Global
This week's NATO summit on the future of the war in Afghanistan probably did not get to the matter of burn pits or abandoned latrines.
These are the details of hell. They are also our legacy, in Afghanistan, in Iraq... wherever we employ our military to pursue our geopolitical self-interest. Strip away the propaganda, strip away the politics and the pursuit of strategic advantage, and what American/NATO policy amounts to is burned, buried, dumped and abandoned waste, some of it radioactive, most of it toxic.
"My nephew went in the military healthy," wrote a woman named Patsy on the website Burn Pits ActionCenter. This is one story out of hundreds that are now surfacing, about American vets poisoned by American war waste that was discharged into the environment of the countries we occupy with no regard for international law or, my God, sanity.
These are the details of hell. They are also our legacy, in Afghanistan, in Iraq... wherever we employ our military to pursue our geopolitical self-interest. Strip away the propaganda, strip away the politics and the pursuit of strategic advantage, and what American/NATO policy amounts to is burned, buried, dumped and abandoned waste, some of it radioactive, most of it toxic.
"My nephew went in the military healthy," wrote a woman named Patsy on the website Burn Pits ActionCenter. This is one story out of hundreds that are now surfacing, about American vets poisoned by American war waste that was discharged into the environment of the countries we occupy with no regard for international law or, my God, sanity.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Police said they seized one million illicit methamphetamine pills, weeks after discovering nearly 50 million legal tablets to treat common ailments had been stolen from Thailand's hospitals, to make powerful speed drugs to sell to addicts.
An additional two billion similar tablets to treat common colds have been smuggled in from Taiwan and South Korea, also to make illegal drugs, in a complex international racket that appears too entrenched and massive for Thai authorities to stop.
Corrupt chemists and drug dealers have been extracting ephedrine and pseudoephedrine from legal cold remedies and similar medicine in Thailand and secretly shipping it across the border into Laos and Myanmar, a country also known as Burma, where gangs use the ingredients to create a range of amphetamine-based drugs.
Myanmar's drug gangs work among heavily armed minority ethnic insurgents including the Shan, Wa, and other tribes in lawless, mountainous jungles near the border where the two countries meet.
An additional two billion similar tablets to treat common colds have been smuggled in from Taiwan and South Korea, also to make illegal drugs, in a complex international racket that appears too entrenched and massive for Thai authorities to stop.
Corrupt chemists and drug dealers have been extracting ephedrine and pseudoephedrine from legal cold remedies and similar medicine in Thailand and secretly shipping it across the border into Laos and Myanmar, a country also known as Burma, where gangs use the ingredients to create a range of amphetamine-based drugs.
Myanmar's drug gangs work among heavily armed minority ethnic insurgents including the Shan, Wa, and other tribes in lawless, mountainous jungles near the border where the two countries meet.
A huge crowd gathered for several hours and marched for over two miles in the hot sun to oppose NATO and U.S. wars on Sunday in Chicago. Finishing the march outside the NATO meeting, numerous U.S. veterans of current wars denounced their previous "service" and threw their medals over the fence, a scene not witnessed since the U.S. war on Vietnam.
This event, with massive turnout and tremendous energy, saw the participation of numerous groups from Chicago and the surrounding area, including students, teachers, and activists on a variety of issues, as well as anti-war activists and Occupiers from around the country and the world. No one can have been disappointed with the turnout, but it might have been bigger if not for the fear that was spread prior to Sunday. In the face of that fear, Sunday's action was remarkable.
This event, with massive turnout and tremendous energy, saw the participation of numerous groups from Chicago and the surrounding area, including students, teachers, and activists on a variety of issues, as well as anti-war activists and Occupiers from around the country and the world. No one can have been disappointed with the turnout, but it might have been bigger if not for the fear that was spread prior to Sunday. In the face of that fear, Sunday's action was remarkable.
Statement of No Frack Ohio
On May 14, Governor Kasich’s energy bill, which will benefit the oil and gas industry at the expense of consumers and their vital resources, was approved by the Ohio State Senate. Members of No Frack Ohio, a coalition to stop fracking, denounced the development.
“Instead of protecting Ohioans by banning fracking, the governor and legislature are swiftly moving legislation that would do nothing to protect the public from the water contamination or earthquakes we’ve seen associated with fracking. It’s clear that our state leaders are caving to oil and gas industry lobbyists as Kasich’s bill went from bad to worse when the Ohio Oil and Gas Association intervened” said Alison Auciello, organizer for Food & Water Watch.
On May 14, Governor Kasich’s energy bill, which will benefit the oil and gas industry at the expense of consumers and their vital resources, was approved by the Ohio State Senate. Members of No Frack Ohio, a coalition to stop fracking, denounced the development.
“Instead of protecting Ohioans by banning fracking, the governor and legislature are swiftly moving legislation that would do nothing to protect the public from the water contamination or earthquakes we’ve seen associated with fracking. It’s clear that our state leaders are caving to oil and gas industry lobbyists as Kasich’s bill went from bad to worse when the Ohio Oil and Gas Association intervened” said Alison Auciello, organizer for Food & Water Watch.
In an attack on our infrastructure, our movement and the democratic
Internet, the FBI seized a server April 19 from one of our cabinets in
a colocation facility.
The server is owned by our sister organization, Riseup, and is managed by ECN, a progressive technology provider in Italy.
While the seizure of any equipment is pernicious and damaging, the pointlessness of this seizure suggests an inclination toward extrajudicial punishment and an attempted crackdown on the very possibility of anonymous speech online.
The FBI has told us they are investigating bomb threats targeting the facilities and people at the University of Pittsburgh. They appear to believe that one of the servers used to transmit these threats was an anonymous e-mail server operated by ECN. Anonymous remailers have no logs or traces of who used them, so the FBI will not get any useful information from the stolen machine.
The server is owned by our sister organization, Riseup, and is managed by ECN, a progressive technology provider in Italy.
While the seizure of any equipment is pernicious and damaging, the pointlessness of this seizure suggests an inclination toward extrajudicial punishment and an attempted crackdown on the very possibility of anonymous speech online.
The FBI has told us they are investigating bomb threats targeting the facilities and people at the University of Pittsburgh. They appear to believe that one of the servers used to transmit these threats was an anonymous e-mail server operated by ECN. Anonymous remailers have no logs or traces of who used them, so the FBI will not get any useful information from the stolen machine.
What a bizarre circumstance this is. The irrational Iranians are behaving too reasonably.
The unmovable Iranians seem to be compromising too readily.
This past weekend, the United States and other major nations finally spoke with Iran. In 10 hours of talks (or 5 with translations), minus a lunch break, Iran agreed to a framework for ensuring that its nuclear program is only used for civilian purposes.
If this keeps up, the whole basis for war could be lost. And it's all the result of having finally spent a few hours talking with Iran. The obvious solution is to cut off the talks, issue ultimatums, lower the threshold for what justifies war, and impose more deadly sanctions than ever. And that's just what some of our misrepresentatives in Congress are about to try.
Although, the last time Iran tried to agree to ship its uranium out of the country for refinement, talks were conveniently sabotaged by an explosion in Iran. So, there are a variety of methods for sabotaging paths to peace.
The unmovable Iranians seem to be compromising too readily.
This past weekend, the United States and other major nations finally spoke with Iran. In 10 hours of talks (or 5 with translations), minus a lunch break, Iran agreed to a framework for ensuring that its nuclear program is only used for civilian purposes.
If this keeps up, the whole basis for war could be lost. And it's all the result of having finally spent a few hours talking with Iran. The obvious solution is to cut off the talks, issue ultimatums, lower the threshold for what justifies war, and impose more deadly sanctions than ever. And that's just what some of our misrepresentatives in Congress are about to try.
Although, the last time Iran tried to agree to ship its uranium out of the country for refinement, talks were conveniently sabotaged by an explosion in Iran. So, there are a variety of methods for sabotaging paths to peace.
The projected price for Georgia's Vogtle Double Reactor Project has jumped at least $900 million in just three months....and that's just for starters.
Will you pay for it? The future of new atomic power in the US hangs in the balance.
A national grassroots campaign is now working to stop tax/ratepayer handouts and kill the project.
Construction there is defined by faulty concrete and non-spec rebar steel that threaten public safety and could delay completion dates beyond those projected even before construction began.
South Carolina's V.C. Summer, the only other new US reactor project now under construction, is meeting fierce rate payer resistance in two states. From Iowa to Brazil, Japan to France, the global reactor industry is collapsing in tandem. But what other nations will it bankrupt and irradiate before it's finished?
Will you pay for it? The future of new atomic power in the US hangs in the balance.
A national grassroots campaign is now working to stop tax/ratepayer handouts and kill the project.
Construction there is defined by faulty concrete and non-spec rebar steel that threaten public safety and could delay completion dates beyond those projected even before construction began.
South Carolina's V.C. Summer, the only other new US reactor project now under construction, is meeting fierce rate payer resistance in two states. From Iowa to Brazil, Japan to France, the global reactor industry is collapsing in tandem. But what other nations will it bankrupt and irradiate before it's finished?
The Ohio House Republicans tactically retreated and repealed House Bill 194 – the controversial voter suppression bill. The bill was slated to be on Ohio’s November 6 ballot, and was thought by political strategists to have aided Obama’s re-election campaign in the key battleground state.
This is the first recorded case in Buckeye State history where the legislature has repealed a bill scheduled for a referendum vote by the people. Ironically, the Democrats who bitterly fought the bill, unanimously opposed its repeal.
The Democrats sought an agreement by the Republicans to restore Ohio’s practice of early voting the weekend before the election. Sensing victory in a hot button issue to push poor and minority voters to the polls who were targeted for voter suppression in the bill, the Dems argued that the repeal of the bill was unconstitutional.
Ohio House Democratic leader Armond Budish stated that the repeal of the bill was: “an admission by Republican lawmakers that they violated voter’s rights last year when they passed HB 194 to suppress Ohioans constitutional right to vote.”
This is the first recorded case in Buckeye State history where the legislature has repealed a bill scheduled for a referendum vote by the people. Ironically, the Democrats who bitterly fought the bill, unanimously opposed its repeal.
The Democrats sought an agreement by the Republicans to restore Ohio’s practice of early voting the weekend before the election. Sensing victory in a hot button issue to push poor and minority voters to the polls who were targeted for voter suppression in the bill, the Dems argued that the repeal of the bill was unconstitutional.
Ohio House Democratic leader Armond Budish stated that the repeal of the bill was: “an admission by Republican lawmakers that they violated voter’s rights last year when they passed HB 194 to suppress Ohioans constitutional right to vote.”