Handicapping the Wisconsin Recall Elections

Mother Jones handicaps the Wisconsin GOP recall elections that will take place tomorrow. The Dems need to win three seats, and defend their own candidates recall elections net week, to regain control of the Wisconsin State Assembly and slow down the anti-labor forces of the Walker Administration. I'm excited to see how this all turns out and am hopeful for a resounding victory for the people of the state. Watch out for election fraud and dirty tricks on Tuesday...
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/handicapping-wisconsin-recall-elections

A more detailed analysis by AlterNet on the recalls. It turns out that one Democrat has already successfully defended his seat in an election. Tuesday could become a monumental day in United States history, and demonstrate that the foundation of our democracy still has some kick left.
http://www.alternet.org/news/151927/will_voters_boot_wisconsin_republicans_7_things_to_know_about_tuesday's_recall_elections/?utm

Credibility, Chutzpah And Debt

Paul Krugman deconstructs the latest development in the hoopla of debt in this country. S & P, of course, was partly responsible for the mortgage crisis fiasco which triggered the economic downturn that has exacerbated debt problems, when it maintained high credit ratings for financial institutions that were on the brink of collapse in 2008. Krugman also points out that US debt problems could be solved rather easily if we were able to cut health care costs and raise revenues from the wealthy and corporations that was more in line with what other industrialized countries have done. Of course, the extremist right that has gummed up the political scene are hellbent on stopping that sort of sensible action.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/opinion/credibility-chutzpah-and-debt.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

A Tainted Water Well, and Concern There May Be More

The CEO of ExxonMobil stated emphatically to Congress that there had never a documented case of groundwater contamination from natural gas fracking. Actually, it turns out that there is one such case as well as hundreds of others in which the details of the case and settlement terms have been sealed by a court. Such sealed settlements are the subject of a bill before Congress that would require judges to consider public safety and health before agreeing to seal the settlement. Such sealed cases have frustrated the EPA's efforts to research the safety of fracking, as well as many others who have sought records. If fracking is so safe, as the government and industry claims, then why is there so much secrecy. With fracking post-2002, exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act, drilling operators are not even required to tell regulators or the public what chemicals they are using in the process. Reportedly over 600 chemicals are pumped into the ground during deep shale drilling, and as you can see in the excellent documentary, Gasland, many of them migrate into water supplies along with escaped natural gas. And, by the way, natural gas fracking is not a clean alternative to oil and gas, as a Cornell study established earlier this year. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/us/04natgas.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&partner=rss&emc=rss

Multi-Agency Armed Raid Hits Rawesome Foods, Healthy Family Farms Selling Raw Milk and Cheese

The US Federal Government is continuing an all-out assault on anyone promoting healthy, living foods such as raw milk and cheese. The government and industry desperately want to pasteurize these products so they can maintain control of the food system. There have been several armed raids against farmers promoting natural methods over the past few years and I have posted a couple of stories on these actions. Rather than regulate the food industry to eliminate GMOs and minimize the use of hormones and antibiotics in conventional farming, the USDA, FDA and CDC are using the power and resources of the federal government to persecute small family farmers and coops on behalf of their industrial clients.
http://www.naturalnews.com/033220_Rawesome_Foods_armed_raids.html

Join the Social Media Revolt Against Government Raids on Raw Milk
http://www.naturalnews.com/033243_raw_milk_social_media.html

Obama's Compromising Stirs Talk of Dem Primary Challenge; Bernie Sanders Says It's a 'Good Idea'

With discontent among democrats and liberals mounting against President Obama and his abdication of the core principles that got him elected, Bernie Sanders argues that the President should face opposition in the primaries to get important grievances and issues out in the open. 
http://www.thenation.com/blog/162246/obamas-compromising-stirs-talk-dem-primary-challenge-bernie-sanders-says-its-good-idea

Tim DeChristopher sentenced to 2 years in prison, taken immediately into custody

This story and the others below shine light on the prosecution and sentencing of environmental activist Tim DeChristopher. His actions at a hastily arranged and illegal public land auction in Utah, designed by the Bureau of Land Management to be a cheap sell-off of lands to the oil and gas industry, brought attention to an illegal sale that bypassed legal environmental impact review requirements. His actions were not only courageous but overwhelming in the public interest, yet the government has aggressively prosecuted his case and pushed for jail time as a deterrent to others who might wish to disrupt the wholesale land grabs for energy companies that have traditionally delivered millions of acres to industry for pennies on the dollar.
http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2011/07/26/breaking-tim-dechristopher-sentenced-to-2-years-in-prison-taken-immediately-into-custody/

Tim DeChristopher's Courtroom Speech: This is What Patriotism Looks Like
This is an extremely well-constructed and informative commentary on the case itself and what facts were not permitted into the courtroom.
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/tim-dechristophers-court-speech-this-is-what-patriotism-looks-like/

DeChristopher case begs question: What if enviros were allowed to bid on oil leases?
http://www.grist.org/oil/2011-07-28-tim-dechristopher-what-environmentalists-allowed-bid-oil-leases

DeChristopher Sentenced: Real News Network Video Report
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6938

Pardon Tim DeChristopher - Petition
https://secure3.convio.net/engage/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=2692&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr004=7zuyb0qi3b.app334b

Republicans Seek Big Cuts in Environmental Rules

Republicans are using the chaos of a split government to try to ram through at least 39 bills aimed at weakened environmental protections. It's a travesty that threatens the health of citizens and our stewardship of the country, and denies the overwhelming science that shows that bills such as the Clean Air Act are beneficial for the economy and public health, and pay for themselves with reduced sickness and increased productivity. These actions take the concept of privatizing profits and externalizing costs to a new level.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/science/earth/28enviro.html?_r=1&hp

Consolidation of Seed Companies Leading to Worldwide Domination of Food Supply

If this trend doesn't trouble you, it should.
http://www.naturalnews.com/033148_seed_companies_Monsanto.html

How Obama Squandered the High Hopes of Those Who Elected Him

This AlterNet piece recounts the myriad ways in which President Obama has disappointed those who put him in office. Hopes of a transformational presidency have all but faded.
http://www.alternet.org/news/151757/how_obama_squandered_the_high_hopes_of_those_who_elected_him/?utm

Obama's Original Sin - Frank Rich
http://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/obama-economy/presidents-failure/

#f@ckyouwashington hashtag takes Twitter by storm

An outpouring of resentment and anger at government policies erupted on Twitter recently as thousands of people expressed disgust with a wide array of issues including the bailouts, wars, healthcare reform, and genetically modified food. This is an exciting trend and, if it continues, could bring a lot of pressure to bear on politicians, particularly if the mainstream media picks it up. It also appears that Twitter is censoring the archives of tweets with the hashtag #f@ckyouwashington, which is a very disturbing form of censorship indeed.
http://www.naturalnews.com/033134_social_revolution_Washington.html

Raw Story's breaking piece on the Twitter political trend.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/24/fckyouwashington-hashtag-takes-twitter-by-storm/

Nuclear power is in last place in the race against climate change

Greenpeace demonstrates the impracticality of nuclear energy due to cost overruns and the years it takes to construct these power plants, and argues that nuclear power should be abandoned due to its inefficiencies as well as the dangers posed by nuclear plants and spent fuel rods.
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/nuclear-power-is-in-last-place-in-the-race-ag/blog/35841/

Would the FDA let raw milk politics influence its food safety alerts?

I was very pleased to see this story in Grist about a curious action against a raw milk club by the  FDA, because it is part of a nationwide assault by the agency against all forms of unadulterated food, vitamins and supplements. I have posted a number of stories in which the FDA took aggressive and forceful action against natural foods companies, and recently heard a story that the agency forced a child, against the emphatic wishes of his mother, to undergo chemotherapy treatments for cancer. The attacks on natural foods by the FDA are mirrored by the agency's persecution of alternative medical treatments and is motivated by a culture that plainly seeks to promote and protect industrial pharma and agriculture interests.  
http://www.grist.org/food-safety/2011-07-20-would-the-fda-let-raw-milk-politics-influence-its-food-safety

Former Executives Describe Organized Espionage Inside Fox News

Allegations by a former Fox executive who helped launch the conservative propaganda media outlet suggests that the network run by Roger Ailes, a political operative from the Reagan era, hacked into competitors communications and routinely read emails from employees. The network denies these charges but the FBI is investigating whether News Corp employees hacked into 9/11 victim families private phones and, as apples don't fall far from the tree, I wouldn't be surprised if Fox has engaged in similarly unethical and despicable activities.  
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/2011/07/10910/former-executives-describe-organized-espionage-inside-fox-news

Pressure on Murdochs Mounts in Hacking Scandal
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/23/world/europe/23murdoch.html?_r=1

Fox, GOP team up to lie about Net Neutrality

Beware of misinformation in the media on the critical issue of net neutrality legislation that is soon to be entering an open comment period before implementation. The key to the law are provisions to bar telecoms from controlling access to lawful content, to maintain an open Internet, and does NOT represent broader federal or FCC regulations for users as commentators on Fox and other outlets would have you believe.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/07/991900/-Fox,-GOP-team-up-to-lie-about-Net-Neutrality?utm

Bureaucrats in Oak Park, Michigan Threaten Woman With Jail Time For Growing Vegetables in Her Own Front Yard

There's a disturbing amount of persecution going on around the country of people who grow their own food and this case in Michigan has created quite a media-fueled firestorm. Since this story was published, and thousands of citizens flooded Oak Park with support for the farming lady, a judge dismissed the charges though the city retains the right to bring them again. 
http://www.NaturalNews.com/032960_Julie_Bass_home_gardening.html

Story Update:
Oak Park Drops Charges After Unfavorable Press, Pursuing Other Misdemeanors in Court
http://www.naturalnews.com/033010_Oak_Park_Julie_Bass.html

With Arctic Ice at Record Low, NSIDC Director Serreze says “we are on track to see an ice-free summer by 2030. It is an overall downward spiral.”

The alarming decline of Arctic Ice is accelerating according to recent sties based on satellite imaging and other analysis. The implications of the continued melting of the polar ice caps is enormous for civilizations across the globe and we'd better take collective actions throughout the world if we are to have a chance to slow these trends and stem global warming.
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/07/16/266463/arctic-ice-at-record-low-nsidc-director-serreze-ice-free-summer-by-2030-downward-spiral/

Inside ALEC, The Koch-Funded Group Behind Right-Wing State Laws

More on ALEC, the right-wing sponsored American Legislative Exchange Council, and a host of specific legislation that's been developed and disseminated by this organization among conservative lawmakers. The Right is certainly well-organized and aggressive in pursuing its radical agenda. The goal is to reduce the power of public sector unions by curtailing their collective bargaining rights and ability to function as a political opposition to capital, and open the doors for privatization of services in big cities around the country. The rest of us better get with the game or we'll be very sorry indeed.
http://www.alternet.org/news/151627/inside_alec,_the_koch-funded_group_behind_right-wing_state_laws/?utm

Investigate Murdoch's News Corp.? Nah.

Some members of Congress and other organizations are calling for a DOJ or Congressional investigation of News Corps conduct in its news gathering activities springing out of the revelation in Britain that Ruppert Murdoch's behemoth media company hacked into private communications in the search for scandalous news. The owner of Fox News and the WSJ could potentially be investigated for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in this case and also may be guilty of similar practices with regard to 9/11 victim's families. I'd love to see this media mogul under the glare of a full-blown investigation but there don't seem to be much will to investigate at this point.
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/07/will-congress-investigate-news-corp

From Hired Guns to Hired Hands: A Center for Responsive Politics 'Revolving Door' Investigation

Remember presidential candidate Barack Obama railing against the influence of lobbyists in Washington during his campaign? Well, after failing to keep former lobbyists out of his own administration and getting slammed in the 2010 midterm elections, legions of former lobbyists are now crawling throughout federal agencies and Congress with unprecedented access and influence on governance. The Center for Responsive Politics has conducted an investigation into this problem, one of the key issues preventing our elected officials from truly representing the public interest, and their extensive report can be read here.
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/07/from-hired-guns-to-hired-hands.html

New York Governor Cuomo Should Count Each Reason for Banning Fracking

Fracking is a major issue throughout much of the country and it's at the top of the list of current issues in the state of New York. Governor Cuomo recently indicated that he is inclined to allow dangerous and virtually unregulated hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in 85% of the state, only banning it from the NYC and Syracuse watersheds. Food & Water Watch and many other organizations, farmers and businessmen are pushing for a statewide ban on the destructive banning practice. This link provides a short video urging Cuomo to ban fracking and a petition to get personally involved in this battle.
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blogs/new-york-governor-cuomo-should-count-each-reason-for-banning-fracking/