Saturday, May 31, 2014

Chris Stewart, climate change science denier

Chris Stewart, a republican from Utah, was recently appointed Chair of the House subcommittee on Environment.

This means that Congressman Stewart now has dominion over the EPA, climate change research, and "all activities related to climate." According to the House Science Committees website (of which Stewart's subcommitee is a part), the chair of the Environment subcommittee oversees:

"all matters relating to environmental research; Environmental Protection Agency research and development; environmental standards; climate change research and development; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including all activities related to weather, weather services, climate, the atmosphere, marine fisheries, and oceanic research;…"

Unfortunately for the EPA, NOAA, and anyone worried about climate change, Chris Stewart is a climate science denier. Mr. Stewart believes there is "insufficient science" to determine if climate change is caused by humans. He believes this in spite of the fact that the EPA, NOAA, and all experts in the field (which he now oversees), disagrees with him.

Lawsuit Against Exxon Claims Company Knowingly Concealed Pipeline Defects

From: UALR Public Radio

By Karen Tricot Steward & Jacob Kauffman

A lawsuit has been filed against Exxon Mobil Corporation, Exxon Mobil Pipeline Company, and the planners and developers of the Mayflower subdivision where a pipeline ruptured and spilled almost 150,000 gallons of oil into a neighborhood on March 29, 2013.

The lawsuit was filed by a group of Mayflower residents affected by the oil spill.

Claims made in the lawsuit include:

Exxon was aware of problems with the pipeline before the oil spill and knowingly concealed pipeline defects.
The pipeline was meant to carry crude oil and could not handle the more abrasive tar sands oil flowing through it. The abrasive tar sands oil created stress demands that led to dangerous conditions in which a rupture was inevitable.
The oil spill has damaged the city of Mayflower and negatively impacted growth and property values of the entire community.
Carcinogenic chemicals and other volatile compounds have been detected in the air near the spill site weeks after the spill.
Exxon took 18 minutes to shut down the pipeline. Which is double the amount of time established for a "worst case scenario" in their own emergency response plan. This led to twice the amount of oil being spilled.
Exxon was negligent in hiring the Center for Toxicology and Enviromental Health (CTEH) to monitor air and water safety. Members of Congress asked for British Petroleum to fire CTEH during the BP Gulf Oil Spill because they were alleged to promote corporate interests at the expense of public health. MORE

Police Intervention on Behalf of Exxon, Mayflower Arkansas, April 2013

From: CopBlock

by BigPoppaAZ

Back on the 10th of April Copblock posted the story Officer Safety – Mobile Phones as Weapons, once again it seems that we have members of the law enforcement community attempting to infringe on the 1st Amendment rights of Americans.

“Put your device down.”
“Why do I have to put my device down?”
“We don’t know what it is. Put your device down.”

Things that make you go hmmm…

This incident took place Wednesday April 17, 2013, as two men were trying to access an area in Mayflower, Arkansas where an Exxon pipeline ruptured last month, spilling 5,000 barrels of oil.

Rod and I had just been speaking with property owners along the edge of the lake. We had permission to be there. These officers forced us to stop filming. Literally. The officer on the right ripped my iPhone from my hands and drew down on me with a taser. As of this day, April 17, 2013, I have uttered the words, “Don’t tase me bro.”

After a 20 minute lecture about the dangers of snakes, ticks, various and sundry other warnings about spending the afternoon in jail, we tried to leave. That’s when a Mayflower police officer issued Rod a citation for a) Parking in a Prohibited Area and b) Interfering with a Government Operation.

A government operation? That pretty much takes the cake. The only posted sign anywhere NEAR this section of Lake Conway is a red tape between a few trees which reads: “DANGER”

Funny way for the government to cordon off its “operations”. Maybe it’s just me, but concerned citizens documenting an oil spill are being fined. What will Exxon’s fine be for the wholesale destruction of wetlands vital to the Lake Conway ecosystem? MORE

Mayflower Faces: Mayflower Volunteer Fire Department

From: The Cabin

Mayflower Volunteer Fire Department

How long has the fire department been established in the city? The fire department was established in 1975.

What do you remember about the days surrounding the oil spill? The MVFD had Fire and Rescue trucks out around town for the first 72 hours after the spill to help with anything that needed to be done to prevent the oil from going into the lake. The MVFD along with OEM/911 set up a command post at the Mayflower City Hall to assist anyone that needed help, had questions or concerns.

What was your level of concern about the environmental damage? What about the smell? How did it look? We knew right away that if the oil got to the lake it’d be a disaster. As far as what it looked like it was a black, thick-like substance. The smell was just awful, and there was no getting away from it for a while. MORE

Exxon Mobil Donates to County

From: The Cabin

by Richard Duke

Citing the many local emergency responders following the oil spill in Maylower in March, ExxonMobil has donated $100,000 to the county.

Representatives from the company said they hoped the donation would be used toward emergency response equipment, infrastructure maintenance and emergency response training.

Faulkner County Judge Allen Dodson said the contribution is part of a $300,000 total commitment that includes the City of Mayflower and the Mayflower Volunteer Fire Department.

“While such a donation can’t erase the unfortunate occurrence of the pipeline rupture, the monies can be used to further our preparedness for future disasters and I look forward to optimizing our County’s use of these funds,” Dodson said. “Greater preparedness saves lives, potentially the lives of our children, friends and family, and those of our citizens.” MORE

Exxon Didn't Know Its Pipeline Ruptured Until Called by Arkansas Authorities. Or Did It?

From: Inside Climate News

By Katherine Bagley, InsideClimate News

Apr 11, 2013

As residents and local officials of Mayflower, Ark. were scrambling to evacuate homes and protect their treasured fishing lake from a river of heavy oil pouring through their town on Good Friday afternoon, ExxonMobil, the company responsible for the accident, didn't know what was happening.

A 22-foot gash had opened up in its oil pipeline that cut through the Arkansas town, 450 miles from its headquarters in Houston, and the people were in a sudden uproar. In the emergency response, dispatchers called Exxon and informed them of the unfolding disaster, and company employees arrived on the scene an hour after the emergency was first reported to local authorities.

That is the picture that emerges from transcripts of 911 police reports obtained by InsideClimate News from the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office. MORE

Study Confirms US Is Ruled by Rich, Corporate News Ignores It

From: Truth-Out

Saturday, 17 May 2014 09:14

By Steve Rendall, FAIR | News Analysis

American democracy is no longer very democratic, according to a new university study (4/9/14; Perspectives on Politics, Fall/14). Instead, it's dominated by moneyed elites in a process where public opinion has little to no impact on policy. Released a month ago by Princeton's Martin Gilens and Northwestern's Benjamin I. Page, the study concludes:

Economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.

The political scientists looked at more than 1,700 policies over 20 years to find out how public opinion translates into policy, and concluded that where economic elite views diverged from those of the public, the public had "zero estimated impact upon policy change, while economic elites are still estimated to have a very large, positive, independent impact."

Bracing news? The study went viral in social media, but has hardly shown up in the US corporate press. A month after its release there have been no network news mentions, nor has it appeared in the most influential newspapers–the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. (The New York Times, 4/21/14 and the Washington Post, 4/8/14 published blog posts on the study.)

SNAFUkushima: Updating Meltdowns, Still FUBAR and Deteriorating

From: Reader Supported News

By William Boardman – Reader Supported News

Fallout from Fukushima? A re-make of Godzilla! That’s the good news

There’s not much new to say about Fukushima. It remains an out of control disaster with as yet unmeasurable dimensions that continue to expand. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that everything new about Fukushima is just the same-old same-old getting worse at an uneven and unpredictable rate. Either way, it’s not good and, while it’s worse in degree, it’s not yet apparently worse in kind, so that’s one reason you don’t hear that much about it in the news these days.

Whatever the full truth is about Fukushima, it’s probably unknowable at present. And it might remain unknowable even if there was total transparency, even if there were no corporate, institutional, governmental, and other layers of secrecy protecting such enemies of the common good as profit, capital investment, and weapons development.

Secrecy and false reassurance have always been an integral part of the nuclear industry in all its manifestations. In January 2014, Tokyo Shimbun reported yet another example of nuclear opposition to honesty: the Fukushima prefecture government and the government-run Fukushima Medical University signed a secrecy agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a United Nations agency that “is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate,” or so it claims. The IAEA’s press release about the agreement is bland and inoffensive. According to Shimbun, each party to the agreement has the right to designate any information as confidential, specifically mentioning data about thyroid cancer in children or other facts that might “stir up anxiety of residents.” MORE

New Allende Overthrow Info Reconfirms US Suppresses Economically-Rebellious Democracies

From: BuzzFlash

MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Our man in Chile, Augusto Pinochet. (Photo: Wikipedia)New revelations about the Chilean military overthrow of the popularly elected Salvador Allende regime in 1973 once again confirm that the US is supportive of democracies that enhance US economic interests, but it is the enemy of those that don't.

According to a May 23 article on the History News Network website:

Covert U.S. planning to block the democratic election of Salvador Allende in Chile began weeks before his September 4, 1970, victory, according to just declassified minutes of an August 19, 1970, meeting of the high-level interagency committee known as the Special Review Group, chaired by National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger. "Kissinger asked that the plan be as precise as possible and include what orders would be given September 5, to whom, and in what way," as the summary recorded Kissinger's instructions to CIA Director Richard Helms. "Kissinger said we should present to the President an action plan to prevent [the Chilean Congress from ratifying] an Allende victory and noted that the President may decide to move even if we do not recommend it."

The document is one of a compendium of some 366 records released by the State Department as part of its Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series. The much-delayed collection, titled "Chile: 1969-1973," addresses Richard Nixon's and Kissinger's efforts to destabilize the democratically elected Socialist government of Salvador Allende, and the U.S.-supported coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power in 1973.

9/11: Russia Presents Evidence Against US, UK And Israel Co-Conspirators?

From: State of the Nation

Russian 9/11 Data Dump Reveals State Actors

“9/11 was an Anglo-American black operation executed in collusion with Israeli Secret Services.” — 9/11 Investigator

Undoubtedly the 9/11 attacks on New York City and Washington DC are the most misrepresented by officialdom in US history.

Whereas the assassination of John F. Kennedy is now understood to have been a classic CIA Execution Plan, it does not come close to 9/11 in terms of the number and magnitude of outright falsehoods, misleading statements, fake science and fraudulent facts submitted by officials and agents of the US Government. The ‘official’ 9/11 Commission Report stands as the most fabricated document ever produced by US tax dollars. Not only did the investigation avoid every serious inquiry about how two steel frame building came down after being dustified in NYC, it also subverted every initiative to ferret out the truth.

That’s all about to change in 2014.

Silly Mundane -- "Civil Rights" are for Killer Cops

From: Freedom In Our Time

by Will Grigg

The United States Constitution, as Seattle police officers pretend to understand it, extends to police an unqualified right to the discretionary use of aggressive force, and prohibits “second-guessing” by those who are not members of the State’s coercive caste.

Inhibiting the exercise of that entitlement, the officers claim in a lawsuit filed against the U.S. Justice Department and the City of Seattle, would be a “violation of the Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution.”

In 2012, after a Justice Department investigation concluded that Seattle police officers routinely use unnecessary force, the City of Seattle implemented a new use-of-force policy and agreed to the creation of an independent police monitor. The current lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of more than 100 Seattle cops, complains that those trivial and inadequate restrictions created “vaguely defined, newly protected classes of suspects” and violate the officers’ supposed “right not to be required to take unnecessary risks.”

Report From Richard Mack in Alaska

From: CSPOA

by Richard Mack

Alaska, An Historic Trip for Liberty
A report from Richard Mack

During the last 20 years since the filing of Mack v US on February 28, 1994, I have traveled all over the country and have now reached a milestone; I have been to all 50 States! Alaska was the 50th and I just got back yesterday! It has been an amazing and miraculous journey. Since that fateful day I have spoken at freedom rallies and seminars in 46 states, Canada, the District of Columbia, and Fiji, and have been interviewed by news agencies from Japan, England, Canada, Australia, and Mexico. The only States I have visited but have not done a public event are Vermont, Louisiana, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

But this trip to Alaska was so much more than just a visit to one of the most beautiful places in the world where I saw moose, climbed a glacier, and visited Sarah Palin's hometown. I attended two different meetings, one exclusively for public officials and one the next day for the public. Both meetings focused on an historic topic: How does Alaska create the position of elected sheriffs in a State that has never had them and how can the CSPOA help Alaska get them?

That's right, many people and public officers all across the American "final frontier," want to have sheriffs doing in Alaska what some are doing in the lower 48 and what all of them should be doing. The bottom line is, these Alaskans want to choose for themselves the law enforcement representatives that work in their towns and boroughs. Alaskans want to be protected, they want to be defended, and they want to be free. They want the Constitutional Republic that was meant to be. They want Constitutional Sheriffs!

On Thursday the 23rd, there was a meeting in the city of Palmer with 12 public servants; mayors, state reps, town managers, and a town attorney. They wanted to know about the Mack/Printz case and more importantly, how they could get the office of sheriff instituted within their jurisdictions. Why do these concerned leaders and citizens want to have sheriffs? Because they are tired of the federal government running their lives, controlling their lands, tying up their natural resources and destroying their economy. Yes, the feds think they own 65% of Alaska and these Alaskans want it back. They want the jobs being tied up in EPA regulations and blocked by federal red tape and politics. They want to be independent and they want their schools to be run by Alaska! They want their state to provide the oil our country needs to get out from underneath the thumb of OPEC oil tycoons, some of whom support terrorism and large groups of American enemies! Alaskans are tired of the bureaucratic dictatorship in Washington DC and they want to do something about it: They want Sheriffs!
On Friday at the Wasilla Sports complex, Rafael Cruz (the father of Ted Cruz) gave a tremendous speech, a passionate fiery oration about the corruption in Washington and the need for liberty. He told of escaping Cuba and the dictatorship

Richard Mack and Rafael Cruz

of Fidel Castro. Cruz warned that Castro's ascent to power was realized by the use of propaganda and political schemes similar to those used in America today. It was an honor to share the podium with this former Cuban who is now a great American preacher and patriot. The message was loud and clear, let's get back to the basics of American liberty, get the federal government out of our lives and out of our way, and let's have Sheriffs in Alaska!

What a great idea and formula for freedom! Maybe this second to the last state can set the example for the rest of us and perhaps even get Connecticut (one of our first states), to wake up and get their sheriffs back! It's all about freedom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, May 30, 2014

Total blow to tar sands development: big victory for environment

From: Green Peace - Canada

by Mike Hudema

Yesterday, the environment and communities directly affected by the tar sands won big!

Total E&P, a major tar sands company, which is also a confirmed shipper for the proposed and now delayed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, announced it would put on hold indefinitely its plans for its massive tar sands Joslyn mine. The company said the economics for the $11 billion plan simply no longer added up.

To understand how big this victory is, over its lifetime, the Joslyn tar sands mine would have pumped hundreds of millions of metric tons of carbon pollution into the air. That’s equivalent to putting 2.4 million cars on the road every year for 45 years, according to Oil Change International. In addition, the mine would have produced 12.5 billion litres of toxic tailings every year - enough to fill 100 sports stadiums - and would have produced 874 million barrels of bitumen over its life span.

The shelving of Joslyn means every year, based on annual peak capacity, we keep the equivalent carbon emissions of 2.4 million cars off the road, prevent 12.5 billion litres of toxic tailings from being dumped into the environment, and keep 36.5 million barrels of tar sands crude in the ground. Not to mention preventing the other impacts to health, Treaty rights, and communities that tar sands development causes.

This announcement also severely undercuts oil industry arguments that the expansion of tar sands development is unavoidable. In fact, there is clear and compelling evidence that the growth of the tar sands industry is directly linked to the availability of pipelines like Keystone XL. It is why the State Department must reject tar sands pipeline projects like Keystone XL because it would directly enable the growth of the carbon polluting tar sands industry. MORE

Shale Oil Terror Trains

From: No Fracking Way

by Chip Northrup

Who needs a pipeline when the PetroTerrorists can simply wipe out whole towns one Tanker Terror Train at a time ? The frackers have found new ways to turn old fashioned crude oil tanker cars into 21st Century Tank Bombs. One train load at a time. How do they do it ? By pumping the tank cars full of volatile toxic chemicals, not just crude oil. Voila. Not your granddad’s oil tanker anymore. But a catastrophe waiting for a town to happen in. Roll a hundred of these bad boys onto a siding, let the temperature rise so that the volatiles expand and leak and then KABOOM. Adios Mayberry. Or Buffalo. Or Kansas City.

Mover over Timothy McVeigh and Osama, there’s a new breed of terrorist coming to town. One tank car at a time.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is issuing this safety alert to notify the general public, emergency responders and shippers and carriers that shale oil is more flammable than traditional heavy crude oil.

http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/PHMSA/DownloadableFiles/1_2_14%20Rail_Safety_Alert.pdf

Great report by Steve Horn:

Shale Oil in Train Explosion Contained High Levels of Volatile Chemicals

Shale Terror Train

On January 2, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a major safety alert, declaring oil obtained via hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in the Bakken Shale may be more chemically explosive than the agency or industry previously admitted publicly.

This alert came three days after the massive Casselton, ND explosion of a freight rail train owned by Warren Buffett‘s Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) and was the first time the U.S. Department of Transportation agency ever made such a statement about Bakken crude. In July 2013, another freight train carrying Bakken crude exploded in Lac-Mégantic, vaporizing and killing 47 people.

Yet, an exclusive DeSmogBlog investigation reveals the company receiving that oil downstream from BNSF — Marquis Missouri Terminal LLC, incorporated in April 2012 by Marquis Energy — already admitted as much in a September 2012 permit application to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Attorneys Note Mayflower Oil Spill Anniversary

From: Arkansas Injury Attorney Group

by Andrew Vines

Mayflower oil-spill attorneys note the one-year

From the beginning, attorneys have advised caution in dealing with Exxon without legal representation, and a recent article from the Arkansas Times demonstrates why that advice is even more important today than in the initial weeks following the spill. The article reports on one affected resident’s experience with the Exxon claims process as follows:

The friendly claims people she’d dealt with at first had left town, replaced by a hardball negotiator — “a killer,” said [the resident] — who pressured the remaining families to accept the deals as offered.

I had no problem with Exxon this entire time. Things got rough in about July, August, and that’s when it all went downhill,” [the resident] said. “It went from me really thinking they cared and were sorry and were going to make it right to they were going to screw us any way they could and they really didn’t care.

…

The claims negotiator, she said, continued to lean heavily on all the families remaining.

…

There was no negotiating. We were told ‘Take it or leave it, but this is the best you will ever get.’ They will continue to file appeal after appeal and draw it out as long as they can, and you will end up with nothing in the end. The scare tactics were not only to me. It caused most of the others to just settle and be done, because they were already moving on to their new homes.

It was a tactic of bullying. Basically, we’ll bully you until you break and you either sell to us or you settle with us, and I wouldn’t do either. MORE

anniversary of the March 29, 2013 rupture of the ExxonMobil Pegasus Pipeline with a renewed call for affected residents to seek legal counsel. As previously reported here, lawsuits have been filed against Exxon for compensation on behalf of residents impacted by the spill, and it is still not too late for others to join the pending legal action.
From the beginning, attorneys have advised caution in dealing with Exxon without legal representation, and a recent article from the Arkansas Times demonstrates why that advice is even more important today than in the initial weeks following the spill. The article reports on one affected resident’s experience with the Exxon claims process as follows:

The friendly claims people she’d dealt with at first had left town, replaced by a hardball negotiator — “a killer,” said [the resident] — who pressured the remaining families to accept the deals as offered.
I had no problem with Exxon this entire time. Things got rough in about July, August, and that’s when it all went downhill,” [the resident] said. “It went from me really thinking they cared and were sorry and were going to make it right to they were going to screw us any way they could and they really didn’t care.
…
The claims negotiator, she said, continued to lean heavily on all the families remaining.
…
There was no negotiating. We were told ‘Take it or leave it, but this is the best you will ever get.’ They will continue to file appeal after appeal and draw it out as long as they can, and you will end up with nothing in the end. The scare tactics were not only to me. It caused most of the others to just settle and be done, because they were already moving on to their new homes.
It was a tactic of bullying. Basically, we’ll bully you until you break and you either sell to us or you settle with us, and I wouldn’t do either.

- See more at: http://attorney-group.com/arkansas/mayflower-oil-spill-anniversary/#sthash.zcGPALHA.dpuf

Ohio Becomes First State to Roll Back Renewable Energy Mandate

From: EcoWatch

by Brandon Baker

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said two years ago that he had “no doubt” that the renewable energy bill he signed would last 100 years. After a state House of Representatives vote Wednesday afternoon, that appears unlikely.

The state House approved Senate Bill 310, 53 to 38, making Ohio the first in the U.S. to freeze renewable energy standards. The bill had previously passed the Senate, but now the Senate needs to approve minor changes made by the House, and then the measure heads to Gov. John Kasich’s desk.

“As the rest of the country is moving forward on energy efficiency and independence, Ohio is moving backwards,” State Rep. Robert F. Hagan (D-Youngstown) said in a statement. “Reversing our Renewable Portfolio Standards is completely irrational, and unfortunately Ohio consumers and businesses are the victims of the absurdity.”

With the state Senate and House of Representatives voting for Senate Bill 310, Ohio is the first state to roll back renewable energy standards, pending the governor's signature. Photo credit: Geoamps.com — With the state Senate and House of Representatives voting for Senate Bill 310, Ohio is the first state to roll back renewable energy standards, pending the governor’s signature. Photo credit: Geoamps.com

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

DHS Labels Veterans "Violent" "Extremists" Who Are "'Disgruntled' About the Takeover of the US."

From: Freedom Outpost

by Tim Brown

As we observed Memorial Day yesterday, Barack Obama was playing his 165th round of golf. However, he did take time out of his schedule to offer lip service from Arlington National Cemetary to the veterans he despises so much. However, while he spoke eloquently of veterans, his administration is embroiled in a scandal where the lack of care for our veterans has led to countless deaths and his continued warmongering continues to put current military personnel in harm's way, but not for national defense. Even more sinister, if the Obama Department of Homeland Security's claim that our veterans, "who have fought in foreign wars and are 'disgruntled' about the takeover of the US" are classified as "extremists" and "violent."

Yes, there are others listed in this brief capture, but does anyone notice something that is missing? That's right, it's Islamists. The Bush administration tried to tell us that Islam had been hijacked and it was only the "radicals" who engage in jihad. Doing that secured the fact that any war we engaged in, we would never win, because the ideology is at the heart of the matter. The West is at war with Islam, not radicals. MORE

As we observed Memorial Day yesterday, Barack Obama was playing his 165th round of golf. However, he did take time out of his schedule to offer lip service from Arlington National Cemetary to the veterans he despises so much. However, while he spoke eleoquently of veterans, his administration is embroiled in a scandal where the lack of care for our veterans has led to countless deaths and his continued warmongering continues to put current military personnel in harm's way, but not for national defense. Even more sinister, if the Obama Department of Homeland Security's claim that our veterans, "who have fought in foreign wars and are 'disgruntled' about the takeover of the US" are classified as "extremists" and "violent."

US veterans of war, this is what the current Commander-in-chief and his administration, an administration heavily made up and influenced by those you have been told were your enemy (the Muslim Brotherhood), thinks of you.
Yes, there are others listed in this brief capture, but does anyone notice something that is missing? That's right, it's Islamists. The Bush administration tried to tell us that Islam had been hijacked and it was only the "radicals" who engage in jihad. Doing that secured the fact that any war we engaged in, we would never win, because the ideology is at the heart of the matter. The West is at war with Islam, not radicals.

Read more at http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/05/dhs-labels-veterans-violent-extremists-disgruntled-takeover-us/#552twxfLAZsmWflZ.99

Monday, May 26, 2014

The VA Scandal is Just the Tip of the Military Abuse Iceberg

From: The Daily Bell

by Ron Paul

The president is right to be upset over the mistreatment of US military veterans, especially those who return home with so many physical and mental injuries. Veterans should not be abused when they seek the treatment promised them when they enlisted. But his outrage over military abuse is selective. He ignores the most egregious abuse of the US armed forces: sending them off to fight, become maimed and die in endless conflicts overseas that have no connection to US national security.

It is ironic that the same week the president condemned the alleged mistreatment of veterans by the VA, he announced that he was sending 80 armed troops to Chad to help look for a group of girls kidnapped by the Nigerian Islamist organization Boko Haram. Is there any mistreatment worse than sending the US military into a violent and unstable part of the world to conduct a search operation that is in no way connected to the defense of the United States? MORE

President Obama held a press conference last week to express his outrage over reports that the Veterans Administration was routinely delaying treatment to veterans, with some veterans even dying while on alleged secret waiting lists. The president said that, "if these allegations prove to be true, it is dishonorable, it is disgraceful, and I will not tolerate it, period." He vowed that, together with Congress, he would "make sure we're doing right by our veterans across the board."
The president is right to be upset over the mistreatment of US military veterans, especially those who return home with so many physical and mental injuries. Veterans should not be abused when they seek the treatment promised them when they enlisted. But his outrage over military abuse is selective. He ignores the most egregious abuse of the US armed forces: sending them off to fight, become maimed and die in endless conflicts overseas that have no connection to US national security.
- See more at: http://www.thedailybell.com/editorials/35338/Ron-Paul-The-VA-Scandal-is-Just-the-Tip-of-the-Military-Abuse-Iceberg/#sthash.2tvjFdeO.dpuf

Sunday, May 25, 2014

March Against Monsanto rally photos and protest signs from Austin, Texas

From: Natural News

by Mike Adams

Monsanto

(NaturalNews) The March Against Monsanto was unleashed today across over 350 cities and towns around the world. Everywhere across the globe, millions of people are united in taking a stand against corporate evil (Monsanto) and genetically engineered crops.

How many people across the globe marched today in favor of Monsanto? ZERO.

Nobody is in favor of Monsanto except Monsanto. The rest of the world is strongly allied against the corporate monstrosity, a corporation that threatens all life on our planet while using domineering, imperialist tactics to suppress the rights of farmers and consumers.

Maybe that's why GMOs are banned or heavily regulated in so many other countries around the world!

I personally wish to thank all the event organizers all across the globe who made this day another extraordinary success in our fight against corporate evil. I also wish to thank all those who joined in the rally and let their voices be heard!

Check out some of the photos from Austin, Texas on May 24th, 2014

The Open Letter

From: The Open Letter 2013

by Woohoo! 308 heroic humans contributed $34,853 to get the Open Letter published in the LA Times on Sunday, November 10th. The remainder went to the Alliance on Climate Education.

This letter is addressed to you because you are influential, you have children, and you are not taking sufficient action on climate change.

Climate change has presented all of us with an enormous moral challenge, but the level of our personal responsibility is commensurate with the sphere of our influence. You have the resources to make a huge impact, and nothing less than a huge impact will be able to change the course we’re on. The rest of us can only hope to use our meager influence to influence you.

This letter is not going to make the case for the reality of climate change. Whatever you might say in public, you clearly accept its reality; your governments, organizations, and companies are already strategizing around how to cope with it. The purpose of this letter is to express moral outrage. A Lot More

Tom Steyer's NextGen Climate Group Calls Koch Brothers 'Chicken'

From: Got News Wire

COMMENT - Koch Truths said it first!

Koch Courage - Steyer Debate and Mayflower's Trauma Continues

The NextGen Climate Action super PAC, the group founded by environmental billionaire Tom Steyer, is releasing a new ad calling conservative funders Charles and David Koch chicken for refusing to debate Steyer on climate change.

Cluck, cluck, cluck. Koch brothers not so brave in a venue where their lies would be dissected

Daily Kos (2 days ago) - NextGen Climate Action—the Super PAC founded by Tom Steyer, the former California hedge fund...
MORE

U.S. Press Coverage of the Climate Crisis: A Damning Betrayal of Public Trust

From: The Heat is Online

By Ross Gelbspan

I'm a reporter -- not an environmentalist -- so I came to this subject from a very peculiar angle. After I retired from The Boston Globe and was working on my second consecutive unpublished novel, there came to me Dr. Paul Epstein, of Harvard Medical School, with a series of articles he had published in The Lancet on climate change and the spread of infectious disease.

Since the work struck me as important, we collaborated on a piece for the Outlook section of The Washington Post. While writing the piece, I became very alarmed about the larger issue of climate change and began to consider writing a book on the subject.

But after the piece ran in the Post, I received several letters from readers who said that, the disease information notwithstanding, they didn't believe the climate was changing and they referred me to the work of a few. MORE

The Real Reason Why No One Cares About CNN’s Climate Stories

From: Think Progress

By Emily Atkin

On Monday night, CNN President Jeff Zucker made waves when he declared that there has been a “tremendous amount of lack of interest” in the network’s climate change stories, implying that his audience was becoming bored by the topic.

“We haven’t figured out how to engage the audience in that story in a meaningful way,” Zucker told New York Times television reporter Bill Carter.

The statement drew a smug response from some in the conservative blogosphere who essentially declared that audiences were tired of CNN’s “blatantly liberal agenda” on climate change. But nothing could be further than the truth. MORE

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