President Obama has nominated Islam Siddiqui, a vice president at CropLife America, for the position of Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the US Trade Representative. CropLife America is a coalition of the major industrial powers in the pesticide industry, and includes Syngenta, Monsanto, and Dow Chemical. Siddiqui is also a former lobbyist for [...]
Oil industries create their own version of federal energy bill after spending $80 billion on public relations and lobbying regarding policy debate on climate legislation. The industry’s “”Creating Renewed Economic Activity through Energy Jobs Act of 2010″ bill dispenses with the key word “clean” — as in clean energy jobs — in its title and [...]
Despite the billions poured into Homeland Security, one staple of American society remains unprotected: the electrical grid. One nuclear-tipped missile detonated at a height of 40-400 kilometers above ground could “degrade 70% of the nation’s electrical service, all in one instant,” according to a 2004 Department of Defense commission report. The weakness lies in high [...]
On November 3 members of the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), “a new intellectual property enforcement treaty,” met in Seoul, North Korea for a closed discussion of “enforcement in the digital realm.” According to a leaked memo from the conference, the United States is pushing for a Three Strikes/ Graduated Response policy and proactive policing [...]
On January 30, 2009 IndyMedia, an alternative on-line new source, received a subpoena from the Southern District of Indiana Federal Court for the “IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information” of all the site’s visitors on June 25, 2008. IndyMedia was then prohibited from notifying visitors of this release of otherwise private and protected [...]
Maria Gunnoe, a life time resident of West Virginia, won the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work as a community organizer with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition against mountain top removal mining practices in Appalachia. Mountain top removal is the process of first clearing, then blasting roughly 800 feet of rocks and dirt from the [...]
Chemicals in everyday items will now be highly regulated due to EPA’s new plan. Since there are many chemicals found in everyday items such as baby toys and cell phones, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a new plan which will evaluate chemicals based on health and safety risks. This new plan will also give [...]
In 2007, journalists Pacale Bourgaux and Mercedes Gallego investigated stories on rape in the US military. They made a documentary called “Rape in the Ranks: The Enemy Within” which focuses on four military women who had been raped. On October 26, they showed the film at the New York Independence Film Festival. One military woman [...]
Stacie Ritter’s twin daughters were diagnosed with cancer at the age of four. They both needed stem cell transplants and other cancer treatments. The twins survived, but the glands controlling their growth were damaged beyond repair from the treatment. To continue growing, they needed doctor-recommended growth-hormone injections regularly. Stacie’s husband’s company switched to CIGNA health [...]
For the past 8 months, the Kenyan government has carried out a brutal campaign of violence against indigenous Samburu People in north-central Kenya, using their own police and military forces as well as government-funded mercenaries from Somalia. The most infamous attack took place in April, when military forces sprayed a caustic chemical onto group of [...]
