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Governor Kasich’s deeply flawed energy plan on fast track for approval - Support No Frack Ohio

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.

FBI seizes server from progressive internet service provider

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.

Seizing this machine serves no useful purpose in tracking down or stopping the bomb threats, but it has many serious negative implications. Anonymous e-mail is an important part of the Internet. One

Is peace getting in the way of our war plans?

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.

Will you pay as new reactors jump $900 million in three months?

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?

The moral arc of the universe

The city of Chicago and the federal government will be putting on a $55 million security extravaganza later this month to protect NATO delegates, representing the most powerful military force on the planet, from nonviolent protesters who want to see an end to war.

Think of the mini-security state as an ironic projection of NATO’s own agenda, which is control — by force — of as much of the world as possible. And of course the propaganda that accompanies the big show is that the protesters are the dangerous and disruptive ones, that NATO’s violence is distant, necessary and somehow clean, despite the occasional awkward headline (“NATO Admits Killing Afghan Mother, 5 Children in Air Strike”).

What the protesters really represent is what NATO, and all the forces of empire and domination, fear most: the impertinence to question and challenge authority and demand a say at the big table.

“The nonviolent resister has a deep faith in the future, and believes that the forces in the universe are ultimately on the side of justice. To quote Dr. King, ‘The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’”

Fifty years after Rachel Carson's warnings, it’s still a toxic spring

If you choose to live in an apartment or condo complex due to its pet-friendly allure, make certain to insist that management does not use phenoxy herbicides, such as 2,4-D, on the lawns where you walk, play, and breathe. Most phenoxy herbicides, including 2,4-D, must be disposed of in the same manner as toxic waste would be; yet this same toxic substance is liberally sprayed on the lawns where dogs and children walk and play. And remember that these hazardous products are tracked inside on shoes and paws and are brought inside through the air via doors and windows.

As Dr. Oz advised in his "O" magazine page (January 2011), we should always remove our shoes before coming inside because lawn chemicals (herbicides) have been linked to certain cancers and neurological and reproductive disorders. Wouldn't it be better just not to use them? Dogs and cats can't leave their shoes at the door.

Colin Powell's tangled web

“I get mad when bloggers accuse me of lying -- of knowing the information was false. I didn’t.” -- Colin Powell.
Can you imagine having an opportunity to address the United Nations Security Council about a matter of great global importance, with all the world's media watching, and using it to… well, to make shit up – to lie with a straight face, and with a CIA director propped up behind you, I mean to spew one world-class, for-the-record-books stream of bull, to utter nary a breath without a couple of whoppers in it, and to look like you really mean it all? What gall. What an insult to the entire world that would be.

Colin Powell doesn't have to imagine such a thing. He has to live with it. He did it on February 5, 2003. It's on videotape.

OSP Hunger Strike Ends

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012, Youngstown OH- OSP Hunger Strike Ends. After long negotiations with Warden David Bobby on Monday, May 7th, the hunger-striking prisoners at Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) began eating again. Two of the men held out through Tuesday, unsatisfied with the agreement. The warden met with them separately, and they agreed to come off the strike. Warden Bobby reported that "by lunch time today, everyone was eating." This was confirmed by two prisoner sources.

At this point, details on agreements are unclear, but sources inside say that the hunger strikers are satisfied and feel they achieved results. One source described the demands and the Warden's response as "reasonable". Without going into detail, the main concerns were in regards to commissary costs, state pay rates, phone costs, length of stay, and harsh penalties for petty conduct reports. The Warden said that he discussed "many things" at Monday's meeting with strike representatives, "many things beyond the main demands" but he would not share any of the details.

Stop indefinite detention

We can put an end to a shocking assault on our civil liberties: Last year's National Defense Authorization Act included language that could allow the military to detain civilian suspects INDEFINITELY without charge or trial. This year's NDAA could come up for a vote as soon as next week and we have a prime opportunity to reverse this travesty of justice.

Click here to fight back: Email your member of Congress right away

Congressmen Adam Smith and Justin Amash will put forth an amendment to make it clear that the military does not have the power to arrest and indefinitely detain civilians without charging or trying them.

Please urge your lawmakers to support their efforts and help us spread word far and wide.

Email your member of Congress right away -- a few seconds of effort will help us reclaim our cherished civil liberties.

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