Monday 28 March 2011
Fracking the Wind River Country
Jeff and Rhonda Locker’s water changed abruptly one day in the mid-1990s while Rhonda was doing the laundry. A Denver-based gas company was working over an old well in back of their house, when the wash water turned black. “It happened just like that,” Jeff Locker says. “I stopped him and asked him what he did to our water, and of course he didn’t do anything to our water… It’s been bad ever since.”
Donna Meeks’ well water was so good, she used to haul it to town for the school office coffee pot. Neither she nor her husband Louis noticed anything wrong until her co-workers stopped drinking the coffee; it was 2004, and a Canadian company, EnCana, had just drilled a new well about 500 feet from the Meeks home. Some visiting friends later said they noticed the water tasted and smelled like gas, but didn’t want to be rude by saying anything about it.
John and Cathy Fenton had no reason to suspect there was anything wrong with their water—it tasted fine. But just to be neighborly, they went along with the Lockers, the Meeks, and other Pavillion-area residents when the Environmental Protection Agency came in 2009 for an initial round of testing. That’s when they found out that their family had been drinking water laced with methane. Follow-up tests a year later found a whole soup’s worth of semi-volatile organic compounds in the family’s stock well.
There’s something karmic about the possibility that Pavillion, Wyoming, might be the first community to prove its water damaged by natural gas production. While water literally is life everywhere in the arid West, here it’s the epicenter for deep social and political divisions.
Pavillion sits exposed to the wind and weather on the rolling high plains of the Wind River Valley’s northern flank. The town boasts two bars, two restaurants, one grocery, and serves as a social center for the community of farms and ranches that populate the Midvale irrigation district. It’s the schools—practically brand new—that bring people together here, says Jeff Locker, who sits on the school board. “Even retired people come to the ball games,” he says. By ball, Locker means basketball because this is a reservation town...
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Andrea Peacock @'Counterpunch'
AP The Associated Press
BREAKING: Magnitude 6.5 earthquake rattles eastern Japan again; tsunami alert issued #japan #earthquake
Breastfeeding Women Viewed as Less Competent
A study emerged out of Oxford University last week suggesting babies who are breastfed end up doing better in school. Yet despite such well-documented benefits for both mother and child, the percentage of American breastfeeding women remains “stagnant and low,” according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Why are only one-third of American mothers exclusively breastfeeding at three months, and only 43 percent breastfeeding at all at six months? Perhaps because they’ve gotten a sense of how harshly they are being judged.
Research just published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (“Spoiled Milk: An Experimental Examination of Bias Against Mothers Who Breastfeed”) reports mothers who breastfeed are widely viewed as less competent than otherwise identical females. This disturbing finding was obtained in three separate studies, one of which also found breastfeeding is a handicap for women hoping to be hired for a job.
“Importantly, we did not find evidence that gender of the participant influenced perceptions of the breastfeeding mother,” notes the research team led by Montana State University psychologist Jessi L. Smith. Women, it seems, are just as likely as men to hold this bias.
In one experiment, 30 students told they were engaging in an “impression formation study” were given biographical information on actress Brooke Shields, including the fact she had just written a book about motherhood. Half were told the volume included information on her “experiences with breastfeeding, bathing and overall care of a newborn;” for the other half, the word “bottle-feeding” was exchanged for “breastfeeding.”....
Research just published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (“Spoiled Milk: An Experimental Examination of Bias Against Mothers Who Breastfeed”) reports mothers who breastfeed are widely viewed as less competent than otherwise identical females. This disturbing finding was obtained in three separate studies, one of which also found breastfeeding is a handicap for women hoping to be hired for a job.
“Importantly, we did not find evidence that gender of the participant influenced perceptions of the breastfeeding mother,” notes the research team led by Montana State University psychologist Jessi L. Smith. Women, it seems, are just as likely as men to hold this bias.
In one experiment, 30 students told they were engaging in an “impression formation study” were given biographical information on actress Brooke Shields, including the fact she had just written a book about motherhood. Half were told the volume included information on her “experiences with breastfeeding, bathing and overall care of a newborn;” for the other half, the word “bottle-feeding” was exchanged for “breastfeeding.”....
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Tom Jacobs @'truth-out'
Bligh bowled over by 'caring' Foo Fighters
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh saw the softer side of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl when she dropped in to thank the US rock band for Sunday night's flood benefit concert at Brisbane's Riverstage.
Ms Bligh made a fleeting visit backstage for a meet-and-greet with the Foo Fighters about half an hour before they took the stage before some 10,000 fans at the alcohol-free event.She exchanged some light-hearted banter, posed for photos with the Foo Fighters and music mogul Michael Gudinski and then explained the complications and frustrations for Queenslanders confronted with flood insurance.
The Premier said she was pleasantly surprised by the band's inquiries about the problems faced by those who were affected by the floods.
"He (Dave Grohl) said 'this is what I know how to do. I don't know how to fix people's roofs, but I know how to make music and make money'," she said.
"They wanted to speak about how many people were out of their homes... they are genuinely interested. They were wanting to help.
"Foo Fighters care about people who need help."
All profits from the concert, which was the only Australian benefit show the Foo Fighters slotted on their tour to promote their forthcoming album Wasting Light, will go to the Premier's Disaster Relief Fund.
Ms Bligh was unable to stay and soak up the atmosphere of the two-and-half-hour concert because of early morning cabinet duties.
"They are an iconic international rock band and them coming here to raise money for us is a gift," Ms Bligh said.
"They understand I have some big responsibilities and they were fine.
"They sold out in 15 minutes and they have some big young fans here, they don't need an old lady like me rocking in the front row."
The Premier's Disaster Relief Fund has raised more than $250 million and Ms Bligh has no intention to set a cut-off date for donations.
"In the past we've let them go on and let people donate for as long as they like," Ms Bligh said.
"I'm happy to take donations for as long as people want to make them."
@'ABC'
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