Indecision in Nepal

Posted on 06. Aug, 2010 by admin in Clickables

There was a hope today that Nepal will get a new prime minister. But Nepal has failed to elect a new one for the fourth time in a month after Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned from power. In the fourth round of election held on Friday, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal bagged 213 votes while his opponent Nepali Congress’s Ram Chandra Poudel garnered 122 votes.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML) and an alliance of four Madhes-based parties today decided to abstain from voting. While parliamentarians gathered on Friday in the House in New Baneshwore to vote for their candidate, a dozen lawmakers missed the opportunity as they arrived too late. Deputy Prime Minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar and a few others reached the House after the doors were already closed and voting started.
 
Just a few hours ahead of voting, the Communist Party of Nepal ML split up after serious disputes erupted over choosing a candidate. The Indian Government sent former ambassador to Nepal Shyam Sharan to help broker a deal between the three major political parties, but the attempt failed as none of the nominees got a majority.

It has been over a month since the prime minister resigned, and such a power vaccuum is uncommon even for Nepal. People are confused and hoping that the next election – some two weeks away – will bring needed certainty.

- Rajneesh Bhandari

Watch an interview with Rajneesh below:

EU Increases Iran Sanctions

Posted on 30. Jul, 2010 by admin in Around the Planet, Clickables

This week in Iran, our friends at “The Week in Green” point towards general acknowledgment that Iran is now controlled by the military–not the clerics.

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Blip.tv video.

“This Heat will be the Norm”

Posted on 27. Jul, 2010 by admin in Clickables

If you think this summer has been rough on the East Coast, David Easterling, chief of the Scientific Services Division at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C, has some disconcerting data for you. With 2010 on track to becoming the hottest summer on record, the climate models and data run by Easterling point toward something disturbing: within 20 years, this weather could become the standard, not the exception:

GULF REPORT: Sea Turtles Burning

Posted on 07. Jul, 2010 by admin in Clickables

One of the many animal groups endangered by the old spill in the Gulf of Mexico is sea turtles. Carole Allen, Gulf Office Director at the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, speaks here about how BP has been handling the renewed threat to sea turtles.
http://blip.tv/file/3852691

Hey, What’s With You, Guy?

Posted on 28. Jun, 2010 by admin in Clickables

Our occasional series on your public servants….

We turn today to Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), who is making headlines now thanks to his floor speech about a diabolical terrorist plot to (follow this one): infiltrate the US with pregnant women, whose babies would then be born here, making them American citizens, “and then they would turn back where they could be raised and coddled as future terrorists…And then one day, twenty, thirty years down the road, they can be sent in to help destroy our way of life.”

Gohmert cites a retired FBI agent as his source.

Gohmert, who’s been in Congress since 2005, also has compared the $20 billion BP fund to (what else) Hitler, suggested that President Obama would condone the stabbing of TSA workers, said that a hate crimes bill would lead to rampant bestiality, and lashed out at skimpily-dressed Miss USA contestants as “an absolute breakdown in morality and when you lose morality you get economic chaos.” And that’s just this year.

In 2006, the non-profit Sunlight Organization which advocates better transparency in government reported that Gohmert’s campaign committee paid his wife $53,261 to serve as the campaign’s assistant manager in 2005-2006.

For all this, and the floor speech below, we have to ask: hey, what’s with you, guy?

Life From Life

Posted on 28. May, 2010 by admin in Clickables

James Anderson, the CEO and founder of BHFI in Ohio, has been trying to create pockets of Eden with his Organics Reprocessing for Biofuels (ORB) system, which makes biomass energy production more accessible to smaller and less affluent communities worldwide. He speaks here about the philosophy and principles behind his work.
http://blip.tv/file/3684305

The Politics of Biofuel

Posted on 26. May, 2010 by admin in Clickables

As the US tries to cut its dependence on fossil fuels, it is turning more and more to renewable sources like bio-diesel, ethanol, solar and wind power. But these aren’t always better. James Anderson, CEO and Founder of BHFI in Ohio – which has been developing the Organics Reprocessing for Biofuels (ORB) system to make biomass energy production more accessible to smaller and less affluent communities worldwide – recently spoke with us about the politics behind our energy choices.
http://www.vimeo.com/12034933

Biomass for Everyone

Posted on 24. May, 2010 by admin in Clickables

The US throws way around 7 billion tons of organic waste ever year, but this waste could be used to produce energy – half a trillion dollars’ worth, according to James Anderson, CEO and Founder of BHFI in Ohio. A unit of BHFI has developed the Organics Reprocessing for Biofuels (ORB) system, which offers a relatively cheap, easy, and environmentally friendly way for everyday people to capitalize on the organic energy all around them.
http://www.vimeo.com/11996957

The New Sherriff

Posted on 20. May, 2010 by admin in Clickables

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has revitalized the debate on offshore drilling and oversight. Ken Salazar, President Obama’s Secretary of the Interior, was brought in to crack down on the government’s cozy relationship with oil companies, but in the wake of the spill, it doesn’t seem much was done. Will anything really change now? Miyoko Sakashita, senior attorney and oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity, discusses.
http://www.vimeo.com/11902026

Damage in the Gulf

Posted on 18. May, 2010 by admin in Clickables

It may not look so bad on the surface, but the estimated 5,000 barrels of oil per day still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico will take its toll. Miyoko Sakashita, senior attorney and oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity, talks about the long-term effects of the oil spill.
http://www.vimeo.com/11844652