Detroit Becomes First City in Michigan to Ban Fracking
By Food and Water Watch
Posted on July 25, 2011, Printed on July 26, 2011

Detroit, Mich. – Last Friday, Detroit’s City Council became the first in Michigan to pass a resolution supporting a ban on a controversial gas drilling technique known as fracking. The Council passed the resolution unanimously. Council member JoAnn Watson offered up the resolution, and several local activists attended the Council meeting to show their support. In banning fracking, Detroit joins 65 other municipalities across the United States who have taken action against the practice.

“Detroit sent a strong message indicating that a ban on fracking is necessary to protect public health and preserve Michigan’s natural resources,” said Lynna Kaucheck of Food & Water Watch. “Michigan sits in the middle of 20 percent of the world’s available fresh water; that means we have a distinct responsibility to protect this vital natural resource. The time to ban fracking in Michigan is now.”

Fracking involves injecting water, sand and toxic chemicals deep underground to break up dense rock formations and release natural gas. Opponents of fracking cite the high potential for water and air pollution as a leading reason to ban the practice. Over 1,000 cases of water contamination have been reported near fracking sites.

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White House Pact With Industry To Push Genetically Engineered Plants
THURSDAY, 21 JULY 2011 09:40 PRESS RELEASE SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL

WASHINGTON—(ENEWSPF)–July 21 – In an effort to boost exports, the Obama White House has entered into a joint venture with the agricultural biotechnology industry to remove barriers to the spread of genetically engineered (GE) crops, even on national wildlife refuges, according to documents posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Today, PEER sued the White House Trade Representative, Office of Management & Budget (OMB) and the State Department to force release of documents detailing their partnership with industry.

Recent successful lawsuits brought by PEER with the Center for Food Safety have underlined the incompatibility of GE crops with refuge habitats, which has strengthened objections from GE-averse nations. The Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO), whose most prominent member is Monsanto, the world’s biggest source of GE crops, approached the Obama White House for assistance. In late 2010, the White House formed an interagency “Agriculture Biotech Working Group” consisting of more than 35 officials from ten agencies to promote GE agriculture. This Working Group includes officials from the White House and its OMB, Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP), Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Trade Rep. It also has officials from State, Justice, Agriculture, EPA and FDA.

A central task of this Working Group is to legally insulate GE crops on refuges from further litigation. Initially, it tried to pressure the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which operates the National Wildlife Refuge System, to rescind its Ecological Integrity Policy, which forbids GE planting unless found to be essential to accomplishing a refuge purpose. Working with BIO, these officials then helped prepare environmental assessments to start paving a legal path for GE plantings on 75 refuges in 30 states.

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Bob Fitrakis on “Fight Back” this week: Bob and guest Cliff Arnebeck

Discussing the new court filing revealing how the 2004 election was stolen and the apparatus is still in place

Listen and Call-In this Wednesday July 27
7 – 8 PM
Call 877-932-9766

Based on

“New court filing reveals how the 2004 Ohio presidential election was hacked” article on freepress.org
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2011/4239

*************************

Here’s how to call in to the LIVE INTERNET radio show:
(on your computer – not on your broadcast radio dial)
On Wednesday nights at 7:00 pm
Go to: http://talktainmentradio.com
Click on “Listen Live”
Call 877-932-9766

Wisconsin sees dramatic prison-based gerrymandering in new state, county, city districts
by Peter Wagner, July 18, 2011

The Wisconsin legislature is rushing through a redistricting plan so they can lock in the maps before the scheduled recall elections can change who has the power to draw district lines. In that rush, prison-based gerrymandering is poised to have an even greater impact on state, county and municipal districts than it did a decade ago.

The Census Bureau counts Wisconsin prisoners as if they were residents of the communities where they are incarcerated, even though they can’t vote and remain legal residents of the places they lived prior to incarceration. Crediting thousands of people to other communities has staggering implications for Wisconsin’s democracy, which uses the Census to apportion political power on the basis of equally-sized state and county legislative districts.

Wisconsin’s 53rd Assembly district has the highest concentration of prisons in the state. The 53rd District claims 5,583 incarcerated people as residents of the district, even though state law says that incarcerated people remain residents of their homes. All districts send some people to prison, although some districts send more than others. But not all districts have prisons, and concentrating 23,000 prisoners in a handful of districts enhances the weight of a vote cast in those districts and dilutes all votes cast elsewhere.

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From Richard Charnin:

Mark,

Now that there has been a court filing on Ohio 2004, perhaps your readers would like to see the statistical evidence that Kerry won in a landslide:

http://richardcharnin.com/FurtherConfirmationOfaKerryLandslide.htm

Best

Richard

US drone strikes in Pakistan claiming many civilian victims, says campaigner
One man in Waziristan is documenting casualties – and says destruction has been radicalising locals
Saeed Shah in Islamabad and Peter Beaumont
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 17 July 2011 18.00 BST

For the past three years, Noor Behram has hurried to the site of drone strikes in his native Waziristan. His purpose: to photograph and document the impact of missiles controlled by a joystick thousands of miles away, on US air force bases in Nevada and elsewhere. The drones are America’s only weapon for hunting al-Qaida and the Talibanin what is supposed to be the most dangerous place in the world.

Sometimes arriving on the scene just minutes after the explosion, he first has to put his camera aside and start digging through the debris to see if there are any survivors. It’s dangerous, unpleasant work. The drones frequently hit the same place again, a few minutes after the first strike, so looking for the injured is risky. There are other dangers too: militants and locals are suspicious of anyone with a camera. After all, it is a local network of spies working for the CIA that are directing the drone strikes.

But Noor Behram says his painstaking work has uncovered an important – and unreported – truth about the US drone campaign in Pakistan’s tribal region: that far more civilians are being injured or dying than the Americans and Pakistanis admit. The world’s media quickly reports on how many militants were killed in each strike. But reporters don’t go to the spot, relying on unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials. Noor Behram believes you have to go to the spot to figure out whether those killed were really extremists or ordinary people living in Waziristan. And he’s in no doubt.

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Senate Republicans Make Taxpayers Finance Corporate ALEC Group
Despite Claims ‘We’re Broke,’ Nine Senate Republicans Forced Taxpayers to Pay For Their ALEC Membership This Year, 12 Total Have Current Membership Paid for by Taxpayers

Madison — Twelve current Wisconsin Republican state Senators have forced taxpayers to finance their private membership in the corporate special interest group, the American Legislative Exchange Council, according to documents obtained through an open records request by One Wisconsin Now. The list includes nine Senate Republicans who had taxpayers finance their ALEC memberships this year at the same time they were voting to strip collective bargaining rights from Wisconsin workers and planning drastic cuts to education, health care and public services, claiming the state is in fiscal crisis.

“Senators like Dan Kapanke and Alberta Darling claim the state is broke, but they use our tax dollars to pay for their private membership in a corporate special interest group,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director. “The American Legislative Exchange Council is nothing more than a corporate propaganda machine and Kapanke, Darling and the other 10 Senate Republicans should immediate return the taxpayers’ money and apologize for this improper use of our tax dollars.”

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Breivik Was Influenced By American Islamophobes Behind ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Hysteria
By Lee Fang on Jul 25, 2011 at 2:49 pm

As the world struggles to make sense of the tragic attacks in Norway last week, it has become apparent that Anders Behring Breivik, the main suspect held by police, left a long trail of online comments, a YouTube video, and a manifesto outlining his political beliefs. The New York Times reports today, Breivik “endeavored to find common cause with xenophobic right-wing groups around the world, particularly in the United States” and his manifesto “quoted extensively from the anti-Islam writings of American bloggers.”

In his manifesto, Breivik cites an assortment of right-wing figures, but a troubling theme is evident in the 1,500 page document. Breivik was directly influenced by the same cadre of American anti-Muslim activists that have gained a powerful following in the contemporary conservative movement in recent years. Many of the leading Islamophobes who inspired Breivik have also been responsible for a rising tide of hate campaigns, from the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” hysteria to a disturbing trend of demonstrations against Muslim Americans across the country:

– Breivik cites neoconservative Islamophobe Frank Gaffney on opposition to Turkey joining the EU, and reprints a post from Gaffney’s think tank, the Center for Security Policy: Gaffney, a former Reagan official, is a regular on Fox News, a writer for the Washington Times op-ed page, a sought-after speaker at major conservative conferences, and a ubiquitous talking head on talk radio. His think tank created a website to orchestrate protests against the the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” in Manhattan. When he is not arguing that President Obama is a secret agent of the Muslim Brotherhood or claiming that radical Muslims have infiltrated the top levels of American government, he is calling for people who practice Islam to be prosecuted under sedition laws.

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RCMP spied on noted literary scholar Northrop Frye: newly released files
First Posted: 7/24/11 02:01 PM ET Updated: 7/24/11 06:52 PM ET

OTTAWA – Canada’s intelligence service spied on renowned literary scholar Northrop Frye, closely eyeing his involvement in the anti-Vietnam War movement, an academic forum on China and efforts to end apartheid in South Africa.

Newly released archival records show the RCMP Security Service relied on a secret informant to help compile a 142-page file on the esteemed University of Toronto professor, who died in 1991 at age 78.

Every inch the owlish, bespectacled academic, Frye seems an unlikely counter-intelligence target.

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After Signing Law Disenfranchising ID-less Voters, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Closes 10 DMV Offices
By Ian Millhiser on Jul 25, 2011 at 9:50 am

Earlier this year, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker became one of the many GOP governors to sign a law disenfranchising voters who do not have a photo ID — a law that disproportionately affects elderly voters, young voters, students, minorities and low-income voters. Having disenfranchised tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters, Walker is now making it harder for many of these voters to obtain the ID they need to regain their right to participate in the next election:

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