Yesterday I wrote a very long and detailed post on the Plame leak situation. It had quotations and it had links. It had the whole history, the timeline, and it had several compelling points. Just as I was about to publish it, a site in another window crashed my browser. Bummer. I have really got to start writing these things offline. I’m just too disheartened to reconstruct the whole blasted thing. Since you can easily look up everything to do…
New Air Pollution Rules Threaten Public Health Take action now Disregarding and misrepresenting recommendations from their own scientists, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed new air pollution standards that do not sufficiently protect public health. The new rules apply to particulate matter pollution, sources of which include agricultural activity, vehicle exhaust, and emissions from coal-fired power plants. Over 2,000 recent studies have linked particulate matter exposure to heart disease, respiratory ailments, and premature death. The EPA needs to hear…
I’ve been a "Biogems Defender" at the Natural Resources Defense Council for some time. I encourage you to join. You will get notices of pending environmental issues, complete with easy "speak up" tools. This environment is the only one we’ve got, and we’re losing ground fast. Their online news page is kept updated. Here is the most recent alert in my inbox: The Bush administration wants to escalate logging, oil exploration and grazing in our last unspoiled western wildlands by…
Ok, Exxon Mobile beats out my entry on Chevron’s profits. The world’s largest oil company, ExxonMobil, has announced its record-breaking profits for 2005 — $36.13 billion. That is the largest profit ever recorded in the history of American capitalism. Again. That is the largest profit ever recorded in the history of American capitalism. ExxonMobil uses its billions to sabotage efforts to slow global warming and to lobby Congress in support of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and off…
If you want to live in the America you’ve heard about, you’ve got to start noticing what’s really happening. A democracy requires your attention and participation. Drollette has a few choice words for those who don’t understand that by many standard measures, we are a kind of banana republic. The comparisons have been made by others, with more facts and figures, but I like the wording here. The article is worth reading (actually the “Smirking Chimp” site, despite its dehumanizing…
Some people want to argue with me about the effects of this administration on this country. I say words are cheap, propaganda is more effective than it should be, and I judge by actions and evidence. What we are seeing is not a Republican agenda, but a wholesale reorganization of what America is all about. A must-read is Howard Zinn’s article in the Guardian, “It is not only Iraq that is occupied. America is too.” I wake up thinking: the…