New Jersey Lawmakers Approve Benefits Rollback for Work Force

The withering legislative attacks on public sector workers and their collective bargaining rights are now landing right across the Hudson River, in New Jersey. And, in this case, some Democrats voted to strip rights and dramatically increase health care payments for state workers while also raising the retirement age. This is very bad new indeed for all workers as the standards of compensation for employment are furthered squeezed and will do nothing but increase the income inequality gap that has come to define America. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/nyregion/nj-legislature-moves-to-cut-benefits-for-public-workers.html?pagewanted=1&hp

Eco Etiquette: Is Genetically Modified Food Linked To Kids' Food Allergies?

Since the introduction of genetically modified foods in the mid-90's, food allergies have increased by 265 percent. Currently, about 75% of all food in grocery stores contain GMOs in America but this products are unlabeled. About 40% of those who get food allergies each year have such severe reactions that they end up in the hospital. There are also a host of other health issues related to GMOs that should concern consumers. Let's slow the GMO tide by fighting for labeling of these products in the US, as they are in every of developed country.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-grayson/eco-etiquette-is-genetica_b_882238.html

Label GMOs: A 2012 Ballot Initiative Campaign

Polls consistently show that the overwhelming majority, on the order of 80%, of Americans want to see GMOs labelled. In California efforts are building to prepare for a petition drive to put the issue on the ballot this Fall. If you live in Cali and want to get involved check out the link below. Remember that every other industrialized country has already banned GMOs or mandated their labeling, including Europe, Japan and New Zealand, and more recently, Bolivia and the city of Lima in Peru who have outlawed GMOs outright. Let's get the ball rolling in the USA. California would be a great way to put this issue on the map with the rest of America. 
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_23380.cfm

15 Prominent Republicans Urge President Obama to Strengthen Fuel Efficiency Standards

While it would be even better if sitting Republicans made such a strong statement for increased fuel standards to reduce carbon emissions and save money at the pump, it's still heartening to read about this action to press for 60 mpg standards by 2017. Now, how do we get rank and file politicians on board?
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/06/22/251680/15-prominent-republicans-urge-president-obama-to-strengthen-fuel-efficiency-standards/

Lower Blood Pressure And Improve Health Naturally With Celery

It's absolutely amazing to learn about the health benefits of raw vegetables. That's why it's immensely important that we protect the integrity of natural plants, and push back against the powerful interests pushing the worldwide GMO agenda. In this story you can check out the scientific evidence that celery helps to lower blood pressure and promote a healthy circulation system. All parts of the plant have powerful therapeutic effects including the seeds which are known to be anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic. I've been juicing a lot of celery lately and combined it with kale and fresh coconut water this morning. Yum.
http://www.naturalnews.com/032541_celery_blood_pressure.html

Big Pharma Attempting to Corner the Market on Medical Marijuana

With the DEA and IRS continuing to harass medical marijuana distributors, Big Pharma is maneuvering the push for federal regulation of the drug for medical uses, usurping state's rights to regulate the weed. Such a move would also open the door for a Big Pharma cash windfall as attempt to capture the market with liquid cannabis drugs like Sativex.
http://www.naturalnews.com/032547_medical_marijuana_Big_Pharma.html

What Happened to Media Coverage of Fukushima?

What's up with the media in this country? Where's the coverage of the ONGOING nuclear disaster in Japan? How can we collectively put our heads in the sand with such a devastating catastrophe? Don't we need to know what the f is going on? There's virtually no testing going on, infant mortality is up 35% in the Pacific Northwest and our government persists in defending a nuclear industry that regularly flouts the regulations that the captive NRC reflexively lowers to keep aging reactors in service. It's a travesty and they are keeping critical information away from the American public. Radiation continues to leak massively from Fukushima and the situation is much worse than our leaders and media are leading us to believe. Kelp pills are known to counteract radiation and so is potassium iodide. I recommend that you pick some up. Meanwhile, how do we get the NYT to cover this story every day like it should?
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/06/10851/what-happened-media-coverage-fukushima

Update on Lawsuit to Stop Genetically Engineered Trees

The biotech industry is gearing up for a major commercial release of GE trees over the next couple of years and one of the only obstacles in their way is the Stop GE Trees Campaign and the lawsuit it has filed to halt planting across seven southern states.
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/update-on-lawsuit-to-stop-genetically-engineered-trees/

Victims Testify: North Carolina Forcibly Sterilized Thousands Of Poor, Uneducated, And Mentally Unstable People

A horrifying bit of history from the state of North Carolina, where thousands of poor and uneducated people were forcibly sterilized against their will in the state's spooky Eugenics program. Now, survivors are going public and the state is considering whether to compensate victims for suffering.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/06/23/252208/victims-testify-north-carolina-forcibly-sterilized-thousands-of-poor-uneducated-and-mentally-unstable-people/

CHART OF THE DAY: New GOP Governors Tanking Nationwide

The anti-labor, anti-public interest policies of the new crop of Republican Governors has created quite a ruckus all over the land. Try and guess which of these deregulation-prone, tax-cuts for the wealthy and corporations screaming, collective bargaining stripping Republicans has suffered the most precipitous fall from grace. I was a little disappointed in one of the numbers... 
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/chart-of-the-day-new-gop-governors-tanking-nationwide.php

The Inner Secrets of the Right-Wing Echo Chamber

The persistent misinformation heard on all media that social security is going bankrupt and that we will need to raise the retirement age to sustain it goes hand-in-hand with the persistent calls to privatize social security. As it turns out the origins of this thinking and the repeated position papers supporting these policies were developed by Koch brother-funded think tanks like the Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation and others. Their staffers then parade all over the media spectrum repeating the falsehoods over and over until the public believes that it's all true. Well, it's absolute malarkey, S.S. has a $2.7 trillion surplus according to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Brave New Media put together an excellent short video illustrating the mechanism for the misinformation campaign to manipulate public opinion.
http://www.alternet.org/news/151378/the_inner_secrets_of_the_right-wing_echo_chamber/?utm

Drug Companies Win Two Supreme Court Decisions

The pro-business tilt of the Supreme Court continue to show itself in two decisions that benefit Big Pharma. The application of 1st Amendment protections to businesses, as though they were individuals, is undoing much legal precedent for handling commercial claims. It seems the 'public interest' aspect of these decisions is sadly relegated to the sidelines by the current court. There are gong to be serious implications for these laws that continue to strip companies of liability and also to allow further intrusive data mining and marketing leeway with personal pharmacy records.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/business/24bizcourt.html?pagewanted=1&hp

Supreme Court strikes down Vermont prescription privacy law
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/23/988002/-Supreme-Court-strikes-down-Vermont-prescription-privacy-law?utm

The True History of Dole, Banana Plantations, Chemical Pesticides and Human Suffering

Lest we forget that the pesticides on commercially produced produce unnecessarily threaten not only the health of those who consume these fruits and vegetables, but have also caused sterility, miscarriages, still births, birth defects, cancers, depression, impotence and other maladies for farm workers exposed to these dangerous substances, we should take a moment to regard the record of the world's largest fresh fruit company, Dole. If you think this is bullshit and don't want to support such morally bankrupt practices then do what you can to buy organic bananas and other fruits and vegetables.
http://www.naturalnews.com/032794_Dole_bananas.html

Chief Scientists Continue to Ignore Science by Promoting GMOs

The propaganda war to spread patented GMO seeds throughout the planet is being waged every day in a never-ending sort of echo chamber. Now a report designed to encourage tolerance of GMOs and to counteract valid scientific criticisms of GM crops is being touted a prominent British scientist as a scientific endorsement of a bioengineered, pesticide-intensive industrial agriculture future. And, regrettably, this sort of strategy is proved brilliant by a British press that ran wild with the misinformation to the public.
http://www.NaturalNews.com/032709_scientists_GMOs.html

GMO Scientists Ignore Science - Again
http://www.panna.org/blog/gmo-apologists-ignore-science-again

Baking Soda Can Clean Your Teeth, Clear Your Complexion and Act as a Natural Antacid

Just about everything Americans consume, meats, fish, dairy products, most grains, sugars, alcohol and caffeinated drinks put the body in an acid state that prompts it to rob alkaline from the bloodstream, leading to health problems including arthritis and other ailments. It's much better to maintain an alkaline balance and daily use of baking soda can do the trick. Of course, you can also brighten your teeth and support the health of your gums by sprinkling a little baking soda on your toothbrush (and avoiding the chemicals in most commercial brands).
http://www.naturalnews.com/021618.html

Reason to Smile: Natural Health Remedies May Prevent Memory Loss
http://www.naturalnews.com/026486_health_memory_natural.html

Wildlife Refuges to be Planted with GMOs

This news really sucks and also demonstrates the overwhelming influence wielded by the biotech industry in our national politics. For no discernible reason, other than to disperse genetically modified DNA as widely as possible, the Obama Administration has agreed to allow unlimited planting of GMO crops, accompanied by their Roundup Ready toxic herbicides, on more than 50 wildlife refuges in America.
http://farmwars.info/?p=6266&utm

FED CHAIRMAN AND CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE CONFIRM SPENDING CUTS WILL HARM ECONOMY

The absurdity of the fiscal discourse these days is downright malicious. Corporations have gamed the system to avoid taxes while states are in crisis due to the decreased revenues, swimming in a pool of budget deficits and proposed spending cuts to close the gap. Meanwhile, we are still in a recession and the economy is going nowhere. Even the chairman of the Fed believes that spending cuts will worsen the recovery and result in more job layoffs. Yet, the mainstream of the media and public still talk about spending cuts as the way to spur the economy. 
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/06/22/251691/bernanke-cbo-job-loss-spending-cuts/

Bill McKibben, Naomi Klein, Wendell Berry Call for Civil Disobedience on Tar Sands

The picture above depicts emissions from and a mining operation in a Canadian tar sand pit. Around Labor Day this year the State Department and the White House must decide whether to grant a certificate of "national interest" which would allow the "most environmentally devastating, energy project on earth" to proceed. If allowed by Washington oil and gas extractors would build a 1,661 mile pipeline extension across the heartland to transport the tar sand to refineries in Texas. With enormous and powerful interests pushing for an energy project that would greatly exacerbate global warming, environmental leaders are calling for peaceful public resistance to the project, in the form of civil disobedience, near the end of summer. The stakes of this policy are very high, like the floodwaters that have inundated America, and it will go forward unless a lot of people tune in and register their opposition. They've got the bucks but in theory we have the bodies. The organizers are stressing that this is not a regular demonstration but rather calls for principled civil disobedience that might well result in arrest. They are emphasizing message discipline as well by insisting on training prior to the event and encouraging participants to maintain decorum and appearance to maximize the impact of the action.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/161604/bill-mckibben-naomi-klein-wendell-berry-call-civil-disobedience-tar-sands

Tar Sands Action Signup Info
http://www.tarsandsaction.org/sign-up/

Washington Marijuana Legalization: Former Seattle U.S. Attorney Sponsors State Pot Initiative

An initiative to legalize and regulate marijuana for recreational use in Washington is being lead by a former federal prosecutor who believes that the War on Drugs has failed and that the prohibition on marijuana only serves to make drug cartels and crime rings more powerful. The law would institute legal limits of 21 for use and allow up to an ounce of dried marijuana. There would be licensed dispensaries and sales would be taxed to bring the state revenue. If the group, New Approach Washington, succeeds in getting enough signatures then lawmakers can approve it or allow the initiative to go to the ballot.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/washington-marijuana-legalization_n_881904.html

The Triumph of New-Age Medicine

This article from The Atlantic provides a comprehensive view of the state of alternative medicine, and it's increasing value in the eyes of traditionally trained doctors. There is quite a bit on acupuncture and an examination of the claims that the practice is a sham because it's effects are not demonstrated in randomized controlled studies. I can personally attest to acupuncture which helped me to heal sciatica and later, with a chinese medicinal herb, to cure a swelling of the uvea in my right eye called Uveitis, that and avoid using the heavy-duty six-week course of prednisone that doctors at the Eye and Ear Infirmary wanted to prescribe.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/the-triumph-of-new-age-medicine/8554/1/

“Mainstream medicine uses the placebo effect all the time,” says Ted Kaptchuk, a Harvard researcher who studies the impact of placebos. “Doctors don’t tell you the drug they’re giving you is barely better than a placebo. They all spin.” To be approved by the FDA, a drug has to do better than a placebo in studies—but most approved drugs do only a little better, and for many drugs the evidence is mixed. A number of studies have indicated, for example, that most antidepressants don’t do better than placebos, but patients filled more than 250 million prescriptions for them in 2010. The vast majority of drugs don’t work in as many as 70 percent of patients, according to an estimate from within the pharmaceutical industry. One recent study concluded that 85 percent of new prescription drugs hitting the market are of little or no benefit to patients.

“Doctors are paid for providing treatments, not for spending time talking to patients,” says Victor Montori, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic. A medical system that successfully guided patients toward healthier lifestyles would almost certainly see its cash flow diminish dramatically. “Last year, 75 percent of the $2.6 trillion the U.S. spent on health care was for treating chronic diseases that, to a large degree, can be prevented or reversed through lifestyle change,” says Dean Ornish of UCSF. Who (besides patients) has an incentive to make changes that would remove that money from the system?

Drilling Opponents Spied on Like Terrorists

I found this story on the ACLU website which I only recently discovered. There's a lot of good stuff there and I'm going to sift through their archives and try to keep up with some of their priorities as this organization is one of the few true defenders of civil rights left in America. They deserve our support and shouldn't be marginalized in response to the endless conservative sponsored attacks on a principled organization that is founded on the principle of protecting the rights of citizens against the illegal abuse of constitutionally protected activities. This story is from last fall but is important because it sheds light on the current legal and PR battle on the issue of natural gas fracking, an issue of nationwide relevance to the American public. It turns out that the government, under the guise of terrorist surveillance by the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security, has been spying on activists opposed to this destructive and unregulated fracking gas rush.
http://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech-technology-and-liberty/drilling-opponents-spied-terrorists

Surprise! TSA Is Searching Your Car, Subway, Ferry, Bus, AND Plane

The trampling of our privacy rights continues unabated, in the name of the War on Terror, as the TSA extends its reach beyond air travel and into trains, subways, private cars, trucks and other arenas. The ear-splitting hype of the security agenda, hyped incessantly in the media and by politicians despite the fact that there is very little statistical risk, is the wave of the present and the never-ending future. This is the enemy that the enablers and profiteers of the military industrial complex dreamed of when the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union ceased to be the evil empire. And Americans, numbed by mainstream television and the frenzies of pervasive technology, just play along without much more than a whimper to defend their hard-fought and quickly eroding civil rights.
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/06/tsa-swarms-8000-bus-stations-public-transit-systems-yearly

To be clear, I am not demonizing the more than 55,000 TSA employees charged with carrying out government policy. In fact, it's important to realize the poor treatment that these employees have endured over the years, and how the government and GOP noise machine have managed to prevent these federal workers from utilizing the same collective bargaining rights that employees of other agencies enjoy. AlterNet, as is their trademark, does an excellent job in the lengthy investigative piece below of uncovering the right-wing, anti-labor interests who have successfully kept these federal employees from unionizing.
Did You Fall for It? America's Outrage Over TSA Naked Body Scanners Was Right-Wing PR to Prevent Workers from Unionizing
http://www.alternet.org/news/150767/did_you_fall_for_it_america's_outrage_over_tsa_naked_body_scanners_was_right-wing_pr_to_prevent_workers_from_unionizing/?utm

Peru's capital declares itself a GMO-free zone

The city of Lima, Peru has declared itself a GMO-free zone after the legislature passed a 10-year moratorium on the import of GMOs in foods and seeds. Unfortunately, we're a long way from such action in the US but this Peruvian action is inspiring and hopeful nonetheless.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/perus-capital-declares-itself-a-gmofree-zone-2299835.html

Which Countries Have Banned GMOs?
http://www.ehow.com/info_8527757_countries-banned-gmo-foods.html

President's Libya War is Undeclared, Unconstitutional, Unnecessary

In an era of long-term and falsely justified wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention more secret actions in Yemen and elsewhere, America has become more of a warring nation than ever. It's time to reassert the rule of law, in the for of the War Powers Act, and insist that Congress vote to approve military operations that fall under that statute. In the case of Libya, President Obama has rejected the legal advice of top lawyers in the Pentagon and DOJ that the action falls under the definition of war that would require Congressional approval and chosen to bypass that body. Now there is a bill that aims to force a determination to formally authorize the military action in Libya, or bring our involvement to an end. 
http://www.thenation.com/blog/161552/presidents-libya-war-undeclared-unconstitutional-unnecessary-congress-should-check-and-b

Kerry and McCain Introduce Libya Resolution
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/kerry-and-mccain-introduce-libya-resolution/?scp=3&sq=libya&st=cse

Two Top Lawyers Lost to Obama in Libya War Policy Debate
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/world/africa/18powers.html?scp=9&sq=libya&st=cse

Walmart Case: Supreme Court Aids The Powerful

The Supreme Court decision this week dismissing a class action gender discrimination suit against WalMart is a counterintuitive ruling that prohibits workers from concentrating their bargaining power in much the same way that multinationals are allowed to exercise purchasing power based on their size and influence on markets. It's a double standard that works against the public interest and another sign that the Supreme Court favors the interests of corporations over people's rights. 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/21/walmart-case-supreme-court-aids-powerful_n_881301.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Justices Rule for Wal-Mart in Class-Action Bias Case

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/business/21bizcourt.html?hp

Senate Bill Addresses Antibiotics in Animal Feed

A bi-partisan bill introduced in the Senate would phase out the use of seven antibiotics deemed critical to human health, and require that new treatments be proven safe to the population. There's a similar bill in the House and this is good news indeed. Let's just hope it doesn't get watered down too much and that it becomes law.
http://civileats.com/2011/06/21/senate-bill-addresses-antibiotics-in-animal-feed/

5 Ways You're Secretly Being Monitored

It's time for a reality check with Cracked.com's hilarious and smart lists that reveal fascinating details in all sorts of situations. These guys are a bit racy with their style but they also kick as with their research and writing styles.
http://www.cracked.com/article/150_5-ways-youre-secretly-being-monitored/?wa_user1=2&wa_user2=Weird+World&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=recommended


5 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Poor
http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-things-nobody-tells-you-about-being-poor/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=new+article&wa_ibsrc=fanpage

5 Ridiculous Gun Myths Everyone Believes (Thanks to Movies)
http://www.cracked.com/article_18576_5-ridiculous-gun-myths-everyone-believes-thanks-to-movies_p2.html?wa_user1=1&wa_user2=Movies+%26+TV&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=flashback

The 6 Biggest Dick Moves in the History of Science
http://www.cracked.com/article_17460_the-6-biggest-dick-moves-in-history-science.html

Formaldehyde Now Officially Listed as a Carcinogen; Here Are The Top Sources of Exposure

It will take some time for many household products to be reformulated to include less or no formaldehyde. In the meantime, here is a helpful list of products that may contain the toxin and suggestions for reducing your exposure.
http://www.NaturalNews.com/032765_formaldehyde_carcinogenic.html

Western Coal Pollution: EPA Deal Would Speed Haze Reduction

Long-delayed regulations to reduce toxic emissions from coal plants, mandated by the Clean Air Act, are once again being considered for implementation. The laws, which would require new scrubbing equipment at coal plants in four western states would cost about $1.5 billion a year while returning over $8 billion annually in productivity gains due to reduced sicknesses. Make no mistake; those that oppose clean air laws have nothing but contempt for the health of the American public. Their only concern is to maximize profit in a dirty pollution-producing industry. These efforts to repel environmental regulations are another manifestation of private industry strategy of privatizing profits and externalizing costs. The public and, to a large measure, the public treasury bears the cost of environmental degradation and disease-causing pollution from dirty coal. The resulting sickness and pollution that results simply brings in more commerce for businesses while the government (people) pick up the tab (medicare, EPA). Pollution is a bad deal for the American people and sensible laws that seek to reduce pollutants and global warming should be swiftly and proactively implemented.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/20/western-coal-pollution-cuts-epa-haze_n_880243.html

Canadian Health Experts Announce 5 Ways to Protect Children From Toxic Chemicals

It's mind-boggling to grasp all of the toxins that people are exposed to these days in daily life. These toxics are dangerous for everyone but especially young children and pregnant mothers. The Canadian Partnership for CHildren's Health and Environment has just issued guidelines for avoiding some of the most common toxins that can be found in people's homes.
http://www.naturalnews.com/032730_children_toxic_chemicals.html

Supreme Court: Climate Policy Should Be Set By Actual Experts In Climate Policy

The Supreme Court ruled in a 8-0 decision against several states and the city of New York that sought to reduce greenhouse gas pollution using the nuisance theory to allow federal judges to intervene against major polluters. The court denied federal judges this power in arguing that climate policy should be set by climate experts, such as the EPA. However, the court also suggested that state legislatures and judges could act to supplement environmental regulations that the EPA cannot or will not enforce. The states rights issue could very well cut both ways, challenging conservatives oft-stated support for the tenth amendment.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/06/20/248783/supreme-court-climate-policy-should-be-set-by-actual-experts-in-climate-policy/

AP Bombshell: U.S. Nuclear Regulators “Repeatedly” Weaken Safety Rules or are “Simply Failing to Enforce Them”

"Failed cables. Busted seals. Broken nozzles, clogged screens, cracked concrete, dented containers, corroded metals and rusty underground pipes – all of these and thousands of other problems linked to aging were uncovered in the AP’s yearlong investigation. And all of them could escalate dangers in the event of an accident."


The NRC is not only in bed with the nuclear industry but has been cheating on the American public in other ways as well. Weak regulations and a willingness to automatically renew leases for old nuclear plants with 20-year extensions is one aspect of the problem but now there is ample evidence that the agency fails to enforce some of the most basic regulatory requirements for operators. In so doing, the NRC is toying with the health of millions of Americans so that their pals in the nuclear industry can save a few bucks by not performing basic maintenance designed to ensure the safety of the public from unnecessary and potentially catastrophic nuclear contamination.
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/06/20/248657/ap-nuclear-regulators-weaken-safety-rules/

AP Study: US Nuclear Regulators Weaken Safety Rules
http://www.pjstar.com/free/x1781765020/AP-study-U-S-nuclear-regulators-weaken-safety-rules

Think Big: For labor law, we have to go back to the future

This piece details the graduation reduction in the legal power of progressive labor law and its effects on unions and the strength of the middle class over the past 50 years. Laws that protected unions' right to strike and also to participate in secondary or sympathy strikes have been eviscerated with news laws such as Taft-Hartley that severely restricted the ability to apply leverage against employers in disputes. Other laws undermined negotiated agreements between employers and unions that prohibited many forms of direct action and protest from unionized workers. The result is a country and labor force with a steep decline in middle class prosperity with few options available to reverse this trend. The author contends that labor must reinvent itself, and reinvigorate the public debate, in order to reclaim the rights of labor to fully organize and collaborate in actions designed to secure greater bargaining power on behalf of working people. 
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/19/984611/-Think-Big:-For-labor-law,-we-have-to-go-back-to-the-future?utm

The day the drug war really started

The national frenzy that resulted in 1986 after the sudden death of future NBA star Len Bias unleashed the most severe legislation the War on Drugs has ever seen. Without scientific review and study of the proposed laws, Democrats and Republicans rushed to pass tough legislation. Well, the resulting law was certainly tough, but it was also discriminatory and ended up putting hundreds of thousands of mostly black and hispanic Americans in jail for possession of modest amounts of crack and powder cocaine. The law also instituted a 100-1 ratio for crack that disproportionately affected minorities. That severity ratio was cut to 18-1 in 2010 but is still completely arbitrary. In 1986 the federal prison population was 36,000 and today it's swelled to 216,000, and the war goes on.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/06/19/len_bias_cocaine_tragedy_still_affecting_us_drug_law/index.html

Ralph Nader Joins Influential Leaders Questioning Flouridation

The town of Fairbanks Alaska recently voted to ban flouridation of local water because there is already enough flouride in their water and added flouride would pose a risk to babies on formula. Flouride is also well documented to adversely affect populations with kidney disease and diabetes, and over 24 studies demonstrate excess flouride's association in lowering IQ in children. Andrew Young has come out against flouridation in Atlanta, Peter Vallone has introduced a bill to ban it in NYC, and now Ralph Nader has joined this crusade.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/06/3680339/ralph-nader-joins-influential.html

Fairbanks City Council Votes to End Practice of Adding Flouride to Communities Drinking Water
http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/6eae692ee966401a87e302f1bb6273d5/AK--Fairbanks-Fluoride/

The 'Healthful' Drink That Can Damage Your Health
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/06/05/poor-and-minority-americans-disproportionately-harmed-by-fluoride.aspx

Flouride Debate Makes A Splash in New York
http://nycitynewsservice.com/2011/06/15/fluoride-debate-makes-a-splash/

German E-Coli Outbreak: Accident or Planned “Genocide” for Organics?

If only I could discount the issues raised in this Farm Wars piece regarding the recent e Coli. outbreak in Europe, and the backlash it has generated against organics after they were blamed as the source of the deadly disease. Unfortunately, I have already heard calls for irradiating seeds and recognize that this poses a daunting threat to the entire natural and organic health food industry. There is compelling evidence that government agencies favor the biotech agenda over organic interests and a recent history of rulings against organic and natural foods providers on the part of the USDA and the FDA. Regarding the origins of the rare new e Coli. strain, there is very little intellectual curiosity in the mainstream about how exactly it came to be in existence, and we need to push for answers to the critical question of how the pathogen became resistant to eight classes of antibiotics, and how it managed to infect a sprouts farm in Germany.
http://farmwars.info/?p=6236&utm

America’s Energy Ethos: Do, Regardless of Harm

America's reckless push for more nuclear energy and massive natural gas fracking, rigorously embraced by the Obama Administration, is remarkably tone deaf in relation to the rest of the world. Our politicians enthusiastically sell these energy policies despite the blatant and overwhelming evidence that both technologies are unsafe and potentially devastating for the people of the planet. Japan and Germany have renounced nuclear energy in favor of more sustainable and less toxic and volatile sources. The National Assembly of France has banned fracking outright and South Africa has halted a major natural gas fracking project. The good ole US of A, meanwhile, breathlessly advocates for the great, unregulated Fracking Rush, threatening to poison drinking water and devastate farming, and wants to put little nuclear reactors all over the country despite the ongoing global contamination of the planet from the out-of-control reactors at Fukushima.
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/11483/americas_energy_ethos_do_regardless_of_harm/

Despair Not

I've often wondered why I don't get more response and feedback from others on the admittedly dire reports that I've been posting on FB over the past several months. It's occurred to me that many people may simply tune out the information I am trying to disseminate because it's so dramatically contradictory and critical of mainstream belief systems, and can be overwhelming to contemplate. Not one person has challenged the data regarding health issues that I've posted, yet I'm not sure all that many people are actually reading it. There may well be a sense among many people that all of this noise I'm trying to make is idealistic but impractical, that things are too far gone to change. And so, many folks may despair at the possibility of contributing to any meaningful change or improvements in what I concede is a corrupted system that fails to truly put the public interest at the heart of public policy. This piece, from In These Times, employs a historical precedent from another era to illustrate the galvanizing effects that repression and injustice can bring to communities, and offers inspiration for tackling the devastating pollution and global warming that threaten all people, especially women and children, in our world today.
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/7352/despair_not/

In Partial Victory Against GMOs, US Congress Bans FDA From Approving GM Salmon

Apparently, the only way for Congress, absent new legislation, to prevent an action by the FDA is to withhold funding from the agency. The House took this step, a first in US history, to protect wild salmon and human populations from contamination by a bioengineered salmon that contains pesticide and growth hormone genes that make it grow twice as fast as natural salmon. 
http://www.NaturalNews.com/032719_GM_salmon_Congress.html

House Votes to Block FDA Approval of Genetically Modified Salmon
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/16/genetically-modified-salmon-fda-approval_n_877983.html

The Neverdamnending Story

Daily Kos muses on the state of the Republic and while things are, indeed, a tad depressing, I still believe it is incumbent on all of us who care about the country we live in and the prospects for the future to stand up and fight for social justice before it's too late.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/18/986340/-The-Neverdamnending-Story?utm

“Crappy Headline” Ruins New York Times Story on Link Between Climate Change and Extreme Weather

This post points out that the extreme weather we saw in April is, in fact, related to global warming, and backs up this assertion with comments from prominent climate scientists and other references while taking the NYT to task for a dangerously misleading headline.
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/06/18/247938/crappy-headline-ruins-new-york-times-story-climate-change-extreme-weather/

Good story, crappy headline:
Scientists See More Deadly Weather, But Dispute The Cause
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/science/earth/16climate.html?_r=2&hpw

Midwest floods heighten nuclear power plant crisis

I was unaware of this situation at Fort Calhoun until a friend mentioned it this morning. We don't know if there is radiation escaping from the site already and the government is not eager to provide this information in any case. The plant recently received a twenty-year extension from the NRC despite structural shortcomings, and there are now serious questions as to whether the overloaded spent fuel rod pools there are contaminating flood waters that surround the facility. We've really got to find a way to wind down our active nuclear reactors and stop industry from building new reactors with 100% federal government subsidies.
http://coto2.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/midwest-floods-heighten-nuclear-power-plant-crisis/#more-16714

Privatization At The Heart Of Divisive Battles In Wisconsin

The name of the GOP game in government these days is privatization. It is a game in which corporations seek to play with public money to provide services traditionally delivered by the public sector. There are very few cases, if any, in which privatization has benefited the public interest, whether measured in terms of cost or services provided. In Wisconsin, public outcry led the Walker administration to remove a provision to sell state power plants in no-bid deals without public comment, but the Fitzwalkerstan gang is still pushing the privatization agenda hard.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/17/privatization-wisconsin_n_873871.html

The Truth About The Economy In 2 Minutes

Robert Reich deconstructs the income and wealth numbers of the American economy over the past thirty years and concludes that there cannot be a strong recovery without a more robust middle class.
http://front.moveon.org/scribbling-sharpie-illustrates-the-truth-about-our-economy/#.Tfp28twgEA1;facebook

Will U.S. Mayors Vote Against War?

Frustration is growing among US Mayors as they struggle to deal with budget cuts while the federal government continues to spend over $2 billion a week in Afghanistan. Their call to "bring the war dollars home" could have an enormous impact in the effort to rebuild in America, spur job creation and support education throughout the country.
http://www.alternet.org/news/151336/will_u.s._mayors_vote_against_war/?utm

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon vetoes voter suppression law

I didn't even realize there was a Nixon in government these days but this one, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, had the political courage to veto a voter ID law passed by the state's conservative legislature. Correctly pointing out that the law requiring state-issued ID would discriminate against seniors and those with disabilities among others, Nixon said that disenfranchisement of certain classes of people was unacceptable.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/17/986245/-Missouri-Gov-Jay-Nixon-vetoes-voter-suppression-law?utm

Report From Tokyo: Reading the Tea Leaves

Efforts by the Japanese government to limit information on radiation contaminated produce and drinking water are ongoing as we are continually getting after-the-fact updates on details from the nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima and increased radiation levels in the environment from the authorities. Radioactive sludge from Fukushima has been burned by incinerators in Tokyo and tests from those areas confirm contamination levels comparable to those in Fukushima Prefecture where the nuclear meltdowns occurred. 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-wagner/report-from-tokyo-reading_b_876470.html

Nuclear Never Safe - Greenpeace Pressures US Regulators
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/nuclear-never-safe/blog/35323

The Big Fraud of Green Homes: They Suffocate Their Owners With Indoor Air Poisons

Due to the fact that new homes can be classified as 'green' if they reduce energy consumption by sealing off leaks to outside air, most of these homes completely miss the goal of promoting a healthier environment because they continue to be built with a vast array of toxic materials that release toxins in the home. It's more effective to use toxin-free materials when building a new home than to focus exclusively on the energy conservation aspects promoted by builders looking to jump on the 'green' bandwagon.
http://www.NaturalNews.com/032733_green_home_indoor_air_quality.html

House GOP Slashes Food Safety Funding Because ‘The Private Sector Self-Polices’

The GOP demonstrates its utter disregard for public welfare by voting to strip $87 million from the new food safety law, which seeks to implement more vigorous inspections of domestic and imported food products. Such blind devotion to the food industry and its lobbyists is astounding. 
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/06/17/247461/house-gop-food-safety-self-polices/