unfortunately most of the power is destined for Nevada. And despite the company’s name, RES America, it’s run by a foreign company.   RES is based in the United Kingdom (Britain).

Also, Ridgeline Energy (another foreign owned company, Veolia of France), is building a 79.2 megawatt wind farm in Rockland, near American Falls (also in eastern Idaho).

Photos by: Alex Hutchins (click on the pics to make them bigger)

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Efforts to rescue Idaho Mine employee continue

Larry Marek was trapped when 22.8 meters (75 feet) of the tunnel collapsed on him.   Since then ten-member rescue squads, working 12-hour shifts, have cleared 9.7 meters (32 feet) of debris, trying to get to him.

It happened on Friday, April 15, at the Lucky Friday mine owned by Hecla Mining company.  After digging about 7.6 meters (25 feet), rescuers had to focus on stabilizing the roof of the mine.

A robot digging machine arrived Sunday night, but they must assemble it inside the mine before they can use it.

The Lucky Friday mine has been operating since 1942.   Watch AP video report

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

U.S. housing contractors may profit from Japan disaster

The Japanese government announced that in order to build enough temp homes, fast enough, they will have to use foreign contractors.

The temporary homes are needed for survivors of the March 11 disasters, and people who have, and others who still might have to, evacuate from radiation danger zones.

The Land and Infrastructure Ministry said foreign contractors must meet certain conditions. They must have the capacity to build more than 100 units in 2 months, and they must meet Japanese electrical codes. On top of that they must form joint partnerships with Japanese contractors.

Local governments will be taking bids.

U.S.

3 Days, 185 Tornadoes, 18 Deaths

The United States has been hit with 185 tornadoes, in the past three days.  18 people have been killed.

Seven people died in Alabama.  Four people died in North Carolina.  Another seven died in Arkansas.  Officials say the death toll could go higher.  Many people were killed by falling debris.