New Study Shows Higher Mortality Risk at For-Profit Dialysis Chains

Diabetes is a cash cow in the US that affects many millions of Americans. A good part of the problem stems from the use of High Fructose Corn Syrup in many foods, particularly soda, the reliance of many on fast food for nutrition, and a reduced emphasis on exercise in our schools. Another hazard, it turns out, is that privatized dialysis operations are providing inferior care to many diabetes patients, greatly reducing the odds of patients for living with the disease. In fact, mortality rates of these treatment centers, when compared to not-for-profit providers, are as much as 24% higher for those receiving treatment in the privatized outfits.
https://www.propublica.org/article/new-study-shows-higher-mortality-risk-at-in-for-profit-dialysis-chains

Washington Already Considering Ways To Ruin Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Details on some new bills designed to weaken the mandate and regulatory impact of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has been targeted by the GOP and industry as a threat to profits as it seeks to protect consumer rights in financial matters by streamlining contracts and disclose true pricing in a host of financial transactions.
http://consumerist.com/2011/05/washington-already-considering-ways-to-ruin-consumer-financial-protection-bureau.html

Feds Gave $220 Million In Bailout Bucks To Two Morgan Stanley Wives For Some Reason

I hadn't heard about this little deal that was part of the TARP bailout. It's just one little reminder of how the banking industry is making the public pay for their crappy derivative loan packages, and exploiting a broken system for personal and corporate gain.
http://consumerist.com/2011/05/feds-gave-220-million-in-bailout-bucks-to-two-morgan-stanley-wives.html

The Next Big Thing In Industry: Water Profiteering

Executive Director of Food & Water Watch, Wenonah Hauter, reports on industry's plans to privatize water around the world after attending GlobalWater Summit 2011. Some of the distressing details highlighted include the push to sell water in lieu of investment in government maintenance of water systems that would guarantee access to such a basic necessity of life, and an example of a secret privatization deal for water in Berlin that increased the cost of water by 35% with decreased service and quality.
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blogs/the-next-big-thing-in-industry-water-profiteering/

Docs on Pharma Payroll Have Blemished Records, Limited Credentials

I will be posting several links to reporting on the pharmaceutical industry's unethical behavior in promoting its drugs and downplaying side effects as well as natural remedies that are currently available to the public. Efforts are underway to undercut the availability of herbal remedies, shown to be effective in numerous studies for various diseases, by Bog Pharma and also the FDA. Resistance is currently building in Europe to EU efforts to sharply reduce availability of safe and natural medicinal herbs (European THMPD - Traditional Herbal Medicinal Product Directive), and enforcement actions have been taken against natural health companies in the US on the part of the FDA. This story concerns only the unscrupulous methods that drug companies use to legitimize their drugs and garner patients, and it comes from the rock-solid investigative journalism organization ProPublica.
http://www.propublica.org/article/dollars-to-doctors-physician-disciplinary-records

EU Successfully Undermines Ireland as GMO-free Zone

This post was from March and demonstrates that the situation in Ireland is very much in flux despite those who want to force a moratorium on GM crops on the island nation. It appears the EU is an aggressive promoter of GMOs despite the labeling victory in Europe and the concerns of the public.
http://www.naturalnews.com/031630_GMOs_Ireland.html

The Archives: Japan Quake 2011

BagNewsNotes.com is a photo-journalism site with an activist passion that posts incredible images on hosts of issues and scenes from around the globe. This link is one of the various archive collections and provides dozens of compelling and chilling images from the Fukushima nuclear disaster zone.
http://www.bagnewsnotes.com/category/japan-quake-2011/

President Obama Gives Berth… to Industry

This Food & Water Watch bulletin documents how the Obama Administration has fast-tracked biotech GE crops and GE salmon without conducting thorough safety and environmental impact studies, and has given the green light to widespread natural gas fracking despite vocal opposition and concerns for health and drinking water supplies related to the hydraulic fracturing technique.
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blogs/president-obama-gives-berth-to-industry/

CDC research scientist who downplayed autism link to vaccines indicted by DOJ for fraud and money laundering

News of this criminal indictment comes from NaturalNews.com, the fourth largest alternative media site and a courageous voice on the Internet. Edited by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, this site covers issues rarely reported in the mainstream that raise serious issues about the agenda of various regulatory agencies, such as CDC and FDA. This investigative report puts the integrity of Poul Thorson's widely published research in doubt in the course of illuminating the revolving door ties that CDC has with pharma and the vaccine industry.
http://www.naturalnews.com/032216_Thorsen_fraud.html

Wal-Mart -- It's Alive! How the Company Is Terrorizing the Country With its Corporate 'Personhood'

This is a great piece by Barbra Ehrenreich as she seeks to define what sort of 'person' Wal-Mart could be.
http://www.alternet.org/news/150766/wal-mart_--_it's_alive!_how_the_company_is_terrorizing_the_country_with_its_corporate_'personhood'/?page=1

Public School Teachers and Their Unions Are Under Attack -- Here's How We Can Save Them

Teachers unions are under attack all over the country, an assault designed to weaken the rights of public education as it strips unions of collective bargaining rights and pushes the privatized charter schools agenda.
http://www.alternet.org/news/150727/public_school_teachers_and_their_unions_are_under_attack_--_here's_how_we_can_save_them_/?page=1

Hundreds of Miles of Wind Farms, Networked Under the Sea

Although I worry about what such an ambitious wind farm project would do to the ocean and fisheries, this report from Dave Roberts outlines an impressive strategy for supplying clean energy to much of the Atlantic coast.
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-04/ambitious-east-coast-wind-farm-could-produce-cheap-electricity-grand-scale

Now that we’ve killed Osama bin Laden, let’s kill oil

This piece shows that oil money has fueled terrorist organizations around the world and points out that adopting the EPA's proposed standards for trucks (47) and cars (62mpg) would save $500 billion over 5 years and dramatically reduce the black oil money in play.
http://www.grist.org/oil/2011-05-02-now-that-weve-killed-bin-laden-lets-kill-oil

Death's door - Fukushima Radiation Update

This essay updates information on conditions in Japan as the country continues to grapple with the terrifying specter of radiation contamination, and authorities continue to understate the dangers that its citizens are facing. The Fukushima nuclear meltdown story is fast fading from mainstream media coverage but there are still many independent and progressive journalists on the Internet following developments. Let's not forget about the horrors of radiation unleashed on the Japanese population, that ultimately affects all of us, as politicians and industry in the US continue to promote nuclear energy here at home.
http://www.NaturalNews.com/032251_Fukushima_radiation.html

Aide to Japan PM Quits Over Radiation Limits
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/asia-pacific/2011/04/201143061328786950.html

Chris Hedges Speaks on Osama bin Laden’s Death

Reflections on the reported death of bin Laden by a former reporter for the NYT who covered the first Gulf War and 9/11. Food for thought as we contemplate the euphoria that bin Laden's death has sparked in the US.
http://www.truth-out.org/chris-hedges-speaks-osama-bin-laden’s-death/1304343151

Inside the GOP's Fact-Free Nation

This is a terrific primer and review of the power of lying to promote policies and mislead public debate. The national media is the prime culprit in the "ends justify the means" philosophy that punctuates our national psyche today and this excellent piece steps through some of the major events and behaviors that have resulted in deception of the public becoming the chief tool of governance in America.
http://beta.motherjones.com/politics/2011/04/history-political-lying

Climate legislation advances in 16 major countries

I'm not sure this is really big news but it is instructive to keep on top of what changes are being implemented around the world to reduce carbon emissions and fight global warming. The US is lagging in this effort while countries such as Germany and China are moving much more aggressively in a positive direction by stimulating investment and implementation of sustainable energy alternatives. We have an important fight here in America to refocus on the climate issue and mute the climate deniers of the GOP and the oil and gas industry.
http://www.grist.org/climate-change/2011-04-26-climate-legislation-advances-in-16-major-countries-says-new

Is there a toxic mercury hot spot near you?

Coal-fired power plants in the US produce all sorts of dangerous pollution that undermines the health and quality of life of the American public. Mercury is a particularly toxic pollutant emitted by these power plants and this article highlights a number of hotspots with high concentrations of Mercury that are poisoning people near these plants. The GOP is actively fighting against proposed regulations to cut these emissions by 90% and it will take concerted resistance from the voting public to counter their reckless, pro-businaee-at-all-costs agenda.
http://www.grist.org/coal/2011-04-28-is-there-a-toxic-mercury-hot-spot-near-you

"USA! USA!" is the wrong response

I, personally, was disappointed to see the throngs outside the White House deliriously celebrating Bin Laden's death when the news broke out last night. What is there to celebrate in the post 9/11 world in which the US is now engaged in four wars or military occupations (Libya and Yemen recently added to the mix) supported by a political complex that not only tolerates but defends and empowers war profiteering on behalf of our massive and powerful industries. No doubt there are many speaking once again about "American Exceptionalism" now that we have finally killed Osama Bin Laden after ten years of not really trying. Yet there is very little that is exceptional about our country today beyond the ignorance of our population and manipulation of opinion by our media, as the US increasingly projects a militaristic agenda that seeks to strip its own people of individual rights, jobs (through globalization) and subvert the potential for reform and justice that our democracy has promised for so many generations through the corruption of our political process. Money is king and it controls not only the business priorities of the nation but the very essence of governance across the spectrum. The boogie man is dead but wars and exploitation of our populace will rage on despite the empty promise of hope offered by the breaking news.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/05/02/osama_and_chants_of_usa/index.html

This piece from The Nation illustrates the way we now blindly celebrate patriotism at sporting events and the backlash that comes to those citizens and athletes who question the wisdom of the wars that came from the tragedy of 9/11. The author reminds us of what happened to NFL star turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman when he began to openly question the legality of the war in Iraq.

Sports, bin Laden and the New Normal

http://www.thenation.com/blog/160329/sports-bin-laden-and-new-normal

A Star Silicon Valley Investor Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is For Sustainable Ag

I was pleased to learn of two startups supporting sustainable agriculture that Ali Partovi, hot-shot Microsoftie and Facebook investor, has helped bring to market: Farmigo and BrightFarms. The first allows consumers to order directly from farmers, cutting out middlemen and reducing transportation fuel burn while the latter is a company that proposes to build greenhouses atop supermarkets to create local produce in a most efficient and climate-friendly way. Partovi's endeavors are a welcome antidote to Bill Gates' major investments in biotech.
http://civileats.com/2011/04/28/a-star-silicon-valley-investor-puts-his-money-where-his-mouth-is-for-sustainable-ag/