Dave Zirin has this to say about Rahm Emanuel’s priorities…which apparently gravitate towards sports and away from educating Chicago’s kids.
Why are you building yet another sports arena, Rahm???
Category Archives: ethics and morals
Worldwide Monsanto Protest
There’s a worldwide protest against Monsanto this Saturday. Info here. You’ll need to scroll down to find your spot in the U.S.
(hat tip to commondreams.org)
This is so inspiring….people are waking up to the monster of genetically modified organisms.
Closer to Nixon?
commondreams has this up–on President Obama’s assault on the Freedom of the Press and the further charges of interference with information gathering.
It’s quite chilling. As a commenter noted, however, the press remained quiet while they took Bradley Manning and put him in jail without charges being brought….and now they want to scream about the 1st Amendment….
The Powerful Seed
The organic farmers group posted a link to this article. The humble seed contains the beginnings of life. You could even say that the seed rules the world….
Below this article was a link to Vandana Shiva’s “Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in the Forest”. Bless her for her dedication to sustainability.
From that article, I was intrigued about the link for Ecuador recognizing the rights of nature in its Constitution…Wow……somebody who “gets it”. See, we humans want to think that we are so superior that we are more valuable than all other life forms. Worse than that, we have fooled ourselves into thinking that we are independent…that we could actually survive without them. We pollute the air, water, and soil without regard that it will harm nature. We survive in a circle…truly, what goes around comes around…and the balance of life–when we take something, we must give something of equal value in return…this simple rule is ignored.
Another one hits Oklahoma
CBS news has this up.
We watched the weather channel last night as they covered the clean up live. The path through was just absolute devastation. Brick buildings and homes usually can make it through severe storms but not this time…it was stunning to see all these places flattened. It was really hard to hear about the schools being hit and that children had died. Schoolteachers covered the kids with their bodies to protect them…you know, those rotten, self-serving teachers who don’t give a crap about the kids. /snark
CSPAN was covering it this morning. I was glad to hear from some Oklahoma residents who are blasting their own senator for voting against more aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy. They are afraid that it is going to come back on them.
Monsanto Protection Act
Organic Consumers has this up on urgent legislation:
Dear Organic Consumer,
The Senate will take up the farm bill this week, and we need you to contact your senators about several key amendments. There’s no time to waste. Please read through the list of important votes below, and contact your senators today! You can call the senate switchboard and ask to be connected: (202) 224-3121. Or you can look up the number for your senators here.
Repeal the Monsanto Protection Act
Now’s our chance! The Monsanto Protection Act, Sen. Roy Blunt’s (R-Mo.) love note to his state’s most notorious corporation (and one of his top contributors) could be repealed by the Senate this week!
Ask you’re your senators today: Please support Sen. Jeff Merkely’s (D-Ore.) amendment to the Senate version of the 2013 Farm Bill to repeal the infamous Monsanto Protection Act. The rider was slipped, without debate or a vote, into the emergency Continuing Resolution signed into law in March, to fund the U.S. government through Sept. 30.
Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) will offer an amendment to the Senate version of the 2013 Farm Bill to repeal the infamous Monsanto Protection Act, which gives Monsanto immunity from federal law. As long as it remains in force, even the federal courts can’t stop Monsanto from planting new genetically modified crops, even if they were illegally approved and could threaten human health or the environment.
The outrage that erupted in response to its passage made the Monsanto Protection Act national news. It was lampooned by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who sponsored the Continuing Resolution, offered a public apology. Now, there’s a campaign to force Sen. Blunt to resign and worldwide “March Against Monsanto” protests are scheduled for May 25.
The Senate is expected to begin consideration of the farm bill on Monday, so please take action today. Repeal the Monsanto Protection Act!
Let Farmers Grow Industrial Hemp in the U.S. Again!
Farmers in Kentucky, Vermont, North Dakota and other states are seeking permission from the federal government to grow industrial hemp, a crop that the Obama administration treats like marijuana under the law. This doesn’t make sense. The products of industrial hemp are legal and widely used in organic food, clothing and plant-based materials like plastics and biofuels. Why should farmers in other countries get to grow the hemp we use in the United States?
Please call your senators and ask them to vote for Senator Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky) industrial hemp amendment to the Farm Bill.
Farm Bill Money for Hungry Kids Not Insurance Companies!
The Senate version of the farm bill proposes to cut $4.1 billion over 10 years from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s largest domestic food aid program. Sen. Kristin Gillibrand (D-NY) has proposed an amendment to restore the $4.1 billion in cuts to foods stamps. The Gillibrand amendment takes the $4.1 billion from payments to crop insurance companies without reducing the insurance subsidies paid directly to farmers.
Please call your senators today and ask them to vote YES on Sen. Gillibrand’s amendment. Please tell your senators: Farm Bill money should be used to feed hungry kids, not pad the profits of insurance companies!
Our Seeds Shouldn’t All Be Owned By Monsanto!
Farmers constantly face changing climate, insect, weed, and disease pressures that vary by region, and they lament reduced options in regionally appropriate seed cultivars held in the public domain. Crops must continuously be adapted to meet these changes, and the most productive approach is to have seeds adapted to the same environment as their intended use through classical plant breeding.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) is introducing a Farm Bill amendment next week that aims to reinvigorate classical plant breeding and public cultivar development. Please call you’re your senators and urge them to support Sen. Tester’s amendment to reinvigorate classical plant breeding to ensure farmers have the seed they need to be successful. Developing regionally appropriate seed varieties held in the public domain is paramount to the success of U.S. agriculture.
The Senate is expected to begin consideration of the farm bill on Monday, May 18, although final votes might take place after Memorial Day. Please call your senators today at (202) 224-3121!
The House and Senate ag committees both approved their respective versions of the farm bill last week. The five-year bill could be brought to the House floor for a final vote in June, and possibly pass before the August recess.
Organic Consumers Association
6771 South Silver Hill Drive – Finland, MN 55603 – Phone: 218-226-4164 – Fax: 218-353-7652
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Toxic metals study links to Autism
74% of the studies examined showed a significant relationship between an ASD diagnosis and toxic metal exposure. These investigators concluded that the balance of studies support a link between ASD diagnoses and toxic metal exposure.
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Note further down that they also link heavy metals such as cadmium, arsenic and lead (from coal dust).
Okay, can we now stop drugging up our children with psychotropic drugs to help control symptoms and start addressing the real problem–our toxic environment and toxic amalgams?? It’s truly heartbreaking how many children have been misdiagnosed as autistic when they are displaying symptoms of heavy metal toxicity and acting out because they’re toxic…
More on mercury causing brain damage:
How many times do they have to find a correlation between mercury and neurological damage? When do they stop “studying” and start putting solutions in action?
Detroit buried in petroleum coke
(migraine…pardon my faux pas)
They ought to take this three-story, one-block long pile of coke and dump it on the Koch’s front lawn. And for every shipment afterward, dumped on every Tea Party supporter’s front lawn who denies the pollution coming from oil and its byproducts.
More here on the residents’ concerns. Same stonewalling over health concerns for residents living around this poison. They say they’re sending in samples to find out if it’s hazardous. Here’s the Material Data Safety Sheet (MSDS) on Petroleum Coke. It’s pretty evident from this that it IS a serious health concern. One of the warnings is not to breathe the dust. Wonder how many residents breathe in particulate every single freaking day?
From the sheet:
Inhalation of excessive dust concentrations may be irritating to the upper respiratorysystem. Repeated chronic inhalation exposure may cause impaired lung function.There is no evidence that such exposures cause pneumoconiosis, carcinogenicity,or other chronic health effects.
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I would question the last sentence–anything that can cause impaired lung function is causing inflammation…inflammation kills cells over a period of time.
Note that is is a combustible dust….just laying around….which the MSDS specifically states this is not proper storage–it states it should be in containers. (Not that I personally believe containers are any better. The stuff is toxic, toxic,toxic, creating problems of disposal…in somebody’s neighborhood.)
Anybody wanna bet this is located in a poor neighborhood in Detroit?
So…now BP wants to start operations for processing this filthy sludge in Whiting, Indiana, which is near Gary and Hammond and Chicago….right on Lake Michigan. Um-hmmm…Anybody wanna guess if the toxic environment is a factor in Gary Indiana being the murder capital of the United States. Note the article stating this area is one of the worst in air quality in the U.S.
And here we have the latest in *cough* BP cares….about our profits over your health and safety…
More here.
A video of yet another explosion in Whiting, Indiana:
Indiana has a sad history of putting business over its environment. Just look at the lack of trees compared to, say, Ohio. You can actually tell the air quality difference once you leave Indiana and venture into Ohio. Nevermind the beauty of all the trees, but the air is breathable. Anyway, Indiana’s own Dept. of Environmental Management *cough* has told manufacturers several years ago that once they were given a good report, they could slack off, er I mean, they could continue their good environmental practices until the IDEM inspected them three years later.
The Indiana Dunes, which we used to go to nearly every summer, have been polluted by the lack of concern of the environment. Lake Michigan was once reasonably clean. I took my kids up there after many years and was depressed to see the condition of the water. It was no longer clear and had that polluted look to it. I saw nuclear cooling towers off to my left. At least, I thought they were nuclear cooling towers…turns out they were from another power plant–the one thing Indiana has going for it is that we don’t have nuclear power plants here. I don’t hold my breath that they won’t eventually appear, especially with Mike Pence and the ALEC team now in charge here. Besides, there are nuclear plants in Illinois and Ohio bordering our state, so…yeah…we’re still susceptible to nuclear radiation or the China Syndrome. All it would take is one of the reactors melting down and we’re done.
And then there’s the curious case of radiation in Delaware, Indiana that is mentioned in this blog.
Mommy, the IRS is picking on me!!
Really, the repub party should go from the “party of NO’ to the “party of whine”. Good God, can they play the victim…
They were seeking approval to operate under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. This would require them to be “social welfare,” not political, operations. There are significant advantages to being a 501(c)(4). These groups don’t pay taxes; they don’t have to disclose their donors—unlike traditional political organizations, such as political-action committees. In return for the tax advantage and the secrecy, the 501(c)(4) organizations must refrain from traditional partisan political activity, like endorsing candidates.
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Since when is asking questions “singling-out” someone? Asking questions is the IRS’s job. And the last line of the above quote is enough to revoke their tax exempt status.
George Will is trying to compare this to Watergate. Seriously?? How lame.
If Republicans had controlled both houses of Congress in 1973, Nixon would have completed his term. If Democrats controlled both today, the Obama administration’s lawlessness would go uninvestigated.
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Committee members of Watergate- Senate: three repubs on it.
A brief on the Watergate affair.
On CSPAN this morning, they had Jenny Martin, the CEO of Tea Party Patriots. She was playing the victim well–without really offering any hard evidence of the accusations of the IRS…even when asked for specifics by a caller. I listened carefully to her mini-speeches, and once when she began to divulge what actually occurred, she caught herself and went back to “safe mode” without giving the details. Hmmm….
Meanwhile, when the point was made that the IRS has been inundated by groups applying for tax exempt status, so there was possibly a backlog AND good reason to scrutinize these groups that don’t want to pay taxes. (The irony here is that the Tea Party is all about reducing government workers, but it would appear that the backlog is created because of a lack of skilled workers to process them…)
It is clear that Tea Party Patriots is a political group and they promote their political causes aggressively…so why shouldn’t the IRS ask them pointed questions about their fundraising and their activities?? If you want to avoid taxes, you’d better be prepared to answer some questions.
(Gah, I never in a million years thought I’d be sticking up for the IRS. Lord knows they’ve used their strong arm tactics on me–when I lost my house, they actually wanted to charge me for taking a profit(!!) and then when I owed a measily $200 (and didn’t have the money to pay them) they threatened to take what was left after the crash and burn. I did eventually pay it off in installments. but it was difficult at that point in time. )
In Honor of Mothers…
This Mother’s Day was a tough one. Tears as we listened to “You’ll Never Walk Alone”….
So…I thought instead of the usual syrupy “Happy Mother’s Day” stuff, I’d do things a little differently~~
In Honor of the Mothers of the kidnapping victims of Cleveland….the two mothers who never gave up…God Bless. I can’t wrap my brain around this case–clearly, there were people sounding the alarm about something going on at that house. The police even showed up once–only to knock and then walk away when no one answered. The message this case is sending: women don’t matter–or worse, they wanted to be there. I’m just waiting for them to start pointing the finger at the victims–some already have started the “if they hadn’t done this, that wouldn’t have happened…” While ignoring that domestic violence happens every day in the U.S. in blue collar households and professional households. People with money. People without money. Those with college educations, and those with high school diplomas. Makes no difference.
In this case and I suspect the Boston Bombers’ case, domestic violence played a key role. …and yet, it’s never singled out as the cause of violence. And I also caution against making broad generalizations that the psychiatric profession is noted for–just because one comes from a home of domestic violence does not mean they will repeat it. Another mystery to be solved is why some go on to perpetuate the violence, and others rise above it.
Related to this, I’ve been reading blog after blog of mothers who have lost custody of their children. It is heartbreaking. And it’s damning of the U.S. court system that use Guardian Ad Litem’s testimony as golden, without ever examining their motives nor the actual qualifications, personal biases, and time spent with the children whose lives they are about to destroy. On top of all of this, parents are now charged a fee to see their children!! This is outrageous.
Phyllis Chesler has written a book, Mothers on Trial that blows away the myth that mothers *always* get custody of children. This is only true, she says, if the father doesn’t fight for custody. If he does take the mother to court, he will win custody in most of the cases. (I think I read 70% of the cases). It’s especially true if the woman is uppity. In five cases I had reviewed, the Guardian Ad Litem had awarded custody to the father in all five cases….even though there was undisputed abuse in two of the cases and as far as I could tell, no abuse nor neglect of care of the children on the mother’s part. As with the blogs I read…even in cases of a father molesting the kids, the mother was treated as the criminal and the father was awarded custody.
This has to stop.
Eagle 
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