10/29/2008

Ecological Credit Crunch

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7696197.stm

Visit Ayrshire Farm, Nov. 5

Think farming season is winding down?
You might be surprised to see how many of our local farmers produce well into the fall and even through the winter to keep the supply of locally grown food moving through our local restaurants, grocery co-ops, and farmers' markets (yes, don't forget, we have year-round farmers' markets now, like Carrboro and Durham)!
On Wednesday, November 5 at 4:30 pm, you'll have an opportunity to visit Ayrshire Farm, the state's first certified organic farm, where farmer Bill Dow will welcome visitors to see an array of fall vegetables, including radicchio, fennel, lettuce, rapini, mizuna, tatsoi, arugula, peppers, nasturtiums, cress, heirloom apples, and more.
Bill specializes in supplying the top restaurants in Chapel Hill and Durham with fresh produce and herbs. You can also find him at the Carrboro Farmers' Market. Ayrshire Farm is also part of the mid-Chatham Farmers' Alliance CSA (community supported agriculture program): http://www.harlands-creek-farm.com/midchathamfarmerscsa.html
Bill will talk about season extension techniques and general production and marketing strategies that have led to 28 successful years of farming.
Whether you are a farmer, an educator, or just an eater, you won't want to miss this opportunity to learn from one of our organic farming pioneers!
See photos at:
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/ag/SustAg/farmphotonov1405.html
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/ag/SustAg/farmphotomay1605.html
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/ag/SustAg/farmphotojuly1006.html Please arrive at 4:30 pm because we will have only a little over an hour of light left (daylight savings time ends Nov. 2).
Directions to Ayrshire Farm (602 Friendly Pooch Lane, Pittsboro, NC 27312):- From the courthouse circle in downtown Pittsboro, take 64 west towards the stoplight at Hwy 87 (you'll see Al's Diner on your left)- From the stoplight at Al's Diner, continue 5.4 miles on Hwy 64 west and turn left on Hadley Mill Rd. (you'll see white butane tanks on hill on left at the corner)- Go 1.1 miles and turn right on Jay Shambley Rd. (gravel road)- Go 0.5 miles and turn left on Friendly Pooch Lane- Go about 0.5 miles and the farm will be at the end of the road I hope to see you there! Debbie

Debbie Roos
Agricultural Extension Agent
Chatham County Center
North Carolina Cooperative Extension
919.542.8202
debbie_roos@ncsu.eduwww.growingsmallfarms.org

Coke Is It

http://www.indiaresource.org/

10/28/2008

Who Will Take the Electoral College?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7693060.stm

10/27/2008

US Financial Inequality Rivals Africa's

http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/10/23/america/OUKWD-UK-USA-INEQUALITY-UN.php

Discussion of Working Class

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/2/why_dont_barack_obama_and_john

Sensible or Outrageous?

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/457.html

10/26/2008

Organic Workshop, Hoke Co, Oct. 28

Hoke Organic Workshop

HOW can I raise vegetables at home using organic methods?
HOW does vermicomposting work?
HOW can I use organic methods to care for my lawn and landscape?
HOW would I create a native-plant garden for bees and butterflies?
HOW do I read my soil test, to add organic amendments to my soil?

Learn HOW at the Hoke Organic Workshop
“We’ll show you HOW!”
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 6pm – 8 pmMcLaughlin Building Auditorium
423 East Central Avenue, Raeford
Admission: Adults and teens $2.00 DOOR PRIZES!
Children 12 and under: free with accompanying adult
Come and learn HOW to: ~Make water-saving drip irrigation systems ~Keep bees for honey and pollination
~Start seeds successfully for your garden
~Join the Hoke County Junior Master Gardeners
~Start your own small organic farm… And Much More!
Presented by: The Hoke County Center of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension
For More information, call 910-875-3461 or e-mail Mary Hollingsworth at mary_hollingsworth@ncsu.edu
~ Proceeds will benefit Hoke County Cooperative Extension programming and the Hoke County Junior Master Gardeners ~

10/23/2008

World Food Day

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/10/16/84859/767?source=living

Telemarketer Over the Edge

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/opinion/23collins.html?_r=1&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

What Is This Message?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/21/uselections2008-barackobama3

10/22/2008

Escape Now on Recession Sale

http://www.escapefromsuburbia.com/

$3 Million to Re-elect Elizabeth Dole

http://www.kayhagan.com/action/buyingherseat
[Dole has been ineffective in office, has been rubberstamping Bush policies, is now having to 'buy' her seat.
Elect Kay Hagan, endorsed by Democrats, conservationists, educators. And vote early!]

Argentina To Take Over Pensions

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7682877.stm

10/21/2008

Long-Range Planning, Sou. Pines, Oct 21

INAUGURAL MEETING
TOWN OF SOUTHERN PINES
LONG-RANGE PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE

TUESDAY, OCT 21 AT 5:30 - 7:30 PM

NEW CITIZEN DROP-IN CENTER
161 E. NEW HAMPSHIRE AVENUE
DOWNTOWN SOUTHERN PINES
small store front just up from Corfu Restaurant)

DROP-IN CENTER GRAND OPENING 7:30 - 9:30 PM

Diet and Heart Risk

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7680283.stm

Joes, the Plumbers

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/opinion/20krugman.html?_r=1&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

10/20/2008

10/19/2008

Power Down

http://allalongtheedge.blogspot.com/2008/10/vandana-shiva-meets-barbara-kingsolver.html

Kirk Urges Young to VOTE

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7676119.stm

10/18/2008

Decline of Biodiversity

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7673914.stm

10/17/2008

It's Already Stolen

ROLLING STONE: IT'S ALREADY STOLEN


Investigation by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast released today

Don’t worry about Mickey Mouse or ACORN stealing the election. According to an investigative report out today in Rolling Stone magazine, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast, after a year-long investigation, reveal a systematic program of "GOP vote tampering" on a massive scale.

- Republican Secretaries of State of swing-state Colorado have quietly purged one in six names from their voter rolls.

Over several months, the GOP politicos in Colorado stonewalled every attempt by Rolling Stone to get an answer to the massive purge - ten times the average state's rate of removal.

- While Obama dreams of riding to the White House on a wave of new voters, more then 2.7 million have had their registrations REJECTED under new procedures signed into law by George Bush.

Kennedy, a voting rights lawyer, charges this is a resurgence of 'Jim Crow' tactics to wrongly block Black and Hispanic voters.

- A fired US prosecutor levels new charges - accusing leaders of his own party, Republicans, with criminal acts in an attempt to block legal voters as "fraudulent."

- Digging through government records, the Kennedy-Palast team discovered that, in 2004, a GOP scheme called "caging” ultimately took away the rights of 1.1 million voters. The Rolling Stone duo predict that, this November 4, it will be far worse.

There's more:

- Since the last presidential race, "States used dubious 'list management' rules to scrub at least 10 million voters from their rolls."

Among those was Paul Maez of Las Vegas, New Mexico - a victim of an unreported but devastating purge of voters in that state that left as many as one in nine Democrats without a vote. For Maez, the state's purging his registration was particularly shocking - he's the county elections supervisor.

The Kennedy-Palast revelations go far beyond the sum of questionably purged voters recently reported by the New York Times.

"Republican operatives - the party's elite commandos of bare-knuckle politics," report Kennedy and Palast, under the cover of fighting fraudulent voting, are "systematically disenfranchis[ing] Democrats."

The investigators level a deadly serious charge:

"If Democrats are to win the 2008 election, they must not simply beat McCain at the polls - they must beat him by a margin that exceeds the level of GOP vote tampering."

Block the Vote by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. & Greg Palast in the current issue (#1064) of Rolling Stone. [Media enquiries - Dave Falkenstein, Sunshine Sachs & Assoc, via interviews@gregpalast.com.]

Note - Kennedy and Palast are releasing, simultaneously with the Rolling Stone investigative report what they call, the vote-theft 'antidote': a 24-page full-color comic book, Steal Back Your Vote, which can be downloaded or obtained in print from their non-partisan website, StealBackYourVote.org

For updates and video reports, go to RollingStone.com, www.GregPalast.com and StealBackYourVote.org.

10/16/2008

Workshop, Raising Backyard Chickens, Oct. 27

October 27, 2008: Raising Backyard Chickens 101 Workshop from 6:00–9:00 pm at the Archdale Center of Randolph Community College. Sponsored by North Carolina State University and Cooperative Extension. Information taught in this class will be applicable to those who are interested in raising pastured poultry.
Call 336-862-7980 for more information.
There is no charge for this class.

Global High Food Costs

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7671612.stm

10/15/2008

Recycling State Fair Grease

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1256292.html

Rosanne Cash to Replace Sarah Palin

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081027/cash

10/14/2008

Former McCain Supporter

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/13/former_mccain_supporter_accuses_the_senator

10/13/2008

Public Hearing, Air Pollution Deregulation, Oct. 28

NC Environmental Management Commission Public Hearing
October 28, 2008 7:00 PM
NC Division of Air Quality
Parker-Lincoln Building, Room AQ-526
2728 Capital Blvd.
Raleigh, NC 27604

AIR POLLUTION DEREGULATION: A GIANT STEP BACKWARD

We the people have a growing understanding of the dangers of deregulation—irresponsible, negligent deregulation. Now here comes the North Carolina Division of Air Quality with a proposal to deregulate more than 1,400 big air pollution sources. And they are using sleight-of-hand tricks to mask the harm.

On Tuesday October 28th in Raleigh the NC Environmental Management Commission will hear comments on this proposal to gut the health-based standards which have been in effect for decades. If adopted, the exemption would remove forever the requirement that industrial boilers limit air poisons at the property boundary. These boilers include coal-fired power plants, asphalt plants, paper mills and more. The poisons which these plants would never have to limit include arsenic, benzene, formaldehyde, hydrogen sulfide and more than a hundred others.

DAQ has added insult to potential injury by justifying the boiler exemption with a large human exposure study. The fatal flaw in the study is the use of an EPA computer model which measures inhalation only. For nearly twenty years the hardworking Science Advisory Board has conducted detailed analyses of air poisons to create the existing toxic air pollutant rules. The SAB sets specific limits for each toxin based on human exposure through every pollution pathway: water, soil and ingestion as well as inhalation. Toxic compounds deposited on soil, plants and water may be metabolized by microorganisms and ingested by fish, other animals and humans. Fat-soluble bio-accumulative substances concentrate in dairy products.

I repeat: the Human Exposure Model estimates risk from inhalation only. It cannot capture the health risks posed by, for example, formaldehyde, which is water soluble. The HEM under-reports the health impacts of dioxin—the world’s most dangerous poison. People living near smokestacks must be protected from the ingestion of dioxin.

The state’s study tells only a piece of the truth, the effect of which is a lie. The lie is that these industrial boilers are safe.

The question is obvious: why would anyone propose this exemption at all? The answer is also obvious: coal plants, asphalt plants, paper mills and others cannot now meet the pollution limits. We say if they can not meet these health-protective standards, the companies need to add pollution controls.

Moreover, the DAQ’s cost-benefit analysis which underlies the economic hardship loophole fails to take into account the costs to families of emergency room visits, missed work and school, health insurance, medicines and equipment, and chronic conditions.

We community organizers know that the people must lead. League members and concerned North Carolinians are going to Raleigh on October 28th to stand up for health-protective pollution limits and to say No to this dangerous deregulation.

Janet Marsh
Executive Director, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
BREDL@skybest.com

The NC DAQ is located at Exit 11 on I-440, the Raleigh Beltline.
Complete directions are posted at
http://daq.state.nc.us/motor/ms_grants/direct.shtml

10/10/2008

Deforestation Crisis

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7662565.stm

10/08/2008

Carbon Free, Nuclear Free, Oct. 22

NC WARN presents: Carbon Free and Nuclear Free

Protecting our climate and economy with renewable energy, with Dr. Arjun Makhijani

Wednesday, October 22, 7:30 pm. Community United Church of Christ, Raleigh (Cnr. of Dixie Trail & Wade Ave.)

Free admission

Dr. Makhijani, a leading voice on U.S. energy issues since the 1970s, has laid out a Roadmap for solving the climate & energy crises in a technically and economically viable manner.

“The necessity for drastic action to reduce CO2 emissions is now widely recognized … A zero-CO2 U.S. economy without nuclear power is not only achievable – it is necessary for environmental protection and security … Complete elimination of CO2 and of nuclear power could occur as early as 2040.”
From Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy by Arjun Makhijani.

“[Arjun’s] Roadmap could liberate us from an energy policy that is trashing our climate and our mountaintops." S. David Freeman, former Chairman, Tennessee Valley Authority

“Arjun has produced … an urgent action plan to move the Earth in a dignified way out of intensive care.” Dr. Helen Caldicott, Founding President, Nuclear Policy Institute

Download or purchase the book, Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free at www.ieer.org

NC WARN
N.C. Waste Awareness & Reduction Network
P.O. Box 61051
Durham, NC 27715-1051
919-416-5077
email: ncwarn@ncwarn.org
www.ncwarn.org

The Long Emergency

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0871138883/ref=ase_dailyreckonin-20/

10/06/2008

Fire Ant Management, Oct. 15

NC Cooperative Extension in Chatham County will offer a program on fire ant management on Wednesday, October 15, 2008. There is no charge for the program that begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Agriculture Building in downtown Pittsboro. Participants are required to call 919.542.8202 to pre-register for limited seating no later than October 13, 2008. Extension Agents Al Cooke and Sam Groce will conduct the program. Cooke reports that calls have been coming in from "all over the county" about how to control fire ants. He emphasizes that many available products can be used to manage fire ants, "but how those products are used is more important." Neither Cooke nor Groce will promise that you will eliminate fire ants. Their presentation will focus on understanding the life within a fire ant mound and using the ants' habits to our advantage. They will present strategies recognized as effective for dealing with fire ant mounds along with their advantages and disadvantages. As a livestock Agent, Groce points out that there are very few products that can be used in pastures or forage crops. "This is both a safety and a legal issue. It is a violation of Federal law to use pesticides in a location not specified on the label." Both Agents agree that fall is an excellent time for treating fire ant mounds. "Ants are actively foraging in the fall. If we can reduce the numbers now, there may be fewer queens mating and establishing new mounds next year." Pesticide Recertification credit has been approved for 2 hours credit in the categories of G, H, I, K, L, N, O, D, X. The credits for this class will be awarded for the year 2009 on your license. The program is appropriate for both professionals and non-professionals. Seating will be limited for the program. Participants are required to call 919.542.8202 or e-mail jane_tripp@ncsu.edu to pre-register no later than October 13, 2008.
Debbie Roos
Agriculture Agent
Chatham County Center
N.C. Cooperative Extension
919.542.8202
Debbie_Roos@ncsu.eduwww.growingsmallfarms.org

Acme Climate Action Site

http://www.acmeclimateaction.com/

Dem Women, Moore County, Oct. 11

The Democratic Women of Moore County will be meeting this Saturday, Oct.11 at 10 AM at Democratic Headquarters in Carthage. Dr. Susan Purser, Superintendent of Moore County Schools will be the speaker, her talk, "How do we measure success in our schools," an examination of No Child Left Behind and standardized testing. Meeting is open to the public and anyone interested is welcome to attend. For more info call Democratic Headquarters at 947-1933.
Nine women from the Democratic Women of Moore County recently attended the DWNC state convention in Greensboro last month. At the convention the DWMC received second place for the Betty Ray McCain Communications Award which was presented to Mindy Fineman and Ann Langford for outstanding achievement in creatively communicating the Democratic message to its members and to the community at large. The DWMC also received the Power of 10 Membership Challenge Award. Bobbi Burrell, past president of the DWMC was presented the "STAR" award at the conference.

10/05/2008

10/04/2008

Community Food Systems, CCCC

Building Community Food Systems – NEW This Fall!

Looking for a way to get involved? The goal of this course is to empower and support consumers and agriculture workers in understanding and developing local food systems; including funding and organizational development of project initiatives; policy and politics which facilitate or impede progress and the practical application of these tools in local projects. Monday, 10/6/08 to 11/24/08, 6 to 8:30 pm, Weekend field trip TBD. Tes Thraves, $56.25

Call 919-542-6495 ext 223 - Chatham County Community College, Pittsboro

The Non-Debate

http://www.juancole.com/2008/10/non-debate.html

Drum Circle, Sou. Pines, Oct. 10

Flynne's Coffee Bar, downtown Southern Pines, 7-9 p.m.
Bring your own drum, tambourine or other percussive instrument or borrow one when you get there. No experience necessary.

10/02/2008

Pet Food Recall

[many of these brands are at WalMart]

NEW YORK, September 13, 2008 - The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) today advised pet owners to discontinue using certain dog and cat foods manufactured by Mars Petcare US, which has voluntarily issued a nationwide recall because of potential contamination with Salmonella serotype Schwarzengrund.
This voluntary recall only affects several brands of dry pet foods in the United States including Pedigree, Special Kitty, Paws & Claws, Natural Dog Food, Red Flannel, Country Acres, Buju & Ziggie, Member's Mark, Natural Cat Food, Retriever, Bruiser, Doggy Bag, PMI Nutrition, and Pet Pride. For a complete list of affected brands and more information on the recall, please visit http://www.petcare.mars.com/.

And the Winners Are. . .

http://www.rightlivelihood.org/

10/01/2008

First Jornalist to Win Alternative Nobel

AMY GOODMAN, HOST OF DEMOCRACY NOW!, FIRST JOURNALIST TO WIN "ALTERNATIVE NOBEL" New York City, NY

– Award-winning journalist and host of Democracy Now! Amy Goodman is the first journalist to receive the Right Livelihood Award, widely recognized as the world's premier award for personal courage and social transformation. The annual prize, also known as the Alternative Nobel, will be awarded in the Swedish Parliament on December 8, 2008.

The Right Livelihood Award was established in 1980 to honor and support those "offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today". Goodman has been selected for “developing an innovative model of truly independent grassroots political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by the mainstream media.”
Pioneering the largest public media collaboration in the country, Democracy Now! is a daily grassroots, global TV/radio/internet news hour airing on more than 750 public radio and television stations and at http://www.democracynow.org.

Goodman said, “I am deeply honored that grassroots, independent journalism and the hard work of my colleagues at Democracy Now! are being recognized in these critical times. I strongly believe that media can be a force for peace. It is the responsibility of journalists to give voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken and beaten down by the powerful. It is the best reason I know to carry our pens, cameras and microphones out into the world. The media should be a sanctuary for dissent. It is our job to go to where the silence is.”

Goodman and two Democracy Now! producers were arrested last month at the Republican National Convention while reporting on street demonstrations. Charges were dropped after widespread public outcry. The video of Goodman's arrest was among the most watched YouTube video's during the convention week. It has now been viewed over 860,000 times.

Amy Goodman writes a weekly syndicated column with King Features which runs in major newspapers throughout North and South America. She is co-author with her brother, journalist David Goodman, of three New York Times bestsellers: Standing Up To the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times; Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back; and The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Them.

Goodman’s reporting on East Timor and Nigeria won the George Polk Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Prize for International Reporting, and the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award.

Her other awards include the first ever Communication for Peace Award presented by the World Association of Christian Communication, the Puffin/Nation Institute Award for Creative Citizenship, The Paley Center for Media “She Made It” Award, and the Gracie Award for American Women in Radio and Television Public Broadcasting. Goodman has also received awards from the Associated Press, United Press International, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Goodman shares the 2008 Right Livelihood Award with Krishnammal and Sankaralingam Jagannathan of India, and their organisation, Land for the Tillers’ Freedom, for their work dedicated to realising in practice the Gandhian vision of social justice and sustainable human development; Asha Hagi of Somalia “for continuing to lead at great personal risk the female participation in the peace and reconciliation process in her war-ravaged country.”; and Monika Hauser of Germany, gynaecologist and founder of medica mondiale, “for her tireless commitment to working with women who have experienced the most horrific sexualised violence in some of the most dangerous countries in the world, and campaigning for them to receive social recognition and compensation.”

For more information about the 2008 Right Livelihood Award, please visit http://www.rightlivelihood.org.

Wide-spread Acts of Civil Disobedience

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/01/climatechange.scienceofclimatechange

A Better Bail-out

http://www.truthout.org/092808D

Tax Credits on Renewable Energy, NC

http://energync.org/resources/taxcredits

Ahhhhh, Permaculture

http://www.21paradigm.com/permaculture.php

Form Designed to Tell Them Off

http://www.acmeclimateaction.com/files/ACME_watch_business_letter.pdf

Please Help Local Coalition for Human Care

If you can help in the ways mentioned below or know of others who can, please pass this along. The Southern Pines United Methodist food pantry the gives out food every Monday morning is also in need of persons who might be willing to help on a weekly or monthly basis. Feel free to contact me or the church if you can help.

Best regards,
Gail Scott 692-3054

Dear Friends of the Coalition,

Thanks to your commitment and support of the Coalition, forty-seven families received help at the Coalition yesterday. This is not an all time record but it is a record for September 30th!

The Coalition served 611 families this September and 412 families
in September of 07. As you know, the need is great.

Our wonderful volunteers worked so hard, on their feet, assisting
clients until almost 2 pm.

Please help us spread the word that the Coalition is in dire need of Food, Clothes, Funds and Volunteers!

Thank you very much for all that you do for the Coalition and for our neighbors in Moore County who struggle to have the most basic
of human needs. You are so kind.

Caroline Eddy, Executive Director
Sandhills/Moore Coalition for Human Care
1500 W. Indiana Ave.
Southern Pines, NC 28387
910-693-1600 fax 910-693-1051
coalition@pinehurst.net