We love Plastic...............

Since 1950, plastics have quickly and quietly entered the lives and bodies of most people and ecosystems on the planet. In the United States alone, more than 100 billion pounds of resins are formed each year into food and beverage packaging, electronics, building products, furnishings, vehicles, toys, and medical devices. In 2007, the average American purchased more than 220 pounds of plastic, creating nearly $400 billion in sales...Link

Mexico kingpin among world's most powerful.

MEXICO CITY — Mexico's most-wanted drug lord escaped prison by hiding in a laundry truck nearly a decade ago, and his legend and fortune seem to grow with each passing day he eludes capture. Now he has reached a new level of fame — or infamy — by making Forbes magazine's list of the 67 "World's Most Powerful People." Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is even considered more powerful than Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez — No. 67 — and France's Nicolas Sarkozy — No. 56 — according to Forbes magazine's list of the 67 "World's Most Powerful People." At No. 41, Guzman was just below Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mexican officials blame Guzman's Sinaloa cartel for much of the country's staggering bloodshed. Drug violence has killed nearly 14,000 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006, and more than 2,000 people so far this year in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, where Guzman's gang is fighting a turf battle against the Juarez cartel...Link

Mexican City Pleads for UN Peacekeepers.

MEXICO CITY (Nov. 12) -- Business groups in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez said Wednesday they are calling for United Nations peacekeepers to quell the drug-related violence that has given their city one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Groups representing assembly plants, retailers and other businesses said they will submit a request to the Mexican government and the Inter American Human Rights Commission to ask the U.N. to send help...Link

Reversing the spending......we will see.

President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year's State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs, according to top aides involved in the planning. The president's plan, which the officials said was under discussion before this month’s Democratic election setbacks, represents both a practical and a political calculation by this White House. On the practical side, Obama has spent more money on new programs in nine months than Bill Clinton did in eight years, pushing the annual deficit to $1.4 trillion. This leaves little room for big spending initiatives...Link

A personal 'carbon allowance'...............

Lord Smith of Finsbury believes that implementing individual carbon allowances for every person will be the most effective way of meeting the targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It would involve people being issued with a unique number which they would hand over when purchasing products that contribute to their carbon footprint, such as fuel, airline tickets and electricity...Link

"structurally deficient or functionally obsolete".

Here's some bad news for all of us: Over 150,000 bridges in the U.S. have been judged to be "structurally deficient or functionally obsolete." And get this, there are less than 598,000 bridges in America. That means 25.7% aren't in very good shape. It turns out that the state with the most structurally deficient or functionally obsolete (SD/FO) bridges is Texas, with 9,564 such bridges. However, Texas is ginormous – almost half the size of Alaska – and therefore has a lot of bridges, but the percentage of Texan SD/FO bridges is 19%. And that's significantly lower than the national average...Link

Pfizer and Kelo's Ghost Town..........

The Supreme Court's 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London stands as one of the worst in recent years, handing local governments carte blanche to seize private property in the name of economic development. Now, four years after that decision gave Susette Kelo's land to private developers for a project including a hotel and offices intended to enhance Pfizer Inc.'s nearby corporate facility, the pharmaceutical giant has announced it will close its research and development headquarters in New London, Connecticut...Link