The new $1.5 million ad blitz by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, a Washington-based group whose 416,000 members fly everything from turboprops to hot-air balloons, takes aim at a forthcoming White House plan that would place more than $7 billion in new user fees on aircraft that use airspace managed by federal air-traffic controllers. (more…)

NEW YORK, March 8 (Reuters) - An auction of foreclosed homes in New York City on Sunday drew protesters who blamed banks for an epidemic of home losses and called for a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures. (more…)

Plane Stupid, a green group campaigning against a third runway at Heathrow Airport due to global warming, threw green custard on UK Business Secretary Peter Mandelson.  View media interview with protester.

The McArthur River winds through Australia’s remote Northern Territory creating lush floodplains that sustain vast herds of kangaroos, wallabies and cattle. Above them, finches, wild turkeys, and flocks of migratory birds fill an endless sky. The area around the river, which runs 300 kilometers before emptying into the Gulf of Carpentaria, also provides spiritual sustenance to the region’s four main Aboriginal linguistic groups: the Gurdanji, Yanyuwa, Garawa and Mara. (more…)

February 26, 2009

Americans like their toilet tissue soft: exotic confections that are silken, thick and hot-air-fluffed.

The national obsession with soft paper has driven the growth of brands like Cottonelle Ultra, Quilted Northern Ultra and Charmin Ultra — which in 2008 alone increased its sales by 40 percent in some markets, according to Information Resources, Inc., a marketing research firm.

But fluffiness comes at a price: millions of trees harvested in North America and in Latin American countries, including some percentage of trees from rare old-growth forests in Canada. Although toilet tissue can be made at similar cost from recycled material, it is the fiber taken from standing trees that help give it that plush feel, and most large manufacturers rely on them. (more…)

By Mary Lou Pickel | Friday, February 27, 2009, 03:43 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Hundreds of people gathered in the pouring rain at the state Capitol to protest the multi-billion dollar federal stimulus package signed by President Barack Obama.

Protesters chanted, “Take back America,” and held signs against bailouts. Another protester held a U.S. Navy Jack with the rattlesnake and the words, “Don’t Tread on Me.” (more…)

The Donkey Mobile Library, as it’s called, may not look like a typically Jewish initiative, but it’s among 224 programs that were recently awarded grants by the American Jewish World Service, a New York-based group that funds grassroots programs in developing and conflict-ridden countries in accordance with the principles of tikkun olam and tzedaka. Jerusalem Post, Feb. 29. (more…)