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
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
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
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
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
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/
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
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/
"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
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 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
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/
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 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/
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
