8 Possible Side Effects of Pesticides

This article was contributed by a reader and offers important information on the health risks that are connected to pesticide use in agriculture around the globe. I first read here about organ failure associated with pesticide use in India and several other specific side effects of our collective dependence on these agricultural chemicals.
http://www.nursingdegree.net/blog/926/8-possible-side-effects-of-pesticides/

The Pesticide Action Network is a terrific advocate for public health and vigilant regulation and study of the dangerous chemicals commonly found in pesticides.
Pesticide Action Network

Pesticide Watch is another great resource for people concerned about the health effects of pesticides.
Pesticide Watch

Obama Justice Department Subpoenas New York Times Reporter In CIA Leak Case

The Obama Administration has been extremely aggressive in going after whistleblowers in court, having charged five persons with violating the Espionage Act (more than all other Presidents combined), and now they are going after journalistic sources. If the press is supposed to be the fourth pillar of our system of government, charged with keeping powerful interests honest (ha!), then protecting the freedom of the press and First Amendment rights are absolutely essential to the democracy.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/obama_justice_department_subpoenas_new_york_times_reporter_in_cia_leak_case.php?utm

Risk From Spent Nuclear Reactor Fuel Is Greater in U.S. Than in Japan, Study Says

This is an issue that should gravely concern us all. The largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet are stored at nuclear reactor sites, in spent fuel pools, all over the US. Apparently, when the reactors were conceived in the 60's it was assumed that spent fuel would be reprocessed to extract uranium and when that idea fizzled we never came up with another solution for dealing with this highly dangerous radioactive waste. This study urges swift action on the issue and I couldn't agree more that we have to bite the bullet and responsibly deal with the massive threat to the US population and humanity that the spent fuel represents.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/business/energy-environment/25nuke.html?hp

Reports Detail More Drug Industry Ties to Medical Societies

More from ProPublica on the conflicts of interest that are rampant in the pharmaceutical and medical device arena. A number of medical societies accept more than half their total operating budgets from companies who market products that the societies evaluate and recommend to patients. This money, and the promotional opportunities it provides drug companies, raises serious questions about the veracity and independence of research and recommendations made by various medical societies.
http://www.propublica.org/article/reports-detail-more-drug-industry-ties-to-medical-societies

A Patriotic Duty: Repeal the Patriot Act

This piece points out that the Patriot Act was never about terrorism or Obama bin Laden per se, but rather the attacks on 9/11 provided an excuse to weaken Constitutional protections that had long been sought by law enforcement agencies in the War on Drugs. By throwing out protections against unreasonable search and seizure, the Patriot Act has over-whelmingly been used to pursue drug dealers rather than terrorists. Yet, we should all acknowledge that our own rights are threatened by this sweeping law that now allows warrantless wiretaps on any American in the government's overly broad War on Terror. Currently, provisions of the act are set to expire at the end of May and Congress is expected to vote a four year extension to these provisions with virtually no public debate.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/24-7

The GOP's Jail Sell

While we're on the subject of prisons I might as well shine some light on the feverish push to privatize state prisons across the country. The privatization bug is essential code for capturing public utilities, prisons and school systems for private sector profit, often subsidized with public dollars and defined by cost-cutting measures that may yield profit but invariably result in reduced standards for constituents. The example cited in this story in Arizona, a state where a 2010 report by the Department of Corrections estimated that private prisons cost $5-$8 more per inmate, provides a clear view of the sort of incompetence privatizations can deliver to the public.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/04/gop-prison-privatization-ohio-florida-minnesota

Justices, 5-4, Tell California to Cut Prisoner Population

Wow. This is a very big decision from the Supreme Court enforcing the integrity of the Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment, and ordering the state of California to reduce its prison population or relocate prisoners to improve conditions. Two dissenters in the ruling, Scalia and Alito, shamefully conjured images of rampant criminal activity to result from the decision. This will no doubt spark a week or two of histrionic yelpings across the spectrum of the mainstream media, so we should all brace ourselves for the onslaught. I believe this is an important decision primarily because it reinforces a collective sense of morality, a system based on real-world principles, that has been sorely lacking in our country for quite some time. It gives me hope that we can reclaim some of the integrity that our system has discarded in pursuit of expediency over the past few decades.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/us/24scotus.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

A Little Less Corporate Political Corruption

The Executive Order that Obama is apparently considering to make corporations disclose their campaign contributions for two years, an effort to mitigate the impact of the Citizens United ruling, would be a welcome and unexpected surprise action to put a light on corporate influence on our politics.
http://truthout.org/little-less-corporate-political-corruption/1306158084

The Regulators of Wall Street Want to Hear From You

I'm not sure the title of this Public Citizen letter writing petition is accurate, but it is undeniable that citizens should take action on the subject of Wall Street banking reform. If you've seen the brilliant and unassailably accurate documentary Inside Job, about the factors that caused the current recession after the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008, you should have no doubt that we are all being robbed by the barons of the financial world. The ONLY way we can stop this from happening again and push back against the enormous power of the financial sector is to exercise our Constitutional rights of dissent and pressure regulators and elected representatives. As a people we have all become too passive (and ill-informed) and that has made it possible for interests motivated solely by greed to exploit the public trust. Enough is enough. If you care about the integrity of our financial markets and banking industry you MUST do something. In this case, you can take a minute or two to customize an email letter to Wall Street regulators. Then you can pester your friends and family to do the same. It's important and essential that people who know that we are being fleeced care enough to stand up and fight against those who would steal from our pockets and pensions if they can get away with it.
http://www.citizen.org/fix-wall-street-pay

Okay, two things; maybe the Regulators do want to hear from you because this is a public comment forum and, secondly, modifying these letters (to give them more import to the recipients) takes a a little more than a minute or two. Perhaps it took me five minutes to work through the seven different letters. Base language is provided for each letter and they have all been customized for the target agency. I simply added one or two editorial comments within the body of the letter provide by Public Citizen.

Here are the bits I worked into the letters. I think it's okay to use or modify these, or you can bang out something of your own to personalize your messages:

Overzealous deregulation of financial markets, and the exemption of derivatives from direct oversight and regulation have destabilized our markets and harmed many millions of people in the US and throughout the world.

We need to re-establish accountability and performance as the basis for compensation in the financial industry.

It is unconscionable, unfair and unethical that fortunes have been made and amplified on deals that were designed and expected to fail over time.

Let us not blithely reward unethical and opportunistic behavior by members of the financial community.

Yet, these rewards are not in any way based on longterm viability and performance of financial instruments, but rather solely on short-term, un-vetted sales data.

NSA whistleblower Tom Drake talks Espionage Act, 9/11, intelligence with 60 Minutes

A major 60 Minutes profile of the NSA Whistleblower Thomas Drake makes it clear that the man facing 35 years in jail for violating the Espionage Act is being hammered by the government for speaking truth to power. In trying to reveal mismanagement at NSA and waste of taxpayer funds, Drake never released a single classified document. Yet, the DOJ is trying to silence him on a trumped up charge of taking two meaningless classified documents to his home. In reality, Thomas Drake, and his courageous collaborators, acted with great courage to defend the Constitution and the public interest. I hope people will watch this captivating indictment of prosecutorial abuse and pass it along to others. This man should NOT go to jail.
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/05/nsa-whistleblower-tom-drake-talks-espionage-act-911-intelligence-with-60-minutes-thin-thread/

Shameful Kowtowing to the Meat Industry: 147 Congressmen Diss Family Farmers

Politicians are overwhelming in the pocket of Industrial Agriculture factory farming interests that seek to control the entire US market. Protections designed to level the playing field for small farmers in the 2008 Farm Bill are opposed by a large contingent of Congress due to pervasive industry money and lobbying influence. The Food & Water Watch story contains a link to see if your representatives voted for or against the viability of small farmers.
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blogs/shameful-kowtowing-to-the-meat-industry-147-congressmen-diss-family-farmers/

Toxin from GM crops found in human blood: Study

A study in Canada has found the presence of Bt toxin, widely used in GM crops, in human blood for the first time. Industry has claimed that the toxins would be broken down in the human gut but no studies have ever been performed by regulators to test the safety of GM food products in the US. The FDA and USDA are major promoters of biotech GM products and have failed to adequately protect the American people from a wide range of threats posed by GMOs. The mainstream press in the US is similarly aligned with the biotech industry and continually promotes GMOs to the public. Rest assured that there is Bt toxins in your gut too, if you eat the vast majority of non-organic foods sold in this country.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story/toxin-from-gm-crops-found-in-human-blood/1/137728.html

Our Government Is Corrupt Through and Through -- Where's the Outrage?

A review of the conflicts legislators in America face immediately after election, the need to raise money for the next election, and how that impacts policy. The concept of 'state capture,' usually associated with Banana Republics, has been accomplished in the US through our election financing system resulting in overwhelming corporate influence in the political sphere. The corruption of our system extends to the Supreme Court where three justices routinely associate with conservative causes in clear violation of the Code of Conduct for United States judges.
http://www.alternet.org/news/150985/our_government_is_corrupt_through_and_through_--_where's_the_outrage/?page=1

Sweden heads for GM-free status: UK should follow Major company bans GM-fed pig meat

GM FREEZE is a UK-based advocacy group reporting on food issues related to GM crops and cloned animals in Europe and around the world. This story provides details of a consumer-based action in Sweden that has led to a ban on GM-fed meat in part of the country after major retailers began a policy of refusing GM products due to consumer activism despite the government's pro-GM policy. Perhaps direct action in US supermarkets calling for GMO labeling is the way to go here...
http://www.gmfreeze.org/page.asp?id=490&iType=

This week in the War on Women

Daily Kos gives us This Week In The War On Women, an extremist flood of actions from across the land that persecute women by denying healthcare and access to abortion. 
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/21/977824/-This-week-in-the-War-on-Women?utm

A Doctor’s Push for Single-Payer Health Care for All Finds Traction in Vermont

I've been following this story for a while and it's good to see the NYT put a front page story on their website about Vermont's new single payer health insurance law. Now we need only to adapt this model for the entire nation and we could cut healthcare costs dramatically and expand coverage to the uninsured.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/us/22vermont.html?hp

Ransacked Nation: VERMONT MAKES HISTORY, PASSES UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

Recount ends, gives Prosser the win in Supreme Court race

I've been following the Wisconsin Supreme Court race and recount and am saddened by this report concluding that conservative Justice David Prosser has won a new 10-year term. This is a bitter disappointment and may have severe consequences as legal challenges to anti-labor and environment regulations work their way to the Supreme Court. The Court now has a clear 5-4 conservative majority and I'm not sure what recourse citizens in Wisconsin will have to challenge their rulings or change its composition. With the US Supreme Court firmly established as a champion of corporate 'individual' rights, we are continuing to lose the legal battle for social justice in America.
http://www.defendwisconsin.org/2011/05/20/recount-ends-gives-prosser-the-win-in-supreme-court-race/

Connecting the Dots: Novel GMO-Based Bug Threatens U.S. Food Supplies

A Professor Emeritus and senior plant pathologist from Purdue University, Dr. Don Huber, warns that a new organism spawned by glyphosate (the primary ingredient of Roundup) has infected GM corn and soy feed and poses a grave threat to livestock and agriculture in the US. But, the government has turned the other cheek to the scientific data and approved two new glyphosate (Roundup) dependent crops, GM Alfalfa and GM Sugar Beets, despite the clear evidence that glyphosate has led to a 20% infertility rate in cattle and dairy herds, and an abortion rate of 45% in some animals. I'm very happy to see this story on HuffPost and hope it gets more mainstream attention as it is a critical issue for all of us. Included in the piece is a link for co-signing a letter to halt new GM crop planting until independent peer-reviewed studies are completed.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alison-rose-levy/connecting-the-dots-novel_b_861897.html

Dr. Huber explains the science behind threat from Monsanto's Roundup and GMOs to infertility and disease - video
http://vimeo.com/22997532

GMOs, Glyphosate and Tomorrow 
http://www.acresusa.com/toolbox/reprints/May2011_Huber.pdf

How Monsanto Might Destroy Itself
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/how-monsanto-may-destroy-itself.html

Four more years! (Of the Patriot Act ...)

Not only was the Patriot Act extended by Obama, but it's powers were expanded with little debate or press coverage by his administration. The fundamental legal foundation of our democracy has been put at risk due to the over-zealous anti-terrorism laws enacted in response to 9/11. There must be a reaffirmation of the privacy rights of American citizens and the scaling back of wholesale government surveillance, without warrants or probable cause, or the concept of true democracy in America will be nothing more than a cruel joke.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/05/21/patriot_act_extended/index.html

TIME’S UP: OBAMA IGNORES WAR POWERS ACT FOR LIBYA

The War Powers Resolution of 1973 is intended to require a vote in Congress for approval to engage in war on behalf of the US. With Obama's assertion that our involvement in Libya does not constitute 'war,' we are at risk of ceding unilateral control of our armed forces and the power of the military in the Executive branch. This makes it easier to use force and what we have now is continuous military operations ongoing throughout the world. We should insist on Congressional approval for military actions as a brake on our increasing tendency to deploy armed forces to address international problems.
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/times_up_obama_ignores_war_powers_act_for_libya_20110521/?utm

FDA agents launch covert ops against D.C.-area raw-milk buying club

The FDA has engaged in a number actions against natural food and raw food providers and coops around the country. I will be posting additional stories on this issue as I find it odd, and alarming, that such investigative resources, including undercover operations and armed raids, should be mounted by the agency against such innocuous threats as raw food coops. Perhaps the threat they are responding to is the one posed by a growing coterie of citizens who believe there are too many chemicals and GMOs in industrial foods and have rejected the government-approved food policies of the nation. 
http://www.grist.org/food/2011-04-29-picture-this-fda-agents-slinking-through-md-backyards-to-grab

Chief Offshore Drilling Regulator Criticizes Lack of Oversight for Contractors

Regulations for offshore oil drilling are lax and pertain only to operators, not the legions of contractors who actually operate the wells. This became apparent in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf, and needs to be remedied with new regulations and oversight. It is not enough to simply give industry the responsibility of regulating their contractors - voluntary reporting and policing by corporations does not work.
http://www.propublica.org/article/chief-offshore-oil-drilling-regulator-criticizes-lack-of-oversight-and-prom

DuPont Ignores Catastrophic Liability at Shareholders Meeting

This report is about a month old but I wanted to put it up because not nearly enough attention is given to the chemical manufacturing industry and the safety of chemical plants in this country. While there are certainly some chemicals that are essential in today's society we should not lose sight of the fact that chemicals are pervasive in our food and environment in America. We have the highest cancer rates in the world and potential time bombs like the plant featured in this story all over the country.
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/dupont-ignores-catastrophic-liability-at-shar/blog/34463

Deutsche Bank Goes After Whistleblower’s Son

The former Certified Fraud Examiner for the FBI, who uncovered the robo-signing practices of big banks to mass process foreclosures, now has to worry that her son is being sued by Deutshe Bank. Meanwhile, the courts and regulators continue to give favorable treatment to the financial institutions whose reckless behavior brought the world economy to its knees in 2008.
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/05/10765/deutsche-bank-goes-after-whistleblower’s-son

Free College on Wall Street's Tab? 5 Reasons the Finance Sector Should Pay for Full Tuition at Public Universities

A small transaction tax on the financial sector, like one already instituted in Great Britain, could fund an expansion of public education for 20 million Americans. College tuition is capped at $5,000 in Britain, and free in Europe and China, but most Americans spend $25-$50,000 a year on college, and students are saddled with longterm debt. This idea would provide tremendous relief to American families and stimulate the economy with jobs and a better educated workforce.
http://www.alternet.org/news/150976/free_college_on_wall_street's_tab_5_reasons_the_finance_sector_should_pay_for_full_tuition_at_public_universities/?page=1

Jesse Ventura on Government Cover-Ups . . . 9/11, the Reality of HAARP and Making Government Better

The former Governor of Minnesota, Navy SEAL and pro wrestler gives an in-depth interview on the state of America. Very interesting.
http://my.auburnjournal.com/detail/176133.html

AFL-CIO's Rich Trumka on the Post-Wisconsin Game Plan

"All these incredible events should be understood as part of a single challenge. It is not just a political challenge—it’s a moral challenge.  Because these events signal a new and dangerous phase of a concerted effort to change the very nature of America—to turn this into an “I’ve got mine” nation and replace the land of liberty and justice for all with the land of the rich, by the rich, for the rich."
http://www.thenation.com/blog/160828/afl-cios-rich-trumka-post-wisconsin-game-plan

Has Your Meat Been Glued Together?

A video of a British investigative report details the widespread practice of using meat glue, transglutaminase, to stick meat parts together so effectively they are sold as prime cuts. Beef, pork, chicken and lamb are routinely processed in this way, introducing dangerous bacteria into the meat you eat. The practice has been banned in the EU and several other countries but there's been very little coverage of this in the States.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/05/04/has-your-meat-been-glued-together--why-you-need-to-know-and-avoid-this-dangerous-process.aspx

Exposed - The Dirty Little Secret of the Meat Industry
http://www.naturalnews.com/032315_meat_industry_secrets.html

The always-expanding bipartisan Surveillance State

All of the talk about privacy rights and the excessive surveillance authorized by the Patriot Act by Obama in his 2008 campaign was, it turns out, simply empty posturing on the part of the President. Under Obama, the administration has attacked whistleblowers, repeatedly reauthorized the Patriot Act, and expanded the ability of the FBI to collect data on American Internet communications. We are moving with great speed and zealous bi-partisan support into a national-surveillance state, that is, a police state.
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/05/20/surveillance/index.html

In One Month, 214,399 Ohioans Sign Petition To Stop Kasich’s Anti-Worker Law

With two months left to collect signatures to force a referendum on Ohio's anti-labor laws, groups advocating for the rights of the working class have already garnered 93% of the required signatures. This is another sign that people have had enough of the extremist right-wing attack on workers and that the GOP may pay a spectacular price for overreaching in their push to crush protections for labor.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/20/ohio-referendum-winning/

Accusing DSK of Sexual Assault Took Guts -- But Union Protection Is Essential

This is an interesting piece that focusses on the less salacious aspects of the DSK arrest in NYC by pointing out that it may be because of union job protection that the accuser was able to stand up and go public with rape charges against a powerful international figure. It makes a great point, that without the New York Hotel Trades Council union, the woman could have had her job taken away just for reporting the assault. Naturally, this would have been a strong dis-incentive to reporting the attack.
http://www.alternet.org/news/151022/accusing_dsk_of_sexual_assault_took_guts_--_but_union_protection_is_essential/?utm

L.A. Times: Obama is throwing ‘the environment and public health under a bus’ to get reelected

President Obama's executive order to delay environmental regulations that might hinder economic growth, issued after the 2010 midterm elections, demonstrate that he is willfully putting politics ahead of good policy. For example, one delayed rule on industrial boiler efficiency would reportedly cost industry $1.4 billion a year though the gains for society, in terms of health benefits range from $22-$54 billion. Nonetheless, the President is eschewing good regulatory policy while pandering to the powerful polluters behind dirty coal and mountaintop coal removal industries at the expense of the environment and public health.
http://www.grist.org/politics/2011-05-20-la-times-barack-obama-environment-public-health-under-reelected

Flashback 2003: Romney Attacked Coal Jobs That "Kill People"
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/20/romney-coal-jobs/

‘Electronic Brownshirts’

Amy Goodman reports on another Andrew Breitbart-inspired video smear campaign, this time directed at two professors teaching a labor history course. Footage from the online video was re-edited and statements were taken out of context, again, resulting in one dismissal and death threats before everyone realized the videos had been doctored. I'm getting tired of these fear-mongering extremists who will go to such lengths to deprive the progressive agenda through misinformation and lies.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/electronic_brownshirts_20110518/?utm

One Lawman With the Guts to Go After Wall Street

This piece hails the recent actions of the NY Attorney General to investigate major banks regarding their behavior in the mortgage crisis. I look forward to what will hopefully be a hard-hitting prosecution of bankers for their fraudulent actions against American investors and homeowners. 
http://www.truth-out.org/one-lawman-guts-go-after-wall-street/1305815368

An A-Team for Progressive Messaging in the States

A very interesting article on the coordinating role played by the group Alliance for a Better Minnesota in harnessing the collective power of individual advocacy groups into a longterm oriented and organized force for progressive politics.
http://www.truth-out.org/team-progressive-messaging-states/1305211733

Thank God Environmentalism Is Dead

Oddly, many organizations of the Christian Right actively oppose environmentalists and regulations to reduce pollution, global warming and toxic dumping. This is despite studies that demonstrate that society received $20 in health and productivity benefits for every $1 spent in enacting and enforcing the Clean Air Act. It appears that these religious organizations have been co-opted by their fervent right-wing, pro-business supporters.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-j-cabin/thank-god-environmentalis_b_863383.html?ref=fb&src=sp

John Nichols: Effort to thwart voter suppression necessary and appropriate

Efforts by senate Democrats in Wisconsin to defeat a Voter ID bill counters a nationwide trend of limiting voting access in what amounts to voter suppression initiatives based on spurious assertions of voter fraud.
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/article_346411da-8203-11e0-ae0f-001cc4c03286.html

California Internet Privacy Bill: Facebook, Google Explain 'Strong' Opposition

Social networking sites come out in opposition to a new internet privacy law in California. While there may be some problems with the legislation, it's clearly in the public's interest to have increased control over personal data that is shared by the likes of Google, Facebook and other networking sites.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/17/california-internet-privacy-bill-facebook-google-opposition_n_862942.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Websites Skew Views of the News
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/2011/05/10756/websites-skew-views-news

No Exemptions for Wisconsin Firefighters and Police

A new bill in Wisconsin would limit collective bargaining rights for police and firefighters in that state. An Ohio anti-union bill also strips these workers of organizing and bargaining rights. Wisconsin emergency union workers have stood with other public sector workers since the beginning of the Walker assault on labor, and it would make a big difference in this battle if the rest of the country's police and firefighters also stood up for the rights of labor.
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/05/10761/no-exemptions-wisconsin-firefighters-and-police

New trade pacts will kill jobs, and Obama knows it

An expose of the hypocrisy of the Obama Administration in claiming that the new free trade agreement with South Korea, Panama and Columbia will create American jobs. In an acknowledgement that the agreement will actual result in job losses, the administration is insisting on expanded assistance for Americans impacted by the deal.
http://www.salon.com/news/david_sirota/2011/05/18/obama_trade_contradictions/index.html

How gas drilling contaminates your food

The dangers of Hydraulic Fracturing for natural gas, known as Fracking, to drinking water supplies have been revealed over the past couple of months. The fracking process, which was exempted under Cheney's 'Halliburton loophole' from the Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Water Act, CLEAR Act, and EPA regulation, not only threatens our drinking water but is a disaster for sustainable agriculture. Unless fracking is banned because of the toxic wastewater it creates, thousands of small farmers will be ruined by the poisons released into the environment by the natural gas industry.
http://www.salon.com/food/feature/2011/05/18/fracking_food_supply/index.html?utm

Forced Pooling: When Landowners Can't Say No to Gas Drilling
http://www.propublica.org/article/forced-pooling-when-landowners-cant-say-no-to-drilling

Gas Drilling Companies Hold Data Needed by Researchers to Assess Risk to Water Quality
http://www.propublica.org/article/gas-drilling-companies-have-the-water-quality-methane-risk-data

Democrat wins special election in heavily Republican New Hampshire state legislature district

In the third recent special election victory in GOP-controlled states for Democrats, Jennifer Daler of New Hampshire's win signals that there is a strong public backlash building against the extremist right-wing anti-worker agenda.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/18/977200/-Democrat-wins-special-election-in-heavily-Republican-New-Hampshire-state-legislature-district?utm

Emergency vents in 31 U.S. reactors same as ones that failed in Fukushima

Let's not allow our government and the NRC to mislead us about the safety of nuclear energy in the US. There are many compelling reasons why we should not accept the party lines of industry and regulators that are aging reactors are managed to protect public safety at all costs. It simply is not true. The priority for operators and their advocates in government is to keep costs down, both in old and new projects, by promoting exemptions to existing rules and systemic passivity in safety oversight.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/18/977106/-Emergency-vents-in-31-US-reactors-same-as-ones-that-failed-in-Fukushima-?utm

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Sits in Prison While the IMF Keeps Ravaging Entire Economies Every Day

After a salacious week filled with revelations of sexual misconduct by the erstwhile head of the International Monetary Fund, AlterNet focusses on the impact of the IMF on countries impoverished by the global financial meltdown of 2008. Countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal have received IMF loans in return for selling off state assets and other austerity measures.
http://www.alternet.org/news/150999/dominique_strauss-kahn_sits_in_prison_while_the_imf_keeps_ravaging_entire_economies_every_day/?utm

"But that’s what the IMF has always done. It provides loans at cheaper rates than countries would receive any other way during times of economic distress, in return for forcing them to open their economies to hot money looking for a good deal. This is based on the premise that public infrastructure and social safety nets are the cause of financial woes, and not the over-leveraged banks that funneled in the hot money to begin with."

The People vs. Goldman Sachs

They weren't murderers or anything; they had merely stolen more money than most people can rationally conceive of, from their own customers.....

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-people-vs-goldman-sachs-20110511

WILL THEY BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE
OR CONTINUE TO SNAKE THROUGH THE REVOLVING
DOORS TO STEAL OUR $ ?

CONTACT YOUR SENATOR ASAP AND
LET THEM KNOW YOU WANT JUSTICE!

The Strengths and Weaknesses of American Exceptionalism

This is an excellent piece on the need for a transformational shift of the American model to reverse stagnant wages and the debilitating income inequality levels that have made the US a country defined by high and longterm unemployment, poverty, inequality and debt.
"But there is no such conservative openness to economic management and social reform in the contemporary United States. On the contrary, the current Republican Party debate is truly exceptional, characterized as it is by an internationally-unique rigidity of dogma, ignorance of foreign practices, and barely-disguised contempt for foreign models. Nativism, intellectual bankruptcy and self-delusion go hand-in-hand in what passes for intelligent economic discourse in right-wing circles in America these days. The danger is that their folly might yet rub off on the rest of us."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-coates/american-exceptionalism_b_855812.html

Are Petitions An Effective Way of Remedying Important Issues?

I have recently been wondering about the potential effectiveness of on-line petitions, and had hoped that massive responses to such petitions could, in fact, influence policies in a meaningful way. Many of you may already be familiar with this report from Snopes on this issue, but it was news to me and I post a link to it here. The bottom line, apparently, is that online petitions are largely ineffective beyond reflecting a subset of public opinion, and are easily dismissed by policymakers and manipulated by computer techies to distort the authenticity of 'signers.' Many petitions, furthermore, are never delivered to the intended politician or group after signatures are collected. A much more effective activity for those who truly want to demonstrate their position on an issue is to write letters as a constituent to elected officials.
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/internet.asp

Big Cat News discusses the empty promise of the online petition and points out that many such petitions are used primarily to collect email addresses of individuals sympathetic to specific issues. They referred me to the Snopes piece above and also to the Capwiz site at the bottom of this post which enables citizens to write directly to their representatives on any issue they wish.
http://bigcatnews.blogspot.com/2009/01/catlawscom-and-petition-sites.html

Capwiz.com site for writing directly to elected officials.
http://capwiz.com/bigcatrescue/officials/congress/?district=08&azip=10036&state=NY&bzip=6333

Guidelines on effectively letter writing from Friends Committee on National Legislation - this is a terrific resource for people determined to have their voices recorded on the great issues of the day.
http://fcnl.org/resources/toolkit/write_congress/

6 State Battlegrounds in the Right-Wing War Against Teachers, Firefighters, Caregivers and the Entire Middle Class

I've also admired the fire and homespun combativeness that Jim Hightower has brought to his writings over the years. He and Molly Ivins, one of the great truth-tellers of journalism who died a few years ago, were terrific friends as I read in her biography, A Rebel Life. Jim is still kicking those in political power who seek to marginalize the rights and pocketbooks of working Americans, with this recent piece about the legislative assault that is currently being carried out against the public throughout the nation, honing in on the activities of six key states.
http://www.alternet.org/news/150928/6_state_battlegrounds_in_the_right-wing_war_against_teachers,_firefighters,_caregivers_and_the_entire_middle_class/?utm

THE SECRET SHARER - Is Thomas Drake An Enemy of the State?

Thomas Drake was a whistleblower at the NSA and sought only to inform the public of waste and fraud at the agency. In doing so he attracted the wrath of the national security apparatus and Obama's DOJ which has charged him with violating the Espionage Act. It turns out that the Obama Administration has been the most aggressive presidency in history in acting against whistleblowers, bringing more Espionage Act charges against Americans than all precious administrations combined. These suits are designed to have a chilling effect on future whistleblowers, cutting off the major source of information that has traditionally existed for information based on government documents about corruption and other wrong-doing to the public, through releases to the press. America is fast becoming a police state and the forces behind these trends are formidable and organized effectively. Proponents of civil rights and privacy rights had better get it together quickly, and on a massive scale, if there is any hope to reverse the tide.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=1

Lynch vetoes anti-union bill in New Hampshire

The Governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch (D), vetoed the Republican-controlled legislature's anti-union bill to make the state "right-to-work,"pointing out that states with such laws tend to have workers with a lower standard of living who more often have to do without health insurance. It's really great to see some reasoned push back against the assault on workers collective bargaining rights for a change.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/11/975158/-Lynch-vetoes-anti-union-bill-in-New-Hampshire?utm