A coalition of global unions called on South Korea today to “honour its international commitments and respect workers’ rights” as G20 leaders prepared for a key summit in Seoul: here.
Demonstration in Seoul: here.
G20 leaders refused to support the US campaign to get China to let its currency rise today and in so doing highlighted the indebted Washington government’s waning international influence: here.
On 7 November, from the bridge near the sewage works, a male red-crested pochard, and a great crested grebe gulping down a fish.
Near the entrance of the nature reserve, the bearded tooth fungus is still there, though by now it is old and brown.
Bearded tooth fungus in Epe: here.
A bit further, porcelain fungi.
Great spotted woodpecker and jay.
Coniferous forests and fungi: see here.
Winter fungi of Texel: here.
From Wikipedia:
Jack Levine (January 3, 1915 – November 8, 2010) was an American Social Realist painter and printmaker best known for his satires on modern life, political corruption, and biblical narratives.Born of Lithuanian Jewish parents, Levine grew up in the South End of Boston, where he observed a street life composed of European immigrants and a prevalence of poverty and societal ills, subjects which would inform his work. He first studied drawing with Harold K. Zimmerman from 1924-1931. At Harvard University from 1929 to 1933, Levine and classmate Hyman Bloom studied with Denman Ross. As an adolescent, Levine was already, by his own account, “a formidable draftsman”. In 1932 Ross included Levine’s drawings in an exhibition at the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard, and three years later bequeathed twenty drawings by Levine to the museum’s collection. Levine’s early work was most influenced by Bloom, Chaim Soutine, Georges Rouault, and Oskar Kokoschka. Along with Bloom and Karl Zerbe, he became associated with the style known as Boston Expressionism. …
From 1935 to 1940 he was employed by the Works Progress Administration. His first exhibition of paintings in New York City was at the Museum of Modern Art, with the display of Card Game and Brain Trust, the latter drawn from his observation of life in the Boston Common. In 1937 his The Feast of Pure Reason, a satire of Boston political power, was placed on loan to the Museum of Modern Art. In the same year String Quartet was shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and purchased in 1942 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The death of his father in 1939 prompted a series of paintings of Jewish sages.
From 1942 to 1945 Levine served in the Army. Upon his discharge from service he painted Welcome Home, a lampoon of the arrogance of military power; years later the painting would engender political controversy when it was included in a show of art in Moscow, and along with works by other American artists, raised suspicions in the House Un-American Activities Committee of pro-Communist sympathies. …In the 1960s Levine responded not only to political unrest in the United States with works such as Birmingham ’63, but to international subjects as well, as in The Spanish Prison (1959–62), and later still, Panethnikon (1978), and The Arms Brokers, 1982-83. …
Levine passed away at his home in Manhattan on November 8, 2010 at the age of 95.
See also here.
This video from the USA says about itself:
God speaks to Bush through RumsfeldKeith Olbermann describes how Rumsfeld’s Intelligence briefings on Iraq were couched in Bible quotes.
From the Irish Times:
Thursday, November 11, 2010Schröder rejects Bush assertion he initially backed US-led war on Iraq
DEREK SCALLY in Berlin
FORMER GERMAN chancellor Gerhard Schröder has dismissed as “untrue” claims that, initially, he was a supporter of a US-led war on Iraq.
The claim, made by former US president George W Bush in his memoirs, has revived an old enmity between the two leaders that damaged bilateral relations ahead of the Iraq war.
In his memoir Decision Points, Mr Bush remembers hitting it off with Mr Schröder initially and being impressed by his support after the September 11th attacks.
Just four months later, in January 2002, Mr Bush recalls discussing with Mr Schröder the growing stand-off between the US and Saddam Hussein over allegations that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.
After he judged diplomacy with Iraq had been exhausted, Mr Bush recalls in his memoirs telling the German leader how he was prepared to use military force against Iraq.
According to Mr Bush, Mr Schröder replied: “What is true of Afghanistan is true of Iraq. Nations that sponsor terror must face consequences. If you make it fast and make it decisive, I will be with you.”
Mr Bush said he took this as a “statement of support” and was dismayed when Mr Schröder took a different view later that year.
“As someone who valued personal diplomacy, I put a high premium on trust,” wrote Mr Bush. “Once that trust was violated, it was hard to have a constructive relationship again.”
In the autumn of 2002, Mr Schröder came from behind to win re-election after using stump speeches to denounce the US “military misadventures” in Iraq.
Yesterday the German leader said his January 2002 support for an invasion of Iraq was not as presented by Mr Bush. “The former president of the United States is not telling the truth,” he said.
“I made clear that Germany would stand beside the US should Iraq . . . prove to have provided protection and hospitality to al-Qaeda fighters. As it became clear during 2002, this connection was false and misconstrued.”
In his own memoirs, Mr Schröder was far from flattering of the US president, dismissing his “near-biblical semantics”.
He expressed concern that Mr Bush gave the impression that his “political decisions are a result of this conversation with God”.
According to Mr Schröder’s former spokesman Uwe Karsten-Heye, Berlin realised early on that they were dealing with a man of a “low intelligence threshold who had no idea what was going on”.
See also here.
US activists, inspired by the British campaign against Tony Blair‘s book, vow to move George Bush’s memoir into bookshop crime sections: here.
Sign the petition: Demand an Investigation of Former Pres. George W. Bush for Torture: here.
USA: Jon Soltz, VoteVets Founder, War Critic, Called Up For Military Service In Iraq: here.
Senior British officers could face war crimes trial over alleged Iraqi abuse: here.
UK Guardian Releases British Torture Tape: here.
Further allegations of British war crimes in Iraq emerged in the High Court in London last week: here.
Former Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi and members of his Iraqiya bloc walked out of parliament on Thursday – three hours into a parliamentary session that was supposed to approve an agreement on a new unity government: here.
Anti-Christian violence in Iraq: here.
Iraqi war refugees in Syria are legally barred from work while they wait for resettlement. For single women the risk of forced prostitution and sex trafficking is so high that a U.S. legal advocate says they deserve priority refugee status: here.
Amnesty International UK called on Britain today to comply with the European Court of Human Rights and halt the deportation of Iraqi refugees whose asylum applications have been rejected: here.
Remaining British troops ‘to leave Iraq in spring’: here.
Some birds which are rare in western Europe, are not rare in Africa, north America, or east Asia.
And some birds which are common winter migrants in parts of western Europe, are rare winter visitors in east Asia.
From the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong:
Treat for birdwatchers as four rare visitors touch down at Mai PoCheung Chi-fai
Nov 11, 2010
A cold spell from the north has brought new visitors to Mai Po Nature Reserve – a small flock of migratory wild bean geese from Siberia.
This is a video from Spain about a bean goose (and a gray lag goose and a coot).
Wildlife in China: here.
By Tom Peters:
New Zealand government attacks film workers, gives millions to Hobbit producers11 November 2010
On October 27, following discussions with Warner Brothers executives, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced that tax rebates and marketing subsidies for the two-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit would be increased by $US25 million—bringing the total subsidy to around $US75 million out of the project’s $500 million budget.
The next day, Key’s conservative National Party government passed a law making every worker in the film industry an “independent contractor” by default. While most actors are hired as independent contractors already, the law removes their right to challenge the designation. It strips actors, technicians, make-up artists and anyone else “engaged in film production work” of the limited legal protections available to employees, including sick leave, holiday pay, workplace accident insurance and protection against unjustified dismissal.
As independent contractors, film workers have no legal right to enter into collective contract negotiations or take industrial action over wages and conditions.
Warner Bros and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), the owners of The Hobbit, had threatened to move production to another location, such as Britain or Eastern Europe. Key told a press conference that the increased subsidies were needed “to improve New Zealand’s competitiveness as a film destination for large budget films”. The increased value of the New Zealand dollar over the past two years—from 55 to 75 US cents—has pushed up costs for the Hollywood studios. Key told the New Zealand Herald that “these movies would not be made in New Zealand” without the employment law change to prevent industrial action.
These moves by the government demonstrate its abject subservience to the interests of big business. It has already been involved in carrying out austerity measures designed to make the working class pay for the economic crisis—including cuts to health and education spending, an increase in the consumption tax, and legislation to make it easier for workers to be laid off. While it recently justified an effective wage freeze for teachers and other state employees by claiming that “there aren’t bucket loads of new money,” at the same time it slashed corporate tax rates and in September bailed out the failed company South Canterbury Finance with $NZ1.7 billion ($US1.35 billion) in public funds.
The attack on film workers was prepared by a reactionary and nationalist campaign, spearheaded by Hobbit director and producer Sir Peter Jackson. The director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy demanded that the government do everything in its power to appease Warner Bros, while demonising actors who were seeking to improve their working conditions. Actors are among New Zealand’s lowest paid workers, receiving an average wage of just $NZ28,500 ($US22,670) per year, according to New Zealand Actors Equity.
The studios’ threats were issued after a breakdown in their relations with the unions representing film actors.
Racism in hiring Hobbit actors: here.
The London Socialist Film Co-op’s mission couldn’t be further removed from the big-money swagger of the Hollywood blockbusters premiered in Leicester Square a stone’s throw away from its Brunswick Square base: here.
This video from the USA says about itself:
Native American Tribe faces the BP Oil SpillThe Atakapa Ishak tribe of coastal Louisiana has inhabited the region for time without number. In the 21st century they still maintain a lifestyle and culture that is inherited from their ancestors. Now, in the wake of the BP Oil Spill, they struggle to keep their identity and their way of life.
USA: The findings of the White House commission into the BP oil spill are a cover-up of BP’s culpability in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to Rick Steiner, a biologist specializing in oil spills: here.
United States: BP’s ‘cure’ is killing in the Gulf: here.
Where Is The Gulf Oil? In The Food Web, Says Study; ‘Shadows’ Of Spill Appear In The Bodies Of Plankton: here.
A large number of BP’s pipelines on Alaska’s North Slope are severely corroded and in danger of rupturing, an internal BP maintenance report obtained by investigative journalism group ProPublica, revealed on November 2: here.
Why An Arctic Oil Spill Would Be Really, Really Bad: here.
Almost everyone can agree that, however bad the Deepwater Horizon oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico was, a major spill in an icy Arctic sea would be worse. How much worse? A new report commissioned by the Pew Environment Group tries to examine that question, and the answer is: Get ready for a cleanup that could take years: here.
November 2010: Communities of dead and dying corals and starfish-like brittle stars have been discovered near the Deep Water Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico: here.
Gulf Spill Linked to BP’s Lack of ‘Discipline’. Engineers’ Report Blames Oil Giant for Failing to Ensure That Safety Trumped Cost; Regulators’ Technical Acumen Is Panned: here. And here.
A new report on the causes of the Deepwater Horizon disaster provides new evidence of negligence on the part of BP: here.
Olivia has drawn pictures of birds and raised $150,000. for Audubon to help with efforts to clean up birds soaked in oil in the Gulf. So far the counted number of birds who have died is 8,000, but the actual number is much higher because off shore birds may have died in the thousands without our knowing about it. Then there are the sea turtles, the dolphins, the many many nesting grounds: here.
Deepwater corals dead and dying; Gulf oil spill to blame: here.
Campaign group Greenpeace filed papers with the High Court in London today in a bid to stop offshore drilling in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster: here.
The Arctic Drilling We Might Start Doing Is Much Riskier Than Gulf Drilling: here.
Washington – Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday that the United States is filing a lawsuit against BP and its partners in the Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico claiming their negligence led to the massive spill that sent millions of barrels of crude into the Gulf during the spring and summer: here.
Mike Ludwig, Truthout: “Just 18 months before the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, British Petroleum (BP) evacuated 211 platform workers from a BP platform in the Caspian Sea after an undersea well blowout caused a potentially explosive gas leak, according to US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks. Wikileaks released cables detailing the 2008 BP platform blowout off the coast of Azerbaijan just hours after the US Department of Justice announced a civil lawsuit against BP for contaminating the Gulf of Mexico with millions of gallons of oil”: here.
Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours: here.
Records Show Concerns About Another BP Rig: here.
This video from the USA, 19 December 2007, is called Dan Abrams – Destruction of CIA Torture Tapes.
USA: The Obama administration will not prosecute CIA officials for destroying 92 video recordings depicting agents torturing alleged al Qaeda leaders in a secret overseas prison: here.
Denmark and CIA secret prisoner transport: here.
This is a video from Schiermonnikoog island in the Netherlands, from 26 October 2010, of a young female desert wheatear. Not a rare bird in, eg, Morocco, but very rare in the Netherlands.
England: Staff at the Essex Wildlife Trust said a female desert wheatear was spotted at its Abberton Reservoir centre: here.
