/2013
-
-
Dans l’article du LA Times, dont le blog s’est, semble-t-il, inspiré, on en apprend encore des mignonnes…
From MRAP to scrap : U.S. military chops up $1-million vehicles - Los Angeles Times
▻http://articles.latimes.com/2013/dec/27/world/la-fg-afghanistan-armor-20131227Afghan troops are not known for their dedication to maintaining equipment; they prefer to run vehicles rough and hard until they break down.
There are few Afghan mechanics fully trained to repair relatively simple Humvees, Afghan commanders complain, much less a computer-dependent colossus like the MRAP.
(…)
Instead of MRAPs, Afghan forces are receiving armored MSFVs — mobile strike force vehicles — equipped, in military jargon, with an “enhanced survivability package,” at a total cost of $887 million. The vehicles have “innovative protection design features to achieve MRAP level of blast protection,” Wright said.Dépenser 500 M$ pour récupérer du vieux, c’est trop cher. Dépenser 900 M$ pour équiper les forces afghanes, c’est bon pour l’industrie de l’armement…
-
Je n’avais pas vu l’article du LA Times... Je me demande si un audit du programme MRAP aura lieu un jour. La presse s’est focalisée sur les réticences initiales du Pentagone à accepter les leçons de l’expérience Sud-Africaine et donc sa responsabilité implicite dans une partie des pertes humaines, mais l’ambiance de panique dans lesquelles les acquisitions ont alors eu lieu me semble avoir très largement bénéficié aux industriels - j’ai du mal à croire qu’une manne pareille ait été distribuée dans des conditions parfaitement transparentes et que le volume des commandes ait été estimé avec la rigueur requise. L’urgence opérations n’excuse pas tout.
-
-
SaveCanada - Help stop TransCanada’s Energy East Pipeline
via le Yes Lab
▻http://www.save-canada.com/story.html
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/7l86z7pcqs94f2g/savecanada.png
▻http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/05/nation/la-na-arkansas-pipeline-20130606
Sept. 30, 2013
Pipeline Company’s PR Dream Turns Into a Nightmare
TransCanada’s “community consultation” squad dogged by activist lookalikesIn towns across Canada, troupes of mischievous activists are successfully derailing the attempts of TransCanada—the company building the stalled Keystone XL pipeline—to ram through their latest proposed project, the Energy East pipeline, which would bring over a million barrels of Tar Sands oil to the East Coast for export, primarily to Europe and Asia.
During previous pipeline projects, stakeholders were able to express concerns in front of their whole community. To impede the type of opposition that has stalled past projects, this time TransCanada has changed the format of community consultations, turning them into trade-show-like promotional events where stakeholders can only speak one-on-one with company representatives (or PR contractors hired for the occasion).
To outwit this latest ploy by TransCanada, local activists all along the pipeline route have been swarming these events dressed just like TransCanada reps, but with lookalike “SaveCanada” name tags and brochures. Instead of promoting the pipeline, the SaveCanada reps communicate risks.
“Since TransCanada has come up with a new way to lie to the public, we had to come up with a new way to tell the truth,” said North Bay farmer Yan Roberts, who helped to launch the unusual protest. “We’re friendly folks, so our solution is to dress like them, outnumber them, and ’out-friendly’ them in every community they’re trying to scam.”
The series of SaveCanada actions began at TransCanada’s open house in North Bay, where roughly 30 TransCanada reps were surprised to see their meeting overwhelmed by newcomers wearing nearly identical shirts and also carrying slick PR materials, but with a twist.
Now, ten other towns have orchestrated their own versions of the prank. When TransCanada came to the Montréal area on September 24, members of the Québécois SaveCanada counterpart, “SansTransCanada,” nearly outnumbered the TransCanada reps. A Global TV segment even identified a SansTransCanada activist as a TransCanada rep.
The Montréal SaveCanada action came to a carnivalesque conclusion when attendees were invited to play “pin the bitumen spill on the pipeline” and a crowd formed around TransCanda’s large route map to see where the sticky-note spill would end up.
NASA’s James Hansen has said of the Keystone XL pipeline that, if built, it will be “game over” for the climate. This is truer still for the Energy East pipeline, as it’s designed to carry a greater volume. The new pipeline also threatens the local communities in its path with inevitable leaks.
“In the next few weeks TransCanada is holding more of these so-called ’consultations,’ and we are looking forward to seeing them derailed by every community they hope to fool.” said Roberts. “Then we’ll see what they try next, and we’ll derail that, too.”
Upcoming TransCanada “consultations” are scheduled in: Saint-Honoré-de-Témiscouata, Québec (Oct. 1); Kemptville, Ontario and St-Onésime-d’Ixworth, Québec (October 2); Montmagny, Québec and Horton, Ontario (Oct. 3); and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada’s capital city (Oct. 10). To help derail one of these events, please visit www.save-canada.com.
“Companies may try to invent new ways to fool people, but citizens will always be more powerful because we care more,” said Shona Watt, a local organizer of the Montréal
SaveCanada/SansTransCanada action. “What’s guaranteed is that, ultimately, people will win.”
-
Police partout…
En Californie, il filme une intervention de police (il est loin d’être le seul, il y a plein de vidéos sur YT) avec son chien en laisse, se fait arrêter pour « interférence » après avoir mis son chien dans sa voiture (mais en laissant le fenêtre ouverte). Le chien aboie puis vient au secours de son maître et se fait descendre.
Video of Hawthorne police killing dog sparks Web protests - Los Angeles Times
▻http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/02/local/la-me-0703-dog-killed-20130703Leon Rosby arrived at 137th Street and Jefferson Avenue in Hawthorne on Sunday evening to videotape a police standoff. He brought along his 2-year-old Rottweiler, Max.
He put the dog on a leash and began filming. Hawthorne police deemed Rosby’s actions interference and placed him under arrest. By this point, Max was in the backseat of Rosby’s car, but the arrest upset him. He began barking, jumped out of the car and lunged at officers.
Plus de 4 millions de vues en 5 jours.
Les 3 policiers concernés, menacés, sont retirés du service pour leur protection.
3 Officers Go off Street Duty After Shooting Dog - ABC News
▻http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/officers-off-street-duty-shooting-dog-19580803Three police officers have been pulled from street duty for their safety in Southern California after a widely circulated video showed an officer fatally shooting a Rottweiler and drew numerous death threats.
