Month: February 2011

‘A national plantation run by the Koch brothers’

~ susie

Van Jones at the anti-Koch rally this weekend:

I hear a lot of talk now about liberty. There is a movement in our country that has grown up, the Tea Party movement, that has raised the question of liberty, and I say, “Thank goodness.” I’m glad that someone’s raised the question of liberty. There’s nothing more precious to an African American than liberty and justice for all. I’m glad to hear that somebody’s concerned about liberty.

But I think that what we have to be clear about is liberty always has two threats, there’s always two threats to liberty. One is the excessive concentration of political power — excessive concentration of political authority — the totalitarian threat to liberty. And that is a threat to watch out for. But there is another threat. And it is in our country a graver threat. And it is the threat that comes from excessive concentrations of economic power. Excessive concentrations of economic power in our country pose as big a threat, and frankly a greater threat than any concentration of political power. What we have to remember is that our republic is founded not just on the question of liberty, but also on democracy and justice.

And it is when the predatory, monopolistic dimension of the economic system starts to gain momentum, then the question of justice and democracy has to come forward too. Not just liberty and property rights, but justice and human rights, and democracy, and the people’s rights to be free from economic tyranny and economic domination. We will not live on a national plantation run by the Koch brothers. We’re not going to do that. We refuse to do that.

Egypt

~ susie

Al-Jazeera:

“The square is absolutely packed, there is hardly standing room for people. Tens of thousands of people are still streaming towards the square,” she said.

Our producer in Egypt reports on the latest developments

“The mood and atmosphere is incredible.”

Our correspondent said the army was “facilitating” the protests.

Soldiers at Tahrir Square have formed a human chain around protesters, and are checking people as they enter for weapons. Tanks have been positioned near the square, and officers have been checking identity papers.

I wonder

~ susie

If the political elite here will ever have the same kind of revelation:

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s King Abdullah II fired his government Tuesday in the wake of street protests and asked an ex-prime minister to form a new Cabinet, ordering him to launch immediate political reforms.

The dismissal follows several large protests across Jordan- inspired by similar demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt – calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai, who is blamed for a rise in fuel and food prices and slowed political reforms.

A Royal Palace statement said Abdullah accepted Rifai’s resignation tendered earlier Tuesday.

Killing the bees

~ susie

Clothianidin has already been banned by Germany, France, Italy, and Slovenia for its toxic effects. So why won’t the EPA follow? It probably has something to do with Big Agra, who loves the stuff for treating the corn seed supply.

And this is exactly the kind of thing that can happen when you instruct federal agencies to be more “business friendly”:

The world honey bee population has plunged in recent years, worrying beekeepers and farmers who know how critical bee pollination is for many crops. A number of theories have popped up as to why the North American honey bee population has declined–electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, and climate change have all been pinpointed. Now a leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists.

The document, which was leaked to a Colorado beekeeper, shows that the EPA has ignored warnings about the use of clothianidin, a pesticide produced by Bayer that mainly is used to pre-treat corn seeds. The pesticide scooped up $262 million in sales in 2009 by farmers, who also use the substance on canola, soy, sugar beets, sunflowers, and wheat, according to Grist.

The leaked document (PDF) was put out in response to Bayer’s request to approve use of the pesticide on cotton and mustard. The document invalidates a prior Bayer study that justified the registration of clothianidin on the basis of its safety to honeybees:

Clothianidin’s major risk concern is to nontarget insects (that is, honey bees). Clothianidin is a neonicotinoid insecticide that is both persistent and systemic. Acute toxicity studies to honey bees show that clothianidin is highly toxic on both a contact and an oral basis. Although EFED does not conduct RQ based risk assessments on non-target insects, information from standard tests and field studies, as well as incident reports involving other neonicotinoids insecticides (e.g., imidacloprid) suggest the potential for long-term toxic risk to honey bees and other beneficial insects.

The entire 101-page memo is damning (and worth a read). But the opinion of EPA scientists apparently isn’t enough for the agency, which is allowing clothianidin to keep its registration.

Suspicions about clothianidin aren’t new; the EPA’s Environmental Fate and Effects Division (EFAD) first expressed concern when the pesticide was introduced, in 2003, about the “possibility of toxic exposure to nontarget pollinators [e.g., honeybees] through the translocation of clothianidin residues that result from seed treatment.” Clothianidin was still allowed on the market while Bayer worked on a botched toxicity study [PDF], in which test and control fields were planted as close as 968 feet apart.

Making them squirm

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

In this 60 Minutes interview, Steve Kroft was no Stephen Colbert. (The Business Insider said, “Steve Kroft came across like a severe scolding parent, who needs help programming the VCR.”) Julian Assange came across as the knowledgeable one:

Kroft: One bank, Bank of America, had its stock go down three to five percent based on a rumor, maybe it’s a rumor, maybe you know more about it, that you had the contents of a five gigabyte hard drive belonging to one of its executives. Do you have a five gigabyte hard drive?

Assange: I won’t make any comment in relation to that upcoming publication.

Kroft: You’re certainly not denying it.

Assange: You know, there’ll be a process of elimination if we denied some and admitted others.

Kroft: So it might not be Bank of America and you’re just gonna let them squirm until you get ready to…

Assange: I think it’s great. We have all these banks squirming, thinking maybe it’s them.

Kroft: You seem to enjoy stirring things up.

Assange: When you see abusive organizations suffer the consequences as a result of their abuse, and you see victims elevated, it’s, yes, that’s a very pleasurable activity to be involved in.

Kroft: I mean you see yourself as a check on the power of the United States and other big countries in the world. And in the process of doing that, you have now become powerful yourself. Who is the check on you?

Assange: It is our sources who choose to provide us with information or not, depending on how they see our actions. It is our donors who choose to give us money or not. This organization cannot survive for even a few months without the ongoing support of the public.

Bush: I’m through with politics

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Is this anything like “You can’t fire me, I quit”?

WASHINGTON — In an interview set to air this Sunday, former President George W. Bush said he was done with politics and that he is uninterested in campaigning or raising money for political candidates.

The 43rd president, who has been sparing in his public appearances since leaving the White House, took questions from C-Span this past Monday at a Southern Methodist University forum. Asked whether he was “through with politics,” Bush replied: “Yeah.”

I don’t want to go out and campaign for candidates. I don’t want to be viewed as a perpetual money-raiser. I don’t want to be on these talk shows giving my opinion, second-guessing the current president. I think it’s bad for the country, frankly, to have a former president criticize his successor. It’s tough enough to president as it is without a former president undermining the current president. Plus, I don’t want to do that.

In other words, in spite of the fact that I’m now on TV, I don’t want to be on TV … I tell people that one of the interesting sacrifices, I don’t think you sacrifice to run for president, but to the extent you do is you lose your anonymity. I like the idea of trying to regain anonymity to a certain extent. And being out of the press, at least in this stage of the post-presidency is something that makes me very comfortable and its somewhat liberating, frankly.