The FDA Exposed: An Interview With Vioxx Whistleblower David Graham

This is an important story about the institutional bias of the FDA, and its pro-pharma policies, as revealed in an interview with the current Associate Director for Science and Medicine in FDA's Office of Drug Safety. 
http://www.naturalnews.com/011401_Dr_David_Graham_the_FDA.html

Leading the Fight against “Corn Sugar”

An inspiring story of an ordinary citizen becoming outraged at the deleterious health impact of high fructose corn syrup and it's connection to diabetes in America, who decided to fight and get information out to the public. He launched a FB page about HFCS and managed to get a lot of people interested and active in opposing this common additive that has zero nutritional value. I think this is a great example of the kind of citizen-led activism that we need to change things for the better in this country.
http://organicconnectmag.com/wp/2011/05/leading-the-fight-against-corn-sugar/

Here's a petition site to register disapproval of the plan to relabel HFCS as "corn sugar," which is an attempt to mask its presence in so many industrial food products.
http://www.stopcornsugarnow.com/

Texas Fracking Bill Would Be First To Require Public Disclosure Of Gas Drilling Chemicals

Passage of this Texas bill, in a state with a Republican super-majority in the legislature, would be a tremendous victory for the public's right to know what chemicals are being put into their water. The law would require gas companies to identify all of the 900 chemicals used in the fracking process and would send a very strong signal to industry and politicians that the hydraulic fracture process needs to be regulated responsibly to protect health and drinking water supplies.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/12/texas-fracking-bill-chemical-disclosure_n_861286.html

Farming and Fracking Don’t Mix: A Farmer Speaks Out

http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blogs/farming-and-fracking-don’t-mix-a-farmer-speaks-out/

Hay Now — It’s Boycott Time: Land O’Lakes, This Means You!

If you're against genetically modified foods and animal feed then this consumer action is calling your name. Land O Lakes has partnered with Monsanto through its' wholly owned subsidiary Forage Genetics International, to produce Roundup Ready Alfalfa seeds. Activists are calling for a boycott of Land O Lakes because of its role in promoting and profiting from the new GM Alfalfa crops that could ultimately threaten the viability of the organic food industry.
http://farmwars.info/?p=5376

Fired For Your Personal Life? A New Law Could Make It Possible

A new law introduced in Florida could make it possible for employers to deny unemployment benefits to workers who are fired based on no work-related wrongdoing. If passed it would constitute a serious erosion of civil rights and could ultimately restrict free speech on political issues that are not aligned with employers.
http://www.care2.com/causes/civil-rights/blog/fired-for-your-personal-life-a-new-law-could-make-it-possible/

Factory farms the only way to ‘feed the world’? Not so, argues Science paper

The mainstream press, including NPR, has propelled the notion that the only way to feed the world in the future is through genetically-modified patent-protected seeds and the pesticide-intensive industrial agriculture model, despite the fact that there are a number of major studies from scientists around the world demonstrating that sustainable agriculture is a more sound, productive and safe choice. A new study, published in Science and carried out by a research team at Washington State University, urges a fundamental rethinking of the industrial agriculture system and the Farm Bill to promote more organic and low-input ag techniques, in ringing contrast to the conventional clamor celebrating biotech that is constantly promoted in the media. There's no doubt that we're losing the PR battle for a safe and sustainable food production system, and the only way that can possibly change is if millions of Americans took more interest in what they are putting into their bodies and the uncertainties that untested GM foods hold for human health into the future.
http://www.grist.org/sustainable-farming/2011-05-11-factory-farms-only-way-to-feed-the-world-no-says-science-paper

Don’t Let Go of the Anger

As many folks who were in large part responsible for the financial meltdown in 2008 continue to rake in profits while much of the country suffers high unemployment and foreclosure, this piece urges Americans to get involved and show some passion in the fight to reform Wall Street, and maybe even put a few culprits in jail.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/dont-let-go-of-the-anger/?ref=opinion

WikiLeaks: US opens grand jury hearing

An immensely important Grand Jury has convened to determine whether WikiLeaks and Julian Assange will be charged with violating the Espionage Act and other possible laws. Such charges against Daniel Ellsberg failed in 1971, but the US was a much different country forty years ago with a Supreme Court committed to the defense of civil liberties. The Obama Administration is currently investigating five leak cases in a crackdown against whistleblowers. 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/may/11/us-opens-wikileaks-grand-jury-hearing

Was the Killing of Osama bin Laden Legal?

This is a fascinating breakdown of the laws and treaties that govern wartime killing as applied to the recent operation that resulted in Osama bin Laden's death. It's a detailed and well-reasoned analysis, and an extremely informative read.
http://www.alternet.org/news/150911/was_the_killing_of_osama_bin_laden_legal/?page=1

THIS IS WHY PEOPLE HATE WASHINGTON

The outrageous revolving door of industry and government strikes again! We have a very serious problem with industry influence in government policy and former regulators working for the very companies they were responsible for policing on behalf of the public. And, as always, it's the people who lose...
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/this_is_why_people_hate_washington_20110511/?utm

8 Invented Diseases Big Pharma Is Banking on

This piece reviews several new drugs with dubious indications and effectiveness that are in the Big Pharma pipeline and are set to be promoted through insidious direct-to-consumer marketing. Resist the hype if you can...
http://www.alternet.org/story/146471/8_invented_diseases_big_pharma_is_banking_on

'Fracking' for natural gas is polluting ground water, study concludes

The results of a Duke University study in PA and NY show methane levels in drinking water that was 17 times higher than normal. 
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2011/0509/Fracking-for-natural-gas-is-polluting-ground-water-study-concludes?utm

This is actually a more complete analysis of the study and the problems that have been documented over the past couple of years in communities where fracking wells have contaminated drinking water.
Fracking Linked to Methane in Flammable Drinking Water for First Time in Scientific History
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/09/fracking-methane-flammable-drinking-water-study_n_859677.html

In a response to mounting public pressure to regulate fracking, President Obama instructed a new study on the safety of the practice. The panel is composed of industry and advocacy groups and it remains to be seen whether adequate regulatory measures will be recommended by the group. This story inaccurately suggests that fracking has been in practice for decades by not focusing on the details of the new practice that was pioneered in 2002 and involves millions of gallons of chemicals in the extraction process. There is also no mention of the Safe Drinking Water Act exemption that the industry enjoys and which safety advocates would to reinstate through the Frac Act.
Energy Department Panel to Revise Standards for Gas Extraction
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/07/science/earth/07frack.html

Japan Scraps Plans for New Nuclear Plants

This decision by the Japanese PM reinforces the resurgent awareness that the benefits of nuclear energy are not worth the devastation that accidents wreak on humanity, as the Fukushima disaster has demonstrated so strikingly. Hopefully we can achieve a similar consensus here in the States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/world/asia/11japan.html?hp

New Yorkers Show the Faces of the Anti-Fracking Movement in Albany

New York State currently has a six-month moratorium on fracking in place and there is a call to ban the water and toxin intensive, environmentally dangerous hydraulic fracturing technique altogether. Certainly we would all agree that uses millions of gallons of water and over 900 chemicals should be subject to the protections embodied by EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act, right?
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blogs/new-yorkers-show-the-faces-of-the-anti-fracking-movement/

Food & Water Watch Action page to add your voice to the movement to protect public drinking water threatened by the fracking rush.
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/take-action/

Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) information:
http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/index.cfm


PA Oil and Gas Inspectors Free to Issue Violations Without Approval From Top, Enviro Chief Says
http://www.propublica.org/article/pa-oil-and-gas-inspectors-free-to-issue-violations-without-approval-from-to

Citizens United Decision Profoundly Affects Political Landscape

The Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling has indeed opened the floodgates for special interest money to be showered onto the political landscape. This analysis by the Center For Responsive Politics quantifies the statistical increase of political message funding now prevalent in our country on the part of unions and corporations who previously were restrained from such outlandish spending.
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/05/citizens-united-decision-profoundly-affects-political-landscape.html

Top findings of the Center's study include:

• The percentage of spending coming from groups that do not disclose their donors has risen from 1 percent to 47 percent since the 2006 midterm elections
• 501c non-profit spending increased from zero percent of total spending by outside groups in 2006 to 42 percent in 2010.
• Outside interest groups spent more on election season political advertising than party committees for the first time in at least two decades, besting party committees by about $105 million.
• The amount of independent expenditure and electioneering communication spending by outside groups has quadrupled since 2006.
• Seventy-two percent of political advertising spending by outside groups in 2010 came from sources that were prohibited from spending money in 2006

Wisconsin Republicans rush agenda before recalls

In an attempt to advance their pro-business, anti-worker and anti-environmental agenda prior to the potential recall of GOP state senators in June, Walker's Republican Assembly is frantically pushing through contentious legislation with a minimum of public disclosure and debate.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j8y3BYEuZhNHzUYyj1iRYYoF4_EA?docId=76e1340ae0cd41859d635bc2b8ed754b

Big Bank Backlash: From Coast to Coast People are Moving their Money

People around the nation are continuing to put pressure on big banks for their advocacy of policies to undermine the middle class as well as the unethical and widespread pursuit of foreclosures in the wake of the Great Recession that was brought on by industry practices. Let's not forget that these banking interests have robbed the public trust and need to be broken down into more manageable sizes under renewed regulatory oversight.
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/05/10712/big-bank-backlash-coast-coast-people-are-moving-their-money

Revealed: how seed market is controlled by Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, Dow & DuPont

The consolidation of the seed market as pursued by biotech companies and their agenda of patenting GM seeds has led to tremendous disruption in the production of food around the world and the extinction of many varieties of crop species anda preponderance of GMO food products in the US and musch of the world.

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/625294/revealed_how_seed_market_is_controlled_by_monsanto_syngenta_bayer_dow_dupont.html

'Patents exacerbate genetic erosion as they promote monoculture by hindering the development of new seed varieties. In sum, the possible, long term consequences of patents are control of the whole food chain by a few companies,' said the report.

The Union’s ‘Shoddy’ Aristocracy

I find historical revelations, such as the widespread profiteering during the Civil War, to be immensely interesting and instructive when considering contemporary issues in the US. It's fascinating to learn that the word 'shoddy' originated from the deceptive manufacturing techniques employed by clothing manufacturers during this war that poorly served the soldiers in the war but enriched many unscrupulous businessmen.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/the-unions-shoddy-aristocracy/?ref=opinion

"One writer for the New York Tribune painted an equally graphic picture: “Shoddy” was, he wrote,

'poor sleezy stuff, woven open enough for seives [sic], and then filled with shearman’s dust. … Soldiers, on the first day’s march or in the earliest storm, found their clothes, overcoats, and blanket, scattering to the wind in rags or dissolving into their primitive elements of dust under the pelting rain.'"

War Against the Weak

The GOP agenda, defined by measures to strip collective bargaining rights of public sector employees, weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the pro-corporate Supreme Court's decision to preclude class action suits in favor of binding arbitration written into consumer contracts, amounts to an attack on the rights of each and every individual citizen. Without the ability to join together in collective action, the general public's democratic rights will be eviscerated.
http://www.slate.com/id/2293526/

Another Big Business Win in the U.S. Supreme Court
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/05/10706/another-big-business-win-us-supreme-court

David Arkush of Public Citizen writes:

The case's potential impact is breathtaking. Corporations can now prevent consumers and small business owners from exercising what is often their only real option for challenging companies that defraud them by millions or even billions of dollars: banding together to file class action lawsuits. The case could be equally devastating to millions of non-union employees, who need class actions to challenge systemic discrimination by their employers. The Supreme Court has given major corporations the green light to engage in nearly limitless wrongdoing against others, so long as they do it in relatively small dollar amounts, which ensures that no one can afford to challenge the misconduct without a class action.