Montgomery County, MD Green Party Blog

One interesting fact I picked up while in Ireland was that the Irish use IRV in their elections for President and Dail (parliament). This site describes the process for casting a vote for president.

The elector votes in secret in a voting compartment. The voter indicates the order of his/her choice by writing 1 opposite the name of his/her first choice and, if he/she so wishes, 2 opposite the name of his/her second choice, 3 opposite the name of his/her third choice and so on. In this way the voter instructs the returning officer to transfer the vote to the second choice candidate if the first choice is eliminated. If the same situation applies to the second choice, the vote may be transferred to the third choice and so on.

Of course, the Irish still complain about their government, but then I think they’re all anarchists at heart!

Daphne Eviatar had a very interesting op-ed piece in yesterday’s Washington Post that covered the very same issues discussed in a post on this blog back on July 18.

One month later–at least some of us are on top of the news!

Evitar discusses the sections in NAFTA and CAFTA that give multinational businesses rights to challange national laws that they believe to be in restraint of trade.

Just like the post here (suspiciously like it one might say), Eviatar uses the example of Glamis Gold, discussing its mining operations in Guatemala and its challange to a California law requiring the backfilling of open pit mines.

It’s a good piece; it does go into more detail than the quick post here. I’ll (grudgingly) grant her that.

But I do have to make one correction. Eviatar cites as the major environmental danger of Glamis’s gold mines the cyanide used to leach the gold from the ore.

The former gold mining executive that I talked to assured me that this was not the problem; that cyanide breaks down very quickly and is no hazard (unless tons of it are deliberately dumped into the water.)

There are two major problems with the gold mine. The environmental hazard comes from the ore left over once the process is completed. These “tailings” are piled on the ground as waste and can easily wash into nearby water supplies. The tailings contain numerous other heavy metals–including arsenic–that will kill off any wildlife in the streams and lakes that they pollute, and pose a serious health hazard to local residents.

But the problem that most worries the local village leaders that I listened to, is the enormous use of water by the mine. A Glamis mine in Honduras has exhausted the water supply of the region it is located in–destoying the indigenous peoples’ ability to farm–and is now applying for water rights in neighboring provinces. The Guatemalan leaders fear that this will happen to them. They also complain that the company did not conduct the local consultations it was requried to under international law.

So, just in case Daphne stumbles across this post; now you know (as Paul Harvey would say)…the rest of the story.

Politicians and automakers say a car that can both reduce greenhouse gases and free America from its reliance on foreign oil is years or even decades away. Ron Gremban says such a car is parked in his garage.

Click here for link.

Dennis Kobray posted this article on the Green_All_Views Listserv (http://groups.yahoo.com).

The prominence of party leaders like [Joseph] Biden and [Hillary] Clinton, and of a slew of
other potential prowar candidates who support the US invasion and
occupation of Iraq, presents the Democrats with an odd dilemma: At a time
when the American people are turning against the Iraq War and favor a
withdrawal of US troops, and British and American leaders are publicly
discussing a partial pullback, the leading Democratic presidential
candidates for ‘08 are unapologetic war hawks. Nearly 60 percent of
Americans now oppose the war, according to recent polling. Sixty-three
percent want US troops brought home within the next year. Yet a recent
National Journal “insiders poll” found that a similar margin of Democratic
members of Congress reject setting any timetable. The possibility that
America’s military presence in Iraq may be doing more harm than good is
considered beyond the pale of “sophisticated” debate.

Click here for link.

I received this from Scott Loughrey’s blog.

Since Aug. 1, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute has received reports from Sarasota to New Port Richey of mass mortalities of fish and other reef animals. While they’re sure they know the cause - red tide - the scope and severity of the damage is less certain.

Click here for link.

…[T]ake a closer look: What you knew about sprawl turns out to be wrong.

The urbanized area in and around Los Angeles has become the most densely populated place in the continental United States, according to the Census Bureau. Its density is 25 percent higher than that of New York, twice that of Washington and four times that of Atlanta, as measured by residents per square mile of urban land.

Click here for link.

Ruling in favor of two advocacy groups — West Harlem Environmental Action and the Natural Resources Defense Council — U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff wrote that the agency failed to justify its 2001 agreement with pest control companies, which dropped two provisions from a 1998 rule requiring them to include a bittering agent and an indicator dye.

Click here for link.

In this Washington Post article, the virtues of Finland are discsussed.

Click here for link.

Reading this Washington Post article, I was struck by this thought: Suppose we who support proportional representation had the ability to petition for funds from these guys? They’re supposedly looking for new avenues in which to “invest” politically; Why not ask them to support PR?

Click here for link.

I got this from the On_Background blog (Tuesday, July 26th).
Normally I ignore the Fascists in the Vatican, but this cannot go without a comment. The Vatican leadership is sexist (in addition to being undemocratic, but that goes with being a Fascist). Their behavior as outlined in this Washington Post article is reprehensible.
Click here for link to article.