 | "There's Justice In The Universe" |
| Posted 7/19/2007 5:35 PM CDT Reauthorizing The Farm Bill?: What began in 1949 as an effort to protect family farmers has mutated into a welfare system for corporations (i.e., AgriBiz) that destroyed family farmers in order to produce vast amounts of commodities such as corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, and cotton (sometimes genetically engineered). These companies dump them on the world market, often below the actual cost of production. This has nothing to do with the free market, much less the fair market. It actually hurts small farmers, who, in the 1930s were 25 percent of our population but are now a dying breed. It explains why Twinkies and sodas are so cheap and no one on food stamps can afford to buy fresh produce. http://www.alamogordonews.com/opinion/ci_6378761 http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/07/quote-of-the--1.html Take Action: http://www.organicconsumers.org/action.cfm http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/oca/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=12049 Farm Bill Action and Update! The House Agriculture Committee is meeting right now to finalize their version of the 2007 Farm Bill, and several key programs are in play that effect organic farmers, country of origin labeling (COOL), and the future of local foods and family farmers and ranchers. Please take a moment to tell the House Agriculture Committee and your Representative to implement mandatory COOL as Congress intended in the 2002 Farm Bill, and include programs that support organic agriculture, consumers, and family farmers and ranchers. http://ga3.org/campaign/FarmBill Rising Food Prices: Americans spend less to feed themselves than any other people on the planet--probably less than any monetized society in history. Just 9.9¢ of each dollar we spend is for food, down from 23.4¢ in 1929. By comparison, 16% of household expenditures in Britain go to food; Brazilians spend 23%, Thais 29%…. during the Depression, the government began subsidizing commodities like corn. Today, against all logic, the subsidies continue, and corn-derived snacks and Cokes are so cheap and convenient that it's perfectly rational, on a dollar-per-calorie basis, to buy them…. fresh fruits and vegetables aren't subsidized, and by nature they cost more to store and ship…perhaps we should stop subsidizing junk. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1635836,00.html Americans Love Their “Empty Calories”: The average American eats 142 pounds of sugar a year, or about 2.5 pounds each week. That's a 23 percent increase over the last 25 years, and it is a major cause of the currently soaring rates of obesity and diabetes… highly processed carbohydrates and refined sugars are causing hormonal changes that drive hunger, cause overeating, and increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease. Sugar in some form is present in nearly every packaged product in a grocery store, including spaghetti sauce, salad dressing, peanut butter, mayonnaise, ketchup…. NOTE: Listen and watch the video clip: http://cbs2.com/health/health_story_168113516.html%20 What The World Eats: This is a fascinating look at what's on people's dinner tables across the globe, and is a telling visual of why the health of the Western world is in rapid decline from all our prepackaged, chemically processed and sugar-laden goods, and how much we're actually paying for the privilege. Click on: http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/What-the-World-Eats-21099.aspx Whole Foods / The Wholesome Story?: Whole Foods, the nation's popular and fast-growing chain of "healthy" supermarkets, makes you feel good about groceries the moment you enter. Its mountains of lustrous produce, farmer's-market ambience and declared mission to provide you with the freshest natural and organic products make it seem as though you're doing a good deed for yourself and the environment. But not ‘everything’ at Whole Foods is all that wholesome. And buying there could cost you a lot more than at other supermarkets…when you shop there, keep the following pointers in mind (click on the windows offered in the following website): http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/moneymag/0706/gallery.whole_foods.moneymag/index.html What if we ate like ape-like ancestors once ate?: In an experiment filmed for TV, nine volunteers set up camp for twelve days in a tented enclosure in a zoo and ate the diet our ape-like ancestors likely consumed. The volunteers consumed up to five kilos of raw fruit and vegetables each day. The volunteers lived on a three-day rotating menu of fruit, vegetables, nuts and honey. In the second week, standard portions of cooked oily fish were added. Salt intake was cut to 1 gram a day (from a previous average of 12 grams), saturated fat consumption was cut to 5 to 13 percent of daily calories, and levels of soluble fiber, which binds cholesterol in the gut, were increased significantly. Over the twelve days, the volunteers lost weight and saw their blood pressure and cholesterol levels fall. The average volunteer lost almost 10 pounds, their cholesterol levels dropped 23 percent, and their average blood pressure fell. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6248975.stm Climate Change Will Lead To Increased Warfare: Climate change and its resultant shortage of ecological resources shall led to increased armed conflicts in the future….changing temperatures and dwindling agricultural production correlated with warfare frequency in eastern China in the past…. warfare data from 899 wars in eastern China between 1000 and 1911, and cross-referenced these data with Northern Hemispheric climate data for the same period …show that warfare increased significantly when temperatures “fluctuated” enough to affect food crops. Conclusion: In times of ecological stress, warfare becomes the ultimate means of redistributing resources. http://www.springer-sbm.com/index.php?id=291&backPID=132&L=0&tx_tnc_news=3496&cHash=340313d096 Organic Produce And The Farm Bill: Congress is about to vote on a new Farm Bill, which could be the first to include fair funding for organics. But to make this happen, our Representatives need to hear from us! Act now. Add your name to the Grow Organics petition and join the fight for pesticide-free produce: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/ewgroup/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=630 Fast Food Milkshakes Exposed: It seems that some very basic ingredients are sometimes missing from fast food milk shakes. In one fast food restaurant, strawberry milkshakes are missing milk and strawberries. It turns out that the strawberry flavor they use to flavor their milkshakes is actually made from 40 different chemicals. Some are: Amyl valerate, Anethol, Ethyl lactate, Methylphenylglycidate, Ionone, Maltol, Methyl benzoate… [Well, you get the idea….] http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Fast-Food-Milkshakes-Exposed-27226.aspx Healthy Reason To Forgo “Foie Gras”: If the thought of force-fed fowl doesn’t turn you off to foie gras, this news just might. New research suggests that a compound found in fatty goose and duck liver may be linked to a rare disease called amyloidosis, opening the door to a potential link between the delicacy and a host of other amyloid-related diseases ranging from Alzheimer’s disease to type 2 diabetes. Researchers say it’s the first known evidence that a food product can speed the production of amyloid protein in animals. An abnormal buildup of amyloid deposits is linked to a variety of diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes, and others. http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=82006 Plants Uptake Antibiotics: Routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock is contaminating the world of plants. Researchers at the University of Minnesota have evaluated whether food crops accumulate antibiotics from soils spread with manure that contains antibiotics. Plant uptake was evaluated in a greenhouse study involving three food crops: corn, lettuce, and potato. Plants were grown on soil modified with liquid hog manure containing Sulfamethazine, a commonly used veterinary antibiotic. This antibiotic was taken up by all 3 crops. Concentrations of antibiotics were found in the plant leaves. Concentrations in plant tissue also increased as the amount of antibiotics present in the manure increased. It also diffused into potato tubers, which suggests that root crops, such as potatoes, carrots, and radishes, that directly come in contact with soil may be particularly vulnerable to antibiotic contamination. [ My Comment: Plants will absorb whatever’s in the soil / including Roundup used to suppress weeds (which is why soybeans and other crops have been ‘bioengineered’ to resist the effects of Roundup).] http://jeq.scijournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/34/6/2082 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_26_161/ai_89581015 https://www.soils.org/?check US Taxpayers Subsidizing Dead Zone In Gulf: Scientists studying nutrient inputs that feed the Gulf's hypoxic zone have known that certain intensively farmed areas in the upper Midwest leak more nitrogen derived from fertilizers than others… farmers in areas with the highest rates of fertilizer runoff tend to receive the biggest payouts in federal crop subsidies… they also have fewer acres enrolled in conservation programs as compared with other parts of the Mississippi River basin…. agricultural nitrate loading could be reduced substantially if farmers took just 3% of the most intensively farmed land out of production…. this target wouldn't require a large increase in overall federal funding, but monies would have to be shifted from commodity to conservation programs under the Farm Bill set to expire in September. [ My Comment: We also need to remember that topsoil depths are decreasing in these areas as well. Someday it’ll reach a critical state.] http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2007/june/science/kc_nitrate.html http://ucsaction.org/campaign/2007_farm_bill http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/GRN/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=11857&t=DefaultTemplate.dwt Take Action on Open-Ocean Fish Farming in the Gulf!: As you read this, NOAA and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council) are developing a plan to allow open ocean fish farming specifically in the Gulf of Mexico. This plan is being hurried along to get it passed before people realize what is happening. The Gulf Council is taking comments from the public about it until July 25th – Make your voice heard today! Take action & read the details: http://ga3.org/campaign/Gulf Fishing Cartoon- Gabby Goes Fishing - 1941 (days of yesteryear): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIOwI89VVFE ~Whilst everybody is up in arms about GM crops, spare a thought for the millions of farmed salmon, cod, trout, etcetera that escape from fish farms, which then go on to breed with the wild populations of these fish and alter their genes irrevocably.~ anonymous |
| Posted 7/16/2007 6:45 PM CDT A&E’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” Special… "The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter". For those who missed it, or for those who want to see it once more, the footage is now online for viewing pleasure! The special featured behind-the-scenes and on the set footage along with cast and crew interviews, insight from the past Potter films: HP and the Order of the Phoenix - Behind The Scenes - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCw8Oqcv5LA&mode=user&search= HP and the Order of the Phoenix - Behind The Scenes - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uUZsZaOYtI&mode=related&search= HP and the Order of the Phoenix - Behind The Scenes - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A9RHIZ1X1o&mode=related&search= HP and the Order of the Phoenix - Behind The Scenes - Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q0yTudDvQw&mode=related&search= HP and the Order of the Phoenix - Behind The Scenes - Part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNpFA-wUps0 Drunken Rats Nibble Toes: Authorities in India say rats are gnawing at beer cans and making holes in caps of whisky bottles stored in police storehouses in the east of the country and apparently getting drunk. Kundan Krishnan, a senior officer says the rodents' love for liquor has the police department in Bihar state stumped as it tries to store hundreds of bottles seized from illegal sellers from across the state in Patna, the state capital. "We are fed up with these drunk rats and cannot explain why they have suddenly turned to consumption of alcohol," he said. The problem costs revenue as the seized liquor is usually sold through auctions, he said. Rats were also attacking people near the police buildings, nibbling at their toes, although it was not clear if they were under the influence, officials and witnesses indicated. http://domsweirdnews.blogspot.com/2007/06/drunken-rats.html http://www.thebizofknowledge.com/2007/06/rats_get_drunk_on_seized_liquo.html Laughing Rats On YOUTUBE: When was the last time you heard an animal laugh? Did you even know they could? This short video tells the story of how they realized animals do laugh, and thoroughly enjoy tickling games. By installing "bat detectors" that bring sound into human auditory range, they were able to determine that these rats are indeed laughing it up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-admRGFVNM Lake Lady Bird / Lady Bird Lake? : So much has been said about Lady Bird Johnson that I’ll simply summarize the thoughts and sentiments with – Everyone respected and admired her, especially her accomplishments in creating natural beauty in Texas (especially Austin). Her determined efforts made ‘real’ changes all around Town Lake. These were extremely important. We have, all too often, taken them for granted. [ My Comment: Why not name the “Hike and Bike Trail” after her and then spend some ‘real’ money in upgrading the quality and quantity of what’s there. Leave the name ‘Town Lake’ alone. Just changing a name that means so much to all of us is a way to pay homage ‘without concretely furthering’ what she really valued (e.g., the sides of the trail are eroding, the greenery needs care, and the trail network needs expansion to better include the greenbelt, etc.). New Yorkers bemoan the lose of their “Idlewild Airport” (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) – let us not lose a name that so very many of us hold dear.] Note: We’ve heard from many of those favoring the renaming of Town Lake. Let’s hear from some of those who prefer different ways of paying our respects. Write a letter to the editor. http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared/news/stories/ladybird/07/14/0713NAMING.html http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/07/14/0714townlake_edit.html http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/feedback/lettersubmit.html Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Texas To Undercut Renewable Energy: With Texas air pollution as bad as it is, you'd think the state's energy planners would emphasize development of clean sources of electricity. But a draft rule at the Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Texas states "The commission does not find it appropriate at this time to give preference to plants that have no air emissions". What?! As early as this Friday, the PUC will make major decisions about the future of renewable energy in Texas. Tell the PUC to insist upon a new energy future by signing on to our petition today. To sign the petition, click on the link: https://www.environmenttexas.org/action/clean-energy/puc?id4=ES Everything Emits Radiation—Even You: The average American gets a dose of around 360 millirems of radiation per year—roughly the equivalent of 36 X-rays. About 200 millirems of that comes from radon gas, a colorless, odorless by-product of natural uranium, found in trace amounts almost everywhere. Medical X-rays come in second place, dosing a person with 53 millirems a year on average. The next biggest external source of radiation is, well, pretty much everything around us, contributing about 28 millirems per year….. For example, all living things require potassium, and one out of every 8,550 potassium atoms is radioactive potassium-40, meaning that all food emits a little bit of radiation. Since bananas happen to be high in potassium, they are actually one of the most radioactive foods….Consumer products like smoke detectors—which rely on a small alpha-particle-emitting lump of americium-241—add 10 millirems per year. http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jun/life-is-rad 300 Million Year Old Forest Preserved: A spectacular fossilized forest has transformed our understanding of the ecology of the Earth's ancient rainforests. It is 300 million years old & is composed of a bizarre mixture of extinct plants and animals: abundant club mosses, more than 40 metres high, towering over a sub-canopy of tree ferns, intermixed with shrubs and tree-sized horsetails….and 9-foot millipedes, 6 foot lobster-like creatures, etcetera. Nowhere else on the planet is it possible to (literally) walk through such an extensive swathe of Carboniferous rainforest….15 square miles in an Illinois coal mine. The fossilized forest was preserved following a major earthquake 300 million years ago. The quake caused the whole region to drop below sea level whereupon the forest became buried in mud, preserving it forever. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070423080506.htm http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/070423_fossil_forest.html Unnatural Disasters: Which parts of the U.S. have put themselves in nature's way? When natural disasters strike, how much of the damage is really due to human decisions that have created an environmental and infrastructure house of cards just waiting to collapse? Now there's a way to find out. Sure, Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster, but the damage was magnified by neglected levees, over-developed wetlands, and other human decisions that led to widespread devastation and toxic spills. To find out where the next "unnatural disaster" is most likely to strike the United States, mouse over or click on this great interactive map that will show you the good news and the bad news about key areas in the U.S. Click on: http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/11/18/map/index.html?source=daily Apple iPod & iPhone Asian Manufacturing Chain: 451 parts go into each iPod. And if anything, the iPhone is an even more complicated device! And, as you might guess, there is a very direct connection to Asia in there, too.…Japan: The most expensive component in the iPod is its hard drive, which is manufactured by a Japanese company — Toshiba…The Philippines: Of course, Toshiba makes a lot of its hard drives in the Philippines…South Korea: Samsung provides the iPhone's main processor. In other words, South Korea provides the device's "brain"…Taiwan: Apple outsources the entire iPhone manufacturing process to several Taiwanese companies: Asustek, Inventec Appliances and Foxconn…China: In turn, those three Taiwanese companies have most of their factories in mainland China. In fact, Foxconn has a manufacturing center in Longhua, China that is so large it has been nicknamed iPod City. It's a massive complex where 200,000 Chinese work and sleep. http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/press.asp?rls_id=847&cat_id=6& Picture Of Rare Clouds: Mammatus clouds are rare, pouch-like structures that form in sinking air, often near a thunderstorm. Mammatus are usually associated with severe weather, but they do not mean a tornado or other major storm is approaching. Often, mammatus clouds appear after the worst part of a thunderstorm is over. http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Rare-Pouch-Like-Cloud-Formations-18538.aspx Driftwood Horses: You’ve got to see it to believe it: http://www.rense.com/general70/drift.htm Different Take on Death From Carl Jung: In this YouTube video, renowned psychologist Carl Jung shares his thoughts about death. He gives his view that death is just as psychologically important as birth. Death is not necessarily an "end," he says, because the psyche isn't entirely confined to space and time (for instance, you can see dreams and visions of future). The psyche may serve a practical continuation of life beyond time and space, and, as such, Jung believes death should be regarded as a goal and something to look forward to. No matter what your personal beliefs are, this video is sure to get you thinking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eenmBDU_k3o http://www.mercola.com/2007/feb/6/a-different-take-on-death-from-carl-jung.htm You CAN Change the World: The following is written on the tomb of an Anglican Bishop in Westminster Abby (1100 A.D): "When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country. But it, too, seemed immovable. As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it. And now, as I lie on my deathbed, I suddenly realize: If I had only changed myself first, then by example I would have changed my family. From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my country, and who knows, I may have even changed the world." http://www.positivepath.net/ideasMA11.asp ~The negative principle negates. The positive principle creates. The negative principle doubts while the positive believes. The negative accepts defeat: the positive goes for victory.~ Norman Vincent Peale p.s.- Senators want to add AgJobs Amnesty to Farm Bill! : Stymied in their attempts to pass a massive increase in immigration, proponents of this notion are trying to attach pieces of the "comprehensive" bill to funding legislation. A major effort is underway to include the AgJobs bill as part of the 2007 Farm Bill Reauthorization. [ My Comment: Despite what the agricultural lobbyists say, I have a friend who lives north of San Francisco who observes that the vineyard owners always have trouble keeping pickers in the fields for successive seasonal time periods of intensive labor because the previous season’s ‘illegals’ have all gotten jobs in town and don’t need to return to the fields. Only a seasonal guest worker program that requires the farm laborers to return to Mexico will work for our agricultural worker needs. Amnesty will not solve the growers’ problems.] http://capwiz.com/caps/issues/alert/?alertid=10009191 |
| Posted 7/12/2007 5:52 PM CDT Mr. Kennedy (cc: Cornyn and Hutchinson), I am an immigrant from Mexico. My parents brought us to this country in 1956, and when the papers were given to us, I read them and there was a clause that stated: YOU SHALL NOT BE A BURDEN TO THE COUNTRY YOU ARE GOING TO. My parents worked hard to achieve their dreams. We were not poor in Mexico, but my mother wanted a better life for the family. We have done well and the reason for my letter is as follows: You should stop giving the U.S. away!!! You have pushed for seven amnesties already. Should it not stop? If you give these millions of illegal immigrants amnesty again, are we the citizens of this country ready to feed them? I say this because as soon as they come into this country they go directly to government housing because they are"homeless", get food stamps because they are "unemployed", medicaid for the same reason and so on. I say this because I have seen it while working for a utility company where I saw people living in Reynosa, Mexico (across the Rio Grande River in south Texas) coming to town (Pharr TX) to collect the food stamps the checks from Hidalgo county to pay for the light bill, water bill, gas bill. Not everybody that enters the country illegally come to work, a large number come for the" freebies" and the good old USA has a lot of that, all thanks to you Democrats. It is alright to give to the poor, but to the poor of this country not the people coming in, especially illegally. Then they proclaim "rights" what rights do they have???? A son or daughter brings his or her parents at the ripe age of 60-62 years of age to the USA and three later when this elderly people reach the age of 65 they get SSI which is about $700.00 to $900.00 per month, food stamps, housing(section 8) and maybe the apartments are owned by the same son or daughter who receives the check from the government to pay for his parents rent? Mexico does not offer these benefits why should the US? We (the utility employees) heard the elderly people born here who for one reason or another had no money at the same age that this immigrants (65 yrs of age) and the US gives them a meager $200.00 social security check. Should they not receive more than people who just walked in?? Taking the easy way out by giving in to these illegals just because they march and protest, hide in churches, and waive Mexican flags. which incidentally should be flown in Mexico not here. Does Mexico fly American flags? NO WAY! Stop it Mr.Kennedy! Think about it! You are an American, don't do what Mexico did when they allowed the Americans into Texas only to be surprised when the anglos took over. Do not let Mexicans do the same to you. I have lost my respect for you. I am for helping others, and I do when the occasion occurs; however, rewarding the people for entering this country illegally is wrong and you know it. A very disappointed U. S. citizen, --------- ---------- As’TWere: Headlines #48 – YOUTUBE: Mexican Army Soldiers Vs. Narco-terrorists… YOUTUBE: Mexican Army Soldiers Vs. Narco-terrorists… This is the script that goes with the video … “That is the way the federal army elements counterattacked against the refusal of the drug dealers to put down there arms in Apatzingan Michoacan Mexico. Barricaded inside a house in Miguel Hidalgo subdivision, the armed men attacked the army soldies in operation Nixa. The response from the army was immediate. The confrontation lasted more than an hour and forty minutes. The confiscated arms inside the house were presented to the commisary listed as follows: on hand grenade, a colt shotgun caliber 5.56, two AK47s caliber 7.67x39, three guns caliber 38, seven hundred and forty seven shells of different calibers, two clips for guns and rifles. The investigation continues. The wounded soldiers were treated in the infirmary of miltary zone 43. The images were taken by S. Alverado and Avila.” Click to watch and listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN3i8_8NxUs&mode=related&search= Do ProAmnesty Forces Back North American Union (NAU)?: Not so well known is the fact that supporters of the NAU concept slipped an initiative into the recently defeated immigration reform act. Largely unnoticed amidst the amnesty furor that ultimately sunk the Immigration Bill was the statement: “It is the sense of Congress that the United States and Mexico should accelerate the implementation of the Partnership for Prosperity to help generate economic growth and improve the standard of living in Mexico…” Note -- The bill called for measures to boost the economy of Mexico, including: · U.S. support for Mexico, to strengthen its education and training programs. · A call for better health care for "poor and underserved" people in Mexico. · And U.S. assistance to "establish a program with the private sector to cover the health care needs of Mexican nationals temporarily employed in the United States." · The bill also called for U.S. assistance to Mexican businesses and government to eliminate corruption, which it termed, "the single biggest obstacle to development." [ My Comment: By itself, it sounds decent. But when you take it in conjunction with the Security and Prosperity Partnership “initiative”, you get a better sense of its potential breath and depth.] http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/7/9/140357.shtml?s=al&promo_code=36D4-1 Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP): The SPP is a White House-led initiative among the United States and the two nations it borders – Canada and Mexico – to increase security and to enhance prosperity among the three countries through greater cooperation. The SPP is based on the principle that our prosperity is dependent on our security and recognizes that our three great nations share a belief in freedom, economic opportunity, and strong democratic institutions. The SPP outlines a comprehensive agenda for cooperation among our three countries while respecting the sovereignty and unique cultural heritage of each nation. The SPP provides a vehicle by which the United States, Canada, and Mexico can identify and resolve unnecessary obstacles to trade and it provides a means to improve our response to emergencies and increase security, thus benefiting and protecting Americans. Some other SPP plans include: · Creating a North American Pandemic Influenza Plan; · Facilitating cross-border travel; · Establishing Social Security totalization for Mexican aliens working in the United States; · Creating a Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) superhighway with truck, car, and train lanes running from Mexico to Canada. http://www.spp.gov/ http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/7/9/140357.shtml?s=al&promo_code=36D4-1 Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) Facilitates TTC: U.S. President George W. Bush, former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, and former Mexican President Vicente Fox authorized the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). Most Americans have little to no knowledge of this seemingly innocuous sounding unofficial treaty and therefore believe there is little reason to be alarmed… Legally, a treaty would require a two-thirds majority of the U.S. Senate to concur for its ratification as determined by the U.S. Constitution…The goals of the SPP agenda largely include a call for unprecedented cooperation with respect to all three governments' commerce and trade… The facilitation of the SPP will stem from the use of the U.S. interstate highway system providing the roads for inter-continental and interstate commerce… http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/grassi/070504 Perry & TTC: Rick Perry has vetoed a series of bills passed by the Texas Legislature, thus clearing the way for the Texas Department of Transportation to begin construction on the four-football-fields-wide new Trans-Texas Corridor TTC-35 (parallel to I-35) from the Mexican border at Laredo north to the Oklahoma border south of Oklahoma City. He vetoed an “eminent-domain reform bill” passed by the Legislature. “He” said that provisions in the bill would have made prohibitively expensive the acquisition of the thousands of acres of private land needed to construct the Trans-Texas corridor. With this veto, Governor Perry has left every home, farm, ranch and small-business owner vulnerable to the abuse of eminent domain “aka” private-to-private transfers of property using eminent domain. A month earlier Perry vetoed a measure that would have imposed a two-year moratorium on beginning construction on the Trans-Texas Corridor parallel to Interstate 35…. claiming that the bill "jeopardizes billions of dollars of infrastructure investment and invites a potentially significant reduction in federal transportation funding." http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56304 http://ttc.keeptexasmoving.com/faqs/?faq_type=1 http://www.star-telegram.com/245/story/164306.html TTC Collaborators: The TTC collaboration began in 2002 in Texas Governor Richard Perry's chambers, where state legislators and taxpayers were deliberately cut out of negotiations and the bidding process. Negotiations began with the Spanish engineering transportation construction firm, Cintra Concesiones de Infrastructures de Transporte, S.A., a subsidiary of the Grupo Ferrovial, which specializes in toll roads and car parks and considered a leading developer of private-sector infrastructure throughout Europe. http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/grassi/070504 http://www.numbersusa.com/news?ID=7872 Giuliani As A NAFTA / “TTC Corridor” Promoter: The citizens of Texas only as recently as February 2007 began to attend state legislative hearings where many state lawmakers themselves were beginning to become familiar with the Cintra contracts. Several have called for a moratorium on at least the TTC-35 project, envisioned as a high-speed highway, until they can evaluate issues such as eminent domain, cost benefit analysis, environmental impact and homeland security ramifications. Most interesting to the whole story is not only has Mr. Giuliani's involvement in the NAFTA Superhighway not ever having been publicly addressed, but how a foreign company is awarded the building of a mass highway system, versus maintaining it, for the first time in U.S. history, and negotiated by the law firm of the top Republican candidate running for President of the United States. And truly disturbing is how such will not only have national and homeland security and sovereignty implications but how it is deliberately being kept away from the Halls of Congress. He owns Giuliani Partners, Giuliani Safety & Security and Giuliani Capital Advisors, a former Ernst & Young finance company he purchased in 2002, to Macquerie Infrastructure Consortium. Not coincidentally, it is a partner of Cintra's in its shared operations of toll roads in both Indiana and Chicago. http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/grassi/070504 NAFTA Anthem: Click to listen… http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/atc30/humor/index.html  ~ Average real wages in Mexican manufacturing are actually lower than they were ten years ago. Two and a half million farmers and their families have been driven out of their local markets and off their land by heavily subsidized US and Canadian agribusiness... ~ David Sirota |
| Posted 7/9/2007 6:05 PM CDT USA "Lone Wolf" Businesses Exceed 20 Million: The number of "lone wolf" businesses – one-person ventures without a payroll – has reached 20.4 million… an average of 2,356 Americans per day go into business for themselves. Businesses without paid employees, known as "lone wolves," had receipts of $951 billion and made up approximately 78 percent of the nation's 26 million-plus firms in 2005. Typical types of lone wolf businesses range from home-based businesses to corner stores or construction contractors. http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/a/217648.htm?nl=1 ‘Life Hackers’ / American Heroes Reinvented: A reiteration of an age-old American obsession with life improvement and personal reinvention to make life more satisfying is evident with a group called ‘life hackers’. They note that sometimes shortcut solutions for routine but time-consuming problems is best found by not worrying about the entire problem, but finding a small fix to get through the task at hand. Sometimes a ‘quick and dirty’ quick fix is best. And while much of this subculture centers on technology, some devotees are keen on a surprising tool: paper. They often carry around a stack of index cards instead of a digital organizer. The simplest solutions can be the savviest. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1635844,00.html http://lifehacker.com/ http://www.43folders.com/ http://www.lifehack.org/ See: Low Tech Organizers @http://asiseeit.austin360blogs.com/archive.aspx?y=2007&m=11/4th Young Adults Have No Landline: More than a quarter of young adults have only cell phones, making them the leading edge of a strengthening move away from traditional landline telephones, a federal survey showed. Overall, the portion of adults with only cell phones grew by more than 2 percentage points in the latter half of last year to nearly 12 percent, an expansion rate that began in the first part of 2006 and was double earlier rates of growth. One in four people aged 18 to 24 had only cell phones, as did 29 percent of those aged 25 to 29. http://www.toptechnews.com/news/Study--Many-Abandoning-the-Land-Line/story.xhtml?story_id=0020002BEXC4 Swap Your Cell Phone Contract: Want to drop your cell phone contract, but can’t afford a high termination fee, try: http://www.cellswapper.com/ http://www.celltradeusa.com/ Note: By paying a modest service fee of $10-15, you’ll be matched with someone with a good credit rating…the criteria that the cell phone company wants before allowing the swap. MySpace.Com / Etcetera: One-third of teens and preteens who use the internet regularly have posted their real names, phone numbers, or home addresses on MySpace or other social networking sites http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-01-08-myspace-teens_x.htm http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/2006-03-08-generation-gap_x.htm Fight Over Paid Sick Days: Nearly half of American workers do not receive paid sick days. None…. means that many low-paid workers have no choice but to work sick – 86% of food-service workers. A bill before Congress deals with this subject. [H.R. 1542: To provide for paid sick leave to ensure that Americans can address their own health...] http://tinyurl.com/y3ed6j Don’t Blame The Pay Gap Entirely On Sexism: Each year during “Equal Pay Day”, feminists tout studies showing that women make only 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. What they don’t mention is that the ‘same’ studies also show that this discrepancy can be traced to factors other than sexism…. that go to different choices that men and women make. For men and women who never marry and never have children, there is no earnings gap. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0704280090apr29,1,3533131.column?ctrack=1&cset=true Are You An Early Riser Who Gets Their ‘8 Hours’?: Although the habit or preference of being an early riser versus a snooze-alarm-puncher is a highly individual choice, there are some real benefits to being an early riser. Even if you're the type who squeezes the pillow until the very last moment, when it's either get up or get fired, it is possible to learn to be an early riser. The trick is making it worth something to you. http://zenhabits.net/2007/05/10-benefits-of-rising-early-and-how-to-do-it/ http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Benefits-of-Being-an-Early-Riser--and-How-to-do-It-17886.aspx TV Harms Attention Span: Teenagers who watch several hours of television a day do worse at school and are less likely to graduate than their peers. Nearly one-third of those who watched many hours of television fell behind or failed to graduate by age 22. By comparison, only 10% of the teens who watched less than an hour of TV a day went on to perform poorly in school or drop out. Those who watched three hours or more hours of TV had an 82% greater chance of not graduating or falling behind compared with teens who watched less than an hour – even after controlling for other factors, such as the learning difficulties the teens had at age 14 and their socio-economical status. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11803-too-much-tv-may-result-in-academic-failure.html Americans “Dumb And Dumber” Than Ever?: 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college. 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year. 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years. http://www.humorwriters.org/startlingstats.html HPV Vaccine’s Adverse Reactions: Amid controversy, Merck's new vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV), severe side effects are being reported. 1,637 adverse reactions have been reported by Judicial Watch, a public interest watchdog, including three girls who died shortly after receiving the immunization. In Australia, 25 girls who had just received their first injection of the vaccine experienced headache, nausea, and dizziness. In some cases, the problems were so severe that they were hospitalized. [ My Comment: From years of public school teaching career, I’d still recommend that females with high risk sexual behavior take this vaccine.] Read the article / especially about immune systems: http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Three-Girls-Died--Others-Hospitalized--After-HPV-Vaccine-21325.aspx Teens Make Life Easy For STDs: The attached map represents 18 months of hookups and breakups at a Midwestern high school from “a virus’s point of view”. Boys are in blue, girls are in pink, and they are connected by the possibilities for viral transmission. The map contains no direct links—dark blue lines indicate that two students can infect each other through shared lovers, while gray arrows represent one-way transmission. Click on: http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jul/map-high-school-hookups Naming Your Baby: Steer clear of ‘androgynous’ sounding names, avoid foreign sounding names, don’t be too cute, and Google the name first because there may be connotations attached to the name you’re unaware of. http://www.child.com/ Leavening the news with “audio editorial cartoons”: http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/atc30/humor/index.html ~Even if you’re on the ‘right track’, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.~ Will Rogers |
| Posted 7/7/2007 2:25 PM CDT Greedy U.S. Corporations Opposing New Rights For Chinese Workers: American concerns about the environment and labor conditions in third-world countries are not shared by U.S. corporations. When China announced a major revision of its labor laws, (that would eliminate many of the worst workplace abuses in the Chinese system) the so-called “advocates of free trade”, far from welcoming this Chinese effort to "harmonize" American and Chinese standards, have been viciously lobbying China not to enact these laws and saying that, if China raises its standards, they will move their factories elsewhere. Companies like Wal-Mart, Microsoft, and AT&T, acting through the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and the U.S.-China Business Council, have been working for months to block this new law.… where “globalization” is simply the pretext for the race to the bottom. [ My Comment: This puts American workers in competition with workers who are deprived of fundamental human rights in a very depressed labor market. No wonder US corporate executives earn such huge salaries…while our ‘payoff’ is shopping at Wal-Mart.] http://www.sierraclub.org/carlpope/2007/07/getting-trade-right.asp http://laborstrategies.blogs.com/global_labor_strategies/files/behind_the_great_wall_of_china.pdf http://tinyurl.com/2b5emk http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3824 “Wal-Mart” Is #1 Importer Of Chinese Goods… and drives American companies to shut down plants and move manufacturing to China. Meanwhile, they're on their way to becoming the largest seller of organic goods, many of which are produced in countries such as China, where the standards for organic farming are, at the very best, “dubious”. Wal-Mart sells substandard organic food, produced at factory farms. The accusations are well-founded, and the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) has called on consumers to boycott Wal-Mart for degrading the organic standards. According to OCA, despite their requests to Wal-Mart to stop, the mega-store chain is: 1) Selling Horizon and Aurora Organic milk that comes from intensive confinement factory farm dairies; 2) Importing cheap organic foods and ingredients from China and Brazil; 3) Posting signs in its stores that mislead consumers into believing that non-organic items are actually organic. [ NOTE: 80% of Wal-Mart’s suppliers are in China.] http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Wal-Mart-Gets-Stronger-While-America-Gets-Weaker-21289.aspx Watch 5-part “Is Wal-Mart Good for America?” On YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tI3B-AQZWk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_OaeuaaQls&mode=related&search= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D0nyUG-80w&mode=related&search= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dod6c3NkVM&mode=related&search= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wryp3jx-PY&mode=related&search= The Movie: “Wal-Mart:The High Cost of Low Price”: Robert Greenwald's unflattering documentary criticizes Wal-Mart’s wages, health insurance and treatment of workers…and alienates the very consumers it needs to keep growing ( Americans motivated not just by price, but by image). [ My Comment: Try Costco.] Tough Questions for a Wal-Mart Propagandist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzpOS5WAMzU&mode=related&search= You can get a civics lesson on the perils of the growth of Wal-Mart by watching Greenwald's excellent documentary for “free” (after opening up the link, click on the play button): http://www.mercola.com/2007/feb/13/wal-marts-predatory-business-practices-exposed.htm TEXAS: 4,363 Children of WAL-MART Employees on CHIP: "The Center for Public Policy Priorities, a non-partisan research center based in Austin, has obtained data on the 20 employers in the state with the largest number of employees whose dependents participate in the Children's Health Insurance Program. (Employer data for Medicaid are not available.) The data for February 2005 show Wal-Mart at the top of the list, with 2,333 employee families in CHIP, with an estimated 4,363 individual children enrolled." [ In counties where Wal-Mart stores are located, more than 15% of families depend on food stamps, compared to the national norm of 8%.] http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/03_40/b3852001_mz001.htm?chan=mz&# http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwC9b5FDo-8&mode=related&search= Confessions of a Wal-Mart Hit Man:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mQH9DloKD8&mode=related&search=The Diffusion of Wal-Mart and Economies of Density: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGzHBtoVvpc There’s More On YOUTUBE About Wal-Mart (if this wasn’t enough) Another Case For “Country-Of-Origin-Labeling” (COOL): As its global food exports ramp up, China is raising food-safety standards, but enforcement is another issue. China has a population of 200 million small farmers--an astounding number--and they "want to increase quantity, not quality, so they use more chemical fertilizer and pesticide," says Hu Dinghuan, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing. "The government says the worst pesticides are banned, but actually farmers can still buy them, and they do use them." http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1638436-1,00.html Take Action: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/fwwatch/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6119 China’s Stinkest Export: China is the world’s biggest polluter, and thanks to prevailing winds they share almost as much of this as they do their products… up to 40% of the air pollution on our West Coast originates in China. And it’s getting worse. http://tinyurl.com/f9ao3 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1074119,00.html China’s Trading Partners:Countries trading with China don’t all have a trade deficit.http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/china_patterns/ http://rationalrevolution.net/images/chinatrade03.gif http://big5.fmprc.gov.cn/gate/big5/au.china-embassy.org/eng/zggk/W020050711483039691915.bmp China’s Success In Population Control: The People's Republic of China launched, in the 1970s, its third birth control campaign, after largely unsuccessful efforts in the previous two decades. The goal was for China's population to be under 1.2 billion people in the year 2000, to be achieved by the 'one family, one child' policy. This 1.2 billion target was in fact reached in early 1995. http://www.freetibet.org/info/facts/fact6.html Victory For Contraception: The US House of Representatives passed H.R. 2674 that eases harmful restrictions on international family planning and reproductive health programs. The bill included a critical amendment to exempt contraceptives from the Global Gag Rule (aka “The Mexico City Policy” was instituted by United States to make the issue of abortion a condition for providing funds from the US foreign aid agency USAID). H.R. 2674 would allow foreign NGO's (Nongovernmental organizations) to receive US-donated contraceptives, even if the organizations are ineligible for other US assistance under the rule. [ My Comment: To condemn abortion while curtailing contraception is the height of hypocrisy….also, to deny the use of condoms to prevent the spread of disease as well as curb overpopulation in third world countries is equally regressive thinking.] http://sierra.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=23241.0&dlv_id=24201 http://www.globalgagrule.org/ http://www.sierraclub.org/population/global_gag_rule/ http://www.ngo.org/index2.htm http://ihp.org/ Click here to see how your representative voted: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll533.xml Go here to express your approval/disapproval: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ Globalization Humor: http://www.topplebush.com/joke97.shtml NOTE: Evidently, this subject is so ‘serious’ that little real humor exists. This was the best I could find. ~It has been said that arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity~ Kofi Annan .P.S.- The Apple iPhone is manufactured in China / not Taiwan. |
| Posted 7/3/2007 6:55 PM CDT Are Illegal Aliens Really Just Undocumented Americans!!! Senator Harry Reid calls the estimated 12+ million illegal aliens in our country “12 million undocumented Americans” in a video embedded prominently on his web site (this removes the possibility that Reid merely misspoke). It’s what he meant to say. Which means that he’s far, far out in front on the ‘amnesty gambit’. He already thinks of anyone who gets here ‘by hook or by crook’ as an American / a citizen. [ My Comment: Sheesh! We’ve gone from ‘illegal aliens’ to the politically correctness of ‘illegal immigrants’ to ‘undocumented immigrants’ to ‘undocumented workers’ and now to “undocumented Americans”.] Click on this link to see & hear it from his own lips/mouth: http://hotair.com/archives/2007/06/05/video-reid-calls-illegals-12-million-undocumented-americans/ Texas Senators Say Borders Need To Be Secured First: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Sen. John Cornyn placed blame for the collapse of immigration reform and border security measures in the U.S. Senate this week on a flawed bill and public skepticism. Both Republican senators from Texas said Thursday that Congress should get back to work on a plan to secure the border and create a sensible temporary worker program. “Our work is not done, and the problem remains,” Cornyn said during an afternoon conference call with Texas reporters. “We need to break this down in smaller pieces — start with border security, document fraud and identity theft and try to regain the confidence of the American people.” http://web.theparisnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=7344817706fa8810 Texas Congressman Say Borders Need To Be Secured First: Lamar Smith (R-TX) and others unveiled the Secure Borders FIRST Act of 2007 that shows what a real immigration bill should look like. Enforcement, enforcement and enforcement. No special favors for big business. No special favors to the Mexican government. No special favors and the selling of US citizenship to those who have broken into our country illegally and marched through our streets. http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/002361.html http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_6183640 Immigration Laws Likely To Go Local: The collapse of congressional efforts to overhaul the nation's immigration laws is expected to dramatically accelerate an effort by state and local governments to take matters into their own hands to deal with the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants. The result, advocates on both sides of the issue say, could be a patchwork of laws and ordinances with vastly different approaches -- ranging from measures that harshly penalize illegal immigrants and their employers to the spread of "sanctuary cities" that prohibit police from questioning suspects about their immigration status. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07181/798324-84.stm http://tinyurl.com/2ltzpb http://www.bradenton.com/280/story/87680.html Thoughtful Internet Users Helped Defeat Unwieldy Immigration Bill: Primarily because of the internet, people who had the interest were able to actually take the time and spend the energy required to read and understand the bill. They were then able to leverage their understanding via the Blogosphere to allow a multitude of engaged individuals to piggy back on their expertise. The Comprehensive Immigration Bill did not fail because people did not support its aims but because once people examined the bill, they noticed that it was not designed to do what it said it would do and in fact was a disastrous mélange of mismatched pieces that would have exacerbated every problem we currently face with illegal immigration. http://attackmachine.com/blog/2007/06/30/democracy-will-neve-be-the-same/ Prior To Immigration Bill’s Defeat Democratic Support Was Slipping: Besides the stalwart offensive by conservative Americans, Democrats were…also wary of its border-security provisions, its impact on American workers and its sprawling scope. Democrats share some concerns with Republicans. Bayh would liked to have seen improved border-security provisions, although the bill included $4.4 billion to spend on such measures. Tester and Stabenow objected to the broad scope of the bill, and said they would have preferred a focus on border security…they think “the stuff with border security and port security is fine, but everything else in that bill from my perspective is already taken care of in current law," Tester said. "And if we can't enforce current law, how can we enforce new ones?" http://tinyurl.com/29bwg4 Only 22% Were For Amnesty: Even as the Senate had prepared to resume debate the “comprehensive” immigration reform bill, the legislation faced broad public opposition. In fact, despite a massive White House effort, public opinion had barely moved since the public uproar stalled the bill. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey had found that just 22% of American voters then favored the legislation. That’s down a point from 23% a couple of weeks previously and down from 26% when the debate in the Senate first began. http://www.charlotteconservative.com/index.php/2007/06/2-1-against-amnesty-bill/ A Vote for Cloture = A Vote for Amnesty: Although approximately two dozen amendments were being considered, there were no circumstances under which the “compromise” could have been improved enough to have been worthy of support. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and others made it clear that any provisions in the final bill with which they disagreed would have simply been stripped out during conference committee negotiations anyhow; in other words, just as this bill began in ‘closed-door’ meetings, it would have ended end in ‘closed-door’ meetings. [ My Comment: Someone that I know and trust works for an oil production company. Just prior to the vote on cloture, he overheard his managers being briefed on the new ways that they were to use in circumventing the ‘enforcement’ portion of the immigration bill / that the language in the bill was being ‘tailored’ for businesses to be able to continue employing illegals with minimal difficulty.] http://www.numbersusa.com/hottopic/senateaction0507.html Summary Of Bush-Kennedy Amnesty Bill S. 1639 (previously S. 1348): It was complicated and long—360 pages. Some of the provisions are minutiae, some are technical, and some are even good. But the overall impact of the bill was extremely negative and would move us toward a more crowded, less just America. The bill would not only have provided the largest amnesty for illegal aliens in history, but also lead to a huge increase in overall immigration and fueled massive population growth for the United States. For a summary, click on: http://capsweb.org/newsroom/opinion_releases/Kobach_Senate_Bill.html D.C.’s Capitol Phone System Crashed: On Thursday, June 28th, President Bush's immigration bill suffered a crushing defeat in the Senate, when members voted against advancing the controversial legislation. This was preceded by an overwhelming number of calls from citizens (voicing opposition to the bill’s lack of enforcement of immigration laws & proposed amnesty for illegal immigrants already here) that crashed Capitol Hill’s phone system. Senate The Assistant Sergeant at Arms and Chief Information Officer Terrance Gainer “tried” to indicate that it was caused by a “modest” increase in telephone traffic, but everyone else already knew that the volume of calls preceding the crash was stupendous. http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/modest-increase-calls-crashes-senate-phones-2007-06-28.html More On Amnesty From YOUTUBE: Re: Press One For English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1I-fJn959o&mode=related&search= Ron Paul warns on amnesty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju5Ar2BWAwQ Duncan Hunter on the Senate Immigration Bill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf_TCdzryD8&mode=related&search= No Immigration Deal: http://youtube.com/watch?v=sUPxEXIw488 ~The American people are NOT anti-immigrant. We ARE concerned about the lack of coherence in our immigration policy and enforcement.~ Congressman Chris Cannon |
| Posted 7/1/2007 5:43 PM CDT Fish Raised In Raw Sewage: China, the leading exporter of seafood to the United States, has been found to raise most of its fish in sewage-infested waters. To compensate for the lack of clean water they pump in antibiotics, fungicides and pesticides—many of which are banned carcinogens here in the United States…in the last year, the United States increased its imports of seafood from China by 34%. Meanwhile, one in four Americans gets hit with a food-borne illness each year. About 20% of these cases are due to contaminated seafood. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56004 http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_5702.cfm Microwave Popcorn Bags Contain Carciogenic PFOA: ‘Perfluoroctanoic acid’ is often used to package foods such as popcorn and pizza. Microwave popcorn bags release several hundred times as much of this chemical as does cookware that has been coated with teflon when the paper is heated. New studies indicate that the FDA is underestimating the amount of chemicals such as this that get into our food… 100% of fetal cord blood contains such. [My Comment: Just put popcorn kernels in a small paper sack & microwave. You shouldn't be eating the stuff they add in 'microwavable' bagged popcorn anyway.] http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2005/nov/science/rr_popcorn.html http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2005-11-16-dupont-usat_x.htm Whole Food's Buying Wild Oats??? According to the FTC, Whole Foods chief executive officer told directors that Wild Oats "may not be able to defeat us, but they can still hurt us…it is the only existing company that has the brand and number of stores to be a meaningful springboard for another player to get into this space." [Monopoly talk] In its lawsuit to block the merger, FTC says that a Whole Foods-Wild Oats merger would reduce competition and raise prices for consumers & that maintaining the natural foods market is distinct from the general grocery market…. if the $565 million deal is realized, Whole Foods would close numerous Wild Oats stores, sell others, and operate the remainder as Whole Foods outlets…benefits to the consumer will be lost if the acquisition occurs. [ My Comment: Though this merger is lucrative for both Wild Oats and Whole Foods, I completely agree with the FTC and am against this merger. I do most of my shopping at Sun Harvest aka Henry’s aka Wild Oats. I used to shop at Whole Foods 14 years ago… until it went up ‘in scale’ and ‘in price’. ] Send your letter to: antitrust@ftc.gov http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Business/2007/06/19/upi_newstrack_business/2507/ Action-packed Congress On Climate Policy?: When it comes to global warming, this is looking to be an action-packed Congress. There are no fewer than seven global warming bills under discussion. While the titles make the bills sound very much alike, they differ in both subtle and significant ways. Two resources to help keep it all straight: The elements of strong climate policy. The most important job of climate policy is to cut emissions enough to avoid the worst consequences of a warming planet. Policies that include all four of these elements will allow us achieve that most efficiently. A comparison chart of the bills in the House and Senate. This is a quick summary of the major proposals, with key characteristics called out in a consistent format. http://environmentaldefenseblogs.org/climate411/2007/06/12/bills_in_congress/ http://environmentaldefenseblogs.org/climate411/ https://donate.environmentaldefense.org/01/acx07aa311 Our Texas Senators Voted Against CLEAN Energy Act of 2007: Despite our Texas Senators’ Nay votes, the Clean Energy Act of 2007 passed in the Senate. Of course, considering who their donors are, it’s not surprising that our senators voted against it. What’s embarrassing is their doublespeak & backwards thinking. Example: Hutchison sent me a letter regarding global warming that states “As you know, a large amount of scientific data has been compiled relating to global climate change. A preponderance of this data suggests that greenhouse gases have increased in concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere causing the Earth to warm. However, scientific data also exists that substantiates the view that the Earth is warming due to normal fluctuating temperature cycles. This information suggest that the current warming period of Earth is neither anomalous nor necessarily influenced by human activity…” http://capwiz.com/military/issues/votes/?votenum=226&chamber=S&congress=1101 Humans’ Overbreeding Causing Wildlife Extinctions: Human activities are wiping out three animal or plant species every hour and the world must do more to slow the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14703890/ Are Polar Bears Humanity’s “Canary In The Coal Mine”?: Polar bears are completely dependent on Arctic sea ice to survive, but 80% of that ice will likely be gone before 2040. Polar bears are already suffering the effects: birth rates are falling, fewer cubs are surviving, and more bears are drowning. The Bush Administration's proposal to list the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act is a crucial first step toward ensuring a future for these magnificent Arctic creatures. Yet the administration's proposal does not designate "critical habitat" for protection, even though melting habitat from global warming is the main threat to the polar bear's survival. TAKE ACTION: http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/polarbearsos_0407 Intensive Tequila Farming Harms Biodiversity: A huge and growing appetite for tequila made from Agave tequilana is harming the genetic diversity of other agave species. Furthermore, the area available for traditional food crops is also falling, and the intensive agave farming is leading to soil erosion, creating an overall decline in biodiversity. Local farmers says that traditional agave varieties can be grown with staples such as maize, beans and squash without recourse to herbicides, but Agave tequilana is grown in monocultures that require the use of herbicides…{which goes into the agave and thus the tequila and thus into you}. Mother Jones Good News For Pronghorn Antelope: Few realize that the pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) is a Pleistocene survivor, a relic from the Ice Ages. It is a unique species and the only surviving member of the family Antilocapridae. The pronghorn was discovered by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, in what today is South Dakota. For one small population, the endangered subspecies Sonoran pronghorn (Antilocapra americana sonoriensis), occurring only in Arizona and Mexico, their dying population went from almost 140 animals to 21 pronghorns during the drought of 2002. Now the numbers have moved above 100, at the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona. http://www.nwf.org/endangered/pronghorn.cfm http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/environment/12866.php Sign the Endangered Species Act Legacy Pledge!: The Endangered Species Act is our nation’s most important safety net for wildlife, plants, and fish that are on the brink of extinction. Unfortunately, in recent years both the act and the protections it provides have come under assault from Congress and the Bush administration. Send a message to your elected officials that their constituents support strong protections for our nation’s endangered fish, plants and wildlife, and the special places they call home. http://action.earthjustice.org/campaign/ESA_pledge PetSmart Shows Good Profits: Households shell out an average of $1,571 a year on their dogs alone. And according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, sales of pet products topped $38.5 billion in 2006 — more than double a decade earlier. Reason: More than 69 million U.S. households (63%) own a pet, and 45% of those own two or more... PetSmart is one of just two major pet store chains in the U.S. (Petco is the other). Starting in 2003, the company’s earnings went on a tear — rising 85% that year and 51% in 2004 — before slowing to more sustainable growth rates of 20% in 2005 and 10% in 2006. And they’ve diligently shared this success with their shareholders. In fact, over the past five years, if you had simply reinvested the dividends this stock paid out, you’d have made an eye-popping total return of 21.2% per year! http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/ Endangered Species Humor: http://www.frankandernest.com/cgi/view/display.pl?101-11-08 http://www.frankandernest.com/cgi/view/display.pl?105-09-14 http://www.frankandernest.com/cgi/view/display.pl?92-06-06 http://www.frankandernest.com/cgi/view/display.pl?98-01-30 http://www.frankandernest.com/cgi/view/display.pl?101-01-15 ~Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.~ Dr. Seuss, from The Lorax P.S. — Imam Kavakci, the well publicized prayer leader of the Texas Senate, is going to be in the news again relating to terrorist fundraising issues. Have some fun and read: http://tinyurl.com/yoedpt |
| Posted 6/28/2007 2:48 PM CDT Microwave Popcorn Bags Contain Carciogenic PFOA: ‘Perfluoroctanoic acid’ is often used to package foods such as popcorn and pizza. Microwave popcorn bags release several hundred times as much of this chemical as does cookware that has been coated with teflon when the paper is heated. New studies indicate that the FDA is underestimating the amount of chemicals such as this that get into our food… 100% of fetal cord blood contains such. [My Comment: Just put popcorn kernels in a small paper sack & microwave. You shouldn't be eating the stuff they add in 'microwavable' bagged popcorn anyway.] http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2005/nov/science/rr_popcorn.html http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2005-11-16-dupont-usat_x.htm Another Reason To Vote For “Country-of–origin” labeling: You may be surprised to know that China is actually one of the largest exporters of many drugs and vitamins. About 90% of all vitamin C sold in the United States is from China, for example. They also produce 50% of the world's aspirin and 35% of all Tylenol. Ditto for the majority of vitamins A, B12 and E. Hot on the heels of the poisoned pet food scandal, and reported instances of toxic food and toothpaste, all eyes are now turning toward the Chinese vitamin market. How safe are they? The industry in China appears to be split between top-notch operations and bottom-of-the-barrel producers. Since the United States does NOT require ‘country-of-origin’ labels for any of our drugs, foods or supplements, there is no telling where that vitamin you are taking came from. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003732744_vitamins03.html?syndication=rss Farm Bill Will Weaken Food Safety: Several weeks ago, lawmakers slipped a few words into the Farm Bill that could prevent state and local government from effectively securing the safety of food… by hamstringing state and local food safety efforts by wiping out critical authority on meat, poultry and biotechnology. We've defeated such proposals before, but this was a sneak attack on state laws like those that ban the slaughter of horses for meat or facilitate the removal of spoiled meat and poultry from your grocery store. Tell your lawmaker to remove section 123 from the Farm Bill. Click here: https://secure.npsite.org/cu/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr011=nxt9vkiau7.app5a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1597 USDA To Allow More “Conventional” Ingredients In Organics?: The U.S. Department of Agriculture is proposing to add 38 additional ingredients to the current list of substances permitted for use in organic food products. These ingredients include non-organic colors, starches and oils, which could be used when an organic counterpart is not available. The proposed changes to the list are based on petitions made by industry. According to the USDA, these substances are already in use in organic food production as a result of misinterpretations of current National List regulations. http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_5217.cfm http://www.nrdc.org/health/farming/forg101.asp http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/fwwatch/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=11422 http://www.organicconsumers.org/action.cfm http://www.saveorganicfood.org/ Pharmaceutical And Industrial GE Crops: Most of the genetically engineered (GE) crops currently on the market are food or feed crops that have been modified for agronomic purposes—to better repel pests or to be compatible with chemical pesticides. A new generation of crops is now being modified for different purposes—to produce medicines or industrial compounds such as plastics. Many of these substances are being produced in corn and other food crops visually indistinguishable from their non-industrial counterparts. Contamination of food crops with drugs or industrial chemicals could occur through seed mixing and cross-pollination. The potential contamination of food crops with the hundreds, if not thousands, of drugs or industrial compounds promised by this industry poses new and serious risks to the safety of the food system. Pharmaceutical and industrial compounds also pose potentially serious risks if released into the environment. http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/genetic_engineering/ucs-position-paper.html http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/genetic_engineering/pharma-crop-approvals-in-the-united-states.html http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/genetic_engineering/pharma-petition-to-usda.html#sign Soda Pop Can Damage Your DNA: Research from a British university suggests that ‘sodium benzoate’, a common preservative found in many soft drinks, has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA. This could eventually lead to diseases such as Parkinson's. When a UK professor of molecular biology and biotechnology tested the impact of sodium benzoate on living yeast cells, he discovered that it was damaging important DNA in the cells' mitochondria. Mitochondria serve as the "power stations" for cells, and damage to them can lead to serious cell malfunctions associated with aging and age-related disease. The damage caused by sodium benzoate was great enough to cause the mitochondria to stop functioning. Sodium benzoate occurs naturally in berries in small amounts, but is used in large quantities to prevent mold in soft drinks such as Sprite, Diet Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and Dr Pepper. It is also added to pickles and sauces. [My Comment: Besides the calories and calcium depleting qualities of soda, I’d hope that this would finally be enough turn people away from soda.] http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article2586652.ece Foods Are Getting Sweeter: Food companies have doubled the amount of sugar they add to many of their products. Breakfast cereals have seen some of the biggest increases, but even whole grain bread now routinely contains almost a ‘teaspoon’ of sugar in every three slices. In 1978, Kellogg's Special K contained about 10 grams of sugar for every 100 grams of cereal (10%), but that amount has now increased to 17 grams (17%), very close to the sugar level of vanilla ice cream. Over the same period, the sugar per 100 grams in tomato soup has increased from less than 3 grams to more than 6 grams. Processed foods contain some of the highest sugar content, often with levels close to or higher than 20 grams of sugar per 100 grams of food (20%). [ Comment: Blame farm subsidies… as shown in my previous blogs.] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1752342.ece Dental Problem For Tots: Preschoolers today are more likely to have cavities than children did in the early 1990s according to the most comprehensive government report on oral health in 25 years…. but overall, dental health in this country is improving, with fewer cavities in older kids and teens and fewer adults with gum disease, say CDC researchers. http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-04-30-tooth_N.htm Nutritional Self-Nurturing: The typical American diet is too high in ‘acid-based foods’ --- animal fats, meat, and sugars. ‘alkaline-based foods’ include most fruits and vegetables. The best general guideline for selecting foods to eat in this regards is to keep ‘alkaline-based foods at 3/4ths of your daily diet. Both physicians and dentists agree on this point. http://energytimes.com/ The Dieter's Dilemma: A remarkable 41 percent of U.S. adults are trying to lose weight—and their average goal is 37 pounds, according to a Consumer Reports survey. (Two thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese.) Small wonder they're tempted to try such, um, unusual regimens as: The Astrology Diet; The Blood-Type Diet; Single-Food Diets; The Maple-Syrup Diet; Detox Diets.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18754289/site/newsweek/Drug Safety Bill To House Floor: Thanks to tens of thousands of messages, calls and personal visits, real drug safety reform will go to the House floor for a vote in early July. Have you asked your lawmaker to fix the FDA and make drugs safer? We have momentum--we just need to nudge this over the final hurdle! Read This: https://secure.npsite.org/cu/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1603 ~The only way for a rich man to be healthy is by exercise and abstinence, to live as if he were poor.~ Paul Dudley White |
| Posted 6/25/2007 7:14 AM CDT Iraq War Timeline: In this timeline, is assembled events related to the history of the Iraq War to help resolve open questions. What did our leaders know and when did they know it? And, perhaps just as important, what red flags did we miss, and how could we have missed them? This is the second installment of the timeline, with a focus on how the war was lost in the first 100 days. http://www.motherjones.com/bush_war_timeline/ Why Is Bush Comparing Korea and Iraq?: The Korean War was a conventional war fought between regular armies, the U.S. and South Korean army on one side, and the Chinese and North Korean Army on the other. It “ended” in an armistice dividing Korea along the 38th parallel. The 30,000 American troops who remain stationed in South Korea are not there because they could do much themselves to combat an invasion from the North. They are there as a so-called "tripwire". If the North Korean army again crossed the 38th parallel and engaged U.S. troops in combat, it would be deemed a declaration of war on the United States, which would then feel entitled to bring the full force of its military might, including nuclear weapons, against North Korea. In contrast, Iraq is a multi-faceted civil war between a myriad of armed sectarian militia using small weapons and low-tech improvised devices like IEDs to kill each other and fight against the American occupation. The situation there is completely unlike the situation in Korea is or has ever been. By projecting the half-century long American military presence scenario in Korea as a model for the future of the American army in Iraq, Bush has done harm to the long-term struggle to reduce the danger of Islamic extremism. [My Comment: Bush indicated that our presence could be needed to keep the Middle East stable for another 50 years. Yup / that’s about how long it’d take to drain every last ‘known’ and ‘yet undiscovered’ drop of oil in that part of the world.] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/korea-strategy-in-iraq-wo_b_50418.html Gas Pipeline A Big Win For Russia: Russia, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan have agreed to build a new gas pipeline around the Caspian shore. The pipeline will take Turkmen gas through Kazakhstan to the Russian delivery grid, allowing Russia to sell gas to Europe. American officials had pushed hard for an alternate route that would bypass Russia by going underneath the Caspian Sea. [My Comment: Let’s remember that Russia has been vetoing any meaningful sanctions against Iran. Any troubles in the Middle East that drive up the price of oil puts money in their pockets…because Russia is selling lots of oil and gas to the Europeans.] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6649169.stm Italians’ Approach In Afghanistan: The 2,000 soldiers who constitute NATO's Italian detachment in Afghanistan are winning friends with their kinder, gentler approach to the occupation. In the Mushai Valley, the Italians, who are barred by their government from combat, listen to the resident's problems, offer food and medical care, and help recruit and train local police. Local residents say the Italian's sympathy and support is more effective in combating the Taliban than military action, which has caused many civilian casualties. "The Italians behave very well with the people, and everyone likes them," said senior cleric Maulvi Shirin Agha. "The Taliban can only dream of coming back." THE WEEK Nuclear Proliferators: Though N. Korea and Iran are the nations getting the ‘nuke’ headlines, it’s been Russia and China that have been enabling them. China supplied Pakistan with warhead designs, nuclear test data and plutonium technology that permitted the Pakistanis to go nuclear in the 1990s & what China shared with Pakistan the Pakistanis soon shared with North Korea (among others). [India, by contrast, has kept its nuclear know-how to itself.] Russia has been involved in building a reactor for Iran - all for “peaceful” nuclear power, all parties insist --- though why a nation with large deposits of oil and gas would require nuclear energy goes unasked. "We think that the people of Iran should have access to modern technologies, including nuclear ones," Vladimir Putin explained. Now the Iranian regime is now illegally holding five U.S. citizens, arming the worst terrorists on the globe and supplying the insurgents in Iraq with weaponry with which to kill Americans - all while its president talks of the return of the 12th imam. North Korea starves and enslaves its people and trades drugs and counterfeit U.S. dollars. Both are on the verge of becoming armed with nuclear weapons. [My Comment: The world’s ever increasing overpopulation problem may eventually be somewhat abated.] http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2007/06/02/opinions/columnists/charen/20460857.txt http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,276792,00.html The Perilous Escape From North Korea: North Koreans who have escaped to the "free world'' in China are now at constant risk of being captured by Chinese police. The Chinese government, in a disgraceful breach of its obligations under the 1951 Refugees Convention, hands these escapees back to North Korea, where they face beatings and imprisonment, occasionally even execution. Now a joint crackdown by the North Koreans and Chinese is greatly increasing the peril for these ‘escapees’. The North Korean authorities used to detain citizens returned by China for a few weeks or months and then release them after a bit of "re-education.'' But about a year ago, North Korea greatly increased the penalties. Now, those returned by China are often sentenced to prison for several years, and repeat offenders can be sent with their entire families to labor camps for life. http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070608/NEWS/706080303/-1/finish Jordan’s Queen Rania: This remarkable lady answered ten questions for the Time magazine. One was: Q - Do you think that women will ever truly have equal rights in the Middle East? A- Absolutely, I believe they will. I think that mind-sets are changing in the Middle East. Poll after poll is showing that men see the value of greater female participation and empowerment. We still have a long way to go, but Islam should not be used as a scapegoat. The obstacles that face women today are more cultural. It's not about the religion. Read the others at: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1619564,00.html Classes From Ivy League Colleges at No Cost to You! From PC Magazine comes a new story on how you can access -- at no charge -- classes from a variety of American universities like MIT, Princeton, UCLA and Stanford. These free podcasts can help you learn about everything from modern theoretical physics to European civilizations. Among the universities offering free college classes: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2124297,00.asp Princeton University Stanford University University of California at Berkeley University of California at Los Angeles 33 Ways To Save Time: Because it all too often seems like there are not enough hours in the day to finish the work we want to accomplish, we’re all constantly on the lookout for new tips to help us increase our productivity. There’s no single plan that will work for you that someone else uses, but you do craft your own from both original thoughts and from ideas sparked by others. Click on the following for some ideas that are, at the very least, fun reading: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity-volume-2/ http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity-volume-3/ ~Learn from the mistakes of others. We don’t have time to make them all ourselves.~ Eleanor Roosevelt |
Posted 6/20/2007 11:42 PM CDT
7 Amnesties Since 1986: Ted Kennedy has already pushed SEVEN amnesties into law. None was followed by a reduction in illegal immigration. Why should anybody believe this one will be different?
1. In 1986, Ted Kennedy's blanket amnesty for 2.7 million illegal aliens promised a lot more enforcement but did not set any requirements for actual reductions in illegal immigration. The illegal flow continued.
2. In 1994, Ted Kennedy's Section 245(i) Amnesty gave legal residence and jobs to 578,000 illegal aliens. It was a temporary rolling amnesty primarily for extended family members of immigrants who instead of waiting in line, come on to the country illegally. The illegal flow continued.
3. In 1997, Ted Kennedy's extension of the Section 245(i) rolling amnesty was followed by an increasing flow of illegal immigration.
4. In 1997, Ted Kennedy also won an amnesty for close to one million illegal aliens from Central America. Illegal immigration sped up some more.
5. In 1998, Ted Kennedy won an amnesty for 125,000 illegal aliens from Haiti. The illegal flow continued.
6. In 2000, Ted Kennedy got the so-called Late Amnesty, legalizing another 400,000 illegal aliens who claimed that they missed out on Kennedy's 1986 amnesty. Illegal immigration continued unimpeded.
7. In 2000, Ted Kennedy also won the LIFE Act Amnesty for an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens. It was another reinstatement of the rolling Section 245(i) amnesty. Illegal immigration accelerated.
Now, Ted Kennedy is saying that this amnesty is necessary if we are ever to stop the flow of illegal aliens. Why would any of these Senators believe him when he says this amnesty bill will end illegal immigration with a track record like his? [ My Comment: It should be noted that (in the news) Democrats are wanting to pass the amnesty part of the immigration bill and postpone the enforcement aspect.]
An estimated 40 percent of all illegal aliens came to this country legally on temporary visas as students, tourists and workers.
http://www.numbersusa.com/phones?ID=8131
http://www.numbersusa.com/actionbuffet
President Bush has been twisting arms… and Senator Harry Reid has been cutting deals in an effort to secure additional Republican votes to move the amnesty bill. Bush has come up with an additional $4.4 billion in border security funds. Reid has agreed to votes on 22 amendments to the bill, split equally between the Democrats and Republicans. Negotiators believe that by adding these measures, they can provide enough cover to protect Senators from the wrath of voters. Please do contact your Senators yet again to let them know that you have not been fooled. Tell them to reject any bill that includes amnesty or guest worker provisions, and to vote against cloture until there is a decent enforcement bill on the floor.
NAFTA & The Illegal Alien Problem: NAFTA was supposed to level the playing field for large and small economies to participate in global trading, eliminating the need for northern immigration. But…the promised benefits never materialized. Instead, Latin American farmland was exposed to corporate agribusiness, displacing millions of indigenous and mestizo peasant farmers. While U.S. growers of agricultural staples like corn and beans, often genetically modified and mass-produced, enjoyed government subsidies, the modest indigenous subsistence farmers received nothing. Without land to work or love, impoverished but able-bodied farmers flooded urban industrial centers and moved north seeking work. The resulting poverty of this failed exercise in open-market globalization drove the ‘Indian peasantry’ north to the United States by the hundreds of thousands. Once here, the immigrants…overwhelmed the social services of U.S. cities.
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415124
International Impacts Of Free Trade In Agriculture:
•Despite the promises made before NAFTA regarding benefits farmers would see from free trade, according to the secretary of Social Development in Mexico, there are now more poor people than ever before in history. In 1992, 36% of the rural population was "food insecure". Today that number has risen to 52.4%.
•Since the signing of NAFTA, migration from rural areas has skyrocketed. Today nearly 500,000 Mexicans per year attempt to cross the border into the U.S. in search of employment, as opposed to 250,000 before NAFTA.
•More than 80% of Mexico's poor live in the countryside; corn producers make up 2 million of those.
•Before NAFTA, Mexico only imported about 156,000 tons of corn per year. In 2003, they are projected to import over 6 million tons of corn.
http://www.nffc.net/issues/fnf/fnf_1.html
New U.S. Farm Bill And Trade Policy Needed:
Since the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect in 1994, family farmers in the United States, Canada and especially in Mexico have felt the negative impacts of declining prices and the loss of traditional markets. "Export oriented" describes how U.S. farm programs have been fashioned by giant agribusiness corporations for many years, but the 1996 Freedom to Farm Act and the 2002 Farm Bill accomplished their ultimate goal of eliminating price floors and forcing every bushel produced on to the market no matter how disastrously low farm prices go. Because of NAFTA and other "free trade agreements," cheap U.S. prices radiate low prices across the globe. Farmers, north and south, are forced into all-out production for survival. Government payments only keep the cheap commodity system afloat while many farmers, despite the payments, abandon their families' heritage of producing food and taking care of the land….read more@
http://www.nffc.net/issues/fnf/fnf_1.html
U.S. Responsibility For Agribiz’s GE Foods: The U.S. intends for the WTO to force worldwide adoption of genetically engineered food and seeds, which will encourage further industrialization and control of food and agriculture by a handful of multinational corporations. The industrialization of agriculture fostered by genetically engineered crops will only destroy rural communities and make affordable food beyond the reach of more of the world's impoverished citizens…..
NOTE:
•Only 3 agribusiness firms control 82% of the world grain trade.
•Over 73% of the nation's farms share only 6.8% of the market value of agriculture products, while 7.2% of farms, including giant feedlots, receive 72.1% of the market value of products sold. These figures illustrate the growing shift towards large operations controlled by large agribusiness.
•During the first 7 years of NAFTA, Archer Daniels Midland's profits went from $110 million to $301 million, while Cargill's net earnings from 1998 to 2002 jumped from $468 million to $827 million. ADM and Cargill are two of the main agribusinesses that control corn trade.
•Since 1984, the real price of food has remained constant, while the price farmers receive has fallen by 38%. In 1999, farmers received 21 cents on the dollar from food products, as compared to 10 years ago, when they received 32 cents. These numbers demonstrate how consumers, taxpayers and especially farmers are paying the price so that agribusiness can earn record profits. [ My Comment: Rather than trying to exponentially increase food production for an already overpopulated world via GE foods, we should be pushing education for women worldwide to empower them to rightfully be able to utilize contraception as needed. To heck with the Pope, the Ayatollahs, and the other misogynists.]
http://www.nffc.net/issues/fnf/fnf_1.html
Oral Sex Linked To Cancer: People who perform oral sex have a significantly higher risk of developing throat cancer. HPV is the culprit & increases the risk of throat cancer by 32 times. Males may thus need to the new vaccine as well.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/05/10/study_links_virus_in_cervical_cancer_to_diseases_in_throat/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/09/AR2007050902322.html
Contraception & Religion: When I read that Brazil is subsidizing birth control pills (a month’s supply will cost 21 cents) & then read about the Pope’s criticism of contraception and abortion at a mass he gave in Brazil, I simply thought about how extremely hypocritical it was to be against contraception and then criticize abortion. Then I read about the rapid growth rate of Islam in the world & the extremely high birth rate of the Muslim population worldwide. It then dawned on me that the Roman Catholics and Muslims have been rivals for many centuries. By their way of thinking, “strength” lies in numbers (which was true before the age of weapons of mass destruction). If your population didn’t keep up with that of rivals then you were relatively weaker. [ My Comment: Realistically, in Europe/USA, the large Muslim/Mexican influx borders on being an ‘invasion’. In this case, perhaps the Mormons are right in promoting large families.] TIME
Condom Debate: FOX and CBS have refused to air a condom ad because it is "inappropriate" and focuses on preventing unintended pregnancies rather than explicity on prevention of sexually transmitted infections. This is an outrage and an extremely hypocritical stance for both networks as their prime time programming is brimming with sexual content…. 70% of all television shows and 77% of prime-time shows contained sexual content. FOX and CBS shows are no exception.
http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/condom_ad
Quadriplegics Have Sexual Needs Too: A Spanish quadriplegic has been charged with drunkenly attempting to drive his motorized bed along a highway to a local whorehouse. Antonio Navarro, 42, was clocked at speeds up to 12 mph. He said that just because you’re disabled doesn’t mean you don’t have needs. He’s a regular at the Jade whorehouse… where he prefers brunettes.
http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_10356.shtml
http://williamsboard.com/topic/37648/&r=3
~Since NAFTA was put in place, Mexico has lost 1.9 million jobs and most Mexicans' real wages have fallen.~ Stephen F. Lynch
