The comparisons are provokatively slanted – and interesting for that alone – but the conclusion is clear. The rampant environmental destruction is taking its toll. As the world looks to China as the new ’super power’ or ‘economic engine’ it becomes just antoher burial ground for life itself? Not an altogether encouraging picture of how we are presently operating, as it were…

China’s Environment Accidents Double as Growth Takes Toll

Workers scoop up spilled crude oil at the Nantuo Fishing Harbor in Dalian, Liaoning province. Photographer: Liu Debin/Color China/AP

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July 28 (Bloomberg) — Brian Youngberg, an analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis, talks with Bloomberg’s Susan Li about the outlook for BP Plc. BP appointed U.S.-born Robert Dudley as chief executive officer and pledged to accelerate asset sales to as much as $30 billion after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill led to a record loss. (Source: Bloomberg)

China, the world’s largest polluter, said the number of environmental accidents rose 98 percent in the first six months of the year, as demand for energy and minerals lead to poisoned rivers and oil spills.

“Fast economic development is leading to increasing conflicts with the capacity of the environment to absorb” demands, the environmental protection ministry said in a faxed statement in response to Bloomberg questions.

An acid leak at Zijin Mining Group Co.’s copper and gold mine this month poisoned enough fish in the Ting River to feed 72,000 for a year, and Dalian’s beaches and port were closed by an oil spill at the nation’s largest crude terminal. The accidents underscore the toll from two decades of growth averaging 10.1 percent that made China the third-largest economy.

“The government is starting to spend huge amount of money cleaning up the air, and cleaning up the water,” Jim Rogers, who co-founded the Quantum Hedge Fund in 1970, said from Singapore. “It’s going to lead to higher cost, just as it does everywhere in the world. A clean smelter is more expensive than a dirty smelter.”

There were about 102 accidents in the first half, compared with 171 for the whole of 2010, according to figures derived from the ministry’s data. The oil spill at Dalian, 10 times the amount in the last incident in Shaanxi province in December, was the biggest in Chinese waters, according to Greenpeace. Zijin’s waste leak Fujian province was the worst in the Chinese gold industry in two years.

Heavy Metal Pollution

“If China doesn’t address the environmental issues when the economy is growing fast, it might become a destabilizing factor in the society,” Ma Jun, founder of the Institute of Public Environmental Affairs, a researcher, said by phone from Beijing. “The Chinese public is increasingly aware and vocal about the heavy metal pollution brought on by refineries and smelters.”

Air quality deteriorated for the first time in five years in the first six months, the environment ministry said July 26. The world’s largest metal and energy consumer also has the worst coal-mine safety record, with an average of seven deaths each day in accidents last year.

“Local governments are trying to develop their economies and the thinking is ‘get rich first, worry about the pollution later,’” Yang Ailun, head of the climate change unit for Greenpeace, said in Beijing. “The central government is very aware that the current economic model is unsustainable.”

An explosion at an abandoned plastics and chemical factory in Nanjing city killed at least six people, the official Xinhua News Agency said today.

Water Checks

The ministry has started a nationwide investigation of drinking water and mine tailing ponds this year, the statement said. It has also set up databases on violations, strengthened regulations and is encouraging residents to report complaints.

“China is in a state of development when there’s a high rate of violations,” the environment ministry said. There were at least 10 incidents a month in the first half, it said.

Before the accidents at Zijin and Dalian port, the environmental ministry listed PetroChina Co.’s Songhua River toxic spill in 2005, Sichuan Chemical Co.’s waste leaks into the Tuojiang River and Shaoguan Smelting Plant’s illegal discharge of cadmium as among the worst cases in the past six years.

The government has been identifying a “large number of culprits” in new cases, the ministry said in the statement.

Small Penalties

Still, the penalties for companies may be “too small,” said Tony Zheng, president of Shanghai Good Hope Equity Investment Management Co. “The fines won’t deal a fatal blow to big Chinese companies. It’s unlike in the U.S.”

Zijin said it may pay 5 million yuan ($737,500), or 0.2 percent of last year’s net income, in compensation for fish poisoned. A penalty hasn’t been decided on the leakage yet, the environment ministry said in the statement.

PetroChina, the nation’s largest oil producer, was fined 1 million yuan, out of a net income of 133 billion yuan in 2005, for the accident that affected the drinking water of three million people. That contrasts with the $20 billion that President Barack Obama has demanded from BP Plc for the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

China’s environmental ministry checked almost a million companies last year, and forced more than 2,000 to stop or curb production, according to its annual report. Between March and May this year, it monitored paper mills and water treatment companies in provinces including Guangdong and Hebei, finding that as many as half broke laws, the ministry said July 6.

Under Surveillance

“Listed mining and smelting companies are now increasingly under the surveillance of the environmental ministry and will have to get approval from them before getting funding, or licenses for expansion or for rights issues,” said Shi Heqing, an analyst at Beijing Antaike Information Development Co.

The nation passed the U.S. to become the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. China overtook the U.S. as the world’s biggest energy user last year, according to the International Energy Agency.

New environmental rules may push up steelmakers’ costs by at least 10 percent, according to the China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute, a government adviser. The higher requirements come as China is also grappling with wage demand from workers.

“Some small and medium-size companies will go out of business with the rising labor cost and higher environment requirements,” said Hu Xingdou, a professor of economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology. “If China relies on low wage and high pollution industries, people won’t benefit much no matter how the GDP rises.”

–Helen Yuan, Feiwen Rong and Diao Ying, with assistance from John Duce, Penny Peng and Miao Han. Editors: Tan Hwee Ann, Keith Gosman.

To contact the Bloomberg News staff on this story: Helen Yuan in Shanghai at hyuan@bloomberg.net; Feiwen Rong in Beijing at frong2@bloomberg.net

This one stirs every fiber of my being perhaps for the 2nd verse…

It’s a photograph taken in Paris
At the end of the honey moon in 1948
late in the month of June
Your parents parents smile for the camera
In sienna shades of light
Now you’re older than they were then that summer night.
Come on Come on…

but in the end it is this one that make me her undying fan forever
and ever and it is this one that leaves me so sill so full so wanting more.

The essence of Mary in my opinion is this one…

afer all… Why walk when you can fly?

Takes time
to
readjust

but not.

Speaking the clarity
of the intent
and subtle

awareness.

So that another
might
by luck or
instinct

understand.

And to do this
in dialogue…

Divine.

It’s not that I don’t love mountains, I just prefer them in the sea.

Or at least near by.

Because I am in my early 50’s I am near enough to this man’s age
to have borne witness to what he speaks of…

I went out on a deep sea fishing boat as a child in the ’60s.
my catch was not so impressive, at 22lbs, but to me
it was the world.

Today’s catch is ‘big’ at 4lbs…

His photographs make it plain.
And his research makes it plainer.

As a child I picked wild mussels, fished flounder,
mackerel and catfish – knew waters salt and fresh
alive with life.

The oceans were whole and healthy, wild and clean.

I still live by the ocean.

And thankfully for me, she is still
clean (er) and whole enough
… for now.

We fail to listen
at our own peril.

are just like that.

Write ‘em off early
and be done with it.

Better off
in the long run.

and probably
the short run too.

and said they were clearly under-dressed
for the temperature here
by the sea…

ah, yes. That’s how we like it.
cool and cloudy
with a little breeze

Perfect
4th of July
weather.

turned out to be a friend of his.

I couldn’t go less
than he asked on principle
once I saw the guitar and met the boy
with the cash in my hands.

Tonight.
Tonight, the new wood the action
and a world of the past and a lot of guitars
that were not martins came calling.

More of this
Less of everything else.

it said

It was not Robert’s D 28
1930 rosewood Martin
but it was somehow not
less than this, either, in its way.

Clean new wood smell
perfect action

a little woosey – I had to
stress the neck and action – push a little…
no one argued.

hours and plenty of memories
and new wanders later…

The message had not changed.

More of this
Less of everything else.

The pelicans die
the fish die
the turtles die

the egrets die
the hermit crabs die
the marshes die
the gulf dies.

Swept up in the machinery of a
BP controlled Media Event…

They disappear from the scene like
so much yesterday’s news.

Without a trace.

Some locals tell us
their carcasses are
removed in stealth

Baby birds
turtles
swaths of fish
raked up
netted up
‘disappeared’.

to keep the world quiet.

To let it go on
as it is.

Uncontrolled

unabated,

unbridled destruction of life
and planet
beyond comprehension.

The world waits…
and watches.

Offers of assistance
are ignored

As the warlords
of money and greed
control the scene of their reckless destruction
to their own ends
at the expense of everything else.

No one balks.

Day after day
nothing changes.

Clean up workers don’t wear respirators.

Toxic oil, fumes, tar balls, gasses, and
vapors rise up into their bodies.

Who are these local people
so desperate for work
they will risk their lives
to obey these
masters.

Birds are decapitated
and removed

to where?

Oil laden victims
buried in
silence
and stealth
somewhere where their
bodies will, undoubtedly,
leave a toxic
legacy.

No one,
it seems
has the power
to stop this madness.

And we call it
what?

What do we
call this?

Purposeful self destruction
under
imaculate
leadership?

It is said that
the human needs
a culture… a society

that we are

social
creatures.

But when the human
has no internal compass
no internal society
of self…

what is the human

Other than
a plague upon the earth?

How have those
who could have
and can
help

with know how
skills
wisdom
ability…

allowed those who
created the disaster
in recklessness

To control
their response.

That is
the
one
baffling question.

Oh yeah.

Vote for South Carolina’s Alvin Greene for U.S. Senate!

Are you watching this?  The South Carolina Democratic Primary was held last week and the winner, by a significant margin… Alvin Greene over Vic Rawl.

Vic Rawl graduated from the USC School of Law in 1973.  He and his wife Laura have been married 40 years and have one son, Vic Jr.  He was an officer in the S.C. National Guard for twenty-six years, serving as a Judge Advocate and retiring as a Lt. Colonel.  His law practice was open between 1973 and 1986, and he worked as a criminal prosecutor in 1976. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives four times and served from 1977 to 1978 and from 1980-1986, for a total of eight years. From 1980 to 1986 he worked on the State Reorganization Commission, S. C. Housing Authority, and S.C. Prison Overcrowding Project. And he served as a Circuit Court Judge from 1991-2003.

So, basically Rawl’s a typical politician who wanted the people of South Carolina to send him to Washington to serve in the United States Senate for the next six years.  Unfortunately, the people of South Carolina said no, but thank you for playing… and all eyes turned to Mr. Greene.

Out of a total of 170,215 votes cast, 100,362 went to Greene and 69,853 went to Vic Rawl.  Voter turnout in most counties was in the range of 20-30%.  Greene didn’t just win… he crushed his opponent winning 60% of the vote.  A “mandate,” I believe is what they like to call that, right?

There was only little problem with the outcome, and both the politicians and the media started asking questions as soon as the results were in… Who the hell is Alvin Greene?  The problem continues to be that no one has a real clear answer to that question.

South Carolina Democratic Party chairwoman Carol Fowler said she had not seen Greene since he filed to run.  Clarendon County Democratic Party Chairman Cal Land told a local newspaper that local party leaders had not met Greene, that he had not attended any local Democratic events and had not responded to any invitations to local stump meetings.

Apparently, Greene, who is currently unemployed, lives at home with his father.  He has no experience.  He has no staff or campaign headquarters.  He had no slogan and ran no advertising. He received no support from the Democratic Party, and no contributions from supporters. He held no rallies.  No buttons. No lawn signs.  No bumper stickers.  No Website.  No computer. No cell phone. No phone, no pool, and no pets.

However, it’s not like Greene has nothing in common with his would be fellow senators. The day after the primary election, the media reported that Greene was facing felony obscenity charges.   Apparently, Greene was arrested in November 2009, charged with showing a pornographic Internet site to an 18-year-old female University of South Carolina student and then propositioning her in a computer lab.  I realize that, traditionally, senators wait until they’ve been elected to rack up their first felony obscenity charge, but that just makes Greene an overachiever in my mind.

Now… when I first read about Greene’s victory I thought it was kind of funny and kind of sad.  But, then the Democrats and media pundits gave me more than I could have possibly asked for as they started asking questions and attacking their party primary’s victor.

South Carolina Democratic Rep. James Clyburn kicked off the festivities with claims that “someone,” and by “someone” he means someone from the Republican Party, inserted Greene as a “plant” into the Democratic primary as part of the RNC’s plot to ruin Democratic chances in the November elections.  Obviously, someone’s a plant alright… a potted plant… South Carolina Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, or at least he’s got a similar I.Q.

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann really wanted to know where Greene got the $10,000 needed to enter the race?  According to Keith, Alvin Greene filed as an indigent in South Carolina in order to get a public defender related to his felony obscenity charge, but he had $10,400 for a shot at the United States Senate. Greene said that he originally got the idea to run for office in 2008 when he was stationed in Korea, and that he paid the filing fee by saving two years of his service pay.

That was Keith’s big question… where did he get the ten grand?  That’s the problem here?  Gee, and here I would have thought that the Dems would have hung their heads in disgrace at how disconnected the electorate obviously is that they’ll vote for ANYONE that’s not a “politician”.  Like, not only did Rawls lose to Greene, but he probably would have lost to “Blue” too. And I mean the color blue.

Keith, why didn’t you have Alvin Greene on your show during the primary, or at least look into him during the race?  Or, did you just see an African American Democrat running and assume everything was fine?  And where in the world is the Obama Administration?  Isn’t there some Harvard type in charge of watching the Democratic primaries, leading up to this coming November’s all-important midterms?

Looking for Blame in All the Wrong Places…

Democrats looking to place blame for Greene’s victory is, in itself, comical.  That they don’t know why Greene won is similarly, laughable.  I don’t see how it could be made any clearer that people went to the polls dissatisfied at the status quo, and angry enough to check the box marked “Other”.  And, as I’ve said many times before, there are millions of people all across this country that have been shown just how powerless they are, will soon reassert their power in the privacy of the voting booth.

We’ve lost 7 million homes over the last few years and there are tens of millions of Americans all too aware that they could soon join those undistinguished ranks.  It’s not something that polls well, however, as there are few that care to admit publicly that they are at risk of losing their homes.  As a result, how these millions of Americans feel about their country continues to be ignored by our elected representatives.

On Sunday morning, NBC’s David Gregory asked senior White House adviser David Axelrod if Greene’s election was legitimate.  Axelrod replied: “The whole thing is odd. I don’t really know how to explain it and I don’t think anybody else does either. … How [Greene] won the primary is a big mystery, and until you resolve that I don’t think he can claim to be a strong, credible candidate.”

All totaled up, most political observers are blaming some blend of faulty voting machines, foul play by political opponents, and the fact that Greene comes before Rawls when listed alphabetically.  South Carolina State Senator Robert Ford claimed that the surname “Greene” is common among African Americans, so that may have caused African American voters to identify with him, which makes sense.  Ford, after all, garnered most of his support because everyone knows how much African Americans love to drive Fords.

There’s even speculation that African American voters confused the candidate with soul singer Al Green, which is just hysterical on one hand and, I would imagine, unbelievably insulting to these voters on the other.

First of all, let’s get one thing out of the way: I hope the RNC planted Green into the race, because that would demonstrate to me that they do have some sense of humor and I might pay a little more attention to them going forward… but there’s no chance they planted Greene or anyone else for that matter.  Why?  Because it makes no sense that anyone would have done so, that’s why.

Why in the world would the RNC plant an unknown into a political race who doesn’t campaign, has no rallies, runs no advertising, raises no money, garners no party support, and ostensibly has absolutely no chance of winning?  And more than just that… no one even knew he was there… until he won, that is.

Great strategy, Republicans.  What else can you spend time and money on this year that has essentially no chance of ever being noticed by anyone?  It’s positively brilliant!

I started watching a few interviews with Greene, and they all went something like this:

INTERVIEWER: “How do you think people heard of your name before the election?”

ALVIN GREENE: (pause) “… uh, Word of mouth. I got the word around. It’s not luck. 60% of the vote…” (pause) “… I had 60% of the vote…” (pause) “60% of the vote is not luck, that’s a decisive wins”.

Journalist Scott Creighton wrote that he thinks Greene is basically playing the role of Forrest Gump.  He believes that evil Republicans planted Greene into the race, and he bases his argument on a TV interview in which Greene is unfamiliar with the term “indictment”.

“Alvin Greene is pretending to be an idiot,” Creighton writes, noting that Greene holds a college degree and worked as an intelligence specialist in the US military. “He is doing it because someone doesn’t want a strong populist democrat like Vic Rawl running against Jim DeMint in South Carolina for his seat in the United States Senate.”

What’s this… a college degree?  The plot thickens.

And sure enough, Alvin Greene received a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina in Political Science in 2000 and he rose to the position of Intelligence Specialist during his military career.

The University of South Carolina confirms that Greene graduated in 2000 with a degree in political science. The Pentagon confirms that he served in the Army, and in the Army and Air Force national guards. Although Greene has not boasted of winning awards, the Pentagon says he was granted the Air Force Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Korean Defense Service Medal. MSNBC

Olbermann asked Greene if he planned to withdraw from the race, and Greene said… without hesitation, no way, he’s in it for the long haul, announcing that:

“The Democratic Party has chosen their nominee, and we have to stand behind their choice. The people have spoken. We need to be pro-South Carolina, not anti-Greene.”

Here here!  Vote for Alvin!

Well, I’ve decided that I’m pro-Greene.  In fact, I’m going to volunteer to help with his campaign, so in preparation for that job, I’ve taken the liberty of putting together a platform that I believe will resonate with the people of South Carolina, as well as with Americans from coast to coast.

• On the topic of BP in the Gulf of Mexico, Greene says: “Clean that sh#t up!”
• On Wall Street bankers and the financial crisis, Greene says: “Clean that sh#t up!”
• On the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Greene says: “Clean that sh#t up!”
• On the ongoing foreclosure crisis, Green says: “Clean that sh#t up!”
• On the topic of unemployment, Greene says: “Clean that sh#t up!”
• On transparency at the Federal Reserve and Treasury, Greene says: “Clean that sh#t up!”
• On illegal immigration Greene says: “Clean that sh#t up!”
• Campaign reform?  “Clean that sh#t up!”

See what I mean?  Which one of his positions don’t you agree with?

If elected, Greene would be the first African-American in the Southern United States to win a seat in U.S. Senate since Reconstruction in the 1870s, and the first popularly elected African-American Senator from the South… ever!

Greene says he’s a moderate Democrat.  His new campaign slogan is “Let’s get South Carolina back to work.”  He supports offshore drilling.  He supports reform of the financial industry. He supports job creation and would increase highway construction projects and pursue alternative energy sources. He has called for better school facilities and increasing pay for teachers. Greene favors winding down the wars the Middle East and “using that money for domestic programs, such as job creation, education, and Social Security. And, as to firearms, Greene said he supports the Constitution.”
Regardless of any of the preceding facts, South Carolina Democratic Party chairwoman Carol Fowler issued a statement calling for Greene to drop out of the race:

“We are proud to have nominated a Democratic ticket this year that, with the apparent exception of Mr. Greene, reflects South Carolina’s values. Our candidates want to give this state a new beginning without the drama and irresponsibility of the past 8 years, and the charges against Mr. Greene indicate that he cannot contribute to that new beginning. I hope he will see the wisdom of leaving the race.”

Don’t listen to her Alvin!  Stay in there and hang tough… help is on its way.  I’m in all the way.  You’re not alone, by the way.  We’ve already seen a number of long-time politicos get tossed out by the primaries.

2010 Primaries – Upsetting the Incumbents

In New Jersey, former NFL lineman Jon Runyan, 36, won the GOP primary and used his outsider status to trounce his opponent.

“People always question my experience in politics,” Runyan said in his victory speech.  “Yes, I have no experience raising taxes over and over again. Yes, I have no experience increasing the debt. Do you really think the people who created these problems are going to be able to solve them?”

In South Dakota 38-year-old state Rep. Kristi Noem, who is a rancher and hunting lodge owner scored an upset victory over the better-known Secretary of State Chris Nelson.

Republican Sen. Bob Bennett was thrown out of office Saturday by delegates at the Utah GOP convention in a stunning defeat for a once-popular three-term incumbent. West Virginia Democratic Rep. Alan Mollohan lost his bid for a 15th term at the hands of Mike Oliverio, and if that doesn’t say “throw the incumbents out,” nothing does.

According to a CBS poll taken 10 days ago, only 9 per cent of Americans think “most members of Congress deserve re-election”.  More than 80 per cent want “new people”.  New people… I love new people.  They’re so cute and cuddly, and they drool… Yay, for new people!

Want to see what I’m saying slap someone in the face?  Then stand by in Nevada, which has the highest home foreclosure rate in the US.  If incumbent Senate Democratic majority leader Harry Reid beats out whoever runs against him, well… he’ll probably faint.

And keep in mind who Reid will be running against.  It’ll either be former beauty queen, Sue Lowden, who recently suggested patients could barter with their doctors as they did in the “olden days”. Or her opponent, Sharron Angle, a Tea Party darling who is known for her position on drug therapy for prisoners recommended by the Church of Scientology. It includes massage.

I’m not sure what Alvin Greene’s position on massage is, but as far as his position on Harry Reid goes, Alvin says: “Clean that sh#t up!”

ALVIN GREENE

FOR US SENATE!

HE KNOWS HOW TO CLEAN THAT SH#T UP!

Watch this video!  I’m Serious…

No more sun dappled breezes blow
now it is quiet.

The wind chimes sound. Note
for note.

One at a time, in delicate harmonies
barely overlapping.

As the stars gradually step out
to reveal themselves

Against a still sun backlit
sky.