Global News
Don Blankenship Hates the Police
Submitted by anonymous on July 29, 2010 - 10:48amMassey Energy CEO Don Blankenship came to the National Press Club last week.
And left a lasting impression.
And the impression was this:
Don Blankenship hates the police.
The police in this case work at the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
Blankenship was asked:
With the benefit of hindsight, what could you have done, and what have you done, to minimize the chance of an explosion like the one that claimed 29 lives?
And Blankenship answered:
I would have sued the police earlier.
In this case - MSHA.
If it were up to Blankenship, the federal police would just go away so that the coal and oil companies could strip mine, pollute and endanger America to their hearts' content.
If it were up to Blankenship, the police would allow corporate America to thrive by "leaving it alone."
It also became clear that Blankenship has a low opinion of reporters.
Blankenship said that he doesn't mind reporters having opinions.
LIVE EARTH WATER EXPECTS TO CORNER HEALTH CONSCIENCE POPULATION!
Submitted by anonymous on July 28, 2010 - 8:50pm<!--[if gte mso 9]>
UN Declares Water, Sanitation as Human Rights
Submitted by anonymous on July 28, 2010 - 8:25pmAccess to clean water and sanitation was declared a human right Wednesday after a vote aimed at helping the world's neediest, passed unanimously at the United Nations.
Although the motion passed with 124 countries voting in favour of the resolution drafted by Bolivia, Canada was among the 41 nations to abstain on the issue.
In June, Bolivia's draft resolution indicated that global water rights would "entitle everyone to available, safe, acceptable, accessible and affordable water and sanitation."
Maude Barlow, chairwoman of Food and Water Watch — a Washington-based group — who previously sat as a senior adviser to the United Nations General Assembly on the water issue, said Wednesday's vote was groundbreaking.
"We're absolutely thrilled," said Barlow, who also serves as national chairwoman of the Council of Canadians. "This is a historic day and I think every now and then, the human species advances somewhat in our evolution and today was one of them."
For-Profit Insurers Leaning on Regulators to "Reform" Health Reform
Submitted by anonymous on July 28, 2010 - 11:21amThe nation's biggest insurers -- not happy with provisions of the four-month-old health care reform law that would force many of them to spend more of the money they collect in premiums for their policyholders' medical care -- are pressuring regulators to disregard what members of Congress intended when they wrote the law, so that they can keep raking in huge profits for their Wall Street owners. If they are successful, many policyholders will soon be shelling out even more than they do today to enrich insurance company shareholders and CEOs. Billions of dollars are at stake, which is why the insurers and their symbiotic allies are pulling out all the stops to gut a key part of the law that would require them to spend at least 80 cents of every premium dollar they take in for medical care.
Legalize pot, former San Jose police chief says
Submitted by anonymous on July 27, 2010 - 11:37pmby Joseph D. McNamara
California voters have a chance on this November's ballot to bring common sense to law enforcement by legalizing marijuana for adults. As San Jose's retired chief of police and a cop with 35 years experience on the front lines in the war on marijuana, I'm voting yes.
I've seen the prohibition's terrible impact at close range.
Imperial Overkill and the Death of US Empire
Submitted by anonymous on July 27, 2010 - 12:48pmThe oft-cited reference to Afghanistan as the "graveyard of empires" haunts the increasingly desperate military measures of the United States in that beleaguered country. However, beyond Afghanistan and the hydrocarbon-rich Caspian basin region, the imperial projects of the United States are, more and more, a commitment to Pentagon aggression and profligacy. Imperial overstretch has transmogrified into imperial overkill.
Sweatshop Action: Students and Workers Beat Industry Giant
Submitted by anonymous on July 26, 2010 - 6:51pm|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: United Students Against Sweatshops |
The WikiLeaks Afghanistan Leak
Submitted by anonymous on July 26, 2010 - 10:21amThe most consequential news item of the week will obviously be -- or at least should be -- the massive new leak by WikiLeaks of 90,000 pages of classified material chronicling the truth about the war in Afghanistan from 2004 through 2009. Those documents provide what The New York Times calls "an unvarnished, ground-level picture of the war in Afghanistan that is in many respects more grim than the official portrayal." The Guardian describes the documents as "a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fueling the insurgency."
California Enshrines the Duopoly
Submitted by anonymous on July 25, 2010 - 10:38amLast month, Big Business interests shamelessly dealt our already depleted democracy a devastating blow by misleading California voters into approving Proposition 14, without their opponents being able to reach the people with rebuttals. This voter initiative provides that the November elections in that state for members of Congress and state elective offices are reserved only for the top two vote-garnering candidates in the June primary.
There are no longer any party primaries per se, only one open primary. Voters can vote for any candidate on the ballot for any office. Presidential candidates are still under the old system.
Since the two major parties are the wealthiest and have the power of incumbency and favored rules, the "top two" as this "deform" is called, will either be a Republican and a Democrat or, in gerrymandered districts, two Republicans or two Democrats.
