[Taxacom] Frontline program on BP

Thu Nov 4 10:03:26 CDT 2010

Unless politicians are on side, taxonomists will not be receiving
money.  It is as simple as that.  Politicians, and I will use this word
very carefully, USUALLY respond to public pressures.

In Alberta, there were some 6500 hectares of native, virgin
shortgrass prairie for sale for potato farming. This has been
called "potatogate" here.  The sale was to have taken place
on 22 October.

The public and professional reactions to this were enormous, and
earlier this week, there was an announcement that the buyer had
withdrawn his offer.

He might or may reapply when he thinks the pressure is gone, but
that is another issue.

Robin

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Jensen" <rjensen at saintmarys.edu>
To: <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 8:38 AM
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Frontline program on BP

>I agree with Don.  Besides, we taxonomists must be concerned about
> practices that lead to endangered species, endangered habitats and an
> endangered planet.  I would like to believe that those on this list are
> not so narrowly focused in their world view that they fail to see the
> connections, obvious or subtle, between economic and political
> practices, on the one side, and, on the other side, the work we have
> done and hope to do.
>
> Cheers(?),
>
> Dick J
>
> Richard Jensen
> Department of Biology
> Saint Mary's College
> Notre Dame, IN 46556
>
> On 11/4/2010 8:41 AM, Don.Colless at csiro.au wrote:
>> Oh dear! "Off topic" perhaps; but "nonsense", NO! I personally find Ken's 
>> little enthusiasms charming! TAXACOM is for me a source of receation, not 
>> a deadly arena.
>>
>> Donald H. Colless
>> CSIRO Div of Ecosystem Sciences
>> GPO Box 1700
>> Canberra 2601
>> don.colless at csiro.au
>> tuz li munz est miens envirun
>> ________________________________________
>> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
>> [taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of farmer at cb.uga.edu 
>> [farmer at cb.uga.edu]
>> Sent: 01 November 2010 22:57
>> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Frontline program on BP
>>
>> Dear Ken,
>>
>> And this has to do with issues of taxonomy because...?
>>
>> Congratulations. You and your off topic nonsense have finally
>> pushed me to hit the unsubscribe button for this listserve.
>>
>> When poser posters like Ken are booted off the listserve, or at least
>> moderated, someone drop me a line.  I'll resubscribe then.
>>
>> -Mark Farmer
>>
>> On 26 Oct 2010 at 22:30, Kenneth Kinman wrote:
>>
>>>   Dear All,
>>>        I was just watching tonight's Frontline program on BP which
>>> documents that company's apparent lack of concern about safety in an
>>> apparent pennywise but severely "pound foolish" (to put it mildly)
>>> effort to maximize profits over many years (particuarly with respect
>>> to their takeovers of American companies and assets).
>>>        Their apparent poor choice of CEOs from one disastrous problem
>>>        to
>>> another seems to further indicate a continuing concern of short-term
>>> profits over safety of either its lower-level employees or the
>>> environment overall.  As more than person in tonight's Frontline's
>>> special indicates, the most recent disaster in the Gulf of Mexico this
>>> year was just a continuation of the same disconnect between BP upper
>>> management and the welfare of its employees (as well as the
>>> environment).
>>>          It seems that what poorly regulated capitalism is best at
>>> producing is greed at the top and suffering among thousands that they
>>> employee (and millions who ultimately pay the even bigger price from
>>> pollution, job loss, or even those who die in their biggest
>>> disasters), Profits trickle up to a few at the top, while misery
>>> increasingly trickles down to many more at the bottom.
>>>       The various levels of the middle classes get a mixed bag of some
>>> who benefit during economic booms, but a lot of them also get the
>>> shaft (along with the poorer classes) when economic excesses collapse
>>> into diasters like 1929 and 2008.  The post-1929 misery was clearly
>>> more widespread (without the social safety-net that helps many in
>>> today's situation).  The pay disparity between CEOs and their
>>> employees has reached a ludicrous disparity that cries out for a
>>> backlash,  Otherwise, trickle-down economics has no chance whatsoever
>>> of even beginning to to address economic inequality that still exists.
>>>
>>>            --------Ken
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>>
>>> Taxacom Mailing List
>>> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>>> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
>>>
>>> The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with either of
>>> these methods:
>>>
>>> (1) http://taxacom.markmail.org
>>>
>>> Or (2) a Google search specified as:
>>> site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here
>>>
>>> --
>>> This message has been scanned for viruses and
>>> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
>>> believed to be clean.
>>>
>> Mark A. Farmer
>> Dept. Cellular Biology
>> 724 Biological Sciences Bldg.
>> University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602
>> (706)542-3383 Voice   (706)542-4271 FAX
>> farmer at cb.uga.edu
>>
>> (This message is made of 100% recycled electrons)
>>
>>
>> --
>> This message has been scanned for viruses and
>> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
>> believed to be clean.
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Taxacom Mailing List
>> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
>>
>> The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with either of 
>> these methods:
>>
>> (1) http://taxacom.markmail.org
>>
>> Or (2) a Google search specified as: 
>> site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Taxacom Mailing List
>> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
>>
>> The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with either of 
>> these methods:
>>
>> (1) http://taxacom.markmail.org
>>
>> Or (2) a Google search specified as: 
>> site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Taxacom Mailing List
> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
>
> The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with either of 
> these methods:
>
> (1) http://taxacom.markmail.org
>
> Or (2) a Google search specified as: 
> site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here
> 