w h o a r . c o . n z

“..It’s one of those numbers that’s so unbelievable you have to actually think about it for a while…

.. Within the next 12 months, the U.S. Treasury will have to refinance $2 trillion in short-term debt.

And that’s not counting any additional deficit spending .. which is estimated to be around $1.5 trillion.

Put the two numbers together. ..

..Then ask yourself, how in the world can the Treasury borrow $3.5 trillion in only one year?

That’s an amount equal to nearly 30% of our entire GDP.

And we’re the world’s biggest economy.

Where will the money come from?

How did we end up with so much short-term debt?

Like most entities that have far too much debt - whether subprime borrowers, GM, Fannie, or GE - the U.S. Treasury has tried to minimize its interest burden by borrowing for short durations and then “rolling over” the loans when they come due.

As they say on Wall Street, “a rolling debt collects no moss.”

What they mean is, as long as you can extend the debt, you have no problem.

Unfortunately, that leads folks to take on ever greater amounts of debt… at ever shorter durations… at ever lower interest rates.

Sooner or later, the creditors wake up and ask themselves: ..

.. What are the chances I will ever actually be repaid?

And that’s when the trouble starts.

Interest rates go up dramatically.

Funding costs soar.

The party is over.

Bankruptcy is next..”

go to source/story>>The Silver Bear Cafe

“..We’ve now lost 8.4 million jobs in this recession, and a vast majority of them are gone for good.

The politicians are clambering aboard the jobs bandwagon, belatedly..

.. but very few are telling the truth about the structural employment problems in the U.S…

.. and the extremely heavy lift that is necessary to halt our declining living standards ..

.. and get us back to an economy that is self-sustaining.

We don’t hear a lot that is serious about the sorry state of the nation’s infrastructure ..

.. or the trade policies that crippled so many American industries ..

.. or our inability (or unwillingness) to compete effectively with China when it comes to the new world of energy for the 21st century ..

.. or our abject failure to provide a quality public education for the next generation of American workers, scientists, artists and entrepreneurs.

Speaking at a conference here on Wednesday, Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania said that if we don’t act quickly in developing long-term solutions to these and other problems..

.. the United States will be a second-rate economic power by the end of this decade.

A failure to act boldly, he said, will result in the U.S. becoming “a cooked goose.”

Neither the politicians nor much of the mainstream media are spelling out the severity of these enormous structural problems or the sense of urgency needed to address them.

Living standards are sinking in the United States, and there is no coherent vision or plan for reversing that ominous trend over the long term.

The conference was titled, “The Next American Economy: Transforming Energy and Infrastructure Investment.”

It was put together by the Brookings Institution and Lazard, the investment banking advisory firm.

When Governor Rendell addressed the conference on Wednesday, he used words like “stunning” and “unbelievable” to describe what has happened to the nation’s infrastructure.

His words echoed the warnings we’ve been hearing for years from the American Society of Civil Engineers..

.. which tells us: “The broken water mains, gridlocked streets, crumbling dams and levees, and delayed flights that come from failing infrastructure have a negative impact on the checkbook ..

.. and on the quality of life of each and every American.”

The conference was sparked by a sense of dismay over what has happened to the U.S. economy over the past several years and a feeling that constructive ideas about solutions were being smothered by an obsessive focus on the short-term in this society..

.. and by the chronic dysfunction and hyperpartisanship in much of the government..”

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>>  Time Is Running Out      : Information Clearing House -  ICH

“..U.S. President Barack Obama calls the $3.8-trillion US budget he just sent to Congress a major step in restoring America’s economic health.

In fact, it’s another potent fix given to a sick patient deeply addicted to the dangerous drug - debt.

More empires have fallen because of reckless finances than invasion.

The latest example was the Soviet Union, which spent itself into ruin by buying tanks.

Washington’s deficit (the difference between spending and income from taxes) will reach a vertiginous $1.6 trillion US this year.

The huge sum will be borrowed, mostly from China and Japan, to which the U.S. already owes $1.5 trillion.

Debt service will cost $250 billion.

To spend $1 trillion, one would have had to start spending $1 million daily soon after Rome was founded and continue for 2,738 years until today.

Obama’s total military budget is nearly $1 trillion.

This includes Pentagon spending of $880 billion.

Add secret black programs (about $70 billion); military aid to foreign nations like Egypt, Israel and Pakistan; 225,000 military “contractors” (mercenaries and workers); …

.. and veterans’ costs.

Add $75 billion (nearly four times Canada’s total defence budget) for 16 intelligence agencies with 200,000 employees.

The Afghanistan and Iraq wars ($1 trillion so far), will cost $200-250 billion more this year, including hidden and indirect expenses.

Obama’s Afghan “surge” of 30,000 new troops will cost an additional $33 billion - more than Germany’s total defence budget.

No wonder U.S. defence stocks rose after Peace Laureate Obama’s “austerity” budget.

Military and intelligence spending relentlessly increase as unemployment heads over 10% and the economy bleeds red ink.

America has become the Sick Man of the Western Hemisphere, an economic cripple like the defunct Ottoman Empire.

The Pentagon now accounts for half of total world military spending.

Add America’s rich NATO allies and Japan, and the figure reaches 75%.

China and Russia combined spend only a paltry 10% of what the U.S. spends on defence.

There are 750 U.S. military bases in 50 nations and 255,000 service members stationed abroad, 116,000 in Europe, nearly 100,000 in Japan and South Korea.

Military spending gobbles up 19% of federal spending and at least 44% of tax revenues.

During the Bush administration, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars - funded by borrowing - cost each American family more than $25,000.

Like Bush, Obama is paying for America’s wars through supplemental authorizations ­-

- putting them on the nation’s already maxed-out credit card.

Future generations will be stuck with the bill.

This presidential and congressional jiggery-pokery is the height of public dishonesty..”

go to source/story>> Wars Sending US into Ruin       : Information Clearing House -  ICH

“..30 Scary Food facts you need to Know

Food is a common necessity in our everyday life.

We constantly have to make decisions about food for both ourselves and our families.

While trying to decipher the labels while standing in the aisles of the grocery store, one might establish that many of the foods we consume are indeed made of some unexpected ingredients, and some that are just unpronounceable in the English language.

There are hundreds of little known facts about food out there, but we have picked the ones we think are both a bit intriguing and undoubtedly scary at the same time.

Either way, we think that these facts are absolutely worth knowing about.

So if you think you’re up for it, here we go.

Fast Food

We’ve all heard the horror stories about fast food restaurants.

These facts will definitely make you think twice about super sizing.

fast-food:..

1. An average person’s yearly fast food intake will contain 12 pubic hairs. -

- Fast food products are more likely to have human hairs and you will never know about it.

Think about all the reported cases of customers finding strands of hair in their fries.

What about all the hairs that possibly ended up in your stomach that you never even noticed!

Now that’s scary.

2. Most fast food chains dip their French fries in sugar to give them that deliciously golden brown hue after frying . -

- What many of us don’t realize is that some fast food fries aren’t just fatty and starchy.

They are also sugary as well.

While they don’t taste very sweet, the sugars are added for other incentives.

It also helps to develop that nice outer crispiness that can be complicated to imitate when frying at home.

3. The Strawberry flavor Contains 50 Different Chemicals. - In order to copy the flavor of a strawberry, fast food corporations include 50 distinct chemicals like ethyl acetate, phenythyl alcohol, rose, and solvent.

So, the next time you get a craving for a strawberry milkshake, take a minute to remember the ingredients.

6. Propylene Glycerol used for antifreeze keeps your salad crispy . - This chemical, also comes with alerts like skin and eye irritation if exposed to the human body.

It is generally used in products like Sierra Anti Freeze and even worse Astroglide Sexual Lubricant .

7. You would have to walk for seven hours straight to burn off a Super Sized Coke, fry and Big Mac . -

- Unless you plan to get right on the treadmill after your lunch..

.. it’s probably best not to go for those extra humungous fries and drink with your bacon double cheeseburger..”

go to source/story>>30 Scary Food facts you need to Know - Forensic Science Technician : Online Schools Guide

“.. ‘Keep it simple, stupid’ applies to geniuses, too

Albert Einstein once said: “If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.”

Okay then, no need to complicate what’s simple.

Out of respect for Einstein’s tailor .. here’s some truth for ya:

Ninety percent of the large fish in the ocean and 80 percent of the world’s forests are gone.

Eighty-one tons of mercury are emitted into the atmosphere each year as a result of electric power generation.

Every square mile of ocean hosts 46,000 pieces of floating plastic.

Each day, 200,000 acres of rain forest are destroyed; 100 plant and animal species go extinct; ..

.. and 13 million tons of toxic chemicals released across the globe.

Ludwig Wittgenstein once said: “Let’s cut out the transcendental twaddle .. when the whole thing is as plain as a sock on the jaw.”

Get ready to duck because the “whole thing” is mostly caused by our beloved way of life .. and here’s the inelegant truth: ..

..The simple path towards a cleaner, greener planet begins with the simple choice to change how we live ..

.. and what we allow the biggest polluters to do..”

go to source/story>>What Would Einstein’s Tailor Do? Choosing Simplicity in Your Lifestyle and Your Activism : Planet Green

“..Swedish and American researchers have just developed a fully recyclable lighting component with what Science Daily is terms a “new super material”:..

.. graphene.

Graphene is both inexpensive to produce and is 100% recyclable..

.. and could be used to create glowing wallpaper made out of plastic–much like LEDs could..

But graphene appears to improve on OLEDs in some very big ways . . .”

go to source/story>>Move Over OLEDs: Scientists Create Cheap, Fully Recyclable Lighting Material : TreeHugger

“..Dear Virginia,

I’ve always stayed at home to look after my children, who are now aged three and four, and both at school for part of the day.

Now I’ve been offered my old job back.

My partner says I should go for it, because he can look after them one day a week and the rest of the time there are after-school clubs and childminders they can go to.

I know some mums who go straight back to work a week after the baby’s born – but my children still seem to need me.

What shall I do?

Yours sincerely, Jennie

Aren’t you lucky to have a choice?

At least I imagine you do, because nowhere do you say that it’s essential for you to go back to work.

And quite honestly, if need isn’t snapping its hungry jaws at you, then I can’t see any reason at all for you to go back.

Indeed, the only time you mention “need” is in the context of your children, who appear still to need you.

And why not?

Having been brought up myself by a mother who worked – at a dazzling career –

- I can only say that it would have meant an awful lot if she’d been at the school gates when I came out, even as little as once a week.

Or she’d ever been at the school gates when I went in.

Sometimes children need a parent to be around at home, particularly when they’re at school.

School doesn’t usually have a nurturing culture.

Kindly, perhaps, but at school you’re expected to be good-tempered, polite, hard-working and punctual –

- all things you can leave behind when you get home and can slob around like a normal person.

With your mum or dad.

A childminder or an after-school club just isn’t the same.

A child still has to behave, be on form, square up to his peers, hold his own.

My own feeling is that when they grow up, it’s for children to leave home.

I don’t think that before that home should ever leave them.

And by “home” I mean it as metaphor for a parent rather than a flat or a house.

And indeed I was surprised, even when my son was a teenager, how important it was for someone to be around “at home”..

.. even if that someone was only someone to kick against in order to propel himself more successfully into the outside world..”

go to source/story>>Virginia Ironside’s Dilemmas: Should I go back to work now my children are at school? - Healthy Living, Health & Families - The Independent

“..London has failed to make the top 50 “most live-able” cities, according to worldwide analysis by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Canada’s Vancouver scooped the top spot having met an impressive 98% of the criteria set by the surveyors, including the quality of healthcare, culture, environment and infrastructure.

Vienna in Austria is ranked second, closely followed by Melbourne, Australia.

The top 20 includes five Australian cities, three Canadian cities and two German cities.

Manchester is the only UK city to make the top 50, coming in at 46th place .. and beating London’s ranking of 51st place..”

go to source/story>>London fails to make top 50 ‘most live-able’ cities - Home News, UK - The Independent

“..Rifts emerge as polls show Tories eight seats short of majority

David Cameron has warned his top team to “get a grip” to halt the Conservatives’ dip in the opinion polls which threatens to deprive the party of an overall majority at the general election.

The Independent’s latest monthly “poll of polls” shows that Labour has cut the Tory lead to single figures in the past month ..

.. and suggests that Britain is heading for a hung parliament.

Mr Cameron is reviewing the way his team makes decisions after a series of mistakes which has put his party on the defensive ..

.. and raised Labour’s hopes of avoiding what looked like a certain defeat.

In recent weeks, the Tories have talked up and then played down the prospect of big spending cuts this year ..

.. and Mr Cameron admitted he “messed up” over the party’s policy on rewarding marriage in the tax system..”

go to source/story>>Cameron: we need to get a grip - UK Politics, UK - The Independent

“.. A glance into America’s past suggests that homemaking could play a big part in addressing the ecological, economic and social crises of our present time.

Long before we could pronounce Betty Friedan’s last name, Americans from my generation felt her impact.

Many of us born in the mid-1970s learned from our parents and our teachers that women no longer needed to stay home, that there were professional opportunities awaiting us.

In my own school experience, homemaking, like farming, gained a reputation as a vocation for the scholastically impaired.

Those of us with academic promise learned that we could do whatever we put our minds to, whether it was conquering the world or saving the world.

I was personally interested in saving the world.

That path eventually led me to conclude that homemaking would play a major role toward achieving that goal..”

go to source/story>>Radical Homemaking: Why Both Men and Women Should Get Back In Kitchen | | AlterNet

“..Pop psychologists, beware! In the current issue of Psychology Today, the magazine’s expert bloggers debunk some of our most cherished conventional wisdom..

.. including popular social myths surrounding anger (no, “venting” doesn’t help), lying (it’s not about eye contact), and romance (Paula Abdul and her cartoon-cat-lover were wrong).

The piece isn’t available online, but here are a few fun examples, with links to the Psychology Today blogs the magazine’s experts call home:

Venting Reduces Anger
One of my pet peeves is how widely the notion of catharsis has been accepted.

People think they will feel better by “getting it all out” or even that a hockey game is a release for their aggression.

Aggression begets aggression.

People are better off taking a deep breath and counting to 10 than “venting” their hostilities. — Jann Gumbiner, Ph.D., professor at the University of California–Irvine College of Medicine

Opposites Attract
A persistent myth is that in romance, opposites attract.

In fact, one of the most powerful predictors of liking is similarity, regardless of the type of trait—personality, values, interests, or physical characteristics. —

Andrew Galperin, graduate student in social psychology at UCLA..”

go to source/story>>When Pop Psychology Goes Wrong

“.. An animation by Pedro Cruz, Visualizing empires’ decline, charts the rise and fall of four European colonial empires during the 19th and 20th centuries; ..

.. it’s not strictly cartographic, but it is fun to watch—

–colonies become independent by bursting from their mother countries’ bubbles.”

Watch this one in full screen mode.

Things start getting interesting around 1940.

So long as you don’t let the pretty colors and the bubbly animation obscure the bloodshed and suffering represented here..

.. it’s a great little snapshot of history..”

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>Animation: Watching Empires Disappear

“..Indeed, the history of American popular music, in its entirety, may be traced through beef, poultry, and pork.

The history of rock ‘n’ roll bears out my claim.

Scholars have yet to ascertain the precise number of songs about meat recorded in the 1950s and early 1960s..

.. but a safe estimate would run into the hundreds and perhaps thousands.

Any complete repertoire needed at least one song about hot dogs, pulkes, fatback, or ribs.

A crowing achievement of the early rock ‘n’ roll era was the Starliters’ hit “Hot Pastrami with Mashed Potatoes,” arguably the most eloquent paean to smoked meats ever performed.

Pigmeat Markham and Sleepy LaBeef, who were among the earliest singers to adopt meat-themed monikers..

.. further consolidated the alliance between meat and music.

Alas, meat, like all things, is cyclical.

With the rise of the counterculture in the late 1960s, animal flesh temporarily lost its appeal.

Mind-bending sounds were in..

.. sausages and tube steaks were out..”

go to source/story>>Meat on the Radio

“..Writing for Christian Century, Paula Huston recounts her mid-life spiritual crisis, a period of awakening and conversion that derailed the writer and set her upon a new track.

In the retelling, Huston shares some thoughts about the difficulty of coming to terms with a spiritual calling in a postmodern culture—

– where menopause, for example, at first seemed an easy explanation for the mounting disruption in her life.

They’re keen observations worth checking out ..

.. regardless of your spiritual or religious persuasion:..”

go to source/story>>Would You Recognize a Spiritual Awakening?

“.. John Key will unveil measures aimed at cooling New Zealand’s love affair with property investment in a speech today that is expected to outline major tax reforms.

The prime minister signalled yesterday that the changes would be included in the May Budget – and said the Government would be ready to implement them “shortly after that”.

He ramped up expectations that the speech marked a step up in the Government’s economic programme, saying the tax changes were the best way to boost growth.

Cuts to the top personal rate, from 38 per cent to 33 per cent or lower, are likely to be part of the package..

.. but the Government needs to find revenue from elsewhere to do this.

“We will be reasonably specific.

I don’t think you will come away from the speech wondering what we are saying,” Mr Key said.

National has a long-term plan to lower all top tax rates to 30 per cent and Beehive insiders have suggested a rise in GST is on the cards.

Details of the changes were so secret yesterday that they were removed from drafts of Mr Key’s statement circulated to ministers’ offices..”

go to source/story>>Tax plan will hit property investment | Stuff.co.nz

“..Top performing KiwiSaver provider Huljich Wealth Management has fallen off its pedestal..

.. plummeting into the bottom ranks of the performance charts over the last quarter of 2009, figures from FundSource show.

While its conservative, balanced and growth funds remain top over the two years to December 31..

.. all three took a battering in the three months to December 31 ..

.. and were ranked either bottom or second from the bottom..”

go to source/story>>Huljich KiwiSaver funds take battering - Personal Finance - NZ Herald News

“..Alan Bollard probably regrets talking about making the most of the “crumbs that come off the Australian table”.

But poor choice of phrase aside, the Reserve Bank Governor was making a reasonable point about the advantage to New Zealand of being so close to a country “blessed by God sprinkling minerals”.

The two economies are already closely interlinked, and we should make every effort to profit from Australia’s good fortune.

But Dr Bollard went too far in saying there was no chance of closing the income gap with Australia.

If the Government’s aim of achieving this by 2025 is too optimistic, it must, nonetheless, remain an important goal, irrespective of the year selected as the target.

Anything less than a reducing gap and young, mobile New Zealanders will continue to select Australia as their preferred place of residence.

Dr Bollard’s resigned view springs from Australia’s wealth of minerals “across the top of the surface in very easily accessible areas”.

He might have added that, generally, no questions of environmental protection hamper the extraction of these riches.

Most are in remote areas that are of little use for other activity.

The governor might also have noted that Australia has the good luck to have a ready market in a booming China.

But mineral riches do not, on their own, guarantee prosperity..”

go to source/story>>Editorial: Key needs to be bold to close the gap - Politics - NZ Herald News

“..Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s green credentials continue to take a hammering as he prepares for an election this year in which the environment will be a key issue.

Two new polls have confirmed that support for his major climate change policy - a greenhouse emissions trading scheme - is collapsing even as the Government tries for a third time to ram it through Parliament.

One poll shows that Opposition leader Tony Abbott’s alternative carbon reduction proposal is now preferred by most voters.

And while the Government still enjoys a commanding lead over the Coalition, the gap is narrowing and Rudd’s personal popularity is sliding.

His greenhouse problems lie in the complexity of his ETS and the Government’s failure to adequately explain it to an increasingly sceptical public..

.. especially after the failure of the December climate change summit in Copenhagen..”

go to source/story>>Public support for Rudd’s ETS collapses - World - NZ Herald News

“..Finance company Marac is to take a $2.5 million hit on an unauthorised business loan which was covered up for several years and was only revealed as the company improved its audit process late last year.

Marac’s chief investment officer, Craig Stephen, yesterday refused to comment on whether the discovery of the loan had anything to do with the temporary disappearance last week of the company’s chief risk officer, Grant Atkinson.

Mr Atkinson was found on Saturday in a dishevelled and slightly disoriented state outside cricket clubrooms in the Huapai Domain, northwest of Auckland.

He is understood to have been sleeping rough.

Marac said an internal audit of its lending had uncovered “an irregularity in relation to one particular business loan” dating back to 2003.

“The circumstances behind that irregularity have only recently been ascertained, but it involves lending that is outside the company’s internally prescribed practices..”

go to source/story>>Marac won’t say if hidden loan linked to runaway - Business - NZ Herald News

“..It isn’t every day that the governor of the country’s central bank publicly scotches a fundamental plank of the ruling party’s economic agenda as not achievable.

But that is what Alan Bollard did on TVNZ’s Q&A programme last Sunday.

The Reserve Bank Governor’s view that New Zealand cannot close the income gap with Australia by 2025 - a goal which underpins the Government’s economic policy formation -

- was an extraordinary statement from someone who usually moves with extreme caution ..

- and an acute awareness of the politically sensitive.

Not surprisingly, his remarks were welcomed by the Beehive with about as much enthusiasm as another speech by Hone Harawira on race relations.

And not solely because Bollard poured cold water on National meeting its long-term objective.

It was inevitable someone with his authority would at some point say it was time to end the pretence of income and wealth parity with Australia.

At times, National itself has veered towards redefining income parity more as an “aspirational ” goal, rather than a realistic one.

Bollard’s musings, however, came little more than 48 hours before the Prime Minister tables a formal statement in Parliament today outlining how National intends to make the “step change” in New Zealand’s economic performance to meet the 2025 deadline.

Bollard’s credibility has made it much harder for John Key to sound convincing in insisting such a goal is realistic.

Much to Labour’s delight, Bollard is the party pooper who has taken the fizz out of Key’s big day..”

go to source/story>>John Armstrong: Up to Key to prove Bollard is wrong - Business - NZ Herald News

“..New Zealand looks likely to ditch the wholesale funding guarantee for banks soon, after Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan announced on Sunday his country’s version would end next month.

New Zealand followed Australia’s lead by introducing the wholesale guarantee alongside a retail deposit guarantee during the depths of the global financial crisis in 2008.

The schemes were intended to ensure local banks could continue to access wholesale funding on overseas markets by using government balance sheets as a backstop.

Swan said the wholesale guarantee was no longer needed as the world recovered from the global downturn..”

go to source/story>>Bank funding guarantee likely to be dropped - Business - NZ Herald News

“..The Government’s $100 million proposal for Queens Wharf is dominated by a “long house” that will serve as a cruise-ship terminal and multi-purpose public space.

The Herald has obtained images of the proposal to revamp the central Auckland wharf for a tourist-liner terminal and “party central” venue for the Rugby World Cup 2011.

The $100 million revamp - a fine-tuned version of last year’s contest-winning design by architects Jasmax and Architectus - is one of four options for Queens Wharf.

It is unclear what the others are, although Prime Minister John Key said last month that a short-term development for the cup could cost $15 million to $20 million.

The $100 million revamp, shown to the region’s mayors last week, removes the two 1912 cargo sheds and divides the wharf in two.

The eastern side is dominated by the “long house”, a building with four layers.

The first is at the wharf level, with cruise-ship facilities and active edges, such as cafes.

The second layer is a promenade providing public access to the third layer, the long house, a multi-function hall.

The fourth layer is a distinctive angled roof.

The hall remains partially open to the elements.

The dominant nature of the long house leaves little room for a major public building in future..”

go to source/story>>King’s ransom for Queens Wharf - National - NZ Herald News

“..Former protégé takes America’s great man of letters to task for adopting 9/11 conspiracy theories..

As literary feuds go it has the all the hallmarks of a classic.

In one corner, the journalist and polemicist Christopher Hitchens.

In the other, America’s great man of letters, Gore Vidal.

The latest salvo is in this month’s Vanity Fair where, in an article headlined “Vidal Loco”, Hitchens launches a stinging attack on Vidal..

.. claiming that the events of 9/11 “accentuated a crackpot strain” in the author.

He claims that Vidal’s work after the terrorist attacks consists of “a small anthology of half-argued and half-written shock pieces [which] either insinuated or asserted that the administration had known in advance of the attacks.”

“He openly says that the Bush administration was ‘probably’ in on the 9/11 attacks, a criminal complicity that would ‘certainly fit them to a T’;..

.. that Timothy McVeigh was ‘a noble boy’, no more murderous than generals Patton and Eisenhower;..

.. and that ‘Roosevelt saw to it that we got that war’ .. by inciting the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor,” Hitchens writes..”

go to source/story>>Hitchens attacks Gore Vidal for being a ‘crackpot’ - News, People - The Independent

“..ExxonMobil cash supported concerted campaign to undermine case for man-made warming..

An orchestrated campaign is being waged against climate change science to undermine public acceptance of man-made global warming, environment experts claimed last night.

The attack against scientists supportive of the idea of man-made climate change has grown in ferocity since the leak of thousands of documents on the subject from the University of East Anglia (UEA) on the eve of the Copenhagen climate summit last December.

Free-market, anti-climate change think-tanks such as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in the US and the International Policy Network in the UK have received grants totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds from the multinational energy company ExxonMobil.

Both organisations have funded international seminars pulling together climate change deniers from across the globe..”

go to source/story>>Think-tanks take oil money and use it to fund climate deniers - Climate Change, Environment - The Independent

“..In the 70s and 80s, Gil Scott-Heron’s music was a mesmerising mix of wry poetry and politics and he became known as ‘the godfather of rap’ ..

.. and ‘the black Bob Dylan’.

But then he got into drugs and, not so long ago, it looked like he was finished.

Now the great outsider is back, he’s made a new album and he’s here on tour.

He tells Sean O’Hagan his extraordinary story..”

go to source/story>>Gil Scott-Heron: the godfather of rap comes back | Interview | Music | The Observer

“..In a few months a phalanx of racing cars will line up on a starting grid in Paris.

But rather than the scream and roar of high-revving engines, the event will be dominated by an eery quiet.

The EMXGP, a 25-mile race for electric cars, will be the first of its kind. It is the brainchild of Azhar Hussain, a British entrepreneur who last year introduced TTXGP, an electric motorcycle event at the Isle of Man TT races.

Hussain, who owns a company that provides software for electric vehicles and makes Mavizen electric motorbikes, hopes to repeat that success with zero-emission cars.

He expects 100,000 spectators to witness the Paris event.

Lord Drayson, the minister for science and innovation and also a racing driver, welcomed the idea.

He said events like it could give electric cars “street cred” .. and speed up their adoption by the public..”

go to source/story>>Vroom for the electric racers - Times Online

“..It became known as the miracle on the Hudson — Flight 1549 crashed in the river and all 150 passengers survived, with barely a scratch.

What happened that day in New York .. and was it really a miracle?

It was a wintry Thursday afternoon in January, and New York City had turned inwards on itself against the cold.

On Manhattan’s West Side, a few people who happened to be looking towards the Hudson River caught a glimpse of an airline accident that initially brought back memories of another case, eight years earlier, of aeroplanes crashing into the heart of New York.

It had snowed that morning, but the skies had largely cleared.

In the cabin of US Airways Flight 1549, the flight attendant Doreen Welsh was sitting in the aft galley strapped into a forward-facing jump seat with a view up the aisle towards the front.

The other two attendants, Donna Dent and Sheila Dail, were sitting side by side just behind the cockpit, facing aft.

They felt the thumps and heard the engines wind down.

Dail whispered: “What was that?”

Dent answered: “Probably a bird strike.”

The cabin turned eerily silent.

An engine slowly clanked.

A trace of smoke filtered into the cabin, accompanied by a burning smell.

Up in the cockpit, Captain Chesley Sullenberger assumed that the scent was coming through the pressurisation ducts and that it was the smell of burning birds.

Passengers behind the wing saw large flames trailing from the left engine.

The flight attendants did not see the flames. From their seats, they could not see outside.

They assumed that the aeroplane would be returning to LaGuardia airport.

In the back of the cabin, Welsh unstrapped herself from her seat and went forward quickly, checking the overhead lockers for the source of the smoke.

When she returned to her seat, she strapped herself in again.

She assured the passengers in the back that everything would be fine.

As yet there had been no word from the cockpit.

The pilots were busy.

When the aeroplane hit the birds, it was climbing with its nose pitched up 10 degrees above the horizon.

As the engines wound down, the deceleration was dramatic.

Sullenberger gently tried to restore thrust to the engines.

They were still turning, but at very low speed.

It was possible that with the standard engine-start igniters he could relight the fires.

He said, “Ignition start,” and rotated a knob.

The igniters began to click, but the engines refused to respond.

They simply were not meant to swallow geese and survive.

The right engine had taken the worst hit.

The left engine was to some degree alive.

The co-pilot, Jeffrey Skiles, said: “Got no power? Try the other one.”

He did.

There was nothing.

The situation was critical.

“Got any ideas?” Sullenberger asked.

Skiles had the cool to say: “Actually not.”

The plane did not plummet towards the Earth, as headlines were to suggest later.

Indeed, it descended rather gently.

The Hudson River stretched ahead, beckoning from the far side of the George Washington Bridge.

The surface looked smooth.

The plane did not have enough altitude to make it back to a runway — so Sullenberger decided to try for the river.

Sullenberger made his announcement to the cabin.

He said: “This is the captain. Brace for impact.”

The flight attendants started shouting:..

.. “Brace! Brace! Heads down! Stay down!”

Because they could not see outside, they did not know that the plane was over the Hudson and headed for the water.

Their ignorance did not matter:..

.. an impact was imminent..”

go to source/story>>The miracle plane crash-landing on the Hudson River - Times Online

“..More homeowners are discovering the beauty, comfort and energy savings of new straw bale construction techniques.

In the classic story of the Three Little Pigs‚ a naive piglet decides to build his home out of straw, which soon gets the huff and puff treatment by a big bad wolf, resulting in the poor little pig’s untimely end.

But perhaps unbelievably to some, straw homes do really exist, and they are a lot safer and sturdier than their mythical counterparts —

- not to mention beautiful and stylish.

Many may wonder why a person would want to build a home made out of straw, but apart from providing a place to hide from the big bad wolf, they have some substantial benefits.

They are undeniably green‚ as straw packed tightly in the walls helps to retain heat, keeping a home warm in the winter and cool in the summer, minimizing the home’s carbon footprint. Straw is also a sustainable material;..

.. it is the leftover stalks from grain that would otherwise be burnt.

Aside from the environmental issue, straw homes are also often beautiful structures crafted in such a way to reflect the thick curved walls of a primal era..

.. and envelop the inhabitant in a special, unique retreat that personally expresses their respect and care for the environment.

Read on to discover just how right that first little pig was to build his home out of straw..”

go to source/story>> http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/straw-homes-461209?src=nl&mag=tdg&list=nl_dgr_got_non_020510_straw-home&kw=ist#ixzz0esf1Pykt
Straw Homes – Straw Bale Construction - thedailygreen.com

“.. The Bernanke Reappointment: Be Afraid, Very Afraid

If the economy deteriorates in the L-shaped “hockey-stick” rut that many economists forecast, what political price will President Obama and the Democrats pay for having returned the financial keys to the Bush Republican appointees who gave away the store in the first place?

Reappointing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may end up injuring not only the economy .. but also the Democratic Party for years to come.

Recognizing this, Republicans made populist points by opposing his reappointment during the Senate confirmation hearings last Thursday, January 27 – the day after Mr. Obama’s State of the Union address.

The hearings focused on the Fed’s role as Wall Street’s major lobbyist and deregulator.

Despite the fact that its Charter starts off by directing it to promote full employment and stabilize prices .. the Fed is anti-labor in practice.

Alan Greenspan famously bragged that what has caused quiescence among labor union members when it comes to striking for higher wages – or even for better working conditions –

- is the fear of being fired and being unable to meet their mortgage and credit card payments.

“One paycheck away from homelessness,” or a downgraded credit rating leading to soaring interest charges, has become a formula for labor management.

As for its designated task in promoting price stability, the Fed’s easy-credit bubble has made asset-price inflation the path to wealth, not tangible capital investment.

This has brought joy to bank marketing departments as homeowners, consumers, corporate raiders, states and localities run further and further into debt in an attempt to improve their position by debt leveraging.

But the economy has all but neglected its industrial base and the employment goes with manufacturing.

The Fed’s motto from Bubblemeister Alan Greenspan to Ben Bernanke has been..

.. “Asset-price inflation, good; wage and commodity price inflation, bad.”

Here’s the problem with that policy.

Rising prices for housing have increased the cost of living and doing business, widening the excess of market price over socially necessary costs.

In times past the government would have collected the rising location rent created by increasing prosperity and public investment in transportation and other infrastructure making specific sites more valuable.

But in recent years taxes have been rolled back.

Land sites still cost as much as ever, because their price is set by the market.

Land itself has no cost of production.

Locational value is created by society, and should be the natural tax base because a land tax does not increase the price of real estate; ..

.. it lowers it by leaving less “free” rent to be paid to the banks.

The problem is that what the tax collector relinquishes is now available to be paid to banks as interest. And prospective buyers bid against each other until the winner is whoever is first to pay the land’s location rent to the banks as interest.

This tax shift – to the benefit of the bankers, not homeowners – has made Mr. Obama’s hope of doubling U.S. exports during the next five years ring hollow.

This is the upshot of “creating wealth” in the form of a debt-leveraged real estate and stock market bubble.

Labor must pay more for debt-financed housing and education, not to mention payments to health insurance oligopoly ..

.. and higher sales and income taxes shifted off the shoulders of financial and real estate..”

go to source/story>>        : Information Clearing House -  ICH

“..Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan answered that he had placed his trust in a flawed theory when he was called before Congress to explain why he, Goldman Sachs Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Deputy Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, prevented Brooksley Born, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Corporation, a government regulatory agency, from doing her job of regulating over-the-counter derivatives,

The efficient markets theory is that unregulated markets are efficient and rational.

According to this theory in which Greenspan placed his trust, unregulated markets produce the best possible result.

Any regulatory interference worsens the outcome.

Greenspan blamed his own bad judgment on a theory.

The theory, or Greenspan’s understanding of it, nevertheless still holds sway ..

.. as Congress has proved impotent to re-regulate the gambling casino that is Wall Street.

Clearly, the theory serves powerful interests.

But what is the truth?

The truth is that markets are a social institution.

Their efficiency depends on the rules that govern the behavior of people in markets.

When free market economists talk about markets deciding this or that, they are redefining a social institution ..

.. and ascribing to it decision-making power.

Socialists make the same mistake when they blame markets for the results of human action.

But, of course, markets do not act or make decisions.

People act and make decisions .. and markets reflect the decisions and actions of people.

The entire debate over regulation is misconstrued.

It is not the market, an efficient social institution, that is regulated.

What is regulated is the behavior of people in markets.

If you want good results from markets .. good regulation of human behavior is a requirement.

The market is like a computer.

Garbage in, garbage out.

If people who use markets are not regulated, they issue fraudulent financial instruments.

They leverage assets with absurd amounts of debt.

They market their instruments with fraudulent investment grade ratings.

They deal themselves aces.

Did Greenspan not know this?

Was he a victim of a theory .. or an enabler of greed unleashed by the absence of regulation?..”

go to source/story>> Markets Fail When Humans Are Unregulated       : Information Clearing House -  ICH

“..
I know you need your sleep now,
I know your life’s been hard.
But many men are falling,
where you promised to stand guard.
~~Leonard Cohen

My friend Bernie says he’s suffering from Afghanistan information exhaustion.

“During all those months that Obama was dragging his feet about escalating the war in Afghanistan, did you ever get the impression,” he asked, “that foxes were in the hen house, chickens were squawking and running around crazily, wolves were tearing the foxes to pieces, and farmers were shooting wildly into the coop with no regard for the innocent?”

I stared at him, mouth agape, my mind trying to shore up all that activity. “Well … I –”

“And that’s just the generals — David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal — and their boss, or cohort, defense secretary Robert Gates.

They were everywhere — everywhere!” Bernie said, rolling his eyes.

“And still are. Turn on the TV, pick up a newspaper, open a magazine, check out Congress, look under a rock — peek behind a tree — and there they are.

They’re a three-man brigade — “we’re going in, we’re coming out — we’re winning, we’re losing.

Or maybe not.

We won’t know for 15 years…20 years…or until it’s over –”

Bernie shook his head in disgust, and headed for the door.

“You keep telling me to walk a mile in Obama’s shoes; that he’s got a lot on his plate.

Well,” Bernie said grimly, “every time I try to do that, I nearly drown.

And, if you’re paying attention, you know he’s having trouble keeping his own balance out there on those turbulent partisan political seas.”

President…who?

Bernie says he’d like to give President Obama credit, or blame him, for the decision to expand the war in Afghanistan..

.. but is convinced that Obama’s input was neither wanted nor accepted by the three top war dogs.

I agree.

What those of us familiar with military protocol — with a properly functioning chain of command — witnessed ..

.. was a crude, but effective, military coup.

Aided by an eager and complicit media, for months these insubordinates fueled the fire of Obama’s inability to come to a quick decision to meet their demands.

They brushed him aside as idealistic and inexperienced. Commander-in-Chief?

C’mon, get real.

During the recent health-care fiasco, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) put into words what all Republicans, not a few Democrats, and far too many military brass think of Obama…

“…I believe he didn’t serve in government long enough to understand really how things work…

Remember, he was in the Senate four years, but effectively only two years because he spent two years where he was hardly ever here at all — he was campaigning for president. He really does not have an understanding of how Congress operates.”

The hateful audacity of Chuck “Obama wants to kill your grandma” Grassley is the typical Republican mindset concerning this president.

Each time Republicans push him or challenge him, rather than push back or kick ass, Obama backs down..

.. preferring to compromise to reach a bipartisan agreement.

Unfortunately, Republicans don’t work that way.

They want it all, and the only way they know to get it is to — as Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol said — “go for the kill.”

The military also goes for the kill.

But that is its mission — what it is trained to do.

And Obama needs to understand the military does not function on compromises or bipartisanship.

It has a chain of command, and when the Commander-in-Chief, after considering input from field commanders, makes his decision — gives an order — all those throughout that chain of command, whether they agree or not, salute and continue to march.

That is not happening here.

After ten “war council” meetings and months of considering input, an angry Obama rejected McChrystal’s plan that had been leaked to Bob Woodward at the Washington Post..

.. and informed McChrystal that his goal of doubling the force would not be met.

Two days later, on Dec 1, Obama announced his decision from the US Military Academy at West Point.

He didn’t mention smoking terrorists out, getting them on the run and bringing them to justice.. but he dredged up 9/11 and why we should remain convulsed in fear. He spoke of “huge challenges,” “bold action,” “seizing the initiative,” and “long-term consequences.”

While we were trying to figure out if former president George Bush had left a copy of his speech on the Academy podium, Obama announced he was sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan but insisted since America has no interest in fighting an endless war, 2011 was a definite time frame.

He said unequivocally that there would be no counterinsurgency and, beginning in July of 2011, the troops would begin to come home.

Or not.

Nobody saluted.

Gates, Petraeus and McChrystal, along with Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Michael G. Mullen continued to march in lockstep.

They raced to the media both here and abroad, where they shrugged aside Obama’s promise of a July 2011 transition, saying it was an “open issue.”

They insisted that counterinsurgency and special ops remained “embedded” in their war strategy.

Ten days after being rejected by Obama, McChrystal’s request to double the size of the Army and police to 400,000 remained unchanged..”

go to source/story>> Walk a Mile…       : Information Clearing House -  ICH

“..She’s “tired of hearin’ the talk talk talk” .. but Palin wowed Tea Party Nation Inc. with nastiness for fun and profit

Eric Hoffer didn’t live to see Tea Party Nation, but I always think of his most famous quote when I’m forced to deal with it: ..

..”"Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business .. and eventually degenerates into a racket.”

I’m not sure the Tea Party cause is a great one, but it’s an influential one, and it degenerated into a racket lickety split, in less than a year.

This weekend’s gathering in Nashville splintered both the Tennessee and the national Tea Party movement ..

.. as local go-getter Judson Phillips set up the once-anticipated “convention” as his own for-profit business.

We’ll have a first-hand report from the racket that paid Sarah Palin more than $100,000 to speak Saturday night.

But I can’t help weighing in.

Wow.

This was the Palin we saw at the 2008 Republican convention..

.. the snarling pitbull in shimmery lipstick.

I know journalists aren’t supposed to use words like mean and dumb, but I can’t help it.

Palin is one of the meanest people on the public stage today.

She wallows in it.

She loves it!

Also?

Possibly one of the dumbest.

But mean works, and so does dumb.

And so do lies, and there were many mean, dumb lies in her speech..”

go to source/story>>Joan Walsh - Salon.com

“..“There is something almost primal about it,” gushes the former vegetarian..

.. as though the word ‘primal’ is a noble quality to be embraced by virtuous people.

It seems more likely though that the directors of the puppet show are aware that ‘primal’ is simply a concept that plays to the desires of the lowest parts of our selves, to our lust for blood.

Let’s not forget that the word is almost synonymous with ‘primitive’ ..

.. and could just as easily be used to describe cannibalism or rape..”

go to source/story>>Something almost Primal: Selling Meat to Vegetarians « The Vegan Solution

“.. Toyota New Zealand is recalling all 260 of its 2010 Prius car over an issue with the braking system.

Customers in America and Japan had reported a slight delay in braking reaction on some surfaces.

However the brakes were working, Toyota NZ chief executive Alistair Davis said.

If the driver applied light pressure over a slippery patch there was a slight delay in pedal feel as the ABS took over the braking system.

The car would stop if the driver braked harder, but it could be disconcerting, Mr Davis said.

Toyota was writing to the 260 New Zealand owners to assure them the company had complete confidence in the system..

.. and had decided to launch a voluntary recall of the vehicles to change the software..”

go to source/story>>Toyota recalls 2010 Prius - motoring - life-style | Stuff.co.nz

“.. A huge increase in middle and senior managers scamming their employers to fund lavish lifestyles during the recession is behind a 25 percent jump in financial crime complaints being made to police, a private investigator says.

And the rise is predicted to continue as more companies bring in auditors and “data miners” to pick up on those who are ripping off the system.

In 2009, the police financial intelligence unit received 5000 reports on possible financial crime from a range of financial institutions, including banks, insurance companies, casinos and real estate agents, the officer in charge of the unit, Detective Senior Sergeant Ashley Kai Fong, said.

In 2008, they received 4000 reports.

The reports are an indication of possible criminal activity and are often the starting point for criminal investigations.

Kai Fong puts the increased reporting down to heightened awareness among institutions.

But Ron McQuilter, a director of Paragon private investigators, said his company had recorded about a 30 percent increase in financial criminal activity in the past year, “and most of that is corporate fraud”.

“There has been a big increase in middle management and senior management stealing.

A lot of that has been brought on by the lack of bonuses and the lack of an increase in pay rates.

“Gambling has always been a biggie. Drugs and P have always been a biggie.

But the big increase has been in the people whose living standards have been affected [by the recession].

“People get used to a lifestyle and all of a sudden it’s not there any more so they have said ‘well here is an opportunity’.”

But McQuilter, who has been a private investigator for more than 26 years, said the new breed of thieves were generally easier to catch because they were not as sophisticated.

“Companies need to start looking at the people who are first in the morning and the people who don’t like it when companies are looking at the bottom line.

There are a whole lot of red flags that come up that companies need to start being aware of.”

go to source/story>>Bosses funding lifestyles through theft | Stuff.co.nz

“.. The prime minister will open Parliament tomorrow pledging a period of major economic reform –

- which he is promising will deliver Kiwis more jobs and better living standards.

John Key is putting the finishing touches to one of the most important speeches of his political career – his blueprint for action on the economy this year.

Mr Key eschewed a “state of the nation” speech early this year in favour of delivering a major speech at the opening of Parliament ..

.. and said yesterday he was planning to give a detailed outlay of the year ahead.

He would use Parliament’s opening to confirm a major package of economic reform, beginning with tax changes in this year’s Budget.

While he declined to offer specifics, Mr Key said he was “comfortable” with claims by Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard yesterday that the Government needed to make changes to the top personal income tax rate to bring New Zealand back into line with other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.

Mr Key said the details of any changes would not be revealed before the Budget in May, but his speech would spell out the Government’s overall economic programme for the year.

“It will clearly show our focus for 2010 is the economy and how to grow it, and we’ve got a comprehensive set of policies to do that.”

Major reform of the economy was not possible last year because of the recession..”

go to source/story>>Economic reform Key’s aim in 2010 | Stuff.co.nz

“..Prime Minister John Key has vowed to stick with his goal of closing the income gap with Australia..

.. despite an embarrassing dismissal by the Reserve Bank Governor who said there was no chance of it happening.

Speaking on TVNZ’s Q+A programme yesterday, Alan Bollard said Australia had been “blessed by God sprinkling minerals” ..

.. and had handled its economy well.

He said New Zealand would do better to make the most of the “crumbs that come off the Australian table”.

He said it was up to the Government what its own goals were..

.. but he did not believe catching up with Australia was possible..”

go to source/story>>Key, Bollard cross swords - National - NZ Herald News

“..Primary health services are about to undergo their biggest shake-up in nearly a decade, shifting some hospital services into the community and creating new super-clinics.

The kinds of services the integrated family health centres might offer are expected to include minor skin surgery, referral to diagnostic imaging and consultations with hospital specialists.

The shake-up is also likely to help meet Health Minister Tony Ryall’s aim to halve the number of primary health organisations (PHOs), the contracting groups that now sit between district health boards and health providers such as GPs and nursing practices.

Mr Ryall has written to five health boards urging a reduction in the number of PHOs in their districts.

Among them were Auckland DHB, which has five, and Waitemata with six.

Before the 2008 election the National Party promised to “maintain PHOs and enhance the positive role they play in primary care”..

.. but Mr Ryall now wants mergers to “bulk up” PHOs and reduce the $33 million a year the state spends on their management fees..”

go to source/story>>Super-clinics plan in big health shake-up - National - NZ Herald News

“..Admittedly, we can do without the worst effects of the scientific revolution, like the Toyota Yaris, but really . . .

I am a massive fan of the Prince of Wales. I approve of everything he says about food and farming, I sympathise with the burden of living up to a more popular parent..

.. I have myself occasionally said the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time .. and been made a laughing stock for it..

.. and I admire his tailoring. In April I’m even marrying a Welsh girl.

Hell, I practically AM the Prince of Wales.

And so I worry that his most recent outburst will be misunderstood.

“I was accused once of being an enemy of the Enlightenment,” he said in a speech at St James’s Palace on Wednesday.

“I felt proud of that.

The Enlightenment started over 200 years ago.

It might be time to think again whether it is really effective in today’s conditions.”

That is heavy stuff, even for Charles.

By all means plant your crops according to pre-industrial methods..

.. reap your harvest by the phases of the Moon..

.. make a lone stand for the survival of tweed and build whole pastiche villages as if steel and glass were but the futuristic pipe dream of some crazed soothsayer.

All these notions can be made to fly.

But come out as anti-Enlightenment, centuries after it happened, and that could be explosive stuff in the hands of those who would present you as a lunatic.

“How ludicrous to take on such an influential cultural revolution so long after the event!” people might say.

“What will it be next, Down with the Renaissance?

Balls to chiaroscuro and a pox on perspective?

Are you going to tell us that painting was much better in the Middle Ages when people often came out taller than castles ..

.. peasants walked sideways .. and horses had paws?”

Once people have started laughing at the idea that it is never too late to take arms against a sea of philosophical advancement they may well come rushing out to declare themselves as anti-Plantagenet..

.. violently opposed to the Great Vowel Shift ..

.. and by no means happy with the Hellenisation of Assyria..”

(heh..!..)..

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>The Enlightenment was a capital idea, Sir - Times Online

“..With $1.25 billion in the bank — and counting — the makers of the sci-fi epic Avatar could hardly be any happier.

But not everyone in Hollywood is feeling quite so chipper about the record-breaking success of the 3-D mega-franchise.

Actors, for example.

Up until the mid-2000s actors were the force to be reckoned with in Tinseltown.

Stars could expect fees of £12 million or more to appear in a single movie, plus royalties.

Many also formed production companies in association with studios, meaning that they had a say in what kind of films were made.

Those days are long gone now.

In a process that began with the much publicised “firing” of Tom Cruise in 2006 ..

.. Hollywood has in effect destroyed the power base of actors by refusing to write eight-digit pay cheques ..

.. and turning “branded franchises” into their most bankable assets — rather than temperamental human beings.

The result of this strategy was all too clear when this year’s Oscar nominations were announced: ..

.. Avatar, the most technically sophisticated and financially successful film in the history of the medium, received nine Oscar nominations —

– and not one of them was for an actor.

“This is clearly a watershed moment,” said Tim Langdell, founder of the video games company Edge Games, who has worked with Hollywood through the Writers and Producers Guilds of America.

“The motion-capture technology is so accurate in Avatar, there’s no doubt that there’s a real actor on the screen, not just animation.

But at the same time we’ve known for years that no one cares who the actor is in a video game.

So it probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise to learn that the same thing is true with a movie like Avatar.”

Despite this assessment of the acting profession some prominent thespians are refusing to take offence at the Academy Awards’ snub of individual performances in Avatar ..

.. arguing that wearing a camera-rigged “skull cap”, which captures every movement down to the twitch of an eyebrow —

– with the data then rendered in computer-generated imagery —

– is not real acting..”

go to source/story>>Why Avatar’s triumph has left Hollywood stars feeling blue - Times Online