tagged w/ Citizen Activism
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WASHINGTON — It didn’t take former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold long to jump back into the political arena after losing his bid for a fourth term in November.
But instead of launching another campaign, Feingold is forming a grassroots political group to hold accountable others elected to office — both Democrats and Republicans.
In an video posted online on Wednesday, Feingold announced he was forming Progressives United, a political action committee, to try to counter corporate influence in politics.
The Middleton Democrat’s main target is the Supreme Court’s January 2010 ruling in the Citizens United case that allows corporations to contribute to political campaigns. The ruling also struck down key elements of Feingold’s signature legislation passed with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.
Feingold called the court ruling “the most lawless decision in the history of our country. In one fell swoop, the court not only overturned 100 years of settled law, it also set a dangerous new precedent for our country by allowing corporations to have unlimited influence over our elections.”
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110216/GPG0101/110216119/Feingold-forms-progressive-political-groupWASHINGTON — It didn’t take former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold long to... more
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A group of 70 no global activists on Monday staged a lightening strike against a field of genetically modified (GM) maize, crushing all the plants and effectively preventing their harvest.
The GM crop at Vivaro, near the northeastern town of Pordenone, has been at the centre of a storm for the last two weeks, after the farmer who planted the maize, Giorgio Fidenato, announced it was ready to be harvested.
Some 70 activists, dressed alike in white overalls, were able to stomp on all the plants before police arrived and dragged them away, a spokesman for the Ya Basta anti-GM group said.
"Our action was aimed against the violence that GM crops wreak on the environment and on humans," said Luca Tornatore.
Despite widespread opposition to GM crops by most Italian farmers, the action was nevertheless roundly condemned by all. Pro-biotech group Futuragra said the raid was "an act of vandalism" and the result of "terror sown by the media" against GM crops. Farmers' union Coldiretti, which actively campaigns for organic agriculture, blasted the anti-globalists, saying that "the law must always be respected".
But Coldiretti also criticised officials for having dallied on the issue. Last week several members of the largest opposition group, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), joined MPs of the governing coalition's rightwing Northern League party at a press conference outside the Senate to protest the lack of an "effective response" to the situation at Vivaro.
An umbrella organization coordinating efforts against the crops, the Task Force for an Italy Free of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), which represents 27 conservation, farming and environmental associations, called for the "immediate destruction of fields where GM maize is grown".
It warned of a "devastating impact on the local environment, wild fauna and the crops of other farmers" if pollen from the maize was allowed to disperse.
Greenpeace attempted to storm the field last week and numerous representatives from the GMO-Free Italy Task Force erected a protest camp next to the land.
The governor of Friuli Venezia Giulia where Vivaro is located, Renzo Tondo, has vowed that the law will be upheld and any infringements will be dealt with swiftly.
The president of the neighbouring region of Veneto, former Italian agriculture minister Gianluca Zaia, voiced support for Greenpeace, warning that cross-contamination from the crop could have a catastrophic effect on local agriculture.
Agriculture Minister Giancarlo Galan condemned Monday's raid, likening it to attacks carried out by Fascist thugs.
"I hope police will identify those who took part in it because they are a group of violent and intolerant thugs of the worst sort," he said, stressing that officials had been working with local authorities to analyse the crops.
Fidenato, who heads the pro-biotech Federated Farmers (AF) association, claims he acted lawfully in planting the seeds and likened GMO critics to Nazis "with their irrational fears of biological-racial contamination of the plant species".
Although there is no outright ban on the cultivation of GM crops in Italy, a long-running legal tangle effectively prevents farmers from doing so.
Farmers are technically allowed to grow GM crops provided they first obtain permission under procedures to be drafted by the agriculture ministry.
However, these procedures have never been finalized.
After months of foot dragging, a 2006 ministry circular eventually halted the drafting process entirely until regional governments agreed on local measures to prevent cross-contamination between GM and traditional crops.
But four years on, regional governments have still not agreed on definitive coexistence measures and, despite a January court ruling ordering the ministry to finalize the authorization procedures anyway, it has not yet done so.
Fidenato started lobbying local officials to allow him to plant GM crops in 2007 but received no reply.
"At this point, since they haven't said no, I take it I can go ahead," he said, shortly after announcing he had planted the GM maize earlier this year.
The issue of GM crops is particularly explosive in Italy.
As the second-largest producer of organic crops in Europe and the fourth largest in the world, there is widespread fear of the potential damage resulting from accidental GM contamination.
Coldiretti has issued several reports suggesting that widespread public hostility to GM crops would not only damage the domestic market for farm produce but would also result in a 60% drop in exports.A group of 70 no global activists on Monday staged a lightening strike against a field... more
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Corporate Social Responsible News: GE Partners with China; BOS College Center for Corporate Citizenship on Web Advice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXFjgKM-bSECorporate Social Responsible News: GE Partners with China; BOS College Center for... more
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~y2009m11d20-Everything-after-that-is-gravy--citizen-diplomacy-and-ambassadorial-moments-during-Thanksgiving~y2009m11d20-Everything-after-that-is-gravy--citizen-diplomacy-and-ambassadorial-moment... more
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We limit the combined total dollar amount of item-labeled produce that any single grower can sell under our two item labels to less than $1 Million US dollars annually. This is our small effort to even the playing field between larger and smaller farms. Research shows that larger farms, particularly those with annual revenues in excess of $1 Million per year have a significant competitive advantage as compared to small family farms. Top 10 Produce LLC will invite socially conscious consumers to play a role by alerting the consumer that our brand provides a strategic advantage in favor of smaller farms, and by reminding buyers that we only license independent growers. 100% of our items have a transparency enabling barcode.
This item level barcode will be scanned by mobile phones to tell the consumer about the farmer, whether the produce is locally grown (including a map showing the location of the farm as compared to their current location based on their cell phone's GPS ), and anything else the consumer is interested to know about that produce item. Consumer reviews of fresh produce will be available to shoppers and chefs alike.
Suggestions are encouraged and welcome, so please share thoughts, concerns, criticisms and questions. We are listening carefully.We limit the combined total dollar amount of item-labeled produce that any single... more
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I just called and was told there have been several hundred other calls and that they are looking into legal ways to stop it. The person I spoke to didn't sound very enthused though. But please, call the number at the link and tell the EPA to intervene. It is the one way we can stop this once and for all!
Is the Earth worth one phone call?
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Mountaintop removal blasting has begun on Coal River Mountain.
These operations are happening only a few hundred feet away from the Brushy Fork impoundment dam, which holds over 8.2 billion gallons of toxic coal sludge above Pettus, WV. If the dam bursts, nearly a thousand people in the Coal River Valley would likely lose their lives within minutes.
At the same time, Coal River Mountain is the proposed site of an industrial wind farm. Studies have shown that its ridges have the highest and most productive wind potential. The Coal River Wind Project has done research to demonstrate that a wind farm on top of the mountain could generate approximately 1.2% of West Virginia's total energy needs, create 300 jobs in the area, and generate a long-term tax revenue stream. Every day that blasting happens, the possibility for the wind farm diminishes.
The state of West Virginia refuses to do anything about this destruction. Please contact the EPA and ask them to intevene at Coal River Mountain.
Call Lisa Jackson's office at (202) 564-4700.I just called and was told there have been several hundred other calls and that they... more
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I remember there were times in the past when a clear distinction of periodic seasonal cycles per year used to exist. There were winters during a certain fixed period in a year, there were rains during another fixed period in a year and similarly, there were summers during another fixed period in a year.
During winters, I used to enjoy the early chilling mornings along with my quilt and as the day used to progress the la-affaire with the sun used to soar high. I would love to see the shining sky and I would most cherish the scene of sunlight spreading everywhere across the surroundings and neutralizing the chilling effects all around. The rains were like the blessings of freshness. The scenes around me in my community just before the down pore were unforgettable. I always felt that strong buzz in the surroundings just before the start of rains. I remember people used to celebrate rains, they used to dance in the rain, they used to watch the rains with their open windows and doors, they used to party with their amigos in the rain and the whole scene used to be like a special festival. Same joy and an afresh beginning was visible during the summers, everyone was so excited about the summers, the extended days and the summer’s daily twilight. We all used to enjoy every season with the utmost pleasure but things have changed a lot in last few years.
Suddenly, the ice started melting in the polar region, the sea levels started rising all across and the water temperatures in the sea and rivers started rising everywhere around the world.
CHECK THIS LINK TO READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE:
http://paragonist.blogspot.com/2009/09/if-you-give-up-they-give-up-stop-global.htmlI remember there were times in the past when a clear distinction of periodic seasonal... more
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Former FBI Language Specialist Sibel Edmonds finally gets to testify under oath, after being hit with a gag order.
Bombshells Under Oath: INCLUDE: CONGRESS MEMBERS NAMED IN ESPIONAGE, BRIBERY, SEXUAL BLACKMAIL SCHEMES; NEW BREWSTER JENNINGS / VALERIE PLAME DISCLOSURE...
Long gagged under the "state secrets" privilege by the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration's DoJ chose not to re-invoke privilege, paving the way for this information to finally make its way on to the unclassified public record.
LINK TO ARTICLE: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7348.
Former FBI Language Specialist Sibel Edmonds finally gets to testify under oath,... more
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Now this is the renewable energy America needs to see more of.
excerpt:
The protest at Chevron was part of a campaign to generate political pressure and “street heat” leading up to the international climate change talks to be held in Copenhagen in December. Other protests will be held later in the year and in other parts of the country.
“People, not corporations, should drive the critical climate talks in Copenhagen,” said Ananda Lee Tan, a member of the Mobilization for Climate Justice spokescouncil and the U.S. Campaign Coordinator for the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. “To date, at the United Nation’s climate talks, corporate lobbyists have outnumbered representatives of governments and civil society groups by a ratio of as high as 4 to 1. We want Chevron and all corpor ate lobbyists banned from, and frontline community voices represented at these talks.” ”The MCJ seeks to empower community-based activist groups and networks to lead a global climate justice movement in confronting the root causes of climate change at home,” said Torm Nompraseurt of theAsian Pacific Environmental Network, “while defining community priorities and self-determination pathways for a new energy economy.”
The Mobilization for Climate Justice-West includes more than 35 diverse groups: AFSCME Local 444, Amazon Watch, Art in Action, Asian-Pacific Environmental Network, Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace and Justice, Bay Localize, Burmese American Democratic Association, Communities for a Better Environment, Contra Costa Greens, Direct Action to Stop the War, Earth First!, Environmental Justice & Climate Change Initiative, Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity (FACES), Forest Ethics, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Global Exchange, Global Justice Ecology Project, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, Greenpeace, Headrush, International Forum on Globalization, International Rivers, Justice in Nigeria Now!, Movement Generation, Pacific Environment, Poor Magazine, Rainforest Action Network, Richmond Mayor’s Task Force on Environmental Justice and Health, Progressive Bengali Network, Richmond Progressive Alliance, Ruckus Society, Rising Tide North America, Solidarity, West County Toxics Coalition, Youth In Focus, 350.orgNow this is the renewable energy America needs to see more of.
excerpt:
The... more
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You too can be a part of reaching a good tipping point regarding getting genetically modified organisms out of our food.
http://www.responsibletechnology.org
This is also one way you can contribute to making our environment safer and bringing healthier food to your table.You too can be a part of reaching a good tipping point regarding getting genetically... more
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A NETWORK of farmers from Masipag, scientists and non-government organizations (NGOs) practicing sustainable agriculture and genetic conservation have aired their support to Negros Occidental provincial government on the issue of banning the entry of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs)-infected crops to the province.
The group said: "GMOs will not achieve food security."
For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter
"We strongly support the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental in upholding a safe and healthy life and environment," said Georie Pitong, regional coordinator of Masipag-Visayas.
"We laud the province's declaration of organic promotion in 2006, and the ban on GMO is a significant step towards achieving that status. However, this is now being threatened by the move to overturn the ordinance banning GMOs to accommodate the businesses of livestock companies," he added.
Pitong doubted the claims of some businessmen that banning the entry of GMO corn to Negros would cause shortage in livestock feeds and meat sources.
"We believe that GMOs will not address food insecurity or solve world hunger," Pitong said. He added: "The technology is besieged by controversial issues that have yet to be resolved."
The farmer's network said that "scientific evidences of the negative effects of GMOs on health and the environment are being exposed one after the other, yet proponents have been dismissing the calls for more tests and risks assessments."
"The contamination of GM with non-GM crops is an alarming issue that does occur and destroys the organic farmers' fields, products and livelihoods. Farmers' planting GMOs have higher costs of production while the harvest is just comparable to the non-GM crops," the group said.
"Poor farmers incur huge debts from skyrocketing interest rates by local usurers while the giant transnational corporations continue to rake in profits. Consumers' right to safe food is violated as well as the right to information due to the lack of labeling of GM products," the group added.
Masipag farmers, meanwhile, said "organic and sustainable agriculture have served to improve our production that secure our food and uplift our lives."
For more than 20 years, more than 35,000 small farmer-members of Masipag from the different provinces in the Philippines have been practicing sustainable agriculture (SA).
The SA principles of chemical-free and ecologically-sound farming systems have proved to be effective in achieving food security among the poor farmers and their communities, Masipag said.
"The livestock raisers should accept that all over the world, there is increasing recognition and growing evidence of the benefits of SA and organic agriculture while GMOs are being rejected by different governments," the group said.A NETWORK of farmers from Masipag, scientists and non-government organizations (NGOs)... more
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On June 24 a broad coalition of Main Street Moms, Activist Moms and NGOs, along with actresses Deidre Hall and Andrea Bowen traveled to Washington, D.C. to urge Congress to support healthy food choices in our nation's schools.
These moms delivered over 50,000 petition signatures to Congress - signatures from our website, hard copy signatures secured by NGO partners and signatures obtained by our online partner Mom's Rising! To view pictures, video and learn more about the advocacy day, click here.
Thank you to everyone who has signed the petition or called their representatives, the advocacy day was a huge success! Please continue to encourage people to sign the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act so we can deliver this to Congress for its vote end of July.
end of excerpt from site.
It begins with our children.On June 24 a broad coalition of Main Street Moms, Activist Moms and NGOs, along with... more
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Will they be seen as 'terrorists' too? I stand with them and their message 100%. Especially since they did not hurt the mountain and stated they took proper precautions. Their message is true. True Leaders Lead. It's time we saw that on climate change.
Satyagraha.
Excerpt:
Greenpeace activists were arrested Wednesday for scaling Mount Rushmore and hanging a banner next to the carved face of Abraham Lincoln urging President Barack Obama to get tough on climate change.
A video posted on the environmental group's website showed the massive banner hanging on the South Dakota mountain face.
Its message -- "America honors leaders not politicians: Stop Global Warming" and an unfinished portrait of Obama -- was barely visible as it was whipped by wind.
"Doing what it takes to solve global warming demands real political courage," Greenpeace USA deputy campaigns director Carroll Muffett said in a statement.
"If President Obama intends to earn a place among this country's true leaders, he needs to show that courage, and base his actions on the scientific reality rather than political convenience."
The protest comes as Obama meets with other G8 leaders in Italy.
G8 leaders agreed to bear the brunt of steep global cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, saying developed countries should reduce their pollution by 80 percent by 2050, a summit declaration said.
Greenpeace said the 11 climbers "took special care not to damage the monument, using existing anchors placed by the National Park Service for periodic cleaning."Will they be seen as 'terrorists' too? I stand with them and their message... more
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Would you rather the City of Denver save $100,000 by watering parks less or $6 million by housing less non-violent criminals? Would you rather drop street maintenance to the tune of a $250,000 savings or charge home owners for large item trash pickup to the tune of $2 million?
Such are the questions in a recent poll allowing the community to what services are are boon and what is a bain as Denver prepares for a $70 million drop in revenue in 2010.Would you rather the City of Denver save $100,000 by watering parks less or $6 million... more
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British MP Hazel Blears faced angry local constituents who threatened to perform a "Citizens Arrest" on the disgraced politician following on from the ongoing expenses scandal outside Salford Town Hall in Greater Manchester.
During a meeting of her local Labour Party who were meeting to vote on a motion of "no-confidence" which would ban her from standing as an MP, a large group of enraged community workers, local activists and ordinary members of the public chanted "Hazel - Out" whilst the national media waited eagerly for the results of the vote.
Welding a pair of prison handcuffs and a warrant sheet, Salford Youth Council co-chair David Henry was in attendance accompanied by a group of homeless and unemployed young people who live in the city, which is of the poorest areas in the North West of England.
Mr Henry said "We plan to perform a citizen arrest on Mrs Blears at the request of hundreds of local people who feel she has committed a serious crime I believe is enforceable under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984". An elderly resident stood in the typical Manchester rain holding a placard which read "Is Hazel Nuts?" told the Independent Newspaper "That woman has brought us nothing but trouble since she was elected. We want her out. She has done nothing for the people of this city."
Over a week ago Mrs Blears, who has represented Salford within the UK Parliament since 1997 resigned from the cabinet as Minister for Communities and Local Government follow the publication of MPs expenses which revealed she had failed to pay a tax bill of over £13,000. The bill was due on her second home which is paid for by the British tax-payer.
As news reached the rain-soaked media and protesters outside the Civic Centre in Salford that the Local Constituency Labour Party had voted to let her keep her job, the embattled member of Parliament failed to show her face to the waiting crowd which included national news crews and instead escaped via a side door.
Mrs Blears has vowed to stand at the next general election, meanwhile the protesters claimed they still intend to campaign for her to resign and will attempt to perform a citizens arrest on her wherever she appears in public and are urging her to turn herself in to police so that the courts can decide whether or not she should be brought to justice.
Protest organised by Stephen Kingston of the Salford Star http://www.salfordstar.com/
David Henry is Co-Chair of Salford Youth Council http://www.salfordyouth.org.ukBritish MP Hazel Blears faced angry local constituents who threatened to perform a... more
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Forget buckets of blood. Nothing says horror like one of those tubs of artificially buttered, nonorganic popcorn at the concession stand. That, at least, is one of the unappetizing lessons to draw from one of the scariest movies of the year, “Food, Inc.,” an informative, often infuriating activist documentary about the big business of feeding or, more to the political point, force-feeding, Americans all the junk that multinational corporate money can buy. You’ll shudder, shake and just possibly lose your genetically modified lunch.
Divided into chapters dedicated to points along the commercial food chain — from farm to fork, to borrow a loaded agribusiness phrase — the movie is nothing if not ambitious. “There are no seasons in the American supermarket,” the unidentified voice intones in the opening scene, as the camera sweeps the aisles of one such brightly lighted, heavily stocked if nutritionally impoverished emporium. From there the director Robert Kenner jumps all over the food map, from industrial feedlots where millions of cruelly crammed cattle mill about in their own waste until slaughter, to the chains where millions of consumers gobble down industrially produced meat and an occasional serving of E. coli bacteria.
The voice in the opening belongs to the ethical epicurean and locavore champion Michael Pollan, author of “In Defense of Food” and “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” as well as a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine. (Somewhat confusingly, the movie uses voice-overs without clearly identifying who’s issuing forth on the soundtrack.) Mr. Pollan, who periodically appears on screen seated at a homey-looking table, is a great strength of “Food, Inc.,” as is one of its co-producers, Eric Schlosser, the author of “Fast Food Nation.” These two embodiments of conscience, together with Mr. Kenner, chart how and why the villains not only outnumber the heroes in contemporary food production, but also how and why they outbluff, outmuscle and outspend their opponents by billions of often government-subsidized dollars.
If you’ve read either “Fast Food Nation” or “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” you won’t be surprised by what the movie shows and tells about the killing floors and soybean fields. Chances are that you’ll still be appalled, which is to Mr. Kenner’s credit. Much as Mr. Schlosser does in “Fast Food Nation,” the movie takes a look at the animal abuse in industrial food production — including clandestine images of sick and crippled cows being prodded to join the rest of the ill-fated herd — but its main focus is on the human cost. It’s a cost visible in the rounded bodies of a poor family that eats cheap if filling fast-food burgers for breakfast and in the obscured faces of farmers too frightened to go on record about Monsanto, the agricultural biotech giant.
end of excerpt.Forget buckets of blood. Nothing says horror like one of those tubs of artificially... more
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They are poisoning the planet, and leading many small farmers to financial ruin in a monoculture world. How Monsanto or any agbusiness company can even think that is "sustainable" speaks to their total lack of a conscience or moral code.
WE ARE BEING POISONED DAILY, and it is happening with the consent of the very politicians so many continue to support and believe. It is happening with the help of a complicit and desensitized media that cares nothing for real truth and education on the whole, but simply "entertaining the masses" into apathy. It is happening with corporate malfeasance that is placing the almighty dollar above all else even at the expense of human life and the sustainability of the only planet that can sustain us.
And the only way it will stop is if we speak out. Now.
Link to article:
http://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article2803-Poisoning-The-Planet.htmlThey are poisoning the planet, and leading many small farmers to financial ruin in a... more
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To strengthen the Waxman-Markey clean energy bill, we need to be 16 times louder because we are outspent 16:1 by industries trying to weaken the bill’s potential to deliver a clean energy economy.
We could have as little as two weeks before a vote on the House floor, where we have one more chance to strengthen this bill. Congress needs to hear from you right now.
Fax your representative now and urge them to make the Markey-Waxman bill (H.R. 2454) stronger so we can get our economy back on track and start to tackle global warming.
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The Earth will not wait for us to get it right.To strengthen the Waxman-Markey clean energy bill, we need to be 16 times louder... more
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The President has said that bringing peace to the Middle East was a priority of his administration, yet neither his Peace Envoy George Mitchell nor his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been to Gaza.
Now that Obama is traveling to Egypt on June 4, let's ask him to take a side trip to Gaza so that he can witness the devastation firsthand and listen to the voices of the local people.
You can ask him at the link.
Peace will never come with just words.The President has said that bringing peace to the Middle East was a priority of his... more
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