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/

Don’t ban raw milk because of the E. coli outbreak

CNN just came out with an editorial suggesting that raw milk and vegetable juices be banned as an e coli threat, even though these foods have rarely ever been the culprits in disease outbreaks. The author fails to examine the open questions about the source of the current e coli outbreak but effectively defends the scientific basis of health benefits related to raw foods and urges an easing of restrictions on nutrient-rich foods.  
http://www.grist.org/food-safety/2011-06-16-dont-ban-raw-milk-europe-e-coli-outbreak-cnn-food-borne-illness

The Wisconsin Supreme Court Crisis – Far More Serious Than The Ruling On Walker’s Anti-Collective Bargaining Law

The Wisconsin Supreme Court, with a conservative majority of 4-3, recently overturned a lower court ruling that had barred the implementation of Governor Walker's anti-collective bargaining law. That disgraceful legislation, enacted without the required two hours of public notice, has now taken effect. The bombshell development is that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court accused the majority jurists of "fudging the facts" to reach a decision they had already decided they wanted to make. This sort of thing is exceedingly rare and is further indication that the turmoil in Wisconsin is far from over.
http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/06/15/the-wisconsin-supreme-court-crisis-far-more-serious-than-the-ruling-on-walkers-anti-collective-bargaining-law/

The WH/Politico attack on Seymour Hersh

The Obama White House has participated in an anonymous attack on Seymour Hersh' latest New Yorker piece that debunks the Iranian nuclear threat. 
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/06/02/hersh?utm

Unfortunately, the following is only a short excerpt from the New Yorker story...
Iran and the Bomb - Seymour Hersh
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/06/06/110606fa_fact_hersh

Millers Association VP blasts GM food regulations

This is the kind of leadership we need in the battle to maintain and support the diversity and integrity of our food supply. The North American Millers Association came out for a comprehensive restructuring of regulations for GM crops. It calls for a proper risk assessment for GM crops, access to lab data, and liability for biotech companies in contamination events, among other reforms. The liability is the key - if the penalty is severe enough it will effectively deter these willful practices by threatening the bottom line.
http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/june2011/gmfoodregulations.php

Ex-Spy Alleges Effort to Discredit Bush Critic

The hypocrisy of the New York Times in failing to credit source material to WikiLeaks, signaled in this case by the euphemism that the Times, "learned of the episode elsewhere," is disgraceful. Cases like this allegation that the CIA illegally sought to obtain damaging information on an American professor cry out for greater transparency in the US government. The CIA denies everything and there are no available documents or records to contradict the agency's word. The other issue that comes to mind in this piece is that there is no mention of the FBI and it's retroactively legal warrantless surveillance of Americans. Is this serious journalism or carefully controlled messaging that we're getting from the NYT? 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/us/politics/16cole.html?hp

Raw Food Diet Offers Considerable Benefits

I have recently come to the realization that much of the disease that we are constantly suffering in American society is caused by chemical and additives as well as reduced nutritional levels in processed foods. Yet, it wasn't until I learned that natural remedies, including a raw foods diet and high dose vitamin therapies with zero side effects, have been successfully used by thousands of people to treat and cure disease, that I flipped. For the past two weeks I have been on a 50% raw foods diet and I believe the powerful health benefits of these vegetables should not be ignored. Read this short piece for some of the peer-reviewed science that supports the Raw Foods diet. One interesting thing that I've noticed since I began juicing a couple of meals a day is that I almost never drink coffee anymore. I used to have five or six cups before going to work and now I no longer have the urge. The nutritional boost from the juices, and other things like hemp seed, have raised my energy levels so that I don't feel as tired after a late night as I used to. We're not really supposed to be tired all the time like we seem to be in this country. If you eat foods with high levels of unadulterated nutrients then your fatigue will go away and your overall health with improve.
http://www.naturalnews.com/026238_food_diet_raw.html

Raw Food Treatment for Cancer

http://www.cancertutor.com/Cancer/RawFood.html

Grow a Medicinal Herb Garden; Help bees

A sampling of five therapeutic medicinal herbs that can be easily grown in a garden. This story is only the tip of the ice berg representing the wealth of natural fruits, vegetable and herbs that have legitimate medicinal value and work to support human health and fight disease. Shouldn't we, as a society, celebrate the miraculous gifts that these plants provide rather than forcing purveyors of natural remedies to conduct 'drug' trials for plants that have been safely used for hundreds of years as the FDA proposes?
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/grow-a-medicinal-herb-garden/

7 Foods So Unsafe Farmers Won’t Eat Them

Various experts comment on which pesticides used commercially in food production are so dangerous that they should be avoided by those who wish to avoid the effects of their industrial chemical components. There are some surprises on this list and the explanations are fact-based and compelling.
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/7-foods-so-unsafe-even-farmers-wont-eat-them/

Weaponized E coli used to destroy organic foods? A Detective Starts a ‘Food Safety’ Investigation

Whoa. This is a heavy, well-reasoned and credible piece that should be enough to scare the hell out of any reasonably thoughtful person.
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/weaponized-e-coli-used-to-destroy-organic-foods-a-detective-starts-a-‘food-safety’-investigation/

National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society Skewered in New Book by k by Leading Cancer Expert

I believe the serious allegations made in a new book by longtime cancer critic and scholar, Dr. Samuel S. Epstein, are not only damning but totally accurate. Take a look and decide for yourself.

http://www.naturalnews.com/032700_National_Cancer_Institute_Dr_Samuel_Epstein.html

Raw Food Treatment for Cancer
http://www.cancertutor.com/Cancer/RawFood.html

10 Most Influential People in the Alternative Media (2011)

The Activist Post lists the ten most influential people in the alternative media world and it is a fascinating read that gives confidence to those who are sick and tired of the status quo and want to make some noise in the hopes of changing things in our world. The key is information and that is the focus of all the people on this list; the dissemination of hardcore fact-based analysis and information that contradicts much of the reporting we see in mainstream media venues.
http://www.activistpost.com/2011/06/10-most-influential-people-in.html

For Pesticides: Apples Are Worst, Onions The Best

If you're struggling to determine where best to spend your organic dollars then this guide to pesticide levels in produce can be of assistance. It turns out that apples, strawberries, celery, peaches and spinach have the highest levels of pesticide residue and you should go with an alternative organic variety if you can. Nonetheless, the EWG states that the health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables outweighs the risk from pesticides, so you should keep eating them even if you can't get or afford organic produce. Ugh.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/06/13/137149149/for-pesticides-apples-are-worst-onions-the-best?ft=1&f=1001

Environmental Working Group's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce
http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/

Organic Agriculture's Resilience Shows Untapped Potential
http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=bfd6o5dab&v=0015XVNn_3fRZVY3xoyNeOIQV2LaB4Db06J9AKT4TuW_8fHS_K0J0Hb69x1w9oiHhFJO1V0PlVHdK0uUOf4MwyhnApUgvto2xbdoJkUsq8drUTPXJ8RZmXTk9jDoyPO1kZcn8jE78dZw_EHbCPocdYuuA==

Maine GOP Chair: We Must Make It Harder To Vote Because ‘Democrats Intentionally Steal Elections’

The GOP push to restrict voting rights continues in the state of Maine where the Tea Party Gov. LePage has pushed a bill through the legislature to end same-day voter registration. Despite the absence of data demonstrating voter fraud of any significant level in the country, similar measures are being instituted in more than a dozen GOP-controlled states. In Maine, there is a "peoples veto" law that may be used to overturn the legislation.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/06/13/243178/maine-gop-war-on-voting/

What’s wrong with the USDA’s new MyPlate graphic? Plenty

This article reviews the USDA's redesign of the old food triangle and the hypocrisy of the exercise when the government subsidizes unhealthy food production and allows predatory marketing of junk food to children. While 63% of federal subsidies go to meat and dairy, fruits and vegetables get less than 1%. A flawed chart will not change the health of Americans, only a dramatic change in policy will get it done.
http://www.grist.org/food/2011-06-08-whats-wrong-with-the-usdas-new-myplate-graphic-plenty

When Food Kills

This is an important piece pointing out the origins of many deadly antibiotic-resistant strains of E coli. bacteria, factory farm animals systematically treated with antibiotics. Eighty percent of antibiotics used in the US go to livestock living in CAFOs under unsanitary and cramped conditions, and over 325,000 Americans are hospitalized and 5,000 die from food-borne illnesses.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/opinion/12kristof.html?_r=1&emc=eta1