Let’s imagine a world without warnings, or guides and a universe filled with safe products and do good business’ whose sole ambition is not profitability but the betterment of mankind. O.K now that we finished our little journey into la al land we can now ask ourselves and our dear friends at the EPA if they were lost in la la land when deciding to distribute pesticide labels electronically, in lieu of traditional labeling. Yes - you read it right. The EPA is planning on pulling all labels off pesticides, including instructions for proper use. The move clearly is raising more than a few eye brows. Are pesticide companies trying to save all the trees used for labels? What possible “do good spin” can they put on this absurd decision?
“Benefits from using this system will include faster access to new pesticide uses, quicker implementation of protective measures for public health and the environment, improved compliance with label directions, and lower costs for industry and EPA,” the agency said May 12 in a statement on its pesticides website. Well, we believe the last part. The utterly absurd system will rely on users to contact either the pesticide labeling website or a toll-free telephone number to obtain the detailed-use instructions that previously were attached to pesticide containers, EPA said. So let me just get this straight - their method of protecting public health is by removing labels off toxic chemicals and asking consumers to call toll free numbers or access web site? Huh? Are they installing phones and access to the web at every retail location? What am I missing here?
According to Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides, “EPA knows historically from its label improvement program that it has a difficult time getting people to read labels. Instead of further removing labels from the consumer’s sight, EPA should be enhancing label information and design to ensure better disclosure of product hazards so that consumers can make better decisions regarding pesticide product purchase and use.”
This past Fall the EPA said in its presentation on electronic labeling that it “may replace the Directions for Use on the physical container,” but that the “container label would still have all FIFRA mandated elements, e.g. product name, registration number, net contents, and ingredients (I am guessing without a dictionary enclosed). ” The enforcement of the new system as described last fall involved a number of steps, including that “users would need to have a copy of the labeling from the website at the time of application” and “labeling would be good for a specified duration of time (e.g. six months) from the date of ‘printing.’” Cumbersome, inconvenient, unrealistic and clearly not serving the best interests or safety of the consumer - the EPA misses the mark yet again.
“My friends, I will have an energy policy which will eliminate our dependence on oil from Middle East that will then prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.”
Ahmadinejad arrived in Islamabad on Monday for a four-hour visit with newly elected Prime Minister Reza Gilani and President Pervez Musharraf, according to Pakistan’s information ministry. Later in the day, he heads to Sri Lanka before traveling to New Delhi late Tuesday for a short visit, according to Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA.
The pipeline, if built, would be about 2,700 kilometers (1,674 miles) long.
Pakistan and India, both key U.S. allies, are under pressure from the United States not to sign any kind of agreement with Iran.
Some observers have called the project “the peace pipeline” because of its perceived impact on reducing tension between India and Pakistan, nuclear neighbors that have fought three wars, two of them over the disputed Kashmir region.
The gas pipeline project, which has been in discussions for over a year, is aimed at supplying Iranian natural gas to Pakistan and India. The pipeline would run from Iran to India, cutting through Pakistan.
According to Fars, Ahmadinejad’s visit comes after Pakistani and Indian energy ministers signed an agreement last week, once they had resolved a major “bone of contention” regarding the route of the gas pipeline.
“Now that all sides have calmed down, President Ahmadinejad will discuss the ‘Peace Pipeline’ at the highest levels during his visit to the Sub-Continent,” Fars said.
Under the agreement, the pipeline will run through 1,100 kilometers (682 miles) of Iran, 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) of Pakistan and 600 kilometers (372 miles) of India, according to Fars.
“The pipeline will be capable of daily transporting 150 million cubic meters of gas to Pakistan and India — 90 million cubic meters will go to India and the rest will go to Pakistan,” Fars said.
“The pipeline project was initially estimated to cost $4.5 billion, but the cost has been revised to around $7 billion.”
The United States recently tried to scuttle the pipeline by offering India advanced nuclear technology to make up for the loss of Iranian gas. But Fars reported that India recently declared its readiness to participate in the discussions on the pipeline after more than a year.
China — Iran’s largest trade partner followed by India — has previously said that it would negotiate in India’s place if New Delhi withdraws from the project, according to Fars. China borders Pakistan to the north.
A top adviser to the Iranian president spoke on the eve of Ahmadinejad’s visit about the importance of oil and gas when it comes to putting Western powers “in their place,” according to Fars.
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“Oil and gas are two elements of power at the disposal of the Muslims,” Gen. Yahya Safavi said Sunday, according to Fars.
“If it (the power) be viewed properly (with wisdom) and within the framework of the interests of Islam and Muslims, one can then put the hegemonic powers back in their place.”
A Chicago man who was in critical condition for five days after police used a Taser to subdue him outside an Ohio bar died Thursday evening.
Kevin Piskura, 24, was pronounced dead at 4:17 p.m. Chicago time of injuries suffered when police in Oxford, Ohio, fired the stun gun at him early Saturday morning.
At the Cincinnati hospital where he was transferred, Piskura was surrounded by friends and family who had been keeping a vigil.
According to police, Piskura was fighting with an officer and ignored warnings to stop. A 2006 graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Piskura grew up in Ohio, but he moved to Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood after graduation.
(Family photo)
In a statement released through the hospital, the Piskura family said they were overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and thanked medical staff for their efforts. They asked for privacy and patience as the incident is investigated, “lest tragedy lead to more tragedy.”
“No one feels this loss more deeply than we do; however, we still request that people refrain from rash judgment and wait until the independent investigation of this event is complete,” the statement said. Piskura’s father, Charles, was a police officer in Bedford, Ohio, for nearly 30 years before retiring in 2000. The officer who fired the Taser has been put on paid administrative leave.
BREAKING NEWS, CNN Money stumbled on to some truth. I was surprised to see this story on CNN Video. They obviously didn’t go far enough, but at least they are willing to mention it.
It just shows the masses that this really is happening, and unless we come together to stop it, we are going to lose a lot more than our sovereignty as a nation.
Obama is the lead sponsor of U.S. Senate bill S.2433 that most people never even heard about - his $845 BILLION Global Poverty Act
More of the socialist agenda to redistribute the wealth that we no longer have to the rest of the WORLD when the US is already in financial straits. Shouldn’t charity begin at home?
Again - Obama’s actions contradict his words.
US National Debt is now over $9.3 TRILLION.
I guess this is part of the CHANGE Obama keeps talking about.
The leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada defended the 14-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) at the conclusion of an annual summit here on Tuesday.
“Now is not the time to renegotiate NAFTA or walk away from NAFTA. Now is the time to make it work better for all our people and now is time to reduce trade barriers worldwide,” Bush told a joint news conference with his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Turning on an abortive bill on a free trade agreement with Columbia, Bush blamed Democrats for their efforts to block it on Congress.
“It makes no sense to me to say that Columbian goods can come into our country duty free, yet our goods can’t go into Columbia duty free,” Bush said.
He said that a failure by the U.S. Congress to pass the agreement would send “a terrible signal” to neighboring countries.
“An agreement with Columbia would level the playing field,” he said, adding that it was a “bad decision” for Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, to have blocked a vote on the deal.
Pelosi has refused to schedule a vote on the agreement with Columbia, a move Bush said could effectively kill it this year.
U.S. Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who are locked in a bitter struggle for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination, have threatened to renegotiate NAFTA or even pull back from it if elected.
Bush also expressed concern over the rising prices of oil for U.S. consumers as it surged to a fresh high above 119 U.S. dollars a barrel.
But he denied that the U.S. economy is being dragged down into a recession by the subprime mortgages meltdown.
“We are not in a recession, we are in a slowdown,” said Bush, who has repeatedly expressed confidence in the resilience of the U.S. economy.
Echoing Bush’s comments, Calderon said that “this is not the time to even think about amending it or canceling it.”
“This is the time to strengthen and reinvigorate this free trade agreement among our three countries,” Calderon said.
The Mexican president said that NAFTA has helped create jobs, improved services and enhanced people’s quality of life and that “we want these benefits to reach more and more of our citizens.”
Calderon announced that the next North American Leaders’ Summit will be held in Mexico in 2009.
In his remarks, Harper said NAFTA was “critically important” for jobs and posterity on both sides of the border, saying that it would be a mistake to renegotiate it.
Harper stressed the importance of energy security, describing it as a “critical part of NAFTA arrangements.”
“Canada is the biggest and most stable supplier of energy to the United States in the world,” said the prime minister.
The press conference capped the North American leaders’ annual summit under the framework of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) launched in March 2005.
Earlier in the day, they met with top business leaders from the three countries before heading into formal talks.
Apart from the free trade issue, the three leaders also spent the two days at the summit discussing broad topics such as food safety, emergency responses, energy supply, border security, environmental protection and organized crime.
Border patrol says they wont arrest anyone smuggling less then 500 pounds. 99.9% will be home for dinner in time. The drug war continues to imprison millions of addicts for the smallest amount. While the drug cartels pay off politicians and aren’t held accountable. Time to run for the border.
Recent video obtained by CNN gives an inside look at the renewed conflict in Tibet. A new generation of Tibetans are starting to believe a path of non-violence does not work and threaten guerilla warfare against China.
Let’s imagine a world without warnings, or guides and a universe filled with safe products and do good business’ whose sole ambition is not profitability but the betterment of mankind. O.K now that we finished our little journey into la al land we can now ask ourselves and our dear friends at the EPA if they were lost in la la land when deciding to distribute pesticide labels electronically, in lieu of traditional labeling. Yes - you read it right. The EPA is planning on pulling all labels off pesticides, including instructions for proper use. The move clearly is raising more than a few eye brows. Are pesticide companies trying to save all the trees used for labels? What possible “do good spin” can they put on this absurd decision?
