This weekend, volunteers new and old from across the Sunshine State gathered for Organizing for America’s National Weekend of Training. From the sandy shores of Miami to the swamp where the Florida Gators play, change was in the air and health insurance reform was the topic at hand.
Gracias a Dios! Thanks Obama Adminstration for not messing up with the neighbor's business.
Yes we can - too! fib
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"All right!" said a grinning Ivan Rojas, a rail-thin 20-year-old addict who endured police harassment during the decade he has spent sleeping in Mexico City's gritty streets and subway stations.
But stunned police on the U.S. side of the border say the law contradicts President Felipe Calderon's drug war, and some fear it could make Mexico a destination for drug-fueled spring breaks and tourism.
Tens of thousands of American college students flock to Cancun and Acapulco each year to party at beachside discos offering wet T-shirt contests and all-you-can-drink deals.
"Now they will go because they can get drugs," said San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne. "For a country that has experienced thousands of deaths from warring drug cartels for many years, it defies logic why they would pass a law that will clearly encourage drug use."
Enacted last week, the Mexican law is part of a growing trend across Latin America to treat drug use as a public health problem and make room in overcrowded prisons for violent traffickers rather than small-time users.
Brazil and Uruguay have already eliminated jail time for people carrying small amounts of drugs for personal use, although possession is still considered a crime in Brazil. Argentina's Supreme Court ruled out prison for pot possession on Tuesday and officials say they plan to propose a law keeping drug consumers out of the justice system.
Colombia has decriminalized marijuana and cocaine for personal use, but kept penalties for other drugs.
Officials in those countries say they are not legalizing drugs — just drawing a line between users, dealers and traffickers amid a fierce drug war. Mexico's law toughens penalties for selling drugs even as it relaxes the law against using them.
"Latin America is disappointed with the results of the current drug policies and is exploring alternatives," said Ricardo Soberon, director of the Drug Research and Human Rights Center in Lima, Peru.
As Mexico ratcheted up its fight against cartels, drug use jumped more than 50 percent between 2002 and 2008, according to the government, and today prisons are filled with addicts, many under the age of 25.
Rojas has spent half his life snorting cocaine and sniffing paint thinner as he roamed Mexico City's streets in a daze. Most days he was roused awake by police demanding a bribe and forcing him to move along, he said.
"It's good they have this law so police don't grab you," said Rojas, whose name, I-V-A-N, is tattooed across his knuckles.
Rojas hit bottom three weeks ago when he could not score enough money for drugs by begging and found himself shaking uncontrollably. He accepted an offer for help from workers from a drug rehabilitation center who approached him on the street.
"Drugs were finishing me off," said Rojas, whose 13-year-old brother died of an overdose eight years ago. "I lost my brother. I lost my youth."
Juan Martin Perez, who runs Caracol, the nonprofit center helping Rojas, said the government has poured millions of dollars into the drug war but has done little to treat addicts. His group relies on grants from foundations.
The new law requires officials to encourage drug users to seek treatment in lieu of jail, but the government has not allocated more money for organizations like Caracol that are supposed to help them.
Treatment is mandatory for third-time offenders, but the law does not specify penalties for noncompliance.
"This was passed quickly and quietly but it's going to have to be adjusted to match reality," Perez said.
Supporters of the change point to Portugal, which removed jail terms for drug possession for personal use in 2001 and still has one of the lowest rates of cocaine use in Europe.
Portugal's law defines personal use as the equivalent of what one person would consume over 10 days. Police confiscate the drugs and the suspect must appear before a government commission, which reviews the person's drug consumption patterns. Users may be fined, sent for treatment or put on probation.
Foreigners caught with drugs still face arrest in Portugal, a measure to prevent drug tourism.
The same is not true for Mexico, where there is no jail time for anyone caught with roughly four marijuana cigarettes, four lines of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams of methamphetamine or 0.015 milligrams of LSD.
That's what concerns U.S. law enforcement at the border.
"It provides an officially sanctioned market for the consumption of the world's most dangerous drugs," San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said. "For the people of San Diego the risk is direct and lethal. There are those who will drive to Mexico to use drugs and return to the U.S. under their influence."
Don Thornhill, a retired Drug Enforcement Administration supervisor who investigated Mexican cartels for 25 years, said Mexico's rampant drug violence will likely deter most U.S. drug users, and the new law will allow Mexican police to focus on "the bigger fish."
The Bush administration criticized a similar bill proposed in Mexico in 2006, prompting then-President Vicente Fox to send it back to Congress. But Washington has stayed quiet this time, praising Calderon for his fight against drug cartels — a struggle that has seen some 11,000 people killed since Calderon took office in 2006.
"We work with Mexico every day to combat illegal drugs and cartel violence," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said when asked about the law. "And we look forward to continuing that cooperation."
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Associated Press writers Marco Sibaja in Brasilia, Vivian Sequera in Bogota, Harold Heckle in Madrid, Elliot Spagat in San Diego, Olga Rodriguez in Mexico City and Matt Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
http://www.russellmeans.com/
Rightist businessman Ricardo Martinelli has been declared the winner in Panama's presidential election.
With about half of the votes counted he had 60% of the vote, compared to 37% for his rival, the ruling party's Balbina Herrera.
Correspondents say Mr Martinelli, of the Democratic Change party, appealed to poor voters by promising to tackle corruption and crime.
He will now oversee a multi-billion dollar expansion of the Panama Canal.
Presidents in Panama are elected for a single, five-year term. Incumbent Martin Torrijos of the ruling Revolutionary Democratic Party is standing down.
Economic tasks
"The tribunal considers you the undisputed winner of this presidential contest," the head of the electoral tribunal told Mr Martinelli in a telephone call broadcast live on television and radio.
Correspondents say he will face a series of economic challenges as the global economic downturn hits the crucial trade link of the Panama Canal.
Panama receives a little under one-third of its tax revenues from the canal, but amid the global economic crisis traffic through the canal has slowed significantly.
Mr Martinelli will oversee the $5bn (£3.3bn) expansion of the canal to increase its capacity, making it big enough for supertankers and the largest container ships.
Five years ago when he stood for president he only gained around 5% of the vote.
But the BBC's Will Grant, reporting from the region, says this time around he appeared more in touch with the concerns of poor Panamanians by promising to clamp down on political corruption and get tough on violent crime.
He has been critical of Mr Torrijos and Ms Herrera, whom he accuses of failing to tackle poverty while lining their pockets in the process.
In 2006 President Torrijos won a referendum on his proposal to widen the Panama canal, and economic growth during his administration has averaged around 8.5%.
But Mr Martinelli spent heavily on marketing, an estimated $35m, and with his wife he crossed the country giving grants and other financial incentives to students.
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Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/8031425.stm Published: 2009/05/04 00:34:40 GMT © BBC MMIX
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In this Monday, Feb. 9, 2009, photo combo, Panama's Presidential candidates Ricardo Martinelli, right, is shown on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, Balbina Herrera, center, is shown on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, and Guillermo Endara is shown on Monday, Feb. 2, 2009. A poll shows businessman Ricardo Martinelli with a strong lead ahead of the May 3 presidential election in Panama. Only 28 percent say they support ruling party candidate Balbina Herrera. Former President Guillermo Endara is in third place with 4 percent.
Absolutely!
Get "Let's go!" and try: Guatemala, Honduras, or Nicaragua. You CAN afford the Central American Caribbean coast. And since people there are too poor to travel, even to Mexico, you will escape H1N1 at the same time. The sea is hot hot, and so is punta. You don't have to be a lawyer to be able to do that. And sell that I-phone before - they have internet cafes there, if you must use. Chances are you will not want to. Better for your health. fib
Saturday, May. 02, 2009
Pink-Slip Trips: Get Laid Off, Go on Vacation
By Matt Villano
When Megan Maciejowski was laid off from her job at an investment bank at the end of 2008, she cleaned out her desk, retreated to her Venice Beach, Calif., apartment and started sprucing up her resume. Then the 33-year-old set aside some of her severance package and arranged to spend February in artsy San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Her goals for the trip were simple: to take an immersive Spanish class, do some painting, experience a new culture and generally relax. Says the self-described Blackberry addict: "I needed to get away to disconnect, recharge and regroup for the next step." The price tag, including airfare and all meals: $1,200. (Read more about travel and the swine flu dilemma.)
Despite the grim employment outlook, Maciejowski isn't the only white-collar worker to respond to lay-offs by planning a vacation; across the country recently unemployed white-collar workers are taking similar pink-slip trips to places near and far. Some are like Maciejowski, hoping travel will help her clear her head and plan her next career move. Others are simply trying to escape the harsh realities of job hunting. "After weeks upon weeks of searching job boards for that next great gig, it is nice to just take off and forget about everything for a few days," says Erik Moser, 26, who in March went on a weeklong ski trip in Colorado after getting laid off in January from his public-relations job in Chicago. (See how to negotiate a better severance package.)
Not surprisingly, the already battered travel industry is eager to capitalize on the trend. Carroll Rheem, director of research at PhoCusWright, a consulting firm in Sherman, Conn., that follows the travel sector, says pink-slip trips are particularly common among those who receive sizable severance packages — i.e., the lawyers and Wall Street types who are confident they'll find another job soon enough. “If they have the time and they have the money, people are stepping back after a lay-off and thinking, 'Hey, why not?" she says.
But knowing that most of out-of-work travellers will be particularly price-sensitive, some companies have crafted special offers for the newly unemployed. Intrepid Travel, an Australian tour operator with U.S. headquarters in Boulder, Colo., recently launched a promotion dubbed "Laid Off Take Off," through which customers who provide letters stating that their jobs have been terminated within the last calendar year get 15% off trips to a variety of destinations.
Tiffany Richards, the company's president, says that roughly 30 of the firm's 1,200 bookings since January have taken advantage of this promotion. She adds that the discount brings the price of a 15-day trip to Morocco to $722.50 from $850, not including airfare. "For people who are in between jobs and maybe a little nervous about money, this kind of savings could be the difference between staying home and getting to see the world," she says.
But no matter where you go, it's hard to forget about the uncertainty waiting for you back home. Maciejowski says she thought about her impending job search from time to time in Mexico, and Moser spent his ski trip checking his e-mail repeatedly for job leads and missives from recruiters.
He says that on one "particularly stressful" afternoon, he had to piece together a resume and cover letter on a cousin's iPhone. "I didn't bring any of my files with me, but when this recruiter got in touch, I dropped everything and used this tiny device to recreate what he wanted," he notes. "Needless to say, I didn't get that job, and didn't hear back from that (recruiter) ever again."
See TIME's photos of grocery auctions
Decades of Disparity
Drug Arrests and Race in the United States March 2, 2009
This 20-page report says that adult African Americans were arrested on drug charges at rates that were 2.8 to 5.5 times as high as those of white adults in every year from 1980 through 2007, the last year for which complete data were available. About one in three of the more than 25.4 million adult drug arrestees during that period was African American.
April 16, 2009
By BENJAMIN DANGL
After Bolivia beat the Argentine soccer team led by legendary Diego Maradona by 6 to 1, Maradona told reporters, "Every Bolivia goal was a stab in my heart." Bolivia was expected to lose the April 1 match as Argentina is ranked as the 6th best soccer team in the world, and Maradona enjoys godlike status among soccer fans. This story of David and Goliath in the Andes is just one of various events shaking up the hemisphere.
Bolivian President Evo Morales just completed a five day hunger strike to push through legislation that allows him to run again in general elections this December. And at this weekend’s Summit of the Americas US President Barack Obama will meet with Latin American presidents who may end up giving some economic advice to their troubled neighbor in the north.
Evo Morales on a Hunger Strike
When opposition party members in Bolivia left a Congress session on April 9, refusing to pass a bill that would allow for general elections in December of this year, Evo Morales began a hunger strike while thousands of government supporters rallied in the streets in support of the bill. Morales began the fast to pressure opponents into passing the legislation, which in addition to enabling elections, would give indigenous communities broader representation in parliament and give Bolivian citizens living abroad the right to vote in the December elections. The opposition blocked the bill in part because they said it would give Morales more power and did not significantly prevent the possibility of electoral fraud. On April 12, opposition members returned to Congress when Morales agreed to changes regarding a new voter registry.
During his hunger strike, Morales slept on a mattress on the floor in the presidential palace and chewed coca leaves to fight off hunger. Morales said that this was the 18th hunger strike he participated in; before becoming president, Morales was a long-time coca farmer, union organizer and congressman. He said the longest hunger strike he had been on lasted 18 days while he was in jail, according to Bloomberg. But Morales wasn’t alone: 3,000 other MAS supporters, activists, workers and union members also participated in the hunger strike, including Bolivians in Spain and Argentina.
Early in the morning on April 14, once it was official that the Senate passed the bill, Morales ended his strike. "Happily, we have accomplished something important," he told reporters. "The people should not forget that you need to fight for change. We alone can't guarantee this revolutionary process, but with people power it's possible."
This controversy erupted just weeks after Bolivia’s new constitution was approved in a January 25 national referendum. Among other significant changes, the constitution grants unprecedented rights to the country’s indigenous majority and establishes a broader role for the state in the management of the economy and natural resources.
Summit of the Americas: Cuba, Obama and Chavez
On April 17-19 the Summit of the Americas will take place in Trinidad and Tobago. Most of the hemisphere’s presidents will be in attendance. It will also mark the first meeting between Presidents Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez.
Before the larger Summit begins, a Summit for the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA) will take place in Venezuela from April 14-15. Those planning to attend this gathering include President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Evo Morales, Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, and others. Chavez announced that this ALBA meeting will take place with the objective of formulating common positions to bring to Trinidad and Tobago, including plans regarding the formation of a regional currency, called the Sucre. These leaders are also likely to lead the push for an end to the blockade against Cuba.
Chavez said that if the US wants to come to the Summit "with the same excluding discourse of the empire – on the blockade – then the result will be that nothing has changed. Everything will stay the same… Cuba is a point of honor for the peoples of Latin America. We cannot accept that the United States should continue trampling over the nations of our America."
In a recent column, Fidel Castro noted that Obama planned to lift travel and remittance restrictions to Cuba, but that that wouldn’t be enough – the blockade still needs to be lifted. "[N]ot a word was said about the harshest of measures: the blockade," Castro wrote. "This is the way a truly genocidal measure is piously called, one whose damage cannot be calculated only on the basis of its economic effects, for it constantly takes human lives and brings painful suffering to our people. Numerous diagnostic equipment and crucial medicines -- made in Europe, Japan or any other country -- are not available to our patients if they carry U.S. components or software."
The blockade against Cuba will likely be a hot topic of debate at this weekend’s Summit, and will be partly fueled by tension between Obama and Chavez. Explaining the failure of the Bush administration in the region, Obama once said, it is "No wonder, then, that demagogues like Hugo Chavez have stepped into this vacuum. His predictable yet perilous mix of anti-American rhetoric, authoritarian government, and checkbook diplomacy offers the same false promise as the tried and failed ideologies of the past."
Yet a closer look at the region will show that the rise of leaders like Chavez is a result of more than just neglect on the part of the empire – it has to do with the disastrous impact of neoliberalism in the region, and a desire among Latin Americans to seek out alternatives. Considering the current economic crisis in the US, Obama could learn a thing or two from the policies of leaders like Chavez, who is incredibly popular in Venezuela, works in solidarity with many of the region's leaders, and has developed sucessful economic policies in his country. At the upcoming Summit, Obama should put into action something he said when meeting with the G20: "We exercise our leadership best when we are listening."
Latin America Changes
Those expecting an end to the same old Cold War tactics toward Latin America from Washington may be surprised when Obama continues to treat the region as a backyard. Yet whether or not the perspective from Washington changes, Latin America is certainly a different place than it was 30 years ago.
I asked Greg Grandin, a professor of history at New York University, and the author, most recently, of Empire's Workshop, if another US-backed coup such as the one that happened against socialist Chilean President Salvador Allende in 1973 would be possible in today’s Latin America. He said, "I don’t think it would be possible. There isn’t a constituency for a coup. In the 1970s, US policy was getting a lot more traction because people were afraid of the rise of the left, and they were interested in an economic alliance with the US. Now, the [Latin American] middle class could still go with the US, common crime could be a wedge issue that could drive Latin America away from the left. But US policy is so destructive that it has really eviscerated the middle class. Now, there is no domestic constituency that the US could latch onto. The US did have a broader base of support in the 1970s, but neoliberalism undermined it."
Grandin explained that in the 1960s and 1970s, security agencies in Latin America built up their relationship with Washington to "subordinate their interests to the US’s cold war crusade." There was a willingness among the Latin American middle class to do this, Grandin explained, and the US was also interested in building the infrastructure and networks to ensure that the region’s new dictators’ fanaticism could be led by anti-communism. "Now in South America, there has been a wide rejection to subordinate their military to the US," Grandin explained. "In a 2005 defense meeting in Quito, Ecuador [former US Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld attempted to elevate the war on terror in the region [as a military priority], and it was roundly rejected. … As of now, I don’t think there has been a willingness for Latin America to serve as an outpost of this unified war [on terror]."
Grandin wrote in a 2006 article that the Pentagon has tried to "ratchet up a sense of ideological urgency" in the war on terror in Latin America. but these pleas have fallen on deaf ears. "The cause of terrorism," said Brazil's Vice President José Alencar, "is not just fundamentalism, but misery and hunger."
However, the Latin America Obama will visit this weekend is already significantly different than the one Rumsfeld tried to convince in 2005. Obama’s counterparts in the south are generally more independent and leftist than they were even four years ago. But all that can change, and at least some of it depends on how Obama works with – or ignores - the region.
Outside of Obama’s influence, one question remains: will changes made by leftist leaders in Latin America be irrevocable, even if the right regains power in the region in the next five years? Not according to political analyst Laura Carlsen of the Americas Program in Mexico City, "In order for that to happen it would take more than just a change in the government, and I find it unlikely for anything like that to happen in the short term. It took years for the left in power to build up these social movements and the development of alternatives. It was the result of that process that brought these governments into power, and to reverse it you would have to silence or repress these movements."
I asked Grandin the same question. "It depends," he said, "the changes seemed pretty irrevocable in the 1970s and with Reaganism and militarism… The failure of neoliberalism is certain, but it’s hard to say what the response will be in the long term."
This weekend’s summit, where Obama and Chavez will shake hands for the first time, might offer some glimpses into the region’s future.
Benjamin Dangl is the author of "The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia," (AK Press). He is an editor at UpsideDownWorld.org, a website on activism and politics in Latin America, and TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world events. Email bendangl(at)gmail.com
By RICHARD MORSE
Port-au-Prince.
If the Haitian government tells you these last Senate elections were fine; don't believe them.
If the United Nations tells you these last Senate elections in Haiti were fine; don't believe them.
If the OAS (Organization of American States) tells you these last Senate elections in Haiti were fine; don't believe them.
If the Main Stream Media ignores the recent Haitian elections, maybe it's because no one is supposed to say that it was a voting nightmare. When you hold an election and no one shows up, it's a nightmare.
I drove around town (Port-au-Prince) late Sunday morning, April 19, as voters were supposed to be voting. One of the things reaffirmed to me that morning was that Haitians like playing soccer in the streets when there's no traffic. People did not vote in Port-au-Prince and Port-au-Prince, in this case, probably reflects what was happening in most of the country.
If some one tries to tell you that Haitians didn't vote on Sunday because they're apathetic, the person is either lying, uninformed, or trying to sell you a bridge in Brooklyn.
It's not like people didn't vote and went about their business. People didn't vote and either stayed at home or went out onto the streets to see if anyone else would vote. The "no vote" was their vote.
This last election/ referendum showed us that Haitians have had enough of the Preval/Delatour approach to governance.
This government isn't representing the Haitian people.
Some voters of course, may have been intimidated by flyers which said "If you're going to vote, print your name on the bottom of your feet so your body can be identified". Other people
may have been intimidated by the Haitian Government and the Haitian National police who officially closed down the country day before and the day after elections, as though some kind of war operation was being prepared. No private cars were permitted to circulate in the streets.
Personally, I think the main cause for the massive non-participation is that, too often, the Haitian masses vote and then the winning politicians get bought.
Wouldn't you get tired of voting if your candidates kept getting bought?
Trying to exclude the Lavalas Party (Haiti's largest party) from the elections didn't help anyone's cause.
I remember the first time I saw President Preval shortly after he won the 2006 election. He was enjoying himself with a new crowd of friends who couldn't possibly have voted for him. Preval ran on promises to eight million Haitians; these new friends were representatives of Haiti's Gang of Eleven: the country's controlling elite. Preval's economic platform (HOPE 2) only represents five percent of the coun try. Haitians need an economic plan that effects 80% of the population, not 5%.
If some one tells you the only reason Aristide left the country is because he was kidnapped, well, that person is misinforming you. A Haitian industrialist, Andy Apaid, had the Haitian masses demonstrating against Aristide. Paradox in politics.
I saw those demonstrations. They were some of the largest demonstrations I 've ever seen in Haiti. After Aristide departed, Gerard Latortue and the "transitional" government came to power, along with a "repression machine" that had policemen circulating around Port-au-Prince with black ski masks on their faces. Andy Apaid was silent during all of this; he orchestrated no demonstrations against repression. He was no longer pretending to represent the Haitian people; he was now openly representing himself and his business cohorts.
He was getting sweetheart deals and tax breaks from the transitional government.
The Haitian people have never rallied behind Apaid or the people he supported, again. The honeymoon was over. Andy Apaid will never be able to mobilize the Haitian people again. And on top of this, when Hillary Clinton makes her first trip to Haiti as Secretary of State, someone convinces her that she should be visiting Andy Apaid. A fine example of Haiti's lobbyists at work.
Somehow, with the help of the Delatours and the Haiti Democracy Project in Washington, Andy Apaid and Haiti's business sector have come to dominate the Preval government.
Ever since April/May 2008 when Prime Minister Alexis was voted out of the Prime Minister's office by Senator Youri Latortue and a contingent of Senators with dubious intent, Preval stopped talking about "National Production". Now we're back to "Mme Clinton visiting Apaid at his factory" type of economics.
The Haitian people have said "no" already !!. Doesn't anyone listen?
I can go on. The road from the Dominican Republic that's supposed to bring imported goods to Haiti and tourists from the Dominican Republic to the Citadelle has been built, but the road from Haiti's breadbasket, the Artibonite valley, is in shambles. The message is clear: imports are good. Left over Dominican tourists are good.
Local production is in the back seat. Or, to put it another way, well-off importers are good; poor Haitian farmers are once again invisible and unrepresented.
The Delatours, who have positions in Ministries, the National Palace and as lobbyists are the biggest link between Preval's failing policies, and Washington.
Before they became best friends with Preval they were lobbying for Simeus, the Texas/Haitian billionaire who wanted to be president. When his bid failed, they switched tactics. If you can't vote your own politician into office, buy the one who gets elected.
What it all comes down to is: "Who's representing the Haitian people"?
I know who's representing the business elite and the three to five percent of the population that they encompass, but the country has between 8 and 10 million people. The busses of tourists coming over from the DR aren't going to help the Haitian people. That C2 money is going to be divided up in some office before the project gets off the ground. The HOPE 2 bill which is supposed to provide between 10 and fifty thousand "treading water" jobs, will attract people from the countryside into a city that has no infrastructure to support them. Does anyone care?
Lobbying must to be a great business in Haiti. Too bad the Haitian masses don't have a lobbyist.
Richard Morse runs the Oloffson Hotel Port-au-Prince Haiti and the leads the Haitian band RAM.
For my Friend, CR. fib
Earth Day was first observed on April 22, 1970, when an estimated 20 million people nationwide attended the inaugural event. Senator Gaylord Nelson promoted Earth Day, calling upon students to fight for environmental causes and oppose environmental degradation with the same energy that they displayed in opposing the Vietnam War.
In July 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established in response to the growing public demand for cleaner water, air, and land—its mission to protect the environment and public health. Earth Day also was the precursor of the largest grassroots environmental movement in U.S. history and the impetus for national legislation such as the Clean Air and Clean Water acts. By the twentieth anniversary of that event, more than 200 million people in 141 countries had participated in Earth Day celebrations.
At the turn of the twenty-first century, the EPA was announcing new requirements for improving air quality in national parks and wilderness areas and establishing regulations requiring more than 90 percent cleaner heavy-duty highway diesel engines and fuel.
See the special presentation Chronology of Selected Events in the Development of the American Conservation Movement in the collection The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920 to learn about milestones in U.S. efforts to preserve and protect the Earth. These efforts include the designation of some of America's most majestic national parks such as Mt. Rainier, Yosemite, Acadia, and the Grand Canyon.
John Burroughs, John Muir, and Luis Agassiz Fuertes (at the outset of his career as the nation's most notable ornithological painter since Audubon) were among the scientists, naturalists, and artists who produced an album documenting the 1899 Harriman Alaska Expedition. As such, they can be considered political and cultural progenitors of Earth Day. See also the Albert K. Fisher Papers—Fisher was a member of the Harriman Expedition from Meeting of Frontiers, a bilingual, multimedia English-Russian digital library that tells the story of the American exploration and settlement of the West, the parallel exploration and settlement of Siberia and the Russian Far East, and the meeting of the Russian-American frontier in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
Bird Painting, Louis Agazzis Fuertes, artist, July 22, 1899,
The Harriman Alaska Expedition: Chronicles and Souvenirs (page 190), May to August 1899. The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920
Download print-quality version
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"(...) When the Suriname government failed to completely suspend the [Chinese logging] projects and comply with the other recommendations of the IACHR, the IACHR took the claim to the Inter-American Court, a legally binding body of which Suriname is a member.
The judgment of the Court in Saramaka People v. Suriname not only provides the basis for the legal recognition and protection of Saramaka territory, with respect to land rights and prior informed consent, but also creates a legal framework for the rights of all indigenous and tribal peoples in Suriname. Pursuant to the Court’s orders, this includes “their rights to manage, distribute, and effectively control such territory, in accordance with their customary laws and traditional collective land tenure system.” In January 2008, the Suriname government publicly declared that it would fully implement the judgment of the Court.
A New Precedent for Indigenous and Tribal Peoples The Saramaka ruling is also significant at an international level. In the ruling, which applies across the hemisphere, the Court held that resource exploitation concessions may only be granted in indigenous or tribal territories subject to four conditions: indigenous and tribal peoples’ effective participation must be secure; there must be reasonable benefit-sharing; there must be a prior environmental and social impact assessment; and states have a duty to implement adequate safeguards and mechanisms in order to ensure that these activities do not significantly affect the traditional lands and natural resources of indigenous and tribal peoples.
Eduards and Jabini guaranteed territorial rights not just for the Saramaka, but all of the Maroons and indigenous people of Suriname. In addition, because the case was settled by the binding Inter-American Court, Eduards and Jabini changed international jurisprudence so that free, prior and informed consent will be required for major development projects throughout the Americas. They saved not only their communities’ 9,000 square-kilometers of forest, but strengthened the possibility of saving countless more.
Video Profile
Bolivia: The Rise of Evo Morales
BY Tupac Saavedra
Evo Morales, former coca grower and Aymara leader, surprised Bolivia's political elite by winning 53.7 percent of the vote in the December 2005 elections.
I live in downtown La Paz, about 10 minutes away from the government palace. In the last couple of years, I've watched history unfold just outside my window.
I've seen tens of thousands of Aymara Indians from nearby shantytowns and peasants from remote corners of Bolivia marching into the city. They come bearing sticks and colorful flags and some of them are armed with dynamite. They demand everything from presidential resignations to rollbacks of tax increases on the poor to the nationalization of oil and gas reserves. I've watched violent clashes between protestors and government troops and seen my country on the verge of a civil war.
In the October 2003 uprisings against former president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, more than 60 people died. And in summer 2005, street protests forced then president Carlos Mesa to resign.
Bolivia's social movements have gained power. They have taken down two presidents in the last two years, and now they have elected one of their own.
Forty-six-year-old Evo Morales Aima, former coca grower and Aymara leader, surprised Bolivia's political elite by winning 53.7 percent of the vote on December 18, easily defeating U.S. educated Jorge Tuto Quiroga. As Washington, D.C., sees it, Morales's victory is part of an unwelcome shift to the left in Latin American politics. But for Bolivians, especially for the majority of poor Indians, Bolivia's first indigenous president represents hope for real change.
Evo Morales and his vice-presidential running mate, Alvaro Garcia Linera, together on stage at the closing night of their campaign in La Paz.
I followed Morales during the last few weeks of his election campaign. Sometimes it seemed unreal that a man who wore the same pair of blue Nike sneakers regardless of the occasion was drawing so much attention and could be Bolivia's next president. The Indian activist from humble beginnings was now surrounded by hordes of international reporters from Reuters, AFP, AP, CNN, Fox, and BBC. Morales jokingly called us "paparazzi," but the night before the election, he took me aside and asked, "Do you know what the word 'paparazzi' really means?"
Morales waited for the election results at his home city of Cochabamba, set in the high valleys between the Andes and the Amazon. "It looked like any regular family gathering," said my friend Rodrigo Penaloza, who was there. "Food on the table, soda drinks, meat and potatoes. People ate from common plates in the traditional aptapi style of the Andes." He said that after television estimates projected a Morales win, "neighbors walked in freely to congratulate Evo, and his cell phone began ringing nonstop."
"One of the first calls came from Venezuela," Penalosa said. "It was President Hugo Chavez himself." Argentina's president, Nestor Kirchner, also called personally to congratulate him, and representatives phoned from Cuba and Brazil on behalf of Fidel Castro and Lula da Silva.
One of the most controversial issues behind the Morales campaign has been its support for the legal production of coca leaf, Bolivia's principal crop, and one the United States is trying to eradicate.
I waited for Morales with thousands of others on Bush Square in Cochabamba. People held whipala (the Quechan and Aymaran word for "banner") flags, danced and sang in celebration of Morales's victory, and let out a massive cheer when he arrived. Morales began his political career as a leader of the Federation of Coca Growers. His union supporters were out in force for Morales's first public appearance since victory was declared. He delivered an emotional speech.
The grassroots movement behind Morales is demanding nationalization of Bolivia's resources, particularly natural gas, and greater opportunity for the country's impoverished majority.
"This leaf," Morales said, holding a coca leaf in his hands, "gave birth to this political instrument," referring to his party, Movement Toward Socialism, also known as MAS.
Morales told the crowd that efforts by the U.S. to eradicate coca crops was "merely an excuse to build [U.S.] military bases and justify the [foreign] military presence in our country, and said the program "has not proved to be effective."
He also stressed that he does not want to have a country where drug production runs rampant.
Morales plans to fight drug trafficking, including instituting a "zero tolerance" cocaine program. His proposed program will start with an in-depth study to determine how much of the current crop is used for traditional medical and religious purposes and how much is used in the manufacture of cocaine. He says he will only allow coca leaf production for legal uses.
For thousands of years Aymara and Quechua Indians have used the leaves legally for medicinal and sacred purposes. These traditional uses don't involve any chemical processing, and the coca leaf, which is commonly chewed, is not considered a drug. The production of cocaine, largely for export, requires vast numbers of coca leaves and extensive chemical treatment.
"The U.S. should be equally responsible for diminishing the cocaine market within the United States as it is in fighting the drug elsewhere," Morales continued. He offered to work with the United States on alternative drug prevention programs, but added, "It would have to be a relationship of mutual respect and not of submission."
In 2003, Bolivians took to the streets of La Paz and set fire to government buildings in what became known as the "Black February" riots.
The issue of respect is central to the social movement that carried Morales to power. Seventy percent of Bolivia's population is indigenous and poor. Since the Spanish colonial conquest, they have been exploited and oppressed. Until 1952, indigenous people were not even allowed to vote. The agrarian revolution of the early 1950s took land from the rich landlords and gave it back to the indigenes, along with the right to vote. But that revolution didn't change the power structure, and the government remained in the hands of a wealthy, light-skinned, Westernized elite. In recent years, that elite has sold off the country's natural resources -- oil and natural gas -- to multinational corporations.
Today the grassroots movement behind Morales is demanding nationalization of Bolivia's resources, particularly natural gas. They want the profits to be used for social spending to benefit the impoverished majority in what is Latin America's poorest country. This is the real challenge for Morales. Several of the more radical groups supporting his campaign have already issued ultimatums to Morales: Nationalize or face the consequences.
"We have an enormous responsibility to change our history," Morales told his post-election rally. "The neo-liberal model has blocked the economic growth of our nation."
In Bolivia, neo-liberalism is the name given to a series of economic reforms that began in 1985. World Bank and the International Monetary Fund encouraged the Bolivian government to privatize government-run industries and search for international investors in order to spark a depressed economy. Bolivia sold its national oil and gas company, YPFB, and signed more than 70 generous contracts with multinational energy giants, granting them permission to exploit Bolivia's extensive natural gas reserves. Claims of mismanagement and corruption have plagued the decision ever since.
Evo Morales with a traditional Yatiri (Aymara healer and clairvoyant) at the close of his campaign in La Paz.
Water systems have also been privatized, but not without the fierce resistance of several civic organizations. In April 2000, an uprising in the city of Cochabamba, provoked by a huge hike in water rates, forced Aguas del Tunari, a subsidiary of the U.S. company Bechtel, to stop the privatization and leave town. Similar protests nearly drove another Bechtel subsidiary, Aguas del Illimani, out of the city of El Alto in 2005.
Morales has won the hearts of the indigenous majority, but many Indian activists remain skeptical of any Bolivian government in La Paz. "The state has always been there to exploit us, the poor," says indigenous leader Felipe Quispe (El Mallku).
"Some factions of Bolivia's radical left think the post-colonial state as it is known today should not even exist," reporter Luis Gomez told me. "There should only be self-governing indigenous states."
Bolivia could be entering a period of radical change. Beyond legalizing coca growing and nationalizing natural gas, Morales also has a desire to make Bolivian agriculture 100 percent organic and to prevent genetically modified seeds and products from entering the local markets.
"For the first time in our history, Bolivia will have a government that is in the hands of the poor and that works for the poor," says Ivan Canelas, a newly elected senator from the MAS party and a firm believer in Morales.
But Bolivia's first indigenous president has his work cut out for him. He must deal with a volatile mix of long-suppressed Indian aspirations, the demands of coca growers and drug traffickers, the hostility of Washington, and the urgent need for economic development in a desperately poor country.
Yet another country in Latin America is turning away from two decades of conservative U.S. economic policies. Everybody will be watching what Evo Morales does next.
Tupac Saavedra is a reporter and documentary filmmaker who divides his time between California and his home in Bolivia.
Related Story
Watch our story "Leasing the Rain," about the Cochabamba water wars.
Mr Obama said the US was interested in moving forward from past problems
Americas rivals see signs of hope
A summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders has ended with no agreement on a joint declaration.
Regional heads of state had talks over three days, but several remained in dispute with US on issues including Cuba's exclusion from the summit.
US President Barack Obama said he saw positive signs from Cuba and Venezuela, and that the summit marked a new start in US relations with its neighbours.
The leaders of Brazil and Venezuela also said they hoped for better ties.
Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva agreed he saw "potential positive signs" between the US and Cuba and Venezuela.
Communist Cuba has been subject to a US embargo since 1960, while Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was an implacable foe of former US President George W Bush.
Key issues
Mr Chavez also hinted at a thawing in relations.
"We have a different focus obviously, but we are willing, we have the political will to work together," Reuters news agency reported him as saying.
However, Mr Obama headed to the Organisation of American States (OAS) summit in Trinidad, having offered Cuba a "new beginning" in relations with the US.
Many others in the region wanted better, more constructive ties with US, he said.
In a news conference at the close of the summit, Mr Obama conceded that decades of US policy on Cuba "hasn't worked the way we wanted it too".
But he highlighted a string of key issues where Cuba must make progress.
"Issues of political prisoners, freedom of speech and democracy are important, and can't simply be brushed aside," Mr Obama said.
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also by Eduardo Galeano: DAYS AND NIGHTS OF LOVE AND WAR
Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Eduardo Galeano Translated by Cedric Belfrage New Introduction by Isabel Allende
“A superbly written, excellently translated, and powerfully persuasive expose which all students of Latin American and U.S. history must read.” —CHOICE, American Library Association
“I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Galeano’s vision is unswerving, surgical and yet immensely generous and humane. This book, written more than thirty years ago, contains profound lessons for contemporary [? Americas]. Eduardo Galeano ought to be a household name in this country.” —Arundhati Roy
Since its U.S. debut a quarter-century ago, this brilliant text has set a new standard for historical scholarship of Latin America. It is also an outstanding political economy, a social and cultural narrative of the highest quality, and perhaps the finest description of primitive capital accumulation since Marx.
Rather than chronology, geography, or political successions, Eduardo Galeano has organized the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation. Thus he is concerned with gold and silver, cacao and cotton, rubber and coffee, fruit, hides and wool, petroleum, iron, nickel, manganese, copper, aluminum ore, nitrates, and tin. These are the veins which he traces through the body of the entire continent, up to the Rio Grande and throughout the Caribbean, and all the way to their open ends where they empty into the coffers of wealth in the United States and Europe.
Weaving fact and imagery into a rich tapestry, Galeano fuses scientific analysis with the passions of a plundered and suffering people. An immense gathering of materials is framed with a vigorous style that never falters in its command of themes. All readers interested in great historical, economic, political, and social writing will find a singular analytical achievement, and an overwhelming narrative that makes history speak, unforgettably.
This classic is now further honored by Isabel Allende's inspiring introduction. Universally recognized as one of the most important writers of our time, Allende once again contributes her talents to literature, to political principles, and to enlightenment.
About the Author EDUARDO GALEANO is the author of Days and Nights of Love and War (winner of the 1978 Casa de las Americas Prize), The Book of Embraces, and the highly acclaimed Memory of Fire trilogy. ISABEL ALLENDE is the author of several bestselling titles including In the House of the Spirits; The Infinite Plan, and Paula.
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Mr Obama said he did not realise what kind of book he was being given
US President Barack Obama has been given a warm welcome by leftist counterparts from Latin America at a regional summit in Trinidad and Tobago.
He swapped handshakes with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who famously likened George W Bush to the Devil, and accepted the gift of a book.
He also shook hands with Chavez allies Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Ecuador's Rafael Correa.
Earlier, he urged a "new beginning" with Cuba, which is not at the talks.
"I think we're making progress at the summit," Mr Obama told reporters after a meeting on Saturday with key South American leaders in Port of Spain, ahead of summit plenary sessions.
Summit leaders are expected to address the economic downturn and the region's energy and security needs at the talks, which end on Sunday.
Aides to the US leader say he hopes to squeeze one-on-one meetings into his schedule along with the plenary sessions and group gatherings.
'Intelligent man'
Though he had already shaken hands with Mr Obama when they met at the summit on Friday, Mr Chavez greeted him again on Saturday, this time pressing on him a book.
In taking the gift, Mr Obama assumed it was a book by Mr Chavez himself, he said later.
However, it was a Spanish-language copy of The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, a book by Eduardo Galeano chronicling exploitation in the region.
Asked about his first meeting with George W Bush's successor, Mr Chavez said: "I think it was a good moment.
"I think President Obama is an intelligent man, compared to the previous US president."
It was unclear whether the two presidents would have a one-to-one meeting.
Cuba is excluded from the summit, which includes 34 members of the Organisation of American States (OAS), though Latin American leaders have been calling for the communist country to be readmitted.
The US has not maintained high-level diplomatic relations with Cuba since Fidel Castro led the island's revolution in 1960.
Cuban President Raul Castro said on Thursday that he was ready to talk about "everything" with the US, including human rights, political prisoners and freedom of the press.
His comments came after the US eased its embargo, allowing Cuban-Americans to visit relatives in Cuba and send money home more easily.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 7, 2009 1:37 PM
CONTACT: Media MattersBrandon Hersh (202) 471-3205 bhersh@mediamatters.org
"Media conservatives have made a sport of vilifying ACORN and immigrants. In lieu of engaging in substantive policy debates, they simply point fingers at the poor and disenfranchised. It is both dishonest and irresponsible," said Media Matters spokesperson Erikka Knuti.
Media Matters' study documents numerous examples of media conservatives returning to their favorite scapegoats, including:
EXPANSION OF THE STATE CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM
In reporting on or discussing the 2009 expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), many in the media asserted or uncritically repeated the claim that the bill would provide health benefits to undocumented immigrants. In fact, the legislation includes a citizenship verification process and explicitly states that "[n]othing in this Act allows Federal payment for individuals who are not lawfully residing in the United States."
2008 FINANCIAL CRISIS
Several conservative media figures have claimed or suggested that excessive lending to undocumented immigrants was responsible for the financial crisis, but have failed to cite any credible evidence to support that claim. They also advanced the idea that ACORN contributed to the housing crisis by "bullying" banks into lending irresponsibly to minorities, and in many instances, asserted that the group used the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to intimidate banks into making risky loans. But as Media Matters has documented, the assertion that the CRA had anything to do with the financial crisis has been widely discredited.
2009 AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT
In their coverage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, many in the media falsely asserted or uncritically reported accusations that the legislation would provide tax credits to undocumented immigrants. In fact, the bill limited the Making Work Pay tax credit to individuals with Social Security numbers, thereby excluding undocumented immigrants. Numerous media figures have also claimed that ACORN would benefit from the legislation -- to the tune of $4.19 billion. In fact, the act does not mention ACORN or otherwise single it out for funding; ACORN itself has said that it is ineligible for the funds. The false claim was based on a misrepresentation of a provision in the House version of the bill that would have appropriated $4.19 billion "for neighborhood stabilization activities related to emergency assistance for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes authorized under division B, title III of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008."
U.S. CENSUS
Reporting on the 2010 U.S. Census, many in the media have focused on ACORN's reported role as a national partner with the Census Bureau in its effort to recruit more than 1 million temporary workers to knock on doors and baselessly suggested that the group will fraudulently influence the count in favor of Democrats or that the Obama administration is politicizing the process. In fact, ACORN is reportedly one of "more than 250" groups that are partnering with the Census Bureau to recruit workers.
2008-2009 MINNESOTA SENATE RECOUNT
In covering the Minnesota Senate recount, many in the media seized on a Republican talking point that Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has "ties" to ACORN, in many instances using it to suggest that he would be biased toward Democratic challenger Al Franken over Republican incumbent Norm Coleman.
Full Research Item HERE.
Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.
Rio moves to wall off its slums
The authorities in Rio de Janeiro are to build walls around many of the Brazilian city's slums, in what they say is a bid to protect the rainforest.
"City officials insist the project will stop the shanty towns, or favelas, from expanding into the countryside.
Concrete walls 3.5m (10ft) high are due to hem in about 40 favelas by the end of the year, at a cost of $17m (£12m).
Human rights groups say the walls are designed to segregate the city's poor from its wealthy residents.
Residents 'to benefit'
The president of the Rio's public works department, Icaro Moreno, visited the Dona Marta district on Tuesday.
Pointing to the lush green forest on the other side of the wall, he said that each year more of the environment was being lost, and that something had to be done.
"We are simply asking residents to continue to build within the limits we have established," he said.
"We have already seen a lot of environmental damage and, quite frankly, many of these homes have been built in high-risk flood areas, so it will benefit the residents as well."
Critics say the move will only serve to emphasise the deep divisions in Brazil between rich and poor.
Human rights groups have suggested that Rio's wealthy residents living in high-rise apartments do not want to be reminded of the conditions in which their neighbours live.
But the authorities say they will make the conditions better inside the walls, while protecting the wildlife outside."
Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7975799.stm Published: 2009/04/01 04:53:56 GMT © BBC MMIX
Making its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, Sin Nombre is an epic dramatic thriller from award-winning director Cary Fukunaga. Seeking the promise of America, a beautiful young Honduran woman, Sayra (Paulina Gaytan), joins her father and uncle on an odyssey to cross the gauntlet of the Latin American countryside en route to the United States. Along the way she crosses paths with a teenaged Mexican gang member, El Casper (Edgar M. Flores), who is maneuvering to outrun his violent past and elude his unforgiving former associates. Together they must rely on faith, trust and street smarts if they are to survive their increasingly perilous journey towards the hope of new lives.
MR. PRESIDENT!
YOU CANNOT FIX THE ECONOMY WITHOUT FIXING THE DRUGS. AND I AIN'T TALKING ONLY POT.
FIB
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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Why We Must Fix Our Prisons
By Senator Jim Webb
Publication Date: 03/29/2009
Inmates at a facility in California, a state that spent almost $10 billion on corrections last year. America's criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness. Our failure to address this problem has caused the nation's prisons to burst their seams with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have become more dangerous. We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives. We need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we address the long-term consequences of incarceration. Twenty-five years ago, I went to Japan on assignment for PARADE to write a story on that country's prison system. In 1984, Japan had a population half the size of ours and was incarcerating 40,000 sentenced offenders, compared with 580,000 in the United States. As shocking as that disparity was, the difference between the countries now is even more astounding--and profoundly disturbing. Since then, Japan's prison population has not quite doubled to 71,000, while ours has quadrupled to 2.3 million. The United States has by far the world's highest incarceration rate. With 5% of the world's population, our country now houses nearly 25% of the world's reported prisoners. We currently incarcerate 756 inmates per 100,000 residents, a rate nearly five times the average worldwide of 158 for every 100,000. In addition, more than 5 million people who recently left jail remain under "correctional supervision," which includes parole, probation, and other community sanctions. All told, about one in every 31 adults in the United States is in prison, in jail, or on supervised release. This all comes at a very high price to taxpayers: Local, state, and federal spending on corrections adds up to about $68 billion a year. How would you change the prison system? » Our overcrowded, ill-managed prison systems are places of violence, physical abuse, and hate, making them breeding grounds that perpetuate and magnify the same types of behavior we purport to fear. Post-incarceration re-entry programs are haphazard or, in some places, nonexistent, making it more difficult for former offenders who wish to overcome the stigma of having done prison time and become full, contributing members of society. And, in the face of the movement toward mass incarceration, law-enforcement officials in many parts of the U.S. have been overwhelmed and unable to address a dangerous wave of organized, frequently violent gang activity, much of it run by leaders who are based in other countries. With so many of our citizens in prison compared with the rest of the world, there are only two possibilities: Either we are home to the most evil people on earth or we are doing something different--and vastly counterproductive. Obviously, the answer is the latter. Over the past two decades, we have been incarcerating more and more people for nonviolent crimes and for acts that are driven by mental illness or drug dependence. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 16% of the adult inmates in American prisons and jails--which means more than 350,000 of those locked up--suffer from mental illness, and the percentage in juvenile custody is even higher. Our correctional institutions are also heavily populated by the "criminally ill," including inmates who suffer from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. 1 of 2
paradecom202:http://www.parade.com/news/2009/03/why-we-must-fix-our-prisons.html; Buzz up!
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 11:36 am Recovery in Action: CA, VT, GA, TN, MD, MI, MN The news on the economic front is still grim, but already the recovery package is saving and creating those jobs in towns across the country, stemming losses and spurring growth in ways that affect real families and communities. Here are just a few stories plucked from the local news over the past few days.
California [U.S. News and World Report, 3/9/09]: Obama's Stimulus Keeps the Solar Power Dream Alive for Start-ups… When the $787 billion stimulus bill was signed in February, there were more than a few sighs of relief at BrightSource. The bill showered renewable energy with new funds, including $60 billion in loan guarantees for companies building wind and solar plants. BrightSource was among a small group of start-ups that had already been selected for Department of Energy loans, but the stimulus vastly increased the funds available. It also loosened rules governing tax credits, greatly expanding the pool of potential investors. After months of wondering where to turn for funding, BrightSource had been given a reprieve. "Now, all of a sudden," says Jenkins-Stark, "I have a very different worry proposition for half the capital of our project."
Vermont [WCAX TV, 3/9/09]: Governor Jim Douglas hauled out the barricade to officially close the Bridge Street bridge to traffic. Such construction doesn't usually draw this much attention, but it's the first project in the state to put federal stimulus dollars to work… Eleven projects have finished or nearly finished the bidding process. Among them are plans for improving or replacing bridges in Barre, Brownington, and East Montpelier, and paving roads in Colchester, Rockingham and Royalton. Together, the 11 projects use $33.6 million in federal stimulus funding. Another 20 projects are already scheduled to go out to bid.
Georgia [WJBF, 3/5/09]: Virginia Lequeux, lives in Peabody Apartments: "My whole apartment, I mean I’ve been blessed…blessed." Just recently she was upgraded to a newly renovated floor. New security cameras, laundry facility and even a dishwasher in her apartment. Up until about a year ago, that was the plan for the whole building…but then the money ran out. Richard Arfman, Augusta Housing Authority, Director of Planning and Development: "It was first built back in 1967 and there are 250 units in there and it’s designated for seniors. So it was built in ‘67, some of the insides needed some work done, especially the plumbing, mechanical and electrical systems." But things are looking up again for this public housing high rise. $6.1 million was given to Augusta’s Housing Authority…just enough to finish renovations to the remaining 6 floors.
Tennessee [WTVF News Channel 5, 3/9/09]: Tennessee will put nearly 12,000 young adults to work while providing free labor to businesses as part of the economic stimulus package. Unemployment numbers across the nation. According to the numbers, teens and young adults are among the hardest hit… Help is coming soon. The Tennessee Department of Labor has received $25 million to provide summer jobs for thousands of youth across the state. "Basically, employers fill out the time sheets, the department pays the paycheck and kids get the employment. Everybody wins in this situation," says Jeff Hentchel with the Department of Labor. "Whether its sweeping, emptying trash cans, painting tables."
Maryland [Baltimore Sun, 3/10/09]: Maryland is receiving more than $1 billion in federal stimulus money earmarked for education, and Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday he would use some of it to increase funding for community colleges and maintain the freeze on undergraduate tuition at state universities. The governor's initial budget for next year did not include an increase for community colleges, which are seeing thousands more students enroll to gain new skills to help them find jobs in the recession. But with the stimulus money, O'Malley is increasing state aid by 5 percent over the next two years.
Michigan [Michigan Messenger, 3/9/09]: Jackson Police Chief Matt Heins said Monday in a phone interview that federal stimulus grants announced last week will help him save four positions in his department. The money, released by the White House, was part of the Justice Assistance Grants (JAG) program administered by the Justice Department. Heins said he had planned on eliminating four posts — one that was currently empty and three that were currently filled. But with the money from JAG, the police chief said he will be able to protect those positions from elimination.
Minnesota [Finance and Commerce, 3/9/09]: A series of federal stimulus projects in Minnesota are about to graduate from concept to signed contract. On Friday, the Minnesota Department of Transportation plans to award contracts for a series of highway projects to be paid for by the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which includes $502 million for Minnesota highways and bridges and $92 million for transit.
