USDA moves to let Monsanto perform its own environmental impact studies on GMOs

When are we going to learn that industry, let alone rapacious polluters and biotechs like Monsanto, are fundamentally incapable of acting in the public interest for the sake of being responsible corporate citizens?
http://www.grist.org/industrial-agriculture/2011-04-19-usda-to-let-monsanto-do-own-environmental-impact-studies-on-gmos

Cannibal USDA okays rice modified with human gene

The USDA is a major promoter of GM crops and transgenic foods that have not been tested for safety and pose potentially devastating threats to human health. The momentum of the biotech interests in promoting these frankenfoods is aided and abetted by regulators and politicians across the national spectrum and there is regrettably inadequate organized resistance in the states at this time. We all need to get in this game and oppose the reckless and unsafe biotech agenda or the unscientific proponents of bioengineering will continue to treat the public as guinea pigs in the great experiment that exposes people to viruses and foreign genes in our food supply.
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/usda-okays-rice-modified-with-human-gene-to-be-grown-on-3000-kansas-acres/

Here are a few petition sites on this issue where you can register opposition to widespread approval and promotion of transgenic crops and food.

Support True Health Claims

Amend S 384 - No GMOs

Support the FRAC Act

Ban Bayer's bee-killer Clothianidin

Stop antibiotic overuse on farms

Uproot GE Trees

Drown GE Salmon

Sign the Truth In Labeling petition - to label foods containing GMOs

http://www.organicconsumers.org/monsanto/action.cfm

Fukushima and the Happy Talk About Nuclear Power

The nuclear disaster at Fukushima has recently been upgraded to the highest danger level in history, matched only by Chernobyl, yet industry hacks and politicians continue to promote nuclear power as safe. This report points out that Fukushima has seven sources of radiation (3 reactors and 4 spent fuel rod pools) that are leaking into the environment representing roughly 20 times the radioactivity of Chernobyl.
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/04/10579/fukushima-and-happy-talk-about-nuclear-power

Astroturfing Net Neutrality

A report from Save The Internet on industry front group lobbying, astroturfing, on the critical issue of Net Neutrality. The public must stand up and make their voices heard as we increasingly are inundated with corporate messages that distort the issues in the media and in cyberspace.
http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/11/04/19/astroturfing-net-neutrality

Daily Show: Oliver - Dennis Kucinich's Improbable Success

The Daily Show put together this hysterical investigative piece on how Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has been re-elected in conservative Ohio for seven terms and now is preparing another run after the GOP eliminated his district altogether. As bad as things are it's essential that we keep our sense of humor!
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-april-14-2011/dennis-kucinich-s-improbable-success

Top ‘U.S.’ Corporations Outsourced More Than 2.4 Million American Jobs Over The Last Decade

Big Business in the form of multinational corporations are letting all of us down. Without legal reforms and regulations to force corporate entities to act as responsible citizens they will continue to outsource jobs, pollute our air and water, rip off our citizens, genetically modify our food and expose the public to antibiotic-resistant pathogens, offshore their profits, lobby for a corporate tax holiday and continue the reality where one-third of corporations pay zero taxes. It's time that the public take hold of the national interest by legislating companies who profit in this country to invest in the people, infrastructure and environment that enriches them.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/19/us-corporations-outsourced-americans/

A leading expert withdraws his name from the Climate Shift report

A new Climate Shift report being cited by mainstream media is rife with errors and contradictions, serving to undermine the effort to reduce greenhouse-gas pollution and address the source causes of global warming. It also claims, falsely, that environmental advocates had closed the lobbying and publicity gap on the climate issue. The paper's author, Matthew Nisbet (above), ignored his own data in writing the report which in turn led one expert reviewer to remove his name from the document.
http://www.grist.org/article/2011-04-18-a-leading-expert-withdraws-his-name-from-climate-shift-report

Letting the Banks Off the Hook

This disturbing update on efforts to regulate banks and their predatory lending and foreclosure policies concludes that, without enforcement capability, the rush to publish the mostly voluntary regulations by the O.C.C. is primarily despite to undercut State AG actions that promised to be more aggressive. Joe Nocera, for the Times, wrote a lousy cover piece for the hydrofracking natural gas industry the other day that I protested in a letter but this is a solid piece.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/opinion/19nocera.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Martial Law Now a Reality in Michigan

This stunning development in Michigan happened in lightning fast fashion and is a horrendous and lawless attempt to circumvent the Constitution by usurping the power of elected officials.
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/04/10625/martial-law-now-reality-michigan

Koch Industries buying ads to refute news stories

This appears to be the first time that ads have been used to attack journalists.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/18/kochs-industries-buying-ads-to-refute-news-stories/

Fracking Chemicals Cited in Congressional Report Stay Underground

More detail on the hazards of fracking for natural gas, which was exempted from oversight by the Safe Drinking Water Act in 2005. This industry is largely unregulated and industry has refused to identify many of the chemicals used in the process. 
http://www.propublica.org/article/fracking-chemicals-cited-in-congressional-report-stay-underground

Corporations, Special Interests Lobbying Taxes to Death

A report by the Center for Responsive Politics on the massive lobbying against taxation by American businesses in the past year.
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/04/businesses-may-hate-taxes-which.html

Big Soda Uses Philanthropy to Silence Opposition, Neutralize Soda Taxes
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/2011/04/10628/big-soda-uses-philanthropy-silence-opposition-neutralize-soda-taxes

They May Have Citizens United But We Have Netizens United

This is the transcript from Representative Edward Markey's (D-MA) speech last week at the 2011 National Conference for Media Reform in Boston. It's a good read and inspiring too.
http://www.thenation.com/article/160012/they-may-have-citizens-united-we-have-netizens-united

The EPA chooses sprawl over urban sustainability

The EPA has chosen a new regional headquarters in Kansas City that will greatly increase greenhouse emissions from that federal facility, in contradiction of an executive order signed by Obama in 2009.
http://www.grist.org/sprawl/2011-04-18-epa-chooses-sprawl-over-urban-sustainability

In Wisconsin, Efforts To Recall Senators Gain Steam

The threat of recall may well be one of the most powerful tools for activist citizens to shape the political behavior of their state, and in the future, federal representatives. The efforts to recall Wisconsin State Senators who supported Gov. Walker's anti-union bill now has enough signatures to force a recall election for a fourth GOP Senator in the state.
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/18/135517029/in-wisconsin-efforts-to-recall-senators-gain-steam?ft=1&f=1001

Democrats to File Recall Petitions Against Luther Olsen
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/18/968071/-Wisconsin-recall:-Democrats-to-file-recall-petitions-against-Luther-Olsen?utm_

Needed: A Better Ruling Class

"At other moments in our history, the informal networks of the wealthy and powerful who often wield at least as much influence as our elected politicians accepted that their good fortune imposed an obligation: to reform and thus preserve the system that allowed them to do so well. They advocated social decency out of self-interest (reasonably fair societies are more stable) but also from an old-fashioned sense of civic duty. “Noblesse oblige” sounds bad until it doesn’t exist anymore."
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/needed_a_better_ruling_class_20110417/?utm_

Got Fairness?

This report highlights price-fixing in the commodities market that has devastated small farmers and enriched large distributors, in addition to shining a light on Land O' Lakes aggressive lobbying support for RGBH growth hormone and other GM crops.
http://www.panna.org/blog/dairy-farmers-demand-fairness-chicago-merc

Thousands Prepare to Protest Big Polluters outside the White House

The US Chamber of Commerce is a shameful promoter of the fossil fuel industry and spends hundreds of millions lobbying deregulate greenhouse gas and chemical pollution into the atmosphere.
http://www.350.org/en/about/blogs/thousands-prepare-protest-big-polluters-outside-white-house

The WikiLeaks News & Views Blog for Monday, Day 142

This column provides a regular update on WikiLeaks-related developments related to the organizations mass release of secret government communications, and how this information is, and is not, being used by media groups around the world. Greg Mitchell also supplies a host of useful links revealing details, resources and events related to the transparency movement.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/159990/wikileaks-news-views-blog-monday-day-142

For Tax Day, US Uncut Asks Americans to Hold Corporate Tax Dodgers Accountable

There will be demonstrations in over 100 US cities today organized by US Uncut designed to put pressure of corporate tax dodgers to pay their fair share of taxes. In NYC the rally will be at the main Post Office across from MSG on 33rd St and 8th Avenue at 5pm and I'm going to be there to support this action.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/159996/tax-day-us-uncut-asks-americans-hold-corporate-tax-dodgers-accountable

9 Things The Rich Don't Want You To Know About Taxes

A detailed breakdown of how the tax burden has been distributed in the US since 1980, and how it has been disproportionately carried by the working poor despite stagnant wages during the past thirty years. Since 1980, the average income of the bottom 90% of wage earners has risen only $303 or 1%. Trickle down, supply-side economics have been enriching the wealthy and failing the rest of the country for more than a generation now and it's still dominating our political discourse!
http://wweek.com/portland/article-17350-9_things_the_rich_dont_want_you_to_know_about_taxes.html

FLASHBACK: Ronald Reagan Raised Corporate Taxes To Force Tax Dodgers To ‘Pay Their Fair Share’
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/18/ronald-reagan-corporate-tax/

Michael Dell: The Making of an American Oligarch

The Dell model of capitalism pursues profit at the expense of American jobs and the strength of the country's economy. This sort of business model is a very bad deal indeed for the American people and must be actively combatted by citizens and the representatives in government.
http://beta.motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/michael-dell-outsourcing-jobs-timeline

Another Look at the Evidence on Soy

Civil Eats delivers a detailed report on the safety of soy products, including those containing hexane, on human health. The story concludes that Soy has many health benefits but that products containing hexane can be dangerous. However, factory farming practices involving Soy production are destructive to both the environment and health as the animated Detective Pig clip in the second link highlights.
http://civileats.com/2011/04/13/another-look-at-the-evidence-on-soy/

Detective pig investigates the sad truth behind the production of ‘Responsible’ labeled soy. Deforestation and toxic chemicals are destroying South America to grow the [GM] soy that feeds Europe’s factory farm animals.
http://farmwars.info/?p=5721&utm_

GOP Spreads Corporate Tax Disinformation, America Fights Back

The Yes Men and US Uncut continue to mount actions against corporate tax dodgers around the country. This story highlights the recent hoax perpetrated by the Yes Men against GE that resulted in a story that the largest US company had decided to pay back a $3.2 billion tax credit to the Treasury. Included is a video of flash mob performance art protests against Bank of America and a CNN feature on the groups efforts to pressure large corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. The next day of action planned across the US is April 18.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/159986/gop-spreads-corporate-tax-disinformation-america-fights-back

Here is a link listing over 100 US cities planning actions against corporate tax dodgers tomorrow, April 18. I will be joining what I hope will be a large turnout at the main James Farley US Post Office at 5pm to support this action. It's on 32nd and 8th right across the street from MSG.
http://usuncut.org/actions/list

12 Banks and Oil and Coal Companies are responsible for foreclosing on millions of American and for polluting our air, water and climate at the same time that they starve the Treasury by refusing to pay taxes on record profits.
"The "Dirty Dozen" Corporate Tax Dodgers"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/16/967583/-Green-diary-rescue:-The-Dirty-Dozen-corporate-tax-dodgers?utm_

Letter to the Ruling Class - From Former Governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura

This call to action by Jesse Ventura beautifully summarizes the crisis we are experiencing in the country today. He says "We Ain't Got Time to Bleed," and I agree it's time to step into the ring and fight for what we believe in, and strengthen the democracy that so many of us cherish.
http://weaintgottimetobleed.com/

Ode to Monsanto

This is a great musical video "Ode to Monsanto" calling for us all to say, "Hell no, GMO!" The video was a little choppy for me but I thought it was great and inspiring.
http://farmwars.info/?p=5694&utm_

Lawmakers tackle persistent chemicals - yay!

The bill introduced is a small step in the right direction. We need to much more to reduce the healths risks that we all face in this country from chemical exposure. The US has the highest rates of cancer in the world and it's because of all the toxic waste and chemicals that we are exposed to through the recklessness of under-regulated industry and the acquiescence of their friends in Congress.
http://www.panna.org/blog/lawmakers-tackle-persistent-chemicals-yay

An example of the hurdles we face in safely regulating the chemical industry is detailed in this Greenpeace story.
Rep. Lungren's Bill is a Rubber Stamp for the Chemical Lobby
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/rep-lungrens-bill-is-a-rubber-stamp-for-the-c/blog/34282

Badgers Drown Out Mama Grizzly - Protestors Disrupt Palin Rally in Wisconsin

People are standing up for themselves in Wisconsin, every day as they combat Walker's union-busting, mobilize recall efforts against the GOP, and fend off propaganda efforts funded by the Koch brothers and their conservative pals. This story gives more voice to the Tea Party talking points than I would like to read but it also shows that the AFP gang was outnumbered by ordinary Wisconsin citizens.
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/04/10607/badgers-drown-out-mama-grizzly

Winter Soldiers Outshine Sunshine Patriots as Palin's Madison Rally Is Overwhelmed by Protest Crowd

http://www.thenation.com/blog/159983/winter-soldiers-outshine-sunshine-patriots-palins-madison-rally-overwhelmed-protest-crow

Progressive Lawmakers Warn A ‘Significant Portion’ Of Gas Prices Is Due To Speculation, Call For Crack Down

We need to crack down on the speculators who hoard oil and manipulate prices to maximize their profits at public expense. Watch an excellent story on the need to regulate oil speculation from the Ed Show.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/16/progressive-lawmakers-oil-speculation/

Assange praises Indian newspaper's use of WikiLeaks disclosures

This story illustrates the power of transparency, effected by the mass release of government documents by WikiLeaks, in revealing corruption and lies by public officials. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/apr/13/the-us-embassy-cables-india

Big Ohio news: SB 5 repeal petition approved, signature gathering can begin

A bill to repeal Ohio's anti-worker law SB-5, that stripped public sector workers including firefighters and police of most collective bargaining rights, is moving forward.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/16/967314/-Big-Ohio-news:-SB-5-repeal-petition-approved,-signature-gathering-can-begin?utm_

HydroFracking Chemicals Were Injected Into Wells in 13 States

Oil and gas companies injected hundreds of millions of gallons of hazardous or carcinogenic chemicals into wells in more than 13 states from 2005 to 2009, according to an investigation by Congressional Democrats. This is criminal behavior on the part of drilling companies and should be vigorously prosecuted. Instead, the political establishment enthusiastically supports hydrofracking at great cost to public health and the environment. The laws must change to make corporations criminally liable for deliberate practices that poison millions of people.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/science/earth/17gas.html?_r=1&hp

The False Debate on the Debt

This article pointedly focuses on what the real problems are vis-a-vis the budget and the overall state of things in the US of A. Abusive corporate power is the culprit and Robert Scheer persuasively identifies how this force has greedily ransacked the country.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_false_debate_on_the_debt_20110412/?utm_

Radioactivity rises in sea off Japan nuclear plant

Levels of radioactivity have risen sharply in seawater near a tsunami-crippled nuclear plant in northern Japan, signaling the possibility of new leaks at the facility, the government said Saturday.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/04/16/japan_earthquake_radiation_spike/index.html

Wisconsin Supreme Court: Prosser ahead by 7,316 in final tally

The Kloppenburg campaign can request a recount by Wednesday in the hotly contested Wisconsin Supreme Court election.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/15/967382/-Wisconsin-Supreme-Court:-Prosser-ahead-by-7,316-in-final-tally?utm_

Koch-Fueled Controversy Lands in Washington

More nonsense concerning attacks on workers and pension funds as the culprit in America's financial woes. This is a deliberate misinformation campaign that seeks to distract Americans from the tremendous revenue imbalance in which the wealthy and corporations do not pay their fair share of taxes into the operating budget of the country, and to further stigmatize the working man as the root of all of troubles. It's absurd and dishonest and people need to realize that they are being manipulated into a dialogue that misses the larger issues driving the budget crisis. 
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/04/10601/koch-fueled-controversy-lands-washington

Only one representative had the courage tackle Wall Street head on. Rep. Elijah Cumnings (D-Maryland) said, “This recession was not caused by working Americans. Firefighters, teachers and nurses were not responsible for the reckless actions on Wall Street … It is shameful to play politics with middleclass families –- we should be helping these workers, not attacking them they are the engine of our economy.”

Financial regulators failed. Crooks went unpunished. Uh-huh. But what will be done about it?

More than two years after massive fraud in the banking industry led to the Great Recession and the bailout of "too big to fail" players in the financial industry, very few cases have been referred for criminal prosecution. This is a situation in stark contrast with the Savings & Loan scandal in the 90's when over 1,800 cases were forwarded by bank regulators to the DOJ for prosecution. 
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/15/966896/-Financial-regulators-failed-Crooks-went-unpunished-Uh-huh-But-what-will-be-done-about-it?utm_

1 in 4 Supermarket Meat Samples Tainted With Drug-Resistant Bacteria

The US food supply is increasingly being compromised by drug resistant bacteria and E Coli and other health hazards. It is dangerous for all of us and may well result in a major epidemic of sickness and death among Americans who currently trust government and industry to safeguard public health. Yet the regulators continue to play russian roulette with the people's health and our food safety standards lag far behind much of the world. We should all be alarmed by this report and open our eyes to the possibility, or probability, that new drug-resistant diseases will result from the widespread use of antibiotics in our food supply. 
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/04/15/135435291/1-in-4-supermarket-meat-samples-tainted-with-drug-resistant-bacteria?ft=1&f=1001

EU herb law challenge

Big Pharma is seeking to make it illegal to grow natural medicinal herbs in the EU and elsewhere around the world. If people do not resist this effort in large numbers then natural herbs that have been used for thousands of years will be unavailable for many, leaving only pharmaceutical options for the treatment of maladies. Please sign the petition.http://www.anh-europe.org/node/3113#Background

Here is the petition site:
http://www.savenaturalhealth.eu/

Yes Men, US Uncut Behind GE Hoax

The hoax, picked up by the AP, put GE in the embarrassing position of having to confirm that they did not agree to return the $ 3.2 billion refund. or tax benefit, they received from the government in 2010.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/159931/yes-men-us-uncut-behind-ge-hoax

AP and USA Today Fall for GE Tax Repayment Hoax
http://dollarsandsense.org/blog/2011/04/ap-and-usa-today-fall-for-ge-tax-repayment-hoax.html

That's what it means to be a Democrat

This review of Obama's speech on the budget controversy reveals some much needed vision for more sensible policy and a reduction in the growing inequality gap. Let's hope that Obama can follow through on his lofty words.
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joan_walsh/politics/2011/04/13/what_a_democrat_sounds_like/index.html

Is Obama Hijacking - or Reinforcing - the GOP's One Big Idea?
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/04/obama-deficit-speech

Walker And Prosser Crushed Regulations On Koch Industry’s Phosphorus Pollution In Wisconsin

The Koch brothers agenda goes far beyond the current attack on collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, as this ThinkProgress report on activities to de-regulate dangerous phosphorous pollution makes clear. The blind drive for profit in the US all too often results in reckless practices that destroy our environment and put people's health at risk.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/13/walker-koch-phosphorus/

New Report: Topsoil Loss Worse than Previously Thought

The Agribusiness farming model is wreaking havoc on the nation's rich topsoil and also contaminating huge swaths of our water supply, because the herbicides that are liberally sprayed on our crops are exempted from Clean Water Act regulations. 
http://civileats.com/2011/04/13/watching-the-future-wash-away/

Big Ag is Pissing Away Our Nation's Rich Topsoil
http://www.grist.org/industrial-agriculture/2011-04-13-big-ag-washing-away-midwest-topsoil

USDA Certified Organic Milk NOT Tested for Radiation Contamination

The lax regulatory environment of the US food supply is in evidence once again, as the government refuses to test our milk supply for radiation despite reports of elevated levels, above EPA standards, resulting from the ongoing nuclear disaster in Japan.
http://farmwars.info/?p=5800&utm_

Should some pesticides be banned to protect bees? A USDA scientist dances around the question

Over-reliance on pesticide use in farming is creating a host of serious problems, including an annual colony collapse disorder in the US that results in the die-off of significant portions of the bee population each year.

http://www.grist.org/industrial-agriculture/2011-04-06-should-pesticides-be-banned-protect-bees-USDA-scientist-pettis

Fracking nightmare destroys small farmers

"As if we didn’t have enough problems with the fake food safety bill, a genetically modified food takeover by the USDA’s terrorist arm Monsanto, chemtrails dumping aluminum, barium, and strontium on farmland, and Japan’s radioactivity spreading across the country, now we have a huge fracking (hydrolic fracture mining) nightmare that is threatening to destroy our farmland with poisoned water."
http://farmwars.info/?p=5767

The fracking process involves pumping millions of gallons of water, sand, and over 900 toxic chemicals thousands of feet underground to release tiny pockets of gas by literally breaking up the rock where the gas is trapped. The method has been compared to exploding a pipe bomb deep underground. Chemicals used in the process are kept secret from the public, medical professionals, and even regulators, because fracking is exempt from key provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The exemption, which was granted in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, has been dubbed “the Halliburton Loophole” because Halliburton pioneered the fracking process, and then-Vice President (and former CEO of Halliburton) Dick Cheney was heavily involved in setting the Bush administration’s energy policy.http://www.waterdefense.org/the-problems/fracking