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- Talk of a Greek Exit Gets Louder
- Doug Casey on Taxes and Freedom, Part II
- Is Facebook the Rusty Hinge of the Stock Market?
- Fitch Downgrades Japan
- Doug Casey on Taxes and Freedom
- Greeks Run on Banks as Euro-Confidence Wanes
- To the Class of 2012
- Hedge Funds Bail On Euro Now
- Expatriation in the Wake of the Facebook IPO
Monsanto Threatens To Sue Entire State Of Vermont Over Food Labeling Bill
Lawmakers in Vermont are looking to regulate food labels so customers can know which products are made from genetically modified crops, but agricultural giants Monsanto say they will sue if the state follows through.
If the bill in question, H-722 (the “VT Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act”) passes the state Senate and House, manufacturers will be required to label products that are created either partially or in full from a genetically modified organism, or GMO. Such man-made crops have become a trademark of the billion-dollar Monsanto corporation, and in the past the company has gone to great lengths to keep themselves the number-one name in American agriculture, even if those profits are made possible from playing God.
Monsanto is going mad over the proposal, however, which would also make them unable to label their productions as “natural,” “naturally made,” “naturally grown” or “all natural,” if, in fact, they are not. For the corporation, it would seem that moving products and making money is much more of a worthwhile venture than telling its customers what exactly they are consuming.
With Vermont legislators now standing in the way of what could mean even more money for Monsanto, the company says they will sue the state if H-722 is approved. Now in fear of a lawsuit in the future, lawmakers in Vermont have put a hold on any future voting regarding the bill. If history is any indication, Monsanto is more than likely to have their way and win yet another battle.
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State Seizes Property Under ‘Green’ Zoning Laws, Terrorizes Man To Death
The shocking story of Andrew Wordes, who had his property seized and was terrorized to death by the city of Roswell, GA, for the crime of keeping chickens on his land, underscores how “green” zoning laws introduced in accordance with the United Nations’ Agenda 21 policy are responsible for a new wave of brutal neo-feudalism now sweeping the United States.
Despite the fact that the city of Roswell allows chickens to be kept on properties less than 2 acres, Wordes was subjected to a sustained campaign of harassment and intimidation by the state which began in December 2008 when the city issued Wordes with a citation for keeping the chickens after a complaint by a neighbor.
After all the charges against Wordes were dropped, city administrators then re-wrote the ordinance to say that only six or less chickens could be kept on a property of less than 2 acres and hit Wordes with another citation.
Wordes won the case for a second time when the judge concluded that he was “granfathered in” under the previous ordinance that allowed for chickens on less than 2 acres.
Despite Wordes constantly winning legal cases, the city would not let up on their campaign of terror, moving to illegally intimidate the mortgage holder on Wordes house, an 80-year-old woman, to sell the mortgage note to the city for 40 cents on the dollar.
Amidst all this constant harassment, Wordes had to cope with his house flooding numerous times and criminals breaking in and vandalizing his property, including one incident where a third of his birds were poisoned to death, an act likely perpetrated by the neighbor who had sided with the city in targeting Wordes.
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What is a Debt for Nature Swap?
What is a Debt for Nature Swap?
A debt for nature swap is an agreement between a developing nation in debt and one or more of its creditors. Many developing nations are severely limited by huge debts they have accrued. In a debt for nature swap, creditors agree to forgive debts in return for the promise of environmental protection.
Debt for nature swaps were first established in the 1980s in the attempt of solving two problems with one agreement: 1) minimize the negative effect debt has on developing nations 2) minimize the environmental destruction that developing nations frequently cause.
The environmental promises made in such debt for nature swaps have centered around the promised protection of large areas of land such as tropical rainforests. The first case of this sort of agreement came in 1987 between a conservation group and Bolivia. The conservation group paid some of Bolivia’s debt in return for the creation of a large rainforest preserve.
Twitches Spread at New York School; Parents Urge More Tests
LE ROY, New York (REUTERS) – State health officials have added three more names to a growing list of students in this working-class town who are experiencing mysterious tics and twitching, while authorities on Saturday sought to assure parents the community’s high school is safe.
Although the symptoms are typically associated with Tourette Syndrome, that has been ruled out in all but one case, causing fear and confusion among many residents of Le Roy, N.Y., about 50 miles east of Buffalo.
“The building is safe for the community,” District Superintendent Kim Cox told several hundred residents gathered in the auditorium of Le Roy Junior-Senior High School on Saturday.
The Le Roy Central School District scrambled to conduct environmental testing for air quality and mold when an initial 12 students developed tics and impulsive verbal outbursts last fall. But state health investigators ruled out environmental factors, latent side-effects from drugs or vaccines like Gardasil, trauma or genetic factors.
Instead, doctors say conversion disorder – once called mass hysteria – is to blame among an expanding list of patients. Three more unconfirmed cases have been added to the original list of students exhibiting the symptoms, and others are being examined.
Air quality and mold surveys at the school have all come back negative, according to district officials and representatives of Leader Professional Services Inc., a company hired to conduct environmental testing at the school after the symptoms first surfaced.
Senior Industrial Hygienist Mary Ellen Holvey on Saturday said air and water tests turned up nothing, and recommended follow-up testing of air inside the school.
She said that would help determine whether a soil review will be conducted – a test demanded by those residents who believe environmental factors are to blame.
One parent, Melissa Cianci, said her daughter no longer wants to attend school in light of the outbreak. She said students should be moved to another location as the investigation continues.
“She doesn’t know if it’s safe,” Cianci said, adding her daughter had perfect attendance prior to the incidents. “I’m done listening to you,” she yelled at the panel before storming out, later criticizing the district for being less than candid early in the investigation and demanding that soil tests be conducted of school grounds.
Though there is no evidence of environmental contamination, for some residents environmental concerns were heightened by the district’s recent disclosure of six natural gas wells on school property, as well as possible contamination from the nearby site of a 1970 train derailment and chemical spill.
Regarding the wells on school land, William Albert, of the district’s law firm Harris Beach, said, “It’s not unusual. We’re out in the country.”
Several representatives of renowned environmentalist Erin Brockovich were barred recently from collecting soil samples near the school by local police.
State health officials note that all of the patients have had significant stress factors, which can worsen the condition. Three of them had pre-existing medical conditions, including one confirmed case of Tourette’s Syndrome. Just one of the patients in male.
Congresswoman Kathy Hochul, who represents the district, sent a letter to the environmental Protection Agency on Monday calling for a review of the Superfund site, which the EPA said is regularly monitored, including testing scheduled later this month.
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Radioactive tritium leaks found at 48 US nuke sites
‘You got pipes that have been buried underground for 30 or 40 years, and they’ve never been inspected,’ whistleblower says
Radioactive tritium has leaked from three-quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often into groundwater from corroded, buried piping, an Associated Press investigation shows.
The number and severity of the leaks has been escalating, even as federal regulators extend the licenses of more and more reactors across the nation.
Tritium, which is a radioactive form of hydrogen, has leaked from at least 48 of 65 sites, according to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission records reviewed as part of the AP’s yearlong examination of safety issues at aging nuclear power plants.
Leaks from at least 37 of those facilities contained concentrations exceeding the federal drinking water standard — sometimes at hundreds of times the limit.
While most leaks have been found within plant boundaries, some have migrated offsite. But none is known to have reached public water supplies.
At three sites — two in Illinois and one in Minnesota — leaks have contaminated drinking wells of nearby homes, the records show, but not at levels violating the drinking water standard.
At a fourth site, in New Jersey, tritium has leaked into an aquifer and a discharge canal feeding picturesque Barnegat Bay off the Atlantic Ocean.
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Errant Email to Congressional ‘Allies’ on Keystone Pipeline Exposes Media Matters’ ‘Non-Partisan, Tax-Exempt’ Fraud
Media Matters for America (MMfA) sent an email yesterday, likely in error, to the office of Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)–hardly a regular recipient of MMfA spam–attempting to coordinate Democratic opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline that was recently blocked by the Obama administration.
The email apparently targeted staff from the Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works, and recipients included staff working for Sen. Inhofe as Ranking Member, apparently in error. (Sen. Inhofe is an ardent supporter of the Keystone pipeline and has objected vehemently to President Barack Obama’s decision to prevent it from moving forward.)
The fact that MMfA’s email was, atypically, sent to Republican staffers might suggest a gesture at bipartisan outreach–except that the email was explicitly addressed to congressional “allies” on an issue where Republicans have shown unusually strong unity, and the opposition, such as it is, has come from Democrats and the White House. (Last year, the House of Representatives passed a bill supporting the Keystone pipeline with Republicans favoring the project 232-3, and Democrats opposing it 144-47.)
