Weekly News- Some Good!

1. Good news! 

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced a strong new clean air rule that will slash air pollution from power plants, save lives, and make the air healthier to breathe for 240 million people across the eastern U.S.

Activists Won! Thanks to Roots Action and other groups the Senate has removed language from a bill that would have given the president unchecked power to authorize war. Back to the Constitution Sen McCain, who wanted to have Congress abdicate its authority to be the only body that can declare war.

Limbaugh Loses Third of His Audience in 6 months!

2. From The Other 98%

We're writing because we face an emergency. There are reports that Obama is considering cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits as a giveaway to Republicans on the debt ceiling - and the White House has yet to convincingly respond.

This is simply not acceptable. This President needs to know that he was not elected to threaten the New Deal - he was elected to help us craft a Better Deal. If we can't expect him to stand up for the most basic progressive achievements of the last 100 years, then it's going to be tougher and tougher to stand up for him.

Sign our emergency letter to President Obama today: Protect Social Security and Medicare benefits - or don't ask for grassroots help.

Also, please sign up for a Rebuild the American Dream house party near you for next weekend. It is time for the Other 98% of Americans- those of us without lobbyists and oodles of cash stand up to the growing plutocracy in this country. Save working families and the middle class!


Van Jones is leading this movement and has an article on it here.


3. The Assault on Women's Health
Republican governors.and legislators across the land are waging a wholesale assault on women's reproductive health. In Indiana, Gov Mitch Daniels and Indiana Republicans are excluding all Medicaid patients from seeking any care at Planned Parenthood facilities; including cancer screenings, HIV tests and physical exams. NO federal funds are used for abortion services. Eight Planned Parenthood clinics have been forced to close in the last month. Stand up for poor women's health!

4. Emergency Labor Network RATS Tax Program

While the nonsense in DC continues- with the Republicans threatening economic Armageddon unless Dems cave to draconian cuts to vital services and keep their hands off tax loopholes and subsidies that benefit the super rich- it's good to see some common sense remedies to our economic woes from the Emergency Labor Network, a new group in the American labor movement.

For example, in 1980 corporate income tax made up 20% of federal tax revenues- today it accounts for only 10%. Many corporations with billions in profits pay little or NO taxes! In the meantime over the same period, individual income tax has doubled (representing 40% of federal tax revenue, instead of the 20% of 1980).

Also, according to the IRS, the rich in this country have $4 trillion in offshore tax havens! Repatriate that money and make them pay their fair share.

Tax burdens have shifted dramatically to the middle class, but Republicans and the moneyed elite they represent, want even more tax cuts for themselves! It is time to stand up for  hard working American families- join a house party to Rebuild the American Dream today!

5. Rupert Murdoch's scandal widened even more today- as "as new reports emerged that papers beyond the News of the World were also involved in criminal behavior." Murdoch is head of News Corp the parent company of Fox News. There were also allegations that News of the World journalists tried to hack into the phones of victims of the 9/11 attacks.

Rebuild the Dream, Supremes Strike Public Financing Law, Thomas Must Go and Private Prisons Lobby for Longer Sentences

The Birth of a New Movement!



 If corporations paid their taxes, the wealthiest 2% paid just a little more and we ended the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan- we would not be in an economic crisis and the American dream for ALL our citizens would be viable again.  Let's Rebuild the American Dream!

Fight back! Be a part of history. Sign up to attend a house party near you!

Supreme's Assault on Middle Class America Continues



The notorious Supreme Court Five have done it again- They just struck down Arizona's Clean Elections Law. This is huge and terrible for democracy- they are intent on enthroning corporations as the rulers in our country- the people be damned.

"Progressives must realize that the democratic process is under attack from institutions and interests that do not want majority participation and majority rule."

Clarence Thomas Must GO!

He has accepted expensive gifts, failed to report his wife's income for 20 years, spoken at ultra right-wing fundraisers organized by the Koch brothers and has refused to recuse himself from cases, like Citizens United, where he had a significant conflict of interest. His wife's Tea Party group- Liberty Central will benefit directly from the unlimited corporate donations to influence elections that the ruling allows. Harlan Crow, a real estate magnate from Texas, gave $500,000 to start Liberty Central. Eleven cases of Crow-affiliated groups have come before the Supreme Court, but Thomas did not recuse himself from one of them, and voted in a way that benefited Crow and his cronies in all cases but one.

Kudos to Congressman Chris Murphy who is calling for an investigation into Thomas's ethical lapses. Murphy would also like Supreme Court Justices held to the same Ethical Standard of Conduct as federal judges. And while they are at it they should look into why Liberty Central is tied to organizations that call for the overthrow of the US government and one whose director called the Spanish Inquisition "a beautiful thing".

Sign the petition to demand Thomas stand down. And here's another asking for him to be impeached.

Private Prisons Lobby for Longer Sentences and for More to Be Imprisoned!

A new report shows that making profit from incarcerating citizens is a very bad idea. Remember what happened in PA when two judges sent five thousands kids to harsh juvenile detention facilities for minor offenses? The judges, now in prison, were getting kick-backs from the private facilities for the added "business". This report shows how the for-profit prisons are lobbying and making campaign contributions in return for policies that hurt our communities, reduce public safety and increase costs.

There should be NO profit in human suffering- in war, illness or imprisonment!

Man Robs Bank for Health Care, Gore Takes on Obama, US Mayors Say No More War!

1. Man Chooses Prison for Health Care
He is a regular Joe- having worked hard all his life- but he lost his job three years ago and his new job in a convenience store did not offer any health benefits. He had a protrusion in his chest, arthritis and other problems. When the pain got too great, he went to a bank teller, handed a note demanding $1.00 and sat quietly waiting for the police.

We are the only industrialized country in the world where a citizen would have to take such a desperate measure. He should be the poster child for the sickness of our profit-driven medical-industrial complex.

2. Gov Walker Grants His Office New Powers to Slash Medicaid
Legislators won't have to take steps to cut the popular Badger Care health care program in Wisconsin that serves about  a million people and the public will have no opportunity to weigh in on the issue. King Walker is intent on slashing help for Wisconsin's neediest.

3. Five GOP States Shut Down Planned Parenthood
Indiana has led the charge to defund Planned Parenthood . The organization provides contraception, STD testing and treatment and cancer screenings and prevention (abortion makes up just 3% of their budget) to over 5 million nationwide (seventy-five percent earn below 150 percent of the poverty line). Planned Parenthood “estimates it prevents more than 620,00 unintended pregnancies each year, and 220,000 abortions.”

Over 9,300 Medicaid patients in Indiana will be denied reproductive health care from today on.

 4. Al Gore Admonishes Obama for Not Doing Enough on Climate Change
In an article in Rolling Stone, Al Gore takes on climate change and Obama's ineffectiveness in rallying the public to fight it.

"According to NASA, 2010 was tied with 2005 as the hottest year measured since instruments were first used systematically in the 1880s. Nineteen countries set all-time high temperature records. One city in Pakistan, Mohenjo-Daro, reached 128.3 degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest temperature ever measured in an Asian city. Nine of the 10 hottest years in history have occurred in the last 13 years. The past decade was the hottest ever measured."

Gore goes on to say that despite some green initiatives in the stimulus package, "President Obama has thus far failed to use the bully pulpit to make the case for bold action on climate change." Gore concludes with five things we can all do to meet the crisis.

5.Some Good News, Finally!
The US Conference of Mayors voted to pass a resolution calling for and end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, saying the $126 billion spent there annually should be used for urgent domestic needs. It is the first time they have taken such an action since the Vietnam War.

Climate Change Video, Roundup Disaster, WI Gov Feingold?

Just returned from vacation- so sorry for the hiatus in posting. Luckily, I didn't seem to miss much in the mainstream media- as it was Wiener, wiener all the time. Now I'm getting back to sharing news that the corporate media ignores and censors and have lots more to share- so come by often!




1. Climate Change! This video was taken from an op ed by Bill McGibbon, head of 350.org. Over 40 million people have already been displaced by climate change, the North Pole is melting, the severe weather is breaking all records- yet the deniers persist in their obdurate refusal to acknowledge the painfully obvious.

"The intensity and frequency of extreme weather events is increasing, and this trend is only set to continue. With all probability, the number of those affected and displaced will rise as human-induced climate change comes into full force." Elisabeth Rasmusson, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council



 2. Monsanto's Round Up Causes Birth Defects
A new paper co-authored by international scientists at Earth Open Source, Roundup and Birth Defects- Is the Public Being Kept in the Dark? cites a 2010 study that shows that the glyphosate based herbicide, Roundup causes birth defects as well as "endocrine disruption, damage to DNA, reproductive and developmental toxicity, neurotoxicity, and cancer".  The big news of this paper is that the industry was aware of this fact in the 1980s, and regulators knew in the 1990s, but it was kept from the public. Independent scientists who spoke of the dangers were "ignored, denigrated or dismissed".

Institute for Responsible Technology

About 70% of Monsanto's genetically modified crops are designed to be Roundup Ready- that is they can be dowsed with large quantities of glyphoste without dying, but killing surrounding weeds. The genetically altered crops don't die but contain reservoirs of potentially high levels of glyphosate, that transfer to animals and consequently to humans. After repeated use- even the weeds don't die- but become superweeds that are nearly impossible to kill. Farmers have had to abandon farmland to superweeds. More toxic herbicides like 2,4 D (a component of Agent Orange) have had to be used and Monsanto is now talking about a 2,4 D resistant GM variety of soy and corn. Sign the petition to stop this madness.

Argentina has been described as "a massive experiment" in huge plantings of Roundup Ready (RR) crops. Over half of their cultivated land is GM RR soy. Over 200 million liters of glyphosate is sprayed annually. There have been high rates of birth defects in that country. In a small town bordering soy farms in the province of Cordoba, the Mothers of Ituzaingo mobilized in response to the sudden increase in the local cancer rate, which is 41 times the national average.

You might want to check out another post I did on why you should never eat GMO's and join us on facebook- GMOs? OMG! Hudson Valley for No GMOs. We are all part of a "massive experiment" and we need to put an end to it.

3. The Next Governor of Wisconsin!

Gov Walker continues his assault on the middle class and is now pushing to repeal child labor laws. Seriously. Seems like there is nothing the GOP stooges won't do for their corporate pay masters. Similar laws to take us back to the good old days of the 19th century are being pushed by Republicans in other states as well.

The good news- people have big time voters' remorse and the recall effort is going strong.  And there are good people like former Sen Russ Feingold in the wings. Keep faith!

New Video- Mothers and Others United to Shut Down Indian Point!

There was a beautiful spirit at the rally to shut down Indian Point! People brought flowers and formed a daisy chain to represent nature, life, simplicity and  beauty- all that is endangered by nuclear plants.

There were a few facts that didn't fit in the video but that are important to know. If you think nuclear power is safe because it is regulated, think again. A former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chief said that the NRC has "left it to the nuclear industry to regulate itself." A 1993 NRC Inspector General report said that inspectors are penalized (no rewards or promotions) if they find violations at nuclear plants. More on the history of the NRC's collusion with the nuclear industry.

And according to the NY Times today- company officials are belatedly acknowledging that three reactors melted down at Fukushima. There is still a threat of massive radiation poisoning the environment. In light of this disaster, the third and fourth largest economies in the world, Japan and Germany have both recently announced they are moving away from nuclear power. They are scraping plans for any new reactors, believing that renewables and efficiency can fill the gap. Tell Congress- NO subsides for nuclear power today!

Thanks again to Alice Andrews, and all who helped organize Mothers and Others to Shut Down Indian Point. A special thanks to all who participated! Thank you for taking time out on Mother's Day to take to the streets- to remind us of what is really important- respecting and protecting our earth and all life on it.

WAKING PLANET: Rare Sights and Sounds of Our Mysterious Universe!...

WAKING PLANET: Rare Sights and Sounds of Our Mysterious Universe!...: "Mountains on Saturn's Moon Iapetus NASA Saturn's Rings with Its Moon Enceladus ..."

New Videos- from Guerrilla Theater to Patriotic Millionaires!

 Geurrilla theater- got to love it! And here is a great new song about the Kochs.



And here is a good one on Monsanto. Please join our new face book page- Gmo? omg! Hudson Valley for NO GMO



Wall Street is NOT too big to jail! New York's attorney general is investigating- Go Schneiderman!



Citizens literally crossing the moat and storming the castle of JP Morgan Chase!



And I'll leave you with some good news. I love these guys!

Mothers and Others- Close Indian Point!

Thanks to Alice Andrews. all who helped organize and to the over 100 people who came out today in New Paltz, NY  to demand that the most dangerous nuclear power plant in the country be shut down. Organizers asked folks to bring a flower to celebrate nature, life, simplicity, and beauty; all that is endangered by nuclear power and nuclear weapons. 

Many cars honked in solidarity, but one man yelled, "If we close it, we will be in the dark!" which is the myth Entergy, the owner of Indian Point would have you believe. The truth is the plant only supplies downstate New York with 12.5% of their energy and that could be replaced with strong conservation measures. 
Click here for more information on why Indian Point needs to go.

 

This photo says it all- This is why we need to close Indian Point Now!

A few nights ago,  NBC News gave an update on Japan without reporting on what is happening at the Fukushima nuclear disaster! All we know is that the situation there is critical. This video shows the growing anger at the government. They recently increased the level of radiation that children could be exposed to twenty times higher than previously recommended! The radioactive playground dirt at the end is chilling.



 Please sign the petition to close Indian Point!!

All photos by B Upton- Video of "Mothers and Others United to Shut Down Indian Point" to come out soon- the last part with all holding hands is very moving!

GMO? OMG! Ten Reasons to Never Eat Genetically Modified Foods

responsibletechnology.org

 by Barbara Upton

Never in human history have we taken the DNA from one species and artificially forced it into the DNA of a different species. Arctic fish genes have been forced into tomatoes, jellyfish genes have made pigs' noses glow in the dark and cow genes have turned pigskin into cowhide. But the real danger lurks in the eight GM foods on the market in the US today: corn, soy, cotton, canola oil, sugar beets, zucchini, crookneck squash and  Hawaiian papaya. The more we learn  about the unpredictability of this infant, radical technology, the government collusion with the biotech industry and the fraudulent, industry-funded "science" behind GM crops, the more we realize we must go the way of most of Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and other countries and demand to know what we are eating and feeding our families. We must begin by insisting that all foods with GMOs (genetically modified organisms) be labeled so we can avoid them. Here are ten reasons why.

1. GM foods are not safe! The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) says GM foods "pose serious health risks". Nineteen GM animal feeding studies show damage to the immune system, infertility, organ damage, insulin deregulation, increased mortality, accelerated aging, and potential precancerous cell growth. In one study, 50% of baby rats born of mothers fed a GM diet, were dead in three weeks (five times higher than normal). The babies who survived were much smaller and preliminary evidence indicated they were not able to conceive. 

AAEM calls for an immediate moratorium on GMOs and recommends that doctors prescribe a non GMO diet for all their patients. In the only human feeding study (yes, there has only been one) GMOs survived and continued to function in the stomachs of people who had eaten GM food. No follow-up studies were done.

2. The FDA approved GM crops despite protests of the agency's own scientists. An overwhelming consensus of FDA scientists warned that GM foods could create allergens, toxins, nutritional problems and even "new diseases". However; the first Bush administration was intent on promoting GMOs so they appointed a former Monsanto lawyer, Michael Taylor, who  developed the policy on GM foods, saying they were no different from conventional varieties. The policy was called "a political document" and "very pro-industry" by a microbiologist at the FDA. It was not based on peer-reviewed science. Taylor went on to become vice-president of Monsanto and is now back in government as our food safety czar! If a biotechnology company declares a GM crop is safe, that is good enough for the FDA.

3. GM crops are contaminating our entire food supply. At a conference in 1999, Monsanto said their goal was to ensure that 100% of seeds were genetically modified and patented (by them, of course) in 15 to 20 years. One way to achieve this is to contaminate naturally growing crops.

One Monsanto executive put it this way,“The hope of the industry is that over time, the market is so flooded that there’s nothing you can do about it. You just sort of surrender.” 

Once contamination occurs there is virtually no way to recall it. In a 2004 government study, GM bentgrass cross pollinated with natural bentgrass 13 miles downwind. The industry thought the pollen could only travel 1000'! The Forest Service says this one example "has the potential to adversely impact all 175 national forests and grasslands." A 2010 study showed that 80% of wild canola in North Dakota had been contaminated with GM genes.

Even more worrisome, the USDA has even approved hundreds of open-air field trials of pharmaceutical crops- crops genetically engineered to produce drugs, like blood thinners, vaccines and powerful growth hormones, as well as industrial enzymes. In 2002, corn genetically engineered to produce a pig vaccine contaminated a half million bushels of soybeans.   

In addition to contamination,  Monsanto has spent billions buying up conventional seed companies toward their goal of a world in which natural seeds are virtually extinct. Monsanto provides 90% of GM seed sown globally.

NY Times May 2010

Wheat after Ten Years of Glyphosate Use   Jeffrey Smith

4. GM crops increase pesticide use. In the first 13 years of growing GM crops in the US, herbicide use increased by 383 million pounds and 48% of that increase has been in the last two years, contrary to industry claims that herbicide use would decline. Seventy percent of GM crops are engineered to be resistant to Monsanto's herbicide, Round Up (glyphosate is its main ingredient). Such crops can cross pollinate with weedy relatives creating "superweeds" that require more toxic herbicide, like 2,4-D, an ingredient in Agent Orange that has seen an increase in use of 237% in two years. Some superweed infestations have been so dramatic that farmers have had to abandon cropland.

Besides rendering soils infertile, decreasing nutrients in plants and contributing to 40 plant diseases where it is used, glyphosate is also linked to sterility, hormone disruption, miscarriages, birth defects and cancer. From farms to lawns, our country is drenched in it.

 5. GM crops do not increase yields. In 2009, the Union of Concerned Scientists debunked Monsanto's claim that GM crops would increase yields. “Traditional breeding outperforms genetic engineering hands down.” states the report. This was further corroborated by a UN/World Bank report of 400 scientists in 58 countries that concluded that organic farming is the only sustainable way forward. In ten years, many African countries doubled yield using organic practices.

6. The biotechnology industry hurts small farmers. You may have heard of Monsanto's "Seed Police" spying on and harassing farmers across America's heartland. When farmers buy the more expensive GM seeds they are prohibited from using them the next year. If GM seeds find their way onto farms, through contamination by wind or insect pollination, the farmer is sued by Monsanto. As a North Dakota farmer said, "Farmers are being sued for having GMOs on their property that they did not buy, do not want, will not use and cannot sell." Monsanto also encourages farmers to turn one another in and they have been brutal in their dealings with small farmers, suing hundreds and going after their homes and farms. 

Additionally, farmers of GM crops have lost money due to a decrease in export sales because of lack of trust in GM crops by other countries. Monsanto wanted to create GM wheat, but wheat farmers fought them fearing loss of markets (US corn lost 99.4% of the European corn market after being genetically modified).

7. The biotechnology industry uses bad science to justify their claims. Monsanto once did a study to ally farmers' fears that their genetically modified bovine growth hormone (rBGH) caused increased infertility in cows. Monsanto secretly added cows already pregnant to the study to show there was no decrease in fertility! Monsanto also declared rBGH dairy safe for humans, although it dramatically increases the level of the hormone IGF-1 which is the number one risk factor for breast cancer and is linked to  prostate and colon cancer. The company rigged the testing (pasteurizing milk 120 times longer than normal) to claim rBGH is destroyed by pasteurization.

Monsanto falsified research studies to hide the cancer causing nature of dioxin in its Agent Orange and a former manager of Monsanto India said Monsanto "faked scientific data" given to government regulators to get their GM products approved. In 2005, a German court ordered Monsanto to make a study public that they had been suppressing that showed changes in blood, livers and kidneys of rats given GM food. And there are myriad ways biotech researchers have been known to rig their studies.* Are these the guys you want to trust with the food you eat?

from the Institute for Responsible Technology

8. Many animals avoid GM foods when given a choice.What do they know that we don't? One farmer decided to try an experiment with a bag of GM corn and regular corn. He put both bags in his woodshed to conduct the experiment in the winter. But later he found the mice had done the experiment for him. All the conventional corn was eaten, the GM corn had not been touched! Cows, elk, geese, pigs, buffalo, raccoons, squirrels, rats, mice and other animals all try to avoid eating GM food!

9. Since GM foods have been introduced into the American diet, there have been increases in chronic diseases and allergies. We don't know exactly what is tied to GM food consumption, because so few studies are done, but consider this: since the mid 1990s when GM foods were introduced in the US, the number of Americans with three or more chronic diseases doubled from 1994 to 2001, food-related illnesses in the US also doubled from 1997 to 2002, as did trips to the ER for allergic reactions. There has also been a surge in obesity, autism, Alzheimer's, ADD, gastrointestinal problems, certain cancers and more. 

From responsibletechnology.org's Power Point

We do know that a genetically modified supplement,called L-Tryptophan killed 100 and permanently disabled  and sickened thousands of Americans in the 1980s. It created acute symptoms that came on quickly which helped researchers trace the illness. So what if GM foods today are creating proliferative cell growth in our stomach lining as as they do in rats, and what if that turns cancerous in ten or twenty years? How long would it be before links to a GM diet could be made? And if links are found, how do you recall millions of acres of GM crops?

10. We are all guinea pigs in this unprecedented, unregulated GM experiment. The biotech industry would have you believe that inserting genes from bacteria, or viruses into the DNA of a corn or soy plant is a neat, orderly and safe process, like inserting a new page into a book. What they do not tell you is the process of genetic modification itself causes massive collateral damage to the finely controlled, intricate web of DNA. The transgenes are shot into DNA with a 22 caliber gene gun. Where they are inserted can cause hundreds or thousands of mutations throughout the genome, can destroy natural genes, permanently turn genes on or off and create unpredictable and potentially dangerous side effects. As Dr Suzanne Wuerthele, a toxicologist with the EPA said, “We are confronted with the most powerful technology the world has ever known, and it is being rapidly deployed with almost no thought whatsoever to its consequences.”

Sign the petition for labeling GM foods. Write and call your elected representatives, write letters to the editor, share information, talk this up and join a local nonGMO group (and if there isn't one- form one!). Stay tuned for an article on how we can begin by avoiding GM foods so we can reach a tipping point of consumer rejection to demand labeling. If Europe can do it, so can we! 

"Just sort of surrendering" to the genetic modification of our food supply is not an option.

 ________________________________

Note- For those living in the Mid-Hudson Valley, the meeting Thursday, May 12 at 7 PM at the Rosendale Cafe has been postponed. I will be creating a list serve so we can talk about raising awareness GM foods and how to live GM-free. Please write to me at ClearStreamMedia@gmail.com if you would like to be on it and to receive notices for future meetings. Thanks!

*Industry researchers are paid to not find problems with GM foods and most of the research on GM is industry-funded. In fact, Monsanto blocks independent researchers from using its patented GM seeds for study.

Here are just a few of the tricks the company researchers use.

• Use highly variable animal starting weights to hinder detection of food-related changes
• Keep feeding studies short to miss long-term impacts
• Test effects of roundup ready soybeans that have not been sprayed with roundup
• Avoid feeding animals the actual gm crop, but give them instead a single dose of the gm protein that was produced inside gm bacteria
• Use too few subjects to derive statistically significant results
• Use poor statistical methods or simply leave out essential methods, data, or statistics
• Use rigged or irrelevant control groups, and
• Employ insensitive or obsolete evaluation techniques

from "Company Research on Genetically Modified Foods is Rigged" by Jeffrey Smith, executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology. I was recently trained by Jeffrey in an online webinar and thank him for his pioneering work on the health dangers of GM foods!

and thanks to Ellen Naney of Women in Black for her phrase- "GMO? OMG!" I see bumper stickers!

Poughkeepsie Protest at Bank of America Video!

Thanks to all the Dutchess and Ulster County residents who came out Monday to protest the fact that Bank of America does not pay its federal taxes. They made $4.4 billion in profits last year and paid nothing. The year before that they even got a refund of almost $2 billion! We do not have to take food from hungry women and children, or turn off the heat on our elderly - we simply need the Big Banks, corporations and the rich to pay their fair share.

Many thanks to Joel Tyner, Dutchess County Legislator, Linda Abbott, Coordinator of the Ulster County MoveOn Council, Gerard Lyons, vice president of SEIU Local 200 and vice president of the Hudson Vally Area Labor Federation, to all who spoke and to all who cared enough to take it to the streets!

This protest was part of a MoveOn nationwide action. Thousands protested in 450 cities across the country! It's a movement!

Bank of America is not the only big tax dodger. In the “Guide to Corporate Freeloaders,” Senator Bernie Sanders listed corporations that do not pay taxes to the federal government, but received a federal bailout or large IRS refunds. The list includes Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Boeing, Chevron and Exxon Mobil, among others.

If you would like to be on a Hudson Valley list for future workers' rights and corporate accountability actions-
write to me at clearstreammedia@gmail.com

Ryan's Dark Ages Budget, The Chamber Doesn't Speak for You!

Kristy Tillman via Fast Company's Co. Design

Republican Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's recent budget proposal would make this graphic on extreme inequality in America even worse! His plan would make our country unrecognizable with levels of poverty and hardship not seen since the worst days of the Great Depression. About 2/3 of the $4.3 thousand billion Ryan wants to slash from the budget would come from programs that assist lower income Americans. Ryan wants to eventually turn Social Security over to Wall Street, and end Medicare and Medicaid as we know them.  Medicaid's beneficiaries are primarily children of low income families, seniors and disabled people. What is "courageous" about going after the most vulnerable in society? Ryan's plan would create a two-tier system in which health care is increasingly rationed by income. Ryan wants to shower the already ultra rich with billions more in tax cuts while raising taxes for the middle class in the largest redistribution of income from the bottom to the top in US history.

Ryan's proposals look very much like those advocated by the extreme right-wing Koch brothers, so it is not a surprise that Ryan spoke at Koch's strategy meeting in February (in the past, Supreme Court Justices Alito and Thomas have also graced those gatherings). And isn't it interesting that for 10 years, Ryan raised about the average for House members, but in 2010 his contributions soared from about $1.5 million to $4 million, mostly from "large individual contributions."

The Koch brothers are the largest funders of climate change denying organizations (spending almost three times as much as Exxon Mobil!) want to repeal health care and Wall Street reform and helped elect Republican governors like Scott Walker in Wisconsin, to eviscerate the rights of workers (political stooge Walker is also making it easier for Koch companies to pollute Wisconsin water with phosphorous )What Paul Ryan says publicly is outrageous enough, but can you imagine what is said behind the closed doors of a Koch  gathering?

To get a better idea of who the Kochs are, here are just some of their offenses outlined by the Center for Public Integrity:

In late 2000- Koch was hit with a 97-count indictment for covering up the discharge of more than 15 times the legal limit of benzene, a carcinogen, from a refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas.The company faced penalties of more than $350 million. Four Koch employees were also charged individually and faced up to 35 years in prison.

Three months after the Bush administration took office—and just before the lawsuit went to trial—the Justice Department abruptly settled the case. Koch agreed to pay $20 million and plead guilty to a single count of concealment of information. In return, the Justice Department dropped all criminal charges against Koch and the four employees.

In another case, Koch was sued by the government in 1995 and 1997 over a reported 300 oil spills at pipelines owned and operated by the company. Those lawsuits sought from $71 million to $214 million in penalties for the spills, which dumped an estimated three million gallons of oil into lakes and streams in six states.

On January 13, 2000, the government settled that case for $35 million in fines.

The Kochs were also sued by their own brother several years ago in a case where the company was accused of stealing millions of barrels of oil from federal and Native American lands.

Notice how they always seem to escape the worst fines and penalties for their criminal behavior? It helps when you "own" the politicians who are supposed to regulate you. The Kochs have given millions to politicians, almost all Republican. They funded 62 of the 87 incoming House GOP freshman class, not to mention 85 right wing think tanks and countless astroturf groups like Americans for Prosperity that helped organize the Tea Party. "Their reach into virtually every aspect of political, economic and physical life on the planet is probably greater than you thought possible."

Paul Ryan hides behind the need to reduce the deficit. It must be addressed, but Ryan's way, the GOP's way, the Koch brothers way to do it- to hurt those struggling the most, while further lining the pockets of the wealthy - is unacceptable and un-American.

"If we just went back to what [defense spending] was under Clinton and also went back to the tax rates under Clinton for the rich and everybody else, we'd save $7.5 trillion over the next 10 years without taking money from the mouths of starving children." Bill Mahr on Rachel Maddow 4/12/11

The US Chamber of Commerce Doesn't Speak for You!

 

Many thanks to 350.org for their new campaign, The US Chamber Doesn't Speak for Me! 


"Unnecessary Austerity," a new Institute for Policy Studies report, explains how Congress could raise more than $4 trillion in revenue over the next decade by reversing years of tax giveaways to the richest Americans and largest corporations.

And finally- a little fun. Watch Colbert expose Fox and Friends for the idiots they are.