Former Alaska Lawmaker Sentenced On Bribery Charges

Alaska's former state House speaker was sentenced to six years in federal prison Friday for accepting $9,000 in bribes from the founder of an oil field services company.

Pete Kott, a Republican who represented a suburb of Anchorage for 14 years, also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

U.S. District Court Judge John Sedwick bumped up the prison term beyond sentencing guidelines after concluding that Kott had committed perjury during his trial. He also said the legislation Kott took bribes to influence -- a revised tax law on Alaska's principal industry, crude oil extraction -- affected every Alaskan.

"The amount of money was in the hundreds of millions, if not billions," Sedwick said.

Kott was convicted in September of bribery, extortion and conspiracy for his dealings with executives of VECO Corp., a major Alaska firm that performed maintenance, design and construction contracts for petroleum producers.

Besides the cash, federal prosecutors said Kott accepted a political poll paid on his behalf by VECO and that he received the promise of a job with the company after he left the Alaska legislature. The federal court jury acquitted him of wire fraud. |Read more|

Do You Feel Political Corruption Will Rise?

According to a recent survey, half of the public expect political corruption to rise. Those surveyed believe politicians are becoming more corrupt. They also believe that no one is doing anything to stop it.

The lobby group Transparency International interviewed more than 60,000 people worldwide, including 1,000 in Ireland, and found widespread cynicism on standards in public office.

Almost half of Irish people surveyed (47%) think corruption will get worse during the next three years, up to 15 percentage points more than in 2005.

In order to curtail political corruption, the government need to enact laws with substantial seizure of assets from their ill gotten gains. How do you think the government should handle corrupt political officials?

Bribery & Fraud - Societies Spreading Cancer

Bribery and fraud seems to be part of a growing cancer that spreads throughout society leaving us vulnerable to the culprits. I have previously concentrated on New Orleans' own cancer spreader, Stan "Pampy" Barre, who we will be soon rid of once he is sentenced to prison. His type of cancer is a prevailing one that keeps the feds on their toes.

Siemens is a German Company who has also come under the feds radar. The Federal Government recently suspended further dealings with Siemens as a result of allegations of accepting bribes from some senior Nigerian government officials for the purpose of winning contracts.

According to Mr. John Odey,Information and Communications Minister, a contract awarded to Siemens for the construction of 14 indoor control panels complete with circuit breaker for power generation has been cancelled as a result of the administrations zero tolerance for corruption. The cancelled contract was worth N128 million.

This sounds very similar to the Johnson Controls Energy savings contract that Stan "Pampy" Barre looted for his own personal gain. We will never understand the psyche of corrupt individuals since they lack morals and values.

EPIC Energy Launches GSM Enabled Remote Energy Management Systems

EPIC Energy Ltd has announce the successful testing and launch of its GSM enabled Remote Energy Management Systems (REMS), which will enable its customers to monitor the use and efficiency of energy consumption on a virtual real time basis.

Built on a GSM and GPRS platform, this REMS can seamlessly be integrated with existing Energy Equipments and Appliances. Trigger points built into the system enable automatic switching on and switching off of electrical appliances. The system also enables users to remotely manage electrical appliances. Deviations from set and standard parameters are reported instantly via SMS and / or a Central Server. The system also has a "pull" facility whereby facility is provided to get parameter values instantly by sending a secure SMS to the concerned system. Remote configuration of systems is also possible through the REMS.

With the launch of REMS, all products of Epic will be available with this option. REMS greatly enhances the ability of the consumer to effectively manage Energy Consumption. The incorporation of this facility will enable Epic to garner a larger share of the Energy Conservation market, both in the government and private sectors. Since Epic operates largely on a BOOT basis with its customers, and its revenues flow from actual energy saved by its customers, the incorporation of REMS will significantly improve the revenue share, based on higher savings made by its customers.

Why Do We Need A New Pact On Climate Change?

With the Kyoto protocol due to expire in 2012, a new international climate change deal must be put in place in time to ensure that necessary action is undertaken immediately.

The UN says that this year's scientific report from the its Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has "made clear beyond doubt that climate change is a reality", which poses a serious threat to the future development of the world's economies, societies and ecosystems.

According to the IPCC, if no action is taken on greenhouse gases, the earth's temperature could rise by 4.5C or more.

The effects of climate change are being felt already, the panel says. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average and adverse effects on human activities are documented. Impacts of warming have also been observed in other regions and sectors, in particular on ecosystems.

As glaciers retreat, water supplies are being put at risk. And for populations living in dry lands, especially those in Africa, changing weather patterns threaten to exacerbate desertification, drought and food insecurity. Other regions are expected to suffer from floods, sea level rise and extreme weather events.

"We cannot go on this way for long," the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has said. "We cannot continue with business as usual. The time has come for decisive action on a global scale."

Actor Brad Pitt's 'Make It Right Project' Benefits New Orleans' Residents

STAFF PHOTO BY MATTHEW HINTON
Actor Brad Pitt near the corner of North Roman and Deslonde in the Lower 9th Ward, New Orleans.

Actor Brad Pitt's "Make It Right" project consist of building affordable, environmentally friendly, storm-safe houses for residents of the Lower 9th Ward on the same lots where their old homes once stood. In announcing the project in September at a meeting of world leaders on global warming, Pitt and philanthropist Steve Bingler pledged $5 million each to jump-start the project.

"This cannot be about me," he said Sunday from inside a trailer at the project site. "I am fortunate to have a big spotlight in my hand, and I can point it in a direction."

Today that place will be the section of the Lower 9th Ward best-known as the spot where a barge came to rest after floating through a fractured levee. Pitt is slated to lead news reporters on a tour around the area's conglomeration of pink art pieces, then to issue a public call to corporations, foundations and church organizations around the world to "adopt" the blocks, for $150,000 each, to support his project.

Donors also will be invited to make smaller gifts -- from $5 to $45,500 -- to sponsor the individual elements of the houses' eco-friendly designs, such as fluorescent bulbs, low-flush toilets and solar-panel installations. More information is available at the project's Web site, www.makeitrightnola.org.

With the average house slated to cost between $100,000 and $174,000, planners expect participants to contribute some money, including insurance and Road Home proceeds, toward construction. But they expect most homeowners will fall about $70,000 short of paying off their new homes. To fill the gap, Make It Right plans to offer forgivable loans of as much as $100,000, with the caveat that applicants must have owned a home or lot in the Lower 9th Ward before Katrina.

Nine other firms — all of whom donated their services — are involved, including Adjaye Associates; Billes Architecture; BNIM Architects; Constructs; Eskew & Dumez & Ripple; MVRDV; Pugh and Scarpa Architecture; Shigeru Ban Architects; and Trahan Architects. “We wanted to have a mixture of voices,” Mr. Pitt said.

The green building elements will reduce upkeep costs by at least 75 percent, Mr. Pitt said, and reduce some of the problems that devastated the Lower Ninth Ward during Katrina, when multiple levee breaks forced thousands of people from their homes.

Responding to critics who question the wisdom of rebuilding at all in an area likely to get hit again, Mr. Pitt said: “My first answer to that is, talk to the people who’ve lived there and have raised their kids there. People are needing to get back in their homes.”

Climate Change Conference To Begin

The UN climate change conference begins in Bali on Monday with officials and ministers from around the world set to start negotiations on a new international climate change deal.

Thousands of delegates are gathering on the Indonesian island with the hope a "roadmap" can be laid out for talks on a new agreement, which will come into force when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

The conference comes amid increasingly strong warnings from scientists and environmentalists that "catastrophic" climate change would result from inaction and concerns from aid agencies that the world's poor will be hardest and first hit.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, who will be participating in the talks, said climate change was the "greatest challenge the world faces".