23 December 2006
This is what happens when Bush gets to pack the courts...
U.S. quadruples toxic release limit
Change threatens database that helps to curb emissions
DENNIS BUECKERT
CP
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Efforts to curb pollution in North America have taken a blow from a U.S. decision this week to exempt thousands of facilities from having to publicly report their toxic releases.
In a little-noticed move, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency quadrupled the threshold for toxic releases that do not have to be publicly reported.
Experts say the change threatens a key NAFTA database that has proven to be a powerful tool in curbing emissions.
"This will likely result in less reporting - some chemicals may not even come up into the public view," said Keith Chanon, a senior official at the Montreal-based Commission for Environmental Co-operation.
Every year, the commission publishes a report, Taking Stock, listing releases of 200 chemicals identified by the U.S. and Canadian governments as being of health and environmental concern.
The report, published since 1993, identifies the worst polluters and ranks jurisdictions according to their emission levels. It generates extensive media attention and is widely credited with bringing levels down.
"Bringing this information out into the public eye has helped to make companies much more accountable in their chemical uses and releases, and has thus resulted in them taking action," Chanon said.
Under the new rules, U.S. facilities will not be required to file reports if they release less than 4,100 kilograms, compared with the previous threshold of 1,100 kilograms.
It will now be hard to compare U.S. releases with those in Canada, which has no equivalent threshold. Yet data comparability is a stated goal of the three NAFTA countries, Chanon said.
"Comparability enables us to look across North America and look at trends. If there is a large divergence between Canada and the U.S., it points to some kind of technology gap and shows there might be a better process."
Tom Natan, research director with U.S.-based National Environmental Trust, says 3,600 U.S. facilities will no longer have to file reports - 15 per cent of the total.
Most of those are smaller facilities where releases have been rising fastest, he said.
"If we're not getting information from these, we have every reason to think emissions will increase," he said.
"Every year, we learn that smaller and smaller amounts of exposure to toxic chemicals can cause harm. So for the EPA to have said we think releases before this threshold are safe is absurd on its face."
Fe de Leon of the Canadian Environmental Law Association said she is very disappointed at the EPA decision.
"What does this mean? Will Canada follow suit? That would be a dangerous path to follow."
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2006
Change threatens database that helps to curb emissions
DENNIS BUECKERT
CP
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Efforts to curb pollution in North America have taken a blow from a U.S. decision this week to exempt thousands of facilities from having to publicly report their toxic releases.
In a little-noticed move, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency quadrupled the threshold for toxic releases that do not have to be publicly reported.
Experts say the change threatens a key NAFTA database that has proven to be a powerful tool in curbing emissions.
"This will likely result in less reporting - some chemicals may not even come up into the public view," said Keith Chanon, a senior official at the Montreal-based Commission for Environmental Co-operation.
Every year, the commission publishes a report, Taking Stock, listing releases of 200 chemicals identified by the U.S. and Canadian governments as being of health and environmental concern.
The report, published since 1993, identifies the worst polluters and ranks jurisdictions according to their emission levels. It generates extensive media attention and is widely credited with bringing levels down.
"Bringing this information out into the public eye has helped to make companies much more accountable in their chemical uses and releases, and has thus resulted in them taking action," Chanon said.
Under the new rules, U.S. facilities will not be required to file reports if they release less than 4,100 kilograms, compared with the previous threshold of 1,100 kilograms.
It will now be hard to compare U.S. releases with those in Canada, which has no equivalent threshold. Yet data comparability is a stated goal of the three NAFTA countries, Chanon said.
"Comparability enables us to look across North America and look at trends. If there is a large divergence between Canada and the U.S., it points to some kind of technology gap and shows there might be a better process."
Tom Natan, research director with U.S.-based National Environmental Trust, says 3,600 U.S. facilities will no longer have to file reports - 15 per cent of the total.
Most of those are smaller facilities where releases have been rising fastest, he said.
"If we're not getting information from these, we have every reason to think emissions will increase," he said.
"Every year, we learn that smaller and smaller amounts of exposure to toxic chemicals can cause harm. So for the EPA to have said we think releases before this threshold are safe is absurd on its face."
Fe de Leon of the Canadian Environmental Law Association said she is very disappointed at the EPA decision.
"What does this mean? Will Canada follow suit? That would be a dangerous path to follow."
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2006
22 December 2006
Help out the Coup and Mr. Lif
The following is from a letter written by Boots Riley of The Coup. Please read it and help them out if you can!
So, we got on the bus after doing a show at The House of Blues San Diego as part of The Coup/Mr. Lif tour. As the bus took off, I thought that I would go lay in my bunk, listen to my Ipod, and write. But then Zhara, Mr. Lif's friend and the tour's merchandise seller, announced that she had "Anchorman" on DVD. Oh Shit. Will Ferrell or writing? Hot 16s would have to wait tonight…Good Night San Diego! So I stayed up in the front lounge of the bus and, even though I've seen this movie twice, commenced to laugh my ass off. Almost literally, because of what happened next. Shortly after the acapella singing of "Afternoon Delight" by Ferrell et al., a big bump, then another, then plummeting down as we tipped over to the left. I was sitting in the diner-like booth that many of these buses have in the front. I held on to the table with one hand and tried to guard my head with the other, all the while thinking that I was probably about to die. I don't remember seeing everyone flying and flipping around me as it was happening, but Carter's (the road manager) and Wiz's face were covered in blood, and everybody seemed to be laying around hurt. The bus was on it's side, with the entrance door up. I called for people to say there names so we could get a head count of who was conscious or not. Silk E, Q (drums), Riccol (bass), and Metro (Lif's hype man) were trapped in the back lounge because the doors connecting the front and back lounges to the bunks were electrically powered and didn't move with no power on. They ended up ripping and squeezing their way out of a tiny little window and jumped down off the bus as the rest of us got out the front. If anyone had been sleeping in the bunks, they would not have been able to get out. I was the third person to jump off the front of the bus, as I hung down to make the jump shorter, I saw that the front of the bus was on fire. I yelled to everyone, saying to get off the bus immediately because the bus was on fire and it could blow up. We all did. No one was killed. The bus was totally engulfed in flames. For a while no one stopped to help, supposedly because the thought we were "illegal aliens" crossing the border. Eventually some great folks stopped and helped. Silk E has two broken ribs and a punctured lung. Wiz has a broken nose, two deep lacerations to the head, and a shattered knee. Zhara has injuries to her hand and had to undergo surgery. Carter had to get stitches to his head and lip. The driver, Glenn, has a broken jaw. All the first three will be in need of follow-up treatments. We all have aching backs, legs, heads etc. Many of us are on pain killers.
We lost everything in that crash and fire. We were packed to live and do shows on that bus for a month. Most of us had every stitch of clothing we owned on there. We lost clothes, computers, recording equipment, cameras, IDs, phones, keys to cars and homes. We lost cash.We lost all our damn instruments and equipment to perform with. We were and are happy to walk away with our lives. But now we're home. Most of the band touring with The Coup has kids, rent that won't quit, bills, and holiday expenses coming. We need money, because like I said the band doesn't have the tools that they make a living with. Not only did we lose cash and material things on the bus, but we also were depending on this tour for money to make it through. It may take a year for us to see any money from the insurance company.
I have set up a Paypal account so people can make donations for The Coup. The money will be split between Me (Boots Riley), Silk E, Q, Steve Wyreman (guitar), and Riccol. Mr. Lif is setting one up on his site and when I have that info, we'll let you know.
To make a donation, hit button in the "about" section on the front page of this profile, right below the paragraph and above the "We Are The Ones" video. This allows you to donate even without a paypal account.
http://www.myspace.com/thecoupmusic
If you have an account, ours is thecoupbuscrash@gmail.com. Thank you in advance to anyone who does this, this is a really crazy situation. I never thought I would would be doing something like this. I also never thought that we would almost die like like that.
We're grateful for anything you can do.
Thank you,
Boots Riley
P.S. Thank you for the messages of love and warmth we've been receiving. It makes a difference
So, we got on the bus after doing a show at The House of Blues San Diego as part of The Coup/Mr. Lif tour. As the bus took off, I thought that I would go lay in my bunk, listen to my Ipod, and write. But then Zhara, Mr. Lif's friend and the tour's merchandise seller, announced that she had "Anchorman" on DVD. Oh Shit. Will Ferrell or writing? Hot 16s would have to wait tonight…Good Night San Diego! So I stayed up in the front lounge of the bus and, even though I've seen this movie twice, commenced to laugh my ass off. Almost literally, because of what happened next. Shortly after the acapella singing of "Afternoon Delight" by Ferrell et al., a big bump, then another, then plummeting down as we tipped over to the left. I was sitting in the diner-like booth that many of these buses have in the front. I held on to the table with one hand and tried to guard my head with the other, all the while thinking that I was probably about to die. I don't remember seeing everyone flying and flipping around me as it was happening, but Carter's (the road manager) and Wiz's face were covered in blood, and everybody seemed to be laying around hurt. The bus was on it's side, with the entrance door up. I called for people to say there names so we could get a head count of who was conscious or not. Silk E, Q (drums), Riccol (bass), and Metro (Lif's hype man) were trapped in the back lounge because the doors connecting the front and back lounges to the bunks were electrically powered and didn't move with no power on. They ended up ripping and squeezing their way out of a tiny little window and jumped down off the bus as the rest of us got out the front. If anyone had been sleeping in the bunks, they would not have been able to get out. I was the third person to jump off the front of the bus, as I hung down to make the jump shorter, I saw that the front of the bus was on fire. I yelled to everyone, saying to get off the bus immediately because the bus was on fire and it could blow up. We all did. No one was killed. The bus was totally engulfed in flames. For a while no one stopped to help, supposedly because the thought we were "illegal aliens" crossing the border. Eventually some great folks stopped and helped. Silk E has two broken ribs and a punctured lung. Wiz has a broken nose, two deep lacerations to the head, and a shattered knee. Zhara has injuries to her hand and had to undergo surgery. Carter had to get stitches to his head and lip. The driver, Glenn, has a broken jaw. All the first three will be in need of follow-up treatments. We all have aching backs, legs, heads etc. Many of us are on pain killers.
We lost everything in that crash and fire. We were packed to live and do shows on that bus for a month. Most of us had every stitch of clothing we owned on there. We lost clothes, computers, recording equipment, cameras, IDs, phones, keys to cars and homes. We lost cash.We lost all our damn instruments and equipment to perform with. We were and are happy to walk away with our lives. But now we're home. Most of the band touring with The Coup has kids, rent that won't quit, bills, and holiday expenses coming. We need money, because like I said the band doesn't have the tools that they make a living with. Not only did we lose cash and material things on the bus, but we also were depending on this tour for money to make it through. It may take a year for us to see any money from the insurance company.
I have set up a Paypal account so people can make donations for The Coup. The money will be split between Me (Boots Riley), Silk E, Q, Steve Wyreman (guitar), and Riccol. Mr. Lif is setting one up on his site and when I have that info, we'll let you know.
To make a donation, hit button in the "about" section on the front page of this profile, right below the paragraph and above the "We Are The Ones" video. This allows you to donate even without a paypal account.
http://www.myspace.com/thecoupmusic
If you have an account, ours is thecoupbuscrash@gmail.com. Thank you in advance to anyone who does this, this is a really crazy situation. I never thought I would would be doing something like this. I also never thought that we would almost die like like that.
We're grateful for anything you can do.
Thank you,
Boots Riley
P.S. Thank you for the messages of love and warmth we've been receiving. It makes a difference
21 December 2006
Dreams from my (poligimist, harvard alumni, Luo Tribesman) Father
Just finished the first offering from Senator Obama. It's an amazing tapestry of a life lived with an air of positivity and self awakening spread across multiple continents and family situations. It's also one of the most progressive conversations ever published on race relations as told through the experience of an amazing un-jaded protaganist that doesn't fault anyone for previous political/social mistakes. If he makes it past the initial press vetting for the Democratic primary, I might not be bloggoing about shoes/material goods/news for a while as I will be working to try and make our country better. I suggest you give this man a chance. His other book, "The Audacity of Hope," is also amazing... but... it does come off a lot more political and academic (which might be a good thing in a presidential candidate - as opposed to unbridaled dipshits). Still well worth the read. If Obama can get Mr. Daniel Foss below to endorse anything political... That makes me hopeful for the future... 'Cause there is no more cynical/jaded mind than that of a Crimmins talking about politics.
16 December 2006
They watch FOX so we don't have to.
This maybe be old news to some of you but it was new to me, check out www.newshounds.us. I'll grant that it's a bit more of a leftist view; but propoganda is propoganda and if they can spend so much money on theirs the least we can do is spend a little time with ours. As a side note presidencial campaign or not I fully support Barack Hussein Obama Jr. bun ba bun ba.
12 December 2006
JOE COMPEAN "DISSENT" at BAR NONE, Rogers Park
Joe Compean
Dissent
A photo-essay on protests during wartime.
Joe Compean is a photographer that specializes in photo-documentary. In his
series “Dissent”, Compean documents the protests and rallies that have taken
place in Chicago and around the country in recent years. The photographs are
exhibited as transparencies housed in custom-made light boxes.
http://www.compeanphotography.com/
All the photos are transparencies housed in custom-made light boxes.
Everything is for sale and priced for the holidays.
Music Courtesy of
DJ TVOE
http://web.mac.com/tevohoward
Chicago
OPENING RECEPTION:
Saturday Dec. 16th, 7pm-12pm
Bar None, Rogers Park
6962 N. Glenwood Ave. (between Morse & Lunt)
Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=6962+N+Glenwood,+Chicago,+IL
11 December 2006
She opened up the closet... and out came fucking jesus...
Part one:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1729706
Part two:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1729721
Part three:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1729722
Bad Taste? Yes. Ultimate compliment to Kells? Dooot Yes.
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1729706
Part two:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1729721
Part three:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1729722
Bad Taste? Yes. Ultimate compliment to Kells? Dooot Yes.
10 December 2006
08 December 2006
Boutique is Tonight!
Come out and get intoxicated with HolyZapatos, St. Alfreds, and Expensive Stains at Boutique.
05 December 2006
DVS In4mation contest at SlamxHype.com
These are my favorite shoes of the year. Tighter than your sisters box. Click on the photo to enter and win a pair.
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