Politics stuff from the week 9-15/7/12

'Rio bay fisherfolk in deadly feud over oil complex'
It seems State-funded Brazilian oil business Petrobras, has been killing-off the opposition to its activities in Gaunabara Bay. Literally!
Several officials of Ahomar - which represents the fishers - have already been murdered, and the number of fishing families in the bay has dropped from 23000 to 6000.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-rio-bay-fisherfolk-deadly-feud.html

[video] A review by the UK's Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering has found that the process of fracking (different to what's actually pumped out, remember) is no less safe than other methods, as long as:
- The wells are many hundreds of metres deep (to avoid interference with water-tables and aquifers)
- The integrity of the wells are thoroughly maintained (can anyone say "Gulf of Mexico"/"Monsanto"/"BP"/"Deepwater Horizon"?)
- Surface wastewater reservoirs are not allowed (they are not, in the UK, currently)
- Such wastewater is effectively dealt with, bearing in mind the radioactive properties of fossil fuels (yes - i bet you didn't know about that!)
This does not at all negate from the fact that fracking is intended to extract fossil fuels, and fossils with the greenness of coal - even though it's often 'natural' shale gas (fossil gas)
Hydrocarbon pollution notwithstanding, the fracking process is not as unsafe as feared, and is no major risk for earthquakes.
Hydrocarbon pollution not-notwithstanding, fracking should be condemned with equivalent vigour to coal, due to its environmental health impacts, and the fact that it often displaces otherwise-useful land.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-fracking-undertaken-safely-effective.html

'Nigeria oil spill caused by sabotage, ENI says'
Stealing oil is common, in poor parts of the world, where the 'black gold' can simply be extracted by breaking the pipes.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-nigeria-oil-sabotage-eni.html

'Arctic drilling: Groups challenge Shell oil spill response plans'
"The lawsuit, which is being filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, seeks to invoke the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, a tough law passed in the wake of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill."
Shell, of course, claims that they'll be fine on their own. History, however -- tells us this is a lie.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-arctic-drilling-groups-shell-oil.html

"Athletes are really careful about what they eat. Just possibly corn syrup and saturated fats are fairly low of their diet sheets. I’ll go further, I’ll get really radical, they are not on their diet sheets at all, they would avoid such products at all costs.
But we accept that the two biggest sponsors of the Olympic movement, a fast food corporation and a ‘soft drink’ corporation have managed to buy their way into the picture. Not just for these games, the soft drink corporation has been involved since the 1920’s."
http://llewblog.squarespace.com/journal/2012/7/11/once-in-my-lifetime.html
On top of this, why we should boycott the London 2012 Games:
http://tapejarascience.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/why-you-should-boycott-london-2012.html

'Scientists march against 'death of evidence' in Canada'
The ruling conservative Party is busy undermining everything that has made Canada a nice place to be, and scientists aren't sitting idle.
"The procession of 200 scientists in lab coats lead by pallbearers carrying a coffin winded silently through downtown Ottawa's streets to Parliament, where a mock funeral service was held for scientific programs cut in recent budgets."
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-scientists-death-evidence-canada.html

In a ranking of the world's 12 major economies by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), the UK is the best for overall efficiency.
The UK is best by industry; China is best by buildings; Italy, China, Germany and the UK share first by transport; Germany leads by "national efforts", and the USA... is way down the list.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-britain-energy-efficiency-lags.html

Ukraine's anti-Gay law has been shelved. The homophobes'll have one last chance to pass it, in September, and then they'll have to start all over again.
https://www.allout.org/en/actions/keepitgoing

'Second-hand Angry Birds? EU lets software be resold'
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2012/07/eu-court-rules-used-software-c.html

'BBC implies there wasn’t interest in NHS bill'
BBC TV News is rubbish. I do not watch it unless by accident; and i would advise you to get your News from reliable sources, too. Such as my blog! ;-P
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/07/13/bbc-implies-there-wasnt-interest-in-nhs-bill/

'Russia vows to open up Arctic to energy firms'
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-russia-vows-arctic-energy-firms.html

Lobbying by the mototr industry has led to concessions to the most polluting cars
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-big-german-cars-favoured-eu.html
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-eu-car-co2-industry-green.html