Natural Gas Drilling: Calling on New York to Stop This Unnatural Process
Mark Ruffalo

I live in a quiet corner of New York State. My wife and I chose to raise our children here because we want our children to grow up in its peaceful, pastoral landscape. But the calm that drew us here is about to be shattered by a gold rush in natural gas drilling.

Most people think drilling happens out on the lonely Western plains or on distant rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. But in the past few years, a natural-gas gold rush has spread across Pennsylvania, is poised to burst into New York State and could spread across the watershed that supplies drinking water to more than 15 million people in New York City, Philadelphia and other locations.

Read more.

O’Keefe and his accomplices should be INDICTED
http://IleneProctor.net
Media Contact, Ilene Proctor

Go to the site to see the video.

MCM

*Another Senate Charade*
*By Matt Taibbi*

This note comes courtesy of my friend David Sirota out in Colorado. This
is a classic example of how the Senate works. If the public understood
better how rigged this game is, and how few issues are actually left to
an honest vote in the legislature, I’m pretty sure the pitchfork factor
would be twice even what it is now.

Read more.

Noah Cross lives.

And here’s a link to Irena Salina’s prize-winning documentary,/ For Love
of Water/:

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/flow-for-love-of-water/

MCM

* Access to clean water is most violated human right*
By Maude Barlow
/The world’s running out of clean water. Unless the UN acts, the private
sector will appropriate supplies and the poor will suffer/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/jul/21/access-…
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/jul/21/access-…>

static.guim.co.uk/373D1D0B.jpg

/A boy takes a bath, right, as another fills a kettle from a tap at the
Kamakhya temple in Gauhati, India. Photograph: Anupam Nath/AP
/

On 28 July, for the first time ever, the general assembly of the United
Nations <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/unitednations> will hold a
historic summit on the human right to water
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/17/opinion/17iht-edgorbachev.html?_r=1>.
It will consider and debate a resolution supporting the right to “safe
and clean drinking water and sanitation
<http://www.boliviaun.org/cms/?p=1612>” that was presented on 17 June by
Pablo Solon, the Bolivian ambassador to the UN, and co-sponsored by 23
other countries. The desired outcome of the day is consensus on
recognising the human right to water
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/water>. However, some governments
are withholding consensus and it appears likely that the resolution will
have to be put to a vote, a process that has the potential to divide the
world body along north/south lines.

When the 1948 universal declaration on human rights
<http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/> was written, no one could foresee
a day when water would be a contested area. But in 2010, it is not an
exaggeration to say that the lack of access to clean water is one of the
greatest human rights <http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/human-rights>
violation in the world. Nearly 2 billion people live in water-stressed
areas of the world and 3 billion have no running water within a
kilometre of their homes. Every eight seconds a child dies
<http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/01/07/water.justice/index.html> of
a waterborne disease, in every case preventable if their parents had
money to pay for water. And it is getting worse as the world runs out of
clean water
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2000/world_wat…>.
A new World Bank reports says that by 2030, global demand for water will
exceed supply by more than 40%
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/mar/24/basic-countrie…>,
a shocking prediction that foretells of terrible suffering.

For several years, international and local community groups fighting for
water justice have been calling for a UN commitment that clarifies once
and for all that no one should be denied water for life because of an
inability to pay, especially in the light of the water markets
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/28/private-water-suppl…>
now being set up, allowing the wealthy to appropriate dwindling water
supplies for private profit. The fact that water is not now recognized
as a human right has allowed decision-making over water policy to shift
from the UN and governments to institutions such as the World Bank, the
World Water Council and the World Trade Organisation, which favour
market solutions.

Support for the human right to water has been steadily growing in recent
years but several wealthy countries – notably the UK, US, Canada and
Australia – have emerged as negative forces, finding excuses not to
support the resolution in its current form. The new Conservative
government of David Cameron is already on record that it will oppose
this resolution unless it is amended to remove sanitation and only refer
to “access” to clean water, not the human right to water itself. Canada
hides behind the false claim that such a resolution might force it to
share its water with the US; Australia has gone the route of water
markets and so is unlikely to sign onto a commitment that would favour
public ownership of water; and it disappointedly appears that the Obama
administration is not charting a new course for his country when it
comes to human rights obligations at the UN.

Nevertheless, there is great hope that 28 July will see a historic
commitment of the nations of the world to once and forever recognise
that every human on earth has the right to safe, clean drinking water
and the dignity of good sanitation services. Will the crisis be solved
the day after a successful vote on the human right to water? Of course
not. The work to provide clean water in a world of diminishing supplies
is just beginning.

But every now and then, humanity takes a collective step forward in its
evolution. Such a time has come again and we must be up for this challenge.
—————————————

*EON*
The Ecological Options Network
/”Documenting Solutions”/
www.eon3.net <http://www.eon3.net>

DoJ will file NO CRIMINAL CHARGES in US Attorney firings
DOJ: No Criminal Charges in U.S. Attorney Firings
http://bit.ly/d9vAz3

Nora Dannehy, the special prosecutor tapped to investigate potential criminal violations tied to the removal of nine U.S. attorneys, has wrapped up the probe with a finding that no criminal charges be filed, the Justice Department announced today in a letter to Congress.

The letter, written by Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, said the Dannehy investigation, which began in September 2008, found that the evidence “did not demonstrate any prosecutable criminal offense” was committed with regard to the removal of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico. Dannehy found the evidence did not justify broadening the scope of the investigation beyond the removal of Iglesias.

Dannehy and a team of FBI agents interviewed 60 individuals and had the full cooperation of the White House, Weich said in thesix-page letter (.pdf) to House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) The investigators reviewed documents that a DOJ internal investigative report said were relevant for follow-up review.

That investigative report, prepared by the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Office of the Inspector General, concluded that then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, made misleading statements. Then Attorney General Michael Mukasey asked Dannehy to look into the possibility of false statement charges.

“Based on a consideration of all the evidence and the legal standards, Ms. Dannehy concluded that there was insufficient evidence to establish that persons knowingly made material false statements to OIG/OPR or Congress or corruptly endeavored to obstruct justice,” Weich wrote in the letter.

Weich, who heads the Office of Legislative Affairs, also said that DOJ leadership did not determine whether the complaints about Iglesias were “legitimate.” The fact DOJ officials did not investigate complaints of Iglesias’s performance “bespeaks undue sensitivity to politics on the part of DOJ officials who should answer not to partisan politics but to principles of fairness and justice.”

“While the actions of DOJ leadership were contrary to DOJ principles, they were not intended to and did not influence or in any way impede voter fraud prosecutions or a particular public corruption case,” Weich wrote.

Weich said Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. “remains deeply dismayed by the OIG/OPR findings related to politicization of the Department’s actions, and has taken steps to ensure those mistakes will not be repeated.”

Posted by Mike Scarcella on July 21, 2010 at 04:24 PM

One more thing you can do for Elizabeth Warrren…

The last item here (4th one down) is Credo’s petition on behalf of Elizabeth Warren’s appointment as head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

MCM

The Real Reason Geithner Is Afraid of Elizabeth Warren
John R. Talbott
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-r-talbott/the-real-reason-geithner_b_650403.html

Financial Reform Coalition Endorses Elizabeth Warren To Head New Consumer Agency
Shahien Nasiripour
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/19/financial-reform-coalitio_n_651151.html

Elizabeth Warren Could Head CFPB Without Senate Confirmation
Shahien Nasiripour
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/19/elizabeth-warren-could-he_n_651759.html

… and here is Credo’s petition: http://bit.ly/99jNKb

For Release July 19, 2010
www.Justice-integrity.org
Contact: Andrew Kreig
Tel: (202) 638-0070

Jersey Democrat, Justice Integrity Project

Urge ‘No’ On Kagan, Citing Rights Concerns

Washington, DC (July 19, 2010) – The Senate should reject Democrat Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court nomination based on her shabby civil rights record that’s apparent from her Department of Justice work, according to a Democratic former New Jersey legislator and Jersey City mayoral candidate.

Louis M. Manzo, drawing on his experience fighting one of the nation’s most explosive political prosecutions, said the Senate should reject Kagan because of “her indefensible support of restrictions on constitutional freedoms and her failures to defend due process.”

The bipartisan Justice Integrity Project (JIP) today released Manzo’s statement by video to illustrate the project’s objections to Kagan on similar executive power grounds. The civil rights project JIP announced its objections June 28, just before the Supreme Court thwarted Kagan’s effort to block a hearing for former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. Manzo’s statement and similar constitutional criticisms of Kagan are available before Senate voting at JIP’s unique website.

Read more.

BP’s Scheme to Swindle the “Small People”
by: Dahr Jamail, t r u t h o u t | Report

Gulf Coast fishermen and others with lost income claims against BP are outraged by a recent announcement that the $20 billion government-administered claim fund will subtract money they earn by working on the cleanup effort from any future damage claims against BP. This move, according to lawyers in Louisiana working on behalf of Louisiana fishermen and others affected by the BP oil disaster, contradicts an earlier BP statement in which the company promised it would do no such thing.

Read more.

EXCLUSIVE: Evidence Missing From ‘Fixed’ 2006 AZ Election
by Brad Friedman

Material sought by Election Integrity advocates from Pima County’s 2006 RTA election no longer
in ‘secured’ facility

The mystery surrounding a long-questioned and allegedly “fixed” non-partisan 2006 Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) bond election in Pima County, AZ continues to deepen as troubling new details have now emerged. The resolution in this matter — should it ever come — could spell trouble for supporters of paper-based optical-scan electronic voting systems, since indications are that if the election was rigged, it was done with insiders via the electronic central tabulating computers.

Read more.