Gulf is not a farm, or a sewer!

Nearly 2/3 of the rivers in US flow into the Gulf of Mexico. They already carry enough noxious stuff to create a 70 mile dead zone at the mouth of the Mississippi. We don't need to add fish farms to collect heavy metals to be injected into our colons to create even more colon cancer - do we?

clipped from www.oceanconservancy.org Stop the Gulf's Dangerous Open-Ocean Aquaculture Plan Now, Before the August 3rd Deadline! Sign Our Petition We need a national aquaculture plan to establish sustainable fish farming standards before the Gulf is allowed to move forward with large-scale fish farming. Please send the message below to the Secretary of Commerce and NOAA before August 3rd — urging them to reject the Gulf Fishery Council’s ill-advised fish farming plan and instead work with Congress to develop a national framework to guide the aquaculture industry.

Commute Jason Getsy - Interview

An interview with Jason Getsy, scheduled to be executed in early August - Ohio. Parole Board has voted for clemency but Governor Strickland has not yet responded and prosecuting attorney's around the state are asking him to ignore parole board's recommendation.

If you want to sign a petition for him, go to http://www.change.org and plug Getsy into the search box.

clipped from www.vindy.com Death-row inmate on victims’ family: ‘I love them’ COLUMBUS — The man scheduled to die next month for killing a Hubbard woman in a murder-for-hire scheme said he is at peace with his fate, whether that means execution or life in prison without parole. “Even still if the governor doesn’t grant clemency, then I feel that the Lord wants me home,” Jason Getsy said during a death-row interview this week. “And I am at peace with that because all of my trust is with him. You know, all of my faith and trust is in him. And if I were to get clemency, I’d feel like I have work to do, like maybe I have more work to do for him.”

Dov Charney - Would he hire or fire himself based on his looks? Dumb Idea

His ads have been super at selling sex - now he goes over the top in another way - no ugly employees 'cept me. Grin.

clipped from gawker.com We Predict More Lawsuits in Dov Charney's Future Summer is supposed to be a great sales season for AA. Needless to say, with the state of the economy, sales haven't been going so well. Dov usually gets on the conference calls and talks to people, but one week, he went on a huge tirade and made stores that weren't doing well send in group photos. Why, you ask? He made store managers across the country take group photos of their employees so that he could personally judge people based on looks. He is tightening the AA 'aesthetic,' and anyone that he deems not good-looking enough to work there, is encouraged to be fired. This is blatant discrimination based on looks.

Shadows - Not For Sale - Human Slavery PSA

Watch and listen and read. Do something!

Every Step Counts To Save the Amazon

Nike took the step - urge other shoemakers to refrain from using leather that comes from Amazon. Who needs to use leather for running shoes anyway?

A Green Spot in London Can Jog Innovative Adaptation in US?

You can't just copy things, as lots of folks imagine but you can adapt them to fit your local area. Remember that some really fine television dramas and comedies from the UK were well adapted ot the US market and became big hits.

That's just one of the reasons, I am high on the news that Cate Trotter brings in her green hunt in London. Then ther's the fact that she is a good writer and good writing and photography about good news is a good thing to share!

clipped from changents.com One of my favourite green London spots One of the best green spots in London is, sadly, something that doesn't fit logistically with the rest of Insider London's Green Tour. It's called Neal's Yard and it's just beautiful! It was initiated by Nicholas Saunders in the late 70s, who opened a wholefoods shop that did so well he could then start up one of the yard's neighbouring businesses: the Monmouth Coffee Company. He invited other ethical businesses to join his in the yard, meaning they could take control of its aesthetic and turn it into a colourful ethical oasis in the heart of the city.

Laurel and Hardy Way out of west Vs. Bonny M

Tired of all that bad news and inflation. Let Fatty and Skinny entertain you anew!

No Forests=No People

Even a blind man can see that we are messing our nest so badly, that it cannot be long before nature says: no more!

clipped from www.ipsnews.net Relentless Devastation of Mangroves GUATEMALA CITY, Jul 16 (Tierramérica) - "This place used to be beautiful. It was truly a mangrove forest. When the shrimp farmers arrived, we lost 60 percent of it because of the logging," said Francisco Vásquez, manager of a hotel on the Pacific coast, in the southeastern Guatemalan department of Jutiapa. According to a study by the Savia School of Ecological Thought, in the past 50 years this country of 108,889 square kilometres lost two-thirds of its original forested area and the biodiversity that it held. The current rate of deforestation is 73,000 hectares per year.

First Chinese American Woman Elected to Congress - NAM

First Chinese American Woman Elected to Congress - NAM

Gaza is Still Suffering - Can You Hear Them?

Not very well can you hear the cries of people in Gaza who are still homeless, whose friends are refused entry or exit. Why? Some may not want to hear; others can't hear because major news outlets are not saying anything because there is not enough blood flowing or or bombs bursting daily to attract viewers/advertisers - sad.

clipped from electronicintifada.net "Who will hold us accountable?" Natalie Abou Shakra, The Electronic Intifada, 15 July 2009 As I was explaining the situation to someone on the phone, a sick, elderly Palestinian man fell to the ground unconscious. I approached as a state security officer began dragging the elderly man across the floor. I was intercepted by Said, the intelligence officer, who pointed his finger at me and said in a cruel and wicked tone, "I will make sure you will never get out of here." I countered, quoting the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, "all that you have done to our people is registered in notebooks." He replied in a vindictive tone, "Really? Who will hold us accountable?" Natalie Abou Shakra is an activist from Lebanon and is affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement and Free Gaza Movement. She defied Israeli orders for Lebanese citizens not to go to Gaza and was able to get in with the Free Gaza movement's SS Dignity on the 20 December, 2008.

Support Effective Healthcare Reform!

Let the world know you support President Obama's healthcare reform proposals!

clipped from my.barackobama.com Get your FREE Health Care '09 sticker! The most powerful messages come from people like you spreading the word to family and friends about the urgent need for reform. That's why Organizing for America is making it as easy as possible for you to show your support with a free "Health Care '09" sticker. We want to give them away as quickly as possible, so we're taking care of the postage too. Become a visible part of this movement. Get your free "Health Care '09" sticker today.

Re-Thinking Afghanistan Again!

If we can't help the NGOs do their job safely, then all the military action will add up to naught!

clipped from www.irinnews.org AFGHANISTAN: Cost of insecurity impedes humanitarian work - analysis “Due to insecurity in some regions of the country, WFP [the UN World Food Programme] has had to take extra measures to ensure the safety of its staff, as well as the safe delivery of its food, and these have related costs,” Susannah Nicol, WFP’s information officer in Kabul, told IRIN. Lack of direct access prompts some aid agencies to adopt so-called “remote-control” projects, which make aid action vulnerable to mismanagement and corruption, according to a joint case study by the Overseas Development Institute, Integrity Watch Afghanistan and Humanitarian Policy Group. Assessment missions to over half the country are being conducted by air because of restrictions on road movements, even in armoured cars, say observers, with additional cost implications.

The Greatest Generation to Us: War is Terrible!

clipped from www.commondreams.org Kittay House Senior Citizens Make Long Trek for Peace with Monday Protests THE BRONX, NY - A cacophony of honking livery car horns, shrill ambulance sirens, the "whup whup" of an unmarked police car, a blaring blast from a bus and a short loud salute from a fire truck at W. Kingsbridge Road and Webb Ave. hurt the ears last Monday morning, but leave you smiling. They are holding signs reading "Seniors for Peace," "Senior Patriots Against the War," "More Funding for the Wounded" and the message that has caused the at-times deafening eruption - "HONK FOR PEACE." But the low, raspy voice of 97-year-old Martin Harth, barely audible through the din, utters the ultimate proclamation. "War is a terrible thing," he says, shaking his head. "A terrible thing." He wears a Jewish War Veterans hat and a natty blue blazer. He holds his sign, unmoving except for a wave at a vehicle once in a while.

Accused KKK Criminal Caught Hiding Out in Tel Aviv?

More than a bit strange. Many, if not all, KKK types are anti-semetic, as well as anti-black. So, why hide out from US arrest in Israel? Last place anyone would look?

clipped from www.jpost.com Senior KKK member arrested in south Tel Aviv A high-ranking white supremacist on the run from US federal authorities was arrested on Monday night in a south Tel Aviv hideout. 33-year-old Micky Louis Mayon, one of America's 100 most wanted criminals, and a member of the Ku Klux Klan, was arrested in a Florentine apartment by the National Immigration Authority's newly formed Oz enforcement unit. Mayon is wanted in the US on charges of racist assaults, setting fire to vehicles belonging to federal agents, and a host of violent incidents.

The South of Afghanistan - a Sand Trap?

If Alexander the Great learned after winning a battle in Afghanistan that the only winning strategy there was to leave, why can't we?

clipped from circlingthelionsden.blogspot.com Dorronsoro says that the main driver of the insurgency is not the political programme of the Islamist radicals, but local conflicts (many of which have an ethnic component) that have been allowed to flourish through government inaction, incompetence and corruption. There is much to recommend Dorronsoro's analysis. Unfortunately, it would appear that battle lines have been drawn and that a re-emphasis on the North would now look like a defeat. We are reminded of one of the oldest laws of warfare - know your enemy.

Not in My Name President Obama, Please!

We should be able to see rather plainly that our troops in Afghanistan are being asked to prop up men who should not be! Bring them home or have that tough talk with the Afghan president about what we will and will not tolerate as we try to help them.

clipped from www.ipsnews.net MELBOURNE, Jul 13 (IPS) - It is easy to understand why epithets such as brave and courageous often accompany the name of Malalai Joya. Slight of stature and serenely demure, the young Afghan woman’s past and present encapsulate the plight of her countrywomen. Malalai Joya returned to Afghanistan in 1998 - she had spent most of her life until then in refugee camps in Iran and Pakistan - as an underground volunteer educator of girls, a decidedly dangerous and difficult role given that the hardline Taliban were in power. It is true that in some big cities like Kabul, like Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif, some women have access to jobs and education but in most of the provinces, not only is there no justice at all - even in the capital - but in faraway provinces the situation of women is becoming more disastrous. The killing of women is like killing a bird today in Afghanistan.

Milwaukee Selling Water Birthright

Cain would be proud of Milwaukee! Finally someone else is selling their birthright! The beer that made Milwaukee famous - you want someone else to own the water you make beer with?

clipped from www.inthesetimes.com Activists in Milwaukee fight to keep their city’s water system in public hands. Sewer Socialism Down the Drain? Public water, one of the most important legacies of Milwaukee’s Socialist Party, which led the city almost continuously from 1910 to 1960, is now under attack from those who see a chance to convert this fundamental resource into a profit stream via privatization. Norquist and the city brought in United Water, a subsidiary of French-owned multinational Suez Environnement, promising cost savings and major benefits. Unfortunately, United Water cut staff by one-third, cut back on quality control and unleashed numerous discharges of millions of gallons of untreated sewage into Lake Michigan. The city terminated its contract with United Water but kept the system in private hands and recently turned the sewage system over to another French firm, Veolia.

No Safe Haven for Girls - Grow Up Men!

clipped from www.ipsnews.net No Safe Haven for Ugandan Girls KAMPALA, Jul 10 (IPS) - A year ago, a mother in Kashari County took the law into her own hands and castrated a man she caught raping her seven-year-old daughter. Malita Kyomugisha returned from her farm and found her neighbor Tito Mugarura sexually assaulting her youngest daughter behind her house in Rugyerera village. "When I reached the bush behind my house, I could not believe my eyes when I saw that old man on top of my youngest child. I was lucky that he was still naked. I used the knife I had in my garden basket to cut of his organ," she said. But some of the teachers dismissed from government schools simply change districts or seek employment in private schools because their is no system to trace abusers.

One, Two Three, What are We Fighting For?

Are our soldiers fighting for all Afghans? OK, things are not black or white but where is the transparency in our Afghanistan policy?

clipped from www.un.org Violence against Afghan women widespread and unpunished, finds UN report Girls attending the community-based school in the village of Hussain Khel (file photo) The report, launched today in Kabul by the UN and Indian actress and social activist Shabana Azmi, touches on various aspects of the scourge, including so-called “honour” killings, the exchange of women and girls as a form of dispute resolution, trafficking and abduction, early and forced marriages, and domestic violence. It focuses on two principal issues – the “growing trend” of violence and threats against women in public life, and rape and sexual violence.

Taliban in Charge in Afghanistan?

Who is in charge, who is on first, who is Taliban, who is friend, who is fiend?

Where's the exit strategy from this strange land?

clipped from www.commondreams.org Law Will Let Afghan Husbands Starve Wives Who Withhold Sex BAMIYAN, Afthanistan - An Afghan law which legalised rape has been sent back to parliament with a clause letting husbands starve their wives if they refuse to have sex. Afghan women attend a gathering in support of presidential candidate Mirwais Yasini for the August election, in Kabul July 7, 2009. An Afghan law which legalised rape has been sent back to parliament with a clause letting husbands starve their wives if they refuse to have sex. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN ELECTIONS POLITICS) President Hamid Karzai ordered a review of the legislation after The Independent revealed that it negated the need for consent within marriage. President Barack Obama described it as "abhorrent", Gordon Brown said Britain would "not tolerate" it, and other Nato countries threatened to withdraw their troops unless the legislation was drastically re-written.

War Industry Needs Government Welfare?

F-22 a real loser for US but winner for local politicians.

clipped from www.philly.com A jet even the military doesn't want The F-22 isn't useful in Afghanistan or Iraq. Why would Congress order more? It may look as if the House Armed Services Committee has added "only" $369 million. But given that it would provide funds for 12 additional F-22s, each with a price tag of $150 million (excluding development costs), the real cost to American taxpayers would be about $2 billion. Why are congressional committees willing to override the military and civilian leadership of the Pentagon on the F-22? The latest in a string of arguments offered by proponents in Congress is the need to protect our industrial base - as if our technical capacity to develop and produce fighter planes is in immediate, grave danger. This argument overlooks the fact that the Obama administration's fiscal 2010 budget includes 28 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters - planes better suited for air-to-ground combat.

Prevent Terrorists from Joining US Military!

Huh? Every American terrorist's dream is to get their hands on US material and training so they too can blow up buildings in Oklahoma, shoot Mexicans on the border, or where ever. It's true and the US Military needs to be hypersensitive to inadvertantly adding to our risk of homegrown terror.

clipped from www.splcenter.org SPLC Urges Congress to Investigate Extremism in the Military In a letter to committee chairmen with oversight over homeland security and the armed services, the SPLC said it recently found dozens of personal profiles on a neo-Nazi website where individuals listed "military" as their occupation — the latest evidence of extremist infiltration gathered by the SPLC. It also cites FBI and Department of Homeland Security reports supporting the SPLC's concerns. "Evidence continues to mount that current Pentagon policies are inadequate to prevent racial extremists from joining and serving in the armed forces," SPLC founder Morris Dees wrote. He added, "Because the presence of extremists in the armed forces is a serious threat to the safety of the American public, we believe Congressional action is warranted."