|
|
Calling All CounterPunchers!
|
home / subscribe / donate / books / t-shirts / search / links / feedback / events / faq
Calling All CounterPunchers!
Annual Fundraising AppealWe interrupt your regular reading habits to bring you the following important announcement: CounterPunch needs your financial support!
We're not in the habit of making idle threats and this isn't one. Either we meet our fundraising goal of $75,000 over the next three weeks or we'll be forced to drastically curtail the operation of our website. It's near the end of our year and the wolves are gathering at the door.
CounterPunch's website is supported almost entirely by subscribers to the print edition of our
newsletter. We don't clutter the site by selling annoying popup ads. We tried getting money out of Google, but they gave us the boot. We aren't on the receiving end of six-figure grants from big foundations. George Soros doesn't have us on retainer. And we don't sell tickets on cruiseliners.
The continued existence of CounterPunch depends solely on the support and dedication of our readers. And we know there are a lot of you. We get thousands of emails from you every day. Our website receives millions of hits and nearly 100,000 readers each day-and those numbers grow by the month. Of course, all these readers chew up a lot of bandwidth and that costs money.
Barack Obama came into office preaching hope and promising change. Nine months later, hope is diminishing and change has yet to arrive. From the cratering economy to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, from warrantless wiretaps to a fatally compromised health care plan, from banker bailouts to ongoing rendition flights, this new administration governs a lot like the old. In spite of this, many progressive outlets have gone soft on Obama. We haven't. That's why so many of you have found a refuge at CounterPunch and made us your homepage. You tell us that you love CounterPunch because the quality of writing you find here every day and because we never flinch under fire. We appreciate the support and are prepared for the fierce battles to come.
Unlike many other outfits, we don't hit you up for money every month ... or even every quarter, like our friends at Antiwar.com. We only ask for your support once a year. But when we ask, we mean it. Please, use our secure server make a tax-deductible donation to CounterPunch today or purchase a subscription and a gift sub for someone or one of our award winning books (or a crate of books!) as holiday presents. (We won't call you to shake you down or sell your name to any lists--even Dick Cheney's.)
To contribute by phone you can call Becky or Deva toll free at: 1-800-840-3683
Onward,
Alexander, Jeffrey, Becky, Alya, Deva, Kimberly and Marc
CounterPunch
PO Box 228, Petrolia, CA 95558
|
Today's Stories October 27, 2009 Mike Whitney October 26, 2009 Bill Quigley / Paul Craig Roberts Uri Avnery Mike Whitney Michael Snedeker Shamus Cooke David Michael Green Martha Rosenberg Patrick Bond Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day October 23-25, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Christopher Ketcham Jeff Gore Gareth Porter Jayne Lyn Stahl Saul Landau Mike Whitney Nikolas Kozloff Ron Jacobs Russell Mokhiber Missy Beattie Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Stephen Lendman David Ker Thomson Rannie Amiri Ronnie Cummins Norm Kent Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Ben Sonnenberg Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 22, 2009 Dan Pearson / Jonathan Cook Paul Craig Roberts The US as Failed State Mark Engler Johann Hari Brian M. Downing Eric Toussaint Tom Mountain Israel Shamir Charles Thomson Website of the Day October 21, 2009 Pam Martens Linn Washington, Jr. Liaquat Ali Khan D. K. Wilson Franklin Lamb Norman Solomon Stephen Fleischman Patrice Higonnet Binoy Kampmark Kevin Coval / Website of the Day October 20, 2009 Sharon Smith Tariq Ali Mark Brenner Bouthaina Shaaban Michael D. Yates Dean Baker Dave Lindorff John Ross Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Kevin Zeese Gilad Atzmon Website of the Day October 19, 2009 Mike Whitney Greg Moses John Ross Michael Donnelly Jayne Lyn Stahl Eric Walberg Russell Mokhiber Barbara Rose Johnston John V. Whitbeck Christopher Ketcham Website of the Day October 16-18, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Paul Craig Roberts Carl Ginsburg Ralph Nader Nikolas Kozloff Carlo Galli Dave Lindorff Catherine Rottenberg
/ Neve Gordon Marshall Auerback Nicola Nasser Windy Cooler James L. Secor Ron Jacobs Wes Jackson Jesse Lerner-Kinglake David Ker Thomson Against Leaders Missy Beattie Emily Ratner Stephen Martin Michael Snedeker Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Peter Stone Brown Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 15, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Brian M. Downing Ramzy Baroud Danny Weil M. Idrees Ahmad Margaret Kimberley Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Harvey Wasserman Nirmal Ghosh Charles R. Larson Website of the Day October 14, 2009 Michael Neumann M. Reza Pirbhai Gareth Porter Paul Craig Roberts John Strausbaugh Fortress Moon Ralph Nader Dean Baker Charles Modiano Nadia Hijab Walter Brasch Website of the Day October 13, 2009 Peter Linebaugh Shamus Cooke John Ross Brendan Cooney Frida Berrigan Yves Engler David Macaray Dave Lindorff Mark Weisbrot Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day October 12, 2009 Pam Martens Mike Whitney Martha Rosenberg Jessica Arents Eamonn McCann Bill Hatch Sen. Russell Feingold Niranjan Ramakrishnan Gideon Levy Iyad Burnat Alan Cabal Dan Bacher Website of the Day October 9-11, 2009 Alexander Cockburn James Bovard Kathleen and Bill Christison Andy Worthington Marc Levy Tariq Ali Mike Whitney Paul Craig Roberts Alan Nasser Jack Z. Bratich Steve Breyman David Michael Green Dave Lindorff Paul Buchheit Jim Goodman Missy Beattie Michael Leonardi Nadia Hijab Mel Packer David Macaray James T. Phillips Charles R. Larson Michael Donnelly David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 8, 2009 Saul Landau Paul Fitzgerald / Linn Washington, Jr. Marshall Auerback Dave Lindorff David Rosen Chris Darimont / Misty MacDuffee John V. Walsh Stewart Lawrence Charles R. Larson Website of the Day October 7, 2009 Brendan Cooney Paul Craig Roberts Dean Baker Jonathan Cook John Stanton Joanne Mariner Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Stephen Lendman Sen. Russell Feingold Mary Lynn Cramer Website of the Day October 6, 2009 Mike Whitney Gareth Porter Jonathan Cook Boris Kagarlitsky Iain Boal Ron Jacobs John Ross Michael Dickinson Stephen Fleischman Ira Glunts Missy Beattie Website of the Day October 5, 2009 Pam Martens Mike Whitney Paul Craig Roberts Harry Browne Sara Mann Omar Barghouti Shamus Cooke Brenda Norrell Fred Gardner Binoy Kampmark Copenhagen Blues: McChrystal and the Afghan Trap Website of the Day October 2-4, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Diana Johnstone Greg Moses William Blum Brian Cloughley Russell Mokhiber John Ross Ellen Brown David Ker Thomson David Macaray Gary Engler Robert Fantina Lisa Stolarski / Naomi Archer Anthony Papa Joe Allen Harry Browne Ron Jacobs Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
|
Rate Increases, Nukes and DeceptionPower Plays in FloridaBy ALAN FARAGO Today President Obama takes the bully pulpit for a new energy future to a rural, conservative town in Florida; Arcadia where Florida Power and Light is building the largest solar energy facility in the nation. But in its home state, Florida Power and Light in mired in controversy unlikely to be publicly noted by the president. However politically deft today's visit may be, President Obama should reflect that Shakespeare used Arcadia in his dramas: it was place where no one ages and nothing decays, where time stands still; in other words perfectly suited for humankind's ambient atmosphere-- deception. The state's most powerful electric utility has been fending off a raft of bad news lately: its quest for a 30 percent base rate increase is opposed by Governor Charlie Crist and recession-weary Floridians. In the meantime, an ugly episode boiled up: FPL sought to unduly influence the Public Service Commission by allowing its lobbyists to converse with agency staff through untraceable Blackberry messaging. Within governmental schematics regulating Florida's utilities, FPL has been one of the power players that keeps conservation of energy as a low priority in comparison to many other states. Yes, Florida Power and Light is one of the nation's biggest producers of electricity from wind and solar, but in Florida the corporation is accustomed to getting its own way and has throttled progressive regulation to maximize conservation. Then, there are the local problems. The main part of public opposition to FPL turns on permitting for new power plants; near the Everglades, the corporation sought to buy off local county commissions and suppress public opposition to a new coal-fired plant. That plan sunk of its own weight. Today, the public is increasingly restive against plans for two new nuclear reactors on the edge of Biscayne National Park in South Florida. Its existing reactors at Turkey Point in Homestead, Florida were highly controversial when they were built nearly forty years ago. The corporation was forced through extensive civic protest and litigation to build miles and miles of cooling canals instead of ejecting cooling water directly into Biscayne National Park. Today, those cooling canals are not performing as planned and permitted. With nuclear in the ground, there is no turning back the clock on environmental damage. Public concerns about nuclear safety at Turkey Point have been amplified by bad news on several fronts: salt water intrusion toward drinking water wellfields, and FPL's ham-fisted attempts to obstruct the use by state agencies to monitor that intrusion through a radioactive isotope, tritium, commonly used as a chemical marker to trace the movement of water. Long-term questions about radioactivity--such as those raised by the Tooth Fairy Project that measured background levels of Strontium 90 in infant's teeth in South Florida-- raise doubts that the state is adequately monitoring public health. Serious breaches in plant safety at Turkey Point and questions about upper level management at FPL caused the Turkey Point plant manager to resign last summer. Additionally, there are environmental and public health concerns about the new FPL reactors; from controversial permitting at the local level, that eases the way for FPL over the objections of residents to use of recycled municipal wastewater as the primary coolant for the new units, new high voltage overhead transmission lines through heavily populated areas, threats of additional rock mining to Biscayne Bay wetlands in order to elevate a multi- hundred acre site dozens of feet above sea level, new roadway infrastructure through those same wetlands--protected by environmental laws, and the indignity that ratepayers are already paying for permitting costs related to the new reactors as a separate add-on charge approved by the state. In many ways, the worst possible location for new nuclear power in the United States is at Turkey Point; at sea level and surrounded by fragile wetlands protected by federal law and national parks, including the Everglades-- subject of a multi-billion dollar restoration project embraced by a strong bipartisan majority according to recent polling by The Everglades Foundation. One senses that the reasoning behind FPL's aggressive tactics in South Florida is that if new nuclear can be permitted at Turkey Point, it can be permitted anywhere. But no where will that cynicism be on display today; in Arcadia, dancing around FPL's maypole, it is all about delight. Alan Farago lives in south Florida. He can be reached at: afarago@bellsouth.net |
Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Yellowstone Drift:
"Powerful and shocking ..
Waiting for
Lightning
|
