AN ILL WIND – The Secret Threat of Coal Ash

First, I would like to thank those who got our grid power back on here in Virginia after Hurricane Irene knocked it out about 24 hrs before Irene made landfall in the Outerbanks of NC.

One thing that being out of power for more than a couple days does do is make you realize how dependent we all have become on ‘the grid’ and how we really need to change that at some point, don’t you think? Between dangers of outages like this, and potential threats from terrorists on our infrastructure, it just seems to make sense that we figure out a way to get the power we need but by decentralizing from The Grid.

Over the last month, since August 4th, we have intermittently had to deal with the smoke and ill air quality of the wildfire in the dismal swamp. There were times when here in our little town there was smoke hanging in the air, and in our very homes when we woke up in the morning and were having trouble breathing. It was particularly bad for my Jim who is on an oxygen concentrator. Thankfully, Hurricane Irene, actually did one thing that was good, it almost (but not quite) put out that wildfire. I hope they can get the 30 or so hot spots put out before it dries out again.

Because I have a problem with the whole issue of dangerous coal ash, and huge coal plants close to people’s homes and spewing dangerous arsenic, and so much more into our air, does not mean I don’t appreciate The Grid or those who work to provide and maintain, and restore that power after natural disasters like this. My only complaint is the dangerous ways in which they often do that; meaning coal – from the cradle to the grave and the health and environmental dangers it poses.

Coal from Mountain Top Removal to this ILL WIND of coal ash that sends ‘sandstorms’ of coal ash directly over the reservation when the winds blow wrong, and other coal plant travesties around the country and around the world, to ODEC trying to get a 1500 MW coal fired power plant in Dendron, VA and Surry County rolling over to get the money they are promised and the empty purse of promised jobs (yeah, how many and for how long, and what of those who live here?) To the whole of a region like Hampton Roads that will be adversely affected by a 1500 MW coal plant with a prevailing wind that will draw that smoke/vapor over other areas in Hampton Roads.

From the text at Youtube:

See the whole project at http://www.earthjustice.org/illwind

The Moapa River Indian Reservation, tribal home of the Moapa Band of Paiutes, sits about 30 miles north of Las Vegas and about 300 yards from the coal ash ponds and landfills of the Reid Gardner Power Station. Coal ash is the toxic ash and sludge left at the end of the coal burning process. It’s laced with arsenic, mercury, lead and other heavy metals. It’s the second largest waste stream in America and it’s currently unregulated.

If the conditions are just wrong, coal ash picks up from Reid Gardner and moves across the desert like a toxic sandstorm sending the local residents running for their homes. The reservation has lung, heart and thyroid disease rates that are abnormally high and the power plant is currently seeking to expand its coal ash storage capability.

The film An Ill Wind tells the Paiute Indians’ story.

View and interactive presentation of the story at:

http://www.earthjustice.org/illwind

Watch the complete film at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL49Ibc0L88

And learn more about coal ash at:

http://www.earthjustice.org/coalash

Many thanks to the Moapa Band of Paiutes for allowing us to tell this story and to Vinny Spotleson of the Sierra Club and Dan Galpern of the Western Environmental Law Center for helping with the project.

I guess we as individuals and families really do need to start thinking about how we can get ourselves off the grid … if more homes are off the grid, these big coal plants wouldn’t even be considered necessary…

Air Pollution Increases Infants’ Risk Of Bronchiolitis

Air Pollution Increases Infants’ Risk Of Bronchiolitis (ScienceDaily.com)

Infants who are exposed to higher levels of air pollution are at increased risk for bronchiolitis, according to a new study.

The study appears in the November 15 issue of the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

“There has been very little study of the consequences of early life exposure to air pollution,” said Catherine Karr, M.D. PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and the paper’s lead author. “This study is unique in that we were able to look at multiple sources including wood smoke in a region with relatively low concentrations of ambient air pollution overall.”

Much more in the article!

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine – part E. Environmental and Occupational Lung Disease of the current November 15, 2009 issue.

Registration is required to read the full article however, the abstract is available here which includes the conclusions below:

Conclusions: Air pollutants from several sources may increase infant bronchiolitis requiring clinical care. Traffic, local point source emissions, and wood smoke may contribute to this disease.

Under measurements and readings above the conclusions states:

An interquartile increase in lifetime exposure to NO2, NO, SO2, CO, wood-smoke exposure days, and point source emissions score was associated with increased risk of bronchiolitis…

What pollutants do coal plants introduce? At least a few of those listed, plus more: Power Plant Emissions Publications

Have to say it again … Ron Paul was right!

Ron Paul once said, “I lean toward a flat tax, but I want to make it real flat: like zero.”

The government at almost all levels want to add tax, upon tax: new proposed driving tax, cigarette/tobacco tax increases (but it will help ‘the children’), alcohol tax increases, gas taxes, green taxes, income taxes, manufacturing taxes, etc., etc., etc., and all the unintended consequences of each one.

We get taxed on so many levels these days that it is hard to tally the total tax burden on already struggling Citizens.

Does this sound like taxes we as Citizens would ask for? I think not. Sounds like taxation without representation when the Senate and House add taxes that The People would never agree to directly.

Seems like we are back in the days before we broke from English rule due in large part to oppressive taxes.

In this economy, these unwanted, obsessive taxes are unthinkable … but they think, they push, and they enact. It is really bad when people who don’t live in the real world make the rules for everyone. Between taxes, bailouts, stock market shenanigans, and more, this is very rapidly becoming a national disaster.

Ron Paul was right then, and he is still right about it today.

Dog bleeds to death from ID chipping

Dog bleeds to death from ID chipping
‘This technology is supposedly so great until it’s your animal that dies’

A couple in California, required by law to have their dog implanted with a microchip in order to take him camping, swallowed their objections … and watched their Chihuahua named Charlie Brown bleed to death from the procedure.

The law REQUIRES LA residents to have their pets chipped! REQUIRES! Not only do they require your pets be chipped; but if you are found to have a pet that has not been chipped, the first offense is $250 fine, if you are caught again without a chipped pet, you could spend 6 MONTHS in JAIL AND up to $1000 fine!

And little Charlie Brown isn’t the first pet to die at the hands of this crap!

A few years back, Léon was another victim of these microchips being pushed on pets.

In April 2004, Léon was diagnosed with a fibrosarcoma (cancer) at the site of his microchip implant. This location (dorsal neck/interscapular area) is also commonly used to vaccinate dogs, cats and other animals.

As a result of Léon’s vaccine and/or microchip-induced fibrosarcoma, I started asking a few questions. Those questions led to more questions. And those questions led to many frightening and disheartening answers which revealed that Léon’s health problems were man-made. The answers also revealed that the pharmaceutical companies, medical community and those who are meant to protect us are fully aware of these problems, yet blindly and recklessly steer us down the same misguided and ill-fated path.

There are some great quotes that Jean put on the Léon’s website and these are just two:

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”

James Madison

“Léon’s story is not just about Léon. Léon’s story is about all of us and what we must learn from his story so that future tragedies are prevented.”

Jeanne
Website writer

These are not the only issues with these microchips. Here you can find some other info on issues with them.

If you think that this is just a simply a way for pet owners to keep an eye on their pets or get them back if lost, think again.

Katherine Albrecht, the author of Spychips, and founder of CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) shares with the world the dangers of these spychips.

Albrecht, Katherine.”Supermarket Cards: The Tip of the Retail Surveillance Iceberg.” Denver University Law Review, Summer 2002, Volume 79, Issue 4, pp. 534-539 and 558-565.

As if that wasn’t bad enough,

Consider the following statements by John Stermer, Senior Vice President of eBusiness Market Development at ACNielsen:

“[After bar codes] [t]he next ‘big thing’ [was] [f]requent shopper cards. While these did a better job of linking consumers and their purchases, loyalty cards were severely limited…consider the usage, consumer demographic, psychographic and economic blind spots of tracking data…. [S]omething more integrated and holistic was needed to provide a ubiquitous understanding of on- and off-line consumer purchase behavior, attitudes and product usage. The answer: RFID (radio frequency identification) technology…. In an industry first, RFID enables the linking of all this product information with a specific consumer identified by key demographic and psychographic markers….Where once we collected purchase information, now we can correlate multiple points of consumer product purchase with consumption specifics such as the how, when and who of product use.” 32

Thank you Katherine for what you do!

Find out more about Charlie Brown and what happened to him in Katherine Albrecht’s February 3, 2009 interview Charlie Brown’s Lori Ginsberg on the Katherine Albrecht Radio Show Archives at her website and find out more info and see some additional pictures of Charlie Brown here under the Press section of Katherine’s site.

Here’s a direct link to the February 3, 2009 show:

Download Hour 1
Download Hour 2

Listen as streaming MP3

More great shows by Katherine Albrecht here.

This is much bigger than a few devastated pet owners (which is horrible in itself if you have ever lost a pet) … they are careful to only show the positive on these microchips to pet owners, and eventually maybe even your children, or other family members. There have already been jobs in security that require chipping.

Even Wikipedia acknowledges that RFID (Radio-frequency identification) microchipping is being used in humans. And here’s a company that does such implantation and on their site:

“My wife had triple bypass surgery. If she’s brought to the hospital, I want to make sure they have the information they need to take care of her. The RFID MicroChip is that technology. We both feel comfort knowing her medical information is always with her.” – Craig W.

What about Alzheimer’s patients being chipped, and people placed in Nursing Homes. What’s next, microchipping children for their own safety (from 2007 – remember this one)?:

Last month’s ‘appeal’ to identify technologies that could prevent child abduction has moved forward rapidly

Or maybe babies, when they are born?

Get even more information about human chipping at AntiChips.com where Dr. Robert Bnenezra, Director Cancer Biology Genetics Program Memorial Sloan-Ketterin Cancer Center is quoted:

There’s no way in the world, having read this information, that I would have one of those chips implanted in my skin, or in one of my family members. Given the preliminary data, it looks to me that there’s definitely cause for concern.

Here’s a reworked old quote that surely seems very appropriate today:

When Verichip micro-chipped the Alzheimer patients I remained silent I was not an Alzheimer patient

When Verichip micro-chipped the Diabetic and AIDS patients I remained silent; I was not an AIDS patient nor a Diabetic

When Verichip micro-chipped the Military I did not speak out; I was not in the Military

When Verichip came for the activists I remained silent; I was not an Activist

When they came to microchip me , there was no one left to speak out

WeThePeopleWillNotBeChipped.com

Verichip fact sheet:

Verichip Waiver “Patient…is fully aware of any risks, complications, risks of loss, damage of any nature, and injury that may be associated with this registration. Patient waives all claims and releases any liability arising from this registration and acknowledges that no warranties of any kind have been made or will be made with respect to this registration. ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, HOWEVER ARISING, WHETHER BY OPERATION OF LAW OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MECHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXCLUDED AND WAIVED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COMPANY BE LIABLE TO PATIENT FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST INCOME OR SAVINGS) ARISING FROM ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THEIR POSSIBILITY, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH DAMAGES ARE SOUGHT BASED ON BREACH OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY.”

MUCH more on the page.

IBM RFID commercial- Shopping in the Future as a Chipped Human (YouTube video)

Sounds nice and easy? Yeah, well, just think about what else can be tracked with such a device in a surveillance state.

The Sleeper must awaken.

Disgrace of a Nation – 200,000 Veterans Sleeping on the Streets?!

Did You Know 200,000 Veterans Are Sleeping on the Streets?

America’s promise to “Support the Troops” ends the moment they take off the uniform and try to make the transition to civilian life.

What is this?! People who were damaged by wars in this country (U.S.A) apparently have to wait on appeal for Disability hearings for upwards of 4 to 4 1/2 years?! It is bad enough that they have to wait 6 months for the initial hearing, but at least that is better than the years of wait for an appeal if denied initially.

Banking cartels get HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of our tax dollars without accountability after weeks of deliberation by Congress and GM gets to become a bank to get BILLIONS of that and so many others have received bailouts — yet individual American Veterans who were damaged in some way by the ravages of war are treated like this?!

Oh, the shame! Now THIS is a national disaster of an unprecedented nature.

I am sure this is only the tip of the iceberg. I have heard of many people trying to get Social Security Disability that also have to wait years on appeal for disability hearings and that is bad enough after paying in for this for years – being told it will be there for them if needed, and then they go through hell to get it – if they ever get it!

Or have to go through painful testing at Walter Reed Hospital to determine the ongoing extent of disability year after year for degenerative diseases like my own father had to do – who was also a Veteran (Korean War) but not injured in war. My Daddy, after 14 years active duty and he had considered himself to be a Lifer in the military – a man who loved the military and didn’t want to leave it – was Honorably Discharged for Medical Reasons. The military found out that the rigors of military life was exacerbating a disease that they discovered he had (which was a debilitating disease – deterioration of the nerves and muscles – Charcot Marie Tooth Disease – now it’s considered one of the many variants of CMT) while he was in the military. Years later he was to find out that this dreadful disease was hereditary but no one knew much about at the time he was diagnosed with it.

But to treat our Veterans who were damaged in some way in wars like this is unconscionable!

How can these Veterans be left to slip through the cracks of a stupid bureaucracy like this?!

Well, if as they claim it is ONLY Congress or the President who have the power to change this – if they are the ONLY ones who can make this country do right by it’s hurting Veterans – then we need to call upon the U.S. Congress and this country’s new President-elect Obama to fix this and fix it right away!

I say it’s way past time to fix this injustice.

EDIT: In case others do not read comments for postings, I will link to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans for your perusal where the following information can be found:

Who are homeless veterans?

The U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) says the nation’s homeless veterans are mostly males (4 % are females). The vast majority are single, most come from poor, disadvantaged communities, 45% suffer from mental illness, and half have substance abuse problems. America’s homeless veterans have served in World War II, Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Operation Iraqi Freedom, or the military’s anti-drug cultivation efforts in South America. Forty-seven percent of homeless veterans served during the Vietnam Era. More than 67% served our country for at least three years and 33% were stationed in a war zone.

How many homeless veterans are there?

Although accurate numbers are impossible to come by — no one keeps national records on homeless veterans — the VA estimates that nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. And nearly 400,000 experience homelessness over the course of a year. Conservatively, one out of every three homeless men who is sleeping in a doorway, alley or box in our cities and rural communities has put on a uniform and served this country. According to the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Urban Institute, 1999), veterans account for 23% of all homeless people in America.

Homeless veterans face new battle for survival (CNN)

More to think about:

VA Poorly Equipped to Care for Soldiers Injured in Iraq (Opinion piece on Veterans Today)

The VA recognizes the problem and has reached out to states and organizations to help with the needs of Homeless Veterans – Project CHALENG

If someone has an exact quote from the VA that substantiates the claims by all of these and many more articles on news publication sites, please post a comment.

URGENT: Stop the Auto Bailout

Bailout Update

Posted by Matt Hawes on 12/10/08

It looks like a vote on the bailout could be taken in the House between 7 and 8 eastern tonight.  However, it appears to be encountering problems in the Senate.

MSNBC has a copy of the bill available here.

Keep calling and writing (suggested letters are here).  It’s very possible the bill could be rejected in the House if there is widespread uncertainty about its future in the Senate.  Legislators who would otherwise cave to the pressure to vote for the bill may be encouraged to stick to their guns and vote against the bailout.

As if it wasn’t bad enough when the government gave the (minimum) $700 billion dollar bailout of the banking cartels and not requiring proper paper trail on where these funds went or to whom. And before that Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, and more! Believe it or not….including an earlier auto industry bailout.

But now they want to give $23 billion more to the automakers.

And this is again beyond the $700 billion (plus the trillians projected for that) for the banking cartel’s bailout.

And the auto makers that apparently will just keep doing many of the bad business practices that put them where they are today. And could still quite likely go bankrupt at a later date after they riffle through the bailout funds provided by our taxpayer dollars! Oh, and what about AIG’s bailout rework to get even more money?

Do you think we should continue to bailout every company that cries ‘we’re falling and we can’t get up … at least not by ourselves” routine?

All these bailouts are simply prolonging the inevitable. Eventually, we will have to deal with the reasons for this collapse and the longer we put it off, I really believe it will only get worse and take even more down with it.

There are still some people that really think that bailing out the ‘wealthy’ will work? They really need to get their head out of the sand and get a reality check. This country has never bailed out those that REALLY needed it, so what makes people think bailing out the ‘wealthy’ who were bad managers will work, eh? Oh, and rewarding them by taking money from those that did do well, or at least didn’t go bankrupt, and likely doing things right — by taking their money to give to those who failed miserably so they can continue to fail miserably at our expense!?

Besides does anyone think the auto industry will do any better this time around with yet another band aid fix? They are not fixing what’s wrong, they just want more money to throw at the symptoms instead of taking care of the real problem.

Check out CampaignForLiberty.com for more information and the following videos of Ron Paul on Neil Cavuto: An anthology – dealing with these bailouts.

I have some words for you from our Founding Fathers regarding ‘redistribution of wealth:’

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” — Benjamin Franklin

This is a really sad time in our country which began when they instituted The Fed and Income Tax in 1913. Isn’t it amazing that less than 100 years after the institution of these two things (The Fed and Income Tax) a major collapse has happened .. yet again. And would have happened sooner and not quite so big if ‘natural’ corrections had been allowed to occur. And they have been trying to say that The Fed was NOT responsible for ‘recovering’ from the last Depression. What a load of horse hockey.

Read your history and pay close attention to the dates of things. And don’t go by today’s numbers in the stock market. Even during the Great Depression, there were ups and downs. And even Bernanke in a speech that is well documented admitted that The Fed caused the Great Depression and that was back in 2002!

Also check out some of the articles at Mises.org on Austrian Economics. Here’s a good place to start, “The New Deal and the Great Duration.”

Who makes out during these times – you know the Great Depressions, major recessions, and collapses? Just ask yourself that. Because there were those who did/do just fine … many of these actually made out/are making out pretty darn well.

And if you are wondering why we shouldn’t be giving away our children’s and grand children’s future …

How Bad Could It Get?

In “What Goes Up”, I discussed the law of booms and busts. A big boom with easy credit leads to a big bust.

The question is, given the boom we had between 2001-2007, how bad a bust might we have?

Real Estate

Well, in the greatest financial crash of all time – the crash of the 1340s in Italy, which brought on a new dark Age – real estate prices fell by 50 percent by 1349 in Florence when boom became bust.

How does that compare to 2001-2007? The price of Southern California homes is already down 41%, Southern California hasn’t fallen as fast as some other areas, and we’re nowhere near the bottom of the market.

Moreover, the bubble was not confined to the U.S. There was a worldwide bubble in real estate.

Indeed, the Economist magazine wrote in 2005 that the worldwide boom in residential real estate prices in this decade was “the biggest bubble in history“. The Economist noted that – at that time – the total value of residential property in developed countries rose by more than $30 trillion, to $70 trillion, over the past five years – an increase equal to the combined GDPs of those nations.

Housing bubbles are now bursting in China, France, Spain, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, and many other regions.

Much more in the article.

EDIT: Added How Bad Can it Get? from George Washignton’s Blog?

The Truth About Bailouts (Peter Schiff)

The Truth About Bailouts
by Peter Schiff
November 24, 2008

As the Federal bailout bonanza prepares to spread beyond the mortgage and financial sectors to fill Detroit’s depleted coffers, few economic or policy analysts have spared a thought for the destitution of the U.S. government itself. Put simply, our government doesn’t have enough spare cash to bail out a lemonade stand let alone a bloated and failing industry that is losing tens of billions of dollars per month. Washington can only offer funds that it has borrowed from abroad or printed. Unfortunately, the nation is in the grips of a delusion that money derived from these sources has the power to heal. But history has clearly shown that borrowed or printed money only has the power to destroy.

The argument that energizes the pro-Detroit camp is that the government should extend the same courtesy to the rank and file auto workers that it lavished upon the fat cats of Wall Street. While two wrongs certainly do not make a right, the fact remains that the Wall Street firms are still floundering despite the bailouts. What’s worse, the money spent was either printed or borrowed from abroad. Both options are destructive to America.

Much more in the article. Well worth the read. Peter Schiff is the one who called this collapse before anyone else, if I remember correctly. You can find many of his videos on YouTube, like this one “Peter Schiff Was Right 2006-2007.”

Have you been to the grocery store lately? I don’t think the high prices are just here in VA. The grocery store is a scary place to go right now.

Maybe it is time to take a look at Surviving the Economy, he?

The price of dissent on global warming

According to Wikipedia, David Belamy is an English botanist, author, broadcaster, and environmental campaigner. He is also a skeptic of anthropogenic global warming.

Bellamy first came to public prominence as an environmental consultant at the time of the 1967 Torrey Canyon disaster. He has written and presented some 400 television programmes on botany, ecology, and environmental issues. Bellamy is the originator, along with David Shreeve and the Conservation Foundation (which he also founded), of the Ford European Conservation Awards and has published over 80 scientific papers and many books.

Recently, he wrote an article, “The price of dissent on global warming (The Australian):”

WHEN I first stuck my head above the parapet to say I didn’t believe what we were being told about global warming, I had no idea what the consequences would be. I am a scientist and I have to follow the directions of science, but when I see that the truth is being covered up I have to voice my opinions.

David Belamy goes on to talk about why he says that.

If you have the time, the comment section is also quite interesting.

Thank you Mike (Staying Alive blog) for bringing to light another great article.

Back in August, I posted an article entitled, “Climatic Cycles … who’d a thunk it” where I share information from the article, “Fire and Ice – Journalists have warned of climate change for 100 years, but can’t decide weather we face an ice age or warming (BMI Special Report)” (And yes, I do think that weather instead of whether is a pun on words.)

Like David Belamy, and many others, I have been very upset about the rain forest being destroyed for many years and the loss of some of the most amazing biodiversity and indigenous culture on the planet. And like anyone with a brain, I am very concerned about pollution (at every level) and what it is doing to our world. And as long as it’s efficient and doesn’t create higher food costs, I am very much in favor of alternative energy solutions.

Recently, I saw a very good timeline on this subject over at The Old Farmer’s Almanac, “Is Global Warming on the Wane?”.

I do think it’s important to get back to basics where we can. Some are better able than others to do so. But to talk about pushing carbon taxes and buying credits to appease the ‘carbon gods’ and make people ‘feel better’ about their so called carbon footprint may be a bit over the edge when there are so many starving people around the world.

And there are real concerns about global companies, like Monsanto that provides a huge percentage of the seeds used around the world, (in 2006 they were reconsidering their 1999 statement on NOT making use of technology (read: patents) to create terminator or suicide seeds), beginning patent war with the world surrounding seeds and techniques for breeding:

Biotech Giant Monsanto Revises Pledge on ‘Suicide Seeds’:

The threat of so-called ‘suicide seeds’ being used in commercial agriculture has become greater following a change of policy by Monsanto, the world’s largest GM seed and chemicals company.

The genetic-engineering giant made a public promise in 1999 not to commercialise ‘terminator technology’ – plants that are genetically modified to produce sterile seeds. Now Monsanto says it may develop the technology after all – suggesting that it would use Terminator seeds in non-food crops such as cotton, tobacco, pharmaceutical crops and grass, and does not rule out other uses in the future. (1)

In response, Greenpeace joined over 300 organisations today to demand that the current global moratorium on terminator technology is maintained, because the use of sterile seeds threatens biodiversity and could destroy the livelihoods and cultures of the 1.4 billion people who depend on farm-saved seed.

More here and here and here and this information on wikipedia:

Throughout 2004 and 2005, Monsanto filed lawsuits against many farmers in Canada and the U.S. The lawsuits have been on the grounds of patent infringement, specifically the farmer’s sale of seed containing Monsanto’s patented genes–which require the farmer initial purchase of the seed and its technology–unknowingly sown by wind carrying the seeds from neighboring crops. These instances began in the mid to late 1990s, with one of the most significant cases being decided in Monsanto’s favor by the Canadian Supreme Court. By a 5-4 vote in late May 2004, that court ruled that “by cultivating a plant containing the patented gene and composed of the patented cells without license, the appellants (canola farmer Percy Schmeiser) deprived the respondents of the full enjoyment of the monopoly.” With this ruling, the Canadian courts followed the U.S. Supreme Court in its decision on patent issues involving plants and genes.

As of February 2005, Monsanto has patent claims on breeding techniques for pigs which would grant them ownership of any pigs born of such techniques and their related herds. Greenpeace claims Monsanto is trying to claim ownership on ordinary breeding techniques.[6] Monsanto claims that the patent is a defensive measure to track animals from its system. They furthermore claim their patented method uses a specialized insemination device that requires less sperm than is typical.[7]

In 2006, the Public Patent Foundation filed requests with the U.S. Patent Office to revoke four patents that Monsanto has used in patent lawsuits against farmers. In the first round of reexamination, claims in all four patents were rejected by the Patent Office in four separate rulings dating from February through July 2007.[8] Monsanto has since filed responses in the reexaminations.

I just think there are much more important things to worry about regarding the environment, governments squandering tax payers’ money (for generations) on a bucket with major holes in it that Ron Paul and other Austrian economists have predicted (thanks Ice – The Ice Blog), and feeding the world’s population by helping them get what’s needed to do it themselves through humanitarian ways (not through taxes at governmental levels, but through charitable/religious organizations that people voluntarily choose to donate to) — rather than worrying about carbon footprints and carbon credits so people can go on doing what they are going to do anyway (but somehow feel better about it because they paid to appease the ‘carbon gods’), and global warming/cooling cycles that are a normal occurrence since the beginning of the world.

Obama Selects Janet Reno’s Anti-Gun Point Man As Next Attorney General

Obama Selects Janet Reno’s Anti-Gun Point Man As Next Attorney General

So much for “I support the Second Amendment,” and so much for the notion of “change.”

Media reports say President-elect Barack Obama has selected Eric Holder as his Attorney General, and that Holder may already have accepted the offer. Holder, as Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno during the Clinton Administration, said that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right, but instead protects the right to have a firearm when serving with a militia. After leaving office, Holder stuck to that assertion when he signed Janet Reno’s brief to the Supreme Court in the Heller case, which stated, “The Second Amendment does not protect firearms possession or use that is unrelated to participation in a well-regulated militia.”

At the Justice Department, Holder advocated a waiting period, limiting gun purchases to one per month, and so-called “gun show loophole” legislation–the fine print of which would have driven gun shows out of business. Holder made it clear that he, Clinton, and Reno were more interested in stopping gun sales than in regulating them. When ABC’s George Will asked him about guns being used for self-defense more often than to commit crime, and Right-to-Carry states having lower crime rates than other states, Holder dismissed the facts that Mr. Will raised, with the flippant statement, “I’m not sure that we need more than the 200 million or so guns that we have on the streets.”

More in the article.

I can’t believe that President-elect Obama would name this apparent anti-Constitutionalist as Attorney General. Unbelievable.

I am appalled at the blatant disrespect of the Constitution by someone that President-elect Obama has chosen.

I do not own a gun, but I have used a gun in target shooting (see my 2005 article on this subject noted later in this posting). Guns in rural areas are a life blood. My grandmother, during the depression — who was an excellent shot — used her guns to put food on the table for her family and as protection against attackers such as wild dogs, ‘possums, racoons, weasels etc. in the hen house, as well as larger animals like bobcats, cougars, foxes, etc. Not to mention personal protection of your home and family, particularly on farms in deep rural areas against those who might do you or your family harm or steal from you.

And how much longer before we see the following happening here in the states:

Game beware: it’s the return of the poacher

As times get harder in Britain’s cities, armed gangs are heading for the countryside – and stealing deer, salmon and rabbits to feed a burgeoning black market in food. Andy McSmith reports

Once, the poacher was a man with big pockets in his raincoat sneaking on to an aristocrat’s land to steal game for his family pot. Now he is likely to be part of a gang from town, in it for hard cash, rampaging through the countryside with guns, crossbows or snares.

Police in rural areas across Britain are reporting a dramatic increase in poaching, as the rise in food prices and the reality of recession increases the temptation to deal in stolen venison, salmon, or rarer meat and fish.

And as all that is happening, British subjects are being warned “not to take matters into their own hands.” Are the British police going to replace what’s stolen from their food stores? I think not.

Some 40,000 show up at Colo. farm to pick up free vegetables left on fields after harvest

PLATTEVILLE, Colo. (AP) _ A farm couple got a huge surprise when they opened their fields to anyone who wanted to pick up free vegetables left over after the harvest — 40,000 people showed up.

Joe and Chris Miller’s fields were picked so clean Saturday that a second day of gleaning — the ancient practice of picking up leftover food in farm fields — was canceled Sunday.

“Overwhelmed is putting it mildly,” Chris Miller said. “People obviously need food.

With the current major downturn of the economy, and recent events, it really appalls me that he would do this. I am seeing no real change coming out of the Obama camp … at least not where the Constitution is concerned. Unbelievable.

I think it behooves all Americans to take a close look at Gun Control and the Right to bear arms provided by the Constitution of the United States of America. Back in 2006, I posted an entry here on my blog about this very thing; The Right to Keep and Bear Arms talks about this. I hope everyone will take a few minutes to read that posting. It concerns not only our Right to bear arms but what happens to countries in history who have moved first to control and ultimately gun bans … and it doesn’t stop there. It never does.

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Thanks to Staying Alive blog for the heads up on this.

The Austrians Were Right by Ron Paul

The Austrians Were Right by Ron Paul

Before the U.S. House of Representatives, November 20, 2008

Madame Speaker, many Americans are hoping the new administration will solve the economic problems we face. That’s not likely to happen, because the economic advisors to the new President have no more understanding of how to get us out of this mess than previous administrations and Congresses understood how the crisis was brought about in the first place.

Except for a rare few, Members of Congress are unaware of Austrian Free Market economics. For the last 80 years, the legislative, judiciary and executive branches of our government have been totally influenced by Keynesian economics. If they had had any understanding of the Austrian economic explanation of the business cycle, they would have never permitted the dangerous bubbles that always lead to painful corrections.

Today, a major economic crisis is unfolding. New government programs are started daily, and future plans are being made for even more. All are based on the belief that we’re in this mess because free-market capitalism and sound money failed. The obsession is with more spending, bailouts of bad investments, more debt, and further dollar debasement. Many are saying we need an international answer to our problems with the establishment of a world central bank and a single fiat reserve currency. These suggestions are merely more of the same policies that created our mess and are doomed to fail.

At least 90% of the cause for the financial crisis can be laid at the doorstep of the Federal Reserve. It is the manipulation of credit, the money supply, and interest rates that caused the various bubbles to form. Congress added fuel to the fire by various programs and institutions like the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FDIC, and HUD mandates, which were all backed up by aggressive court rulings.

The Fed has now doled out close to $2 trillion in subsidized loans to troubled banks and other financial institutions. The Federal Reserve and Treasury constantly brag about the need for “transparency” and “oversight,” but it’s all just talk – they want none of it. They want secrecy while the privileged are rescued at the expense of the middle class.

It is unimaginable that Congress could be so derelict in its duty. It does nothing but condone the arrogance of the Fed in its refusal to tell us where the $2 trillion has gone. All Members of Congress and all Americans should be outraged that conditions could deteriorate to this degree. It’s no wonder that a large and growing number of Americans are now demanding an end to the Fed.

Ron Paul has much more to say in the article, and the answer … If only they’d listen….

And the answer is NOT continuing to pump more and more water into a bucket that is riddled with holes!

EDIT: added the info below:

We must remember that governments do not produce anything. Their only resources come from producers in the economy through such means as inflation and taxation. The government has an obligation to be good stewards of these resources. In bailing out failing companies, they are confiscating money from productive members of the economy and giving it to failing ones. By sustaining companies with obsolete or unsustainable business models, the government prevents their resources from being liquidated and made available to other companies that can put them to better, more productive use. An essential element of a healthy free market, is that both success and failure must be permitted to happen when they are earned. But instead with a bailout, the rewards are reversed – the proceeds from successful entities are given to failing ones. How this is supposed to be good for our economy is beyond me.

Much more in Ron Paul’s Texas Straight Talk article “The Bailout Surge.”