BizzarOMGworld

This category relates to extreme version of mirroring or leaving "reality-based" journalism:

SEE BIZZ OMG2

even beyond irony: eg

climate scientists lie (yes, the hacks do)

agw is a religion (no religion is religion: god will not let us wreck earth) whitehouse sen says it's magical thinking not religious inquiry

cap and trade lets polluters keep polluting (no biz as usual corruption does)

also WTF of the day:

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AN 7 25

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s latest attack on public health is drawing fierce backlash from medical and scientific experts after he canceled or altered nearly two dozen mRNA-related contracts—the very technology that enabled the rapid development of COVID shots credited with saving millions of lives since late 2020.

Among those projects affected are ones “creating an H5N1 bird flu vaccine and developing respiratory virus therapeutics,” The Washington Post reported. About $500 million in contracts are affected. The Post referred to Secretary Kennedy as “the founder of a prominent anti-vaccine group who once falsely called coronavirus shots the ‘deadliest vaccine ever made.'”

“The cancellations dismayed scientists who believe mRNA shots offer the best protection for Americans in a pandemic,” reported The New York Times.

“Kennedy’s decision to terminate the projects is the latest in a string of decisions that have put the longtime vaccine critic’s doubts about shots into full effect at the nation’s health department,” the Associated Press reported. “Kennedy has pulled back recommendations around the COVID-19 shots, fired the panel that makes vaccine recommendations, and refused to offer a vigorous endorsement of vaccinations as a measles outbreak worsened.”

IFrame Content

“We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted,” Secretary Kennedy said in a statement. “We’re shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate.”

Experts strongly disagree, and the Washington Post reported that large-scale studies have shown that mRNA vaccines are “safe and effective.”

“Completely horrifying,” commented Timothy Caulfield, a Professor of Law at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health and a Research Director at the Health Law Institute. He appeared to call the HHS Secretary an “Anti-science monster.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business,” Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations told the AP.

Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine is a former CDC Medical Officer.

Responding to video of RFK Jr.’s remarks, Dr. Klausner wrote that the HHS Secretary “is increasingly positioning himself as the most corrupt and ill-informed Secretary of Health in US history. His legacy will be one of foolish decisions that destroyed medicine and public health.”

Dr. Simon Maechling, who has a PhD in organic chemistry, remarked that the mRNA contracts were cut not because the vaccines “failed” or were “unsafe,” but “because of ideology.”

“Twenty-two projects – gone overnight. These weren’t fringe efforts. They included next-gen vaccines for COVID-19, influenza, RSV, and even H5N1 bird flu,” he wrote. “Pulling support for them isn’t a safety move – it’s an anti-vaccine statement dressed in bureaucratic language.”

“RFK Jr. isn’t making America safer,” Maechling added. “He’s dismantling the infrastructure we’ll need for the next crisis – in the name of belief over biology. It’s not principled. It’s reckless.”

Dr. Catharine Young, a senior fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, noted, “mRNA technology didn’t appear overnight. it is the result of DECADES of research – now driving some of the most promising advances in cancer, HIV, and rare disease. It is precise, fast, and adaptable – and yes – revolutionary. And it is now very much being dismantled.”

Dr. Jake Scott, an infectious diseases specialist and clinical associate professor at Stanford blasted RFK Jr.’s claimed reason for cutting the contracts as “naive,” and wrote that it “reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of vaccinology. It conflates the unrealistic goal of blocking all infections with the real, achievable goal: reducing serious illness and death.”

Infectious Diseases doctor and clinician scientist Dr. Neil Stone also slammed Kennedy:

“RFK Jr’s attack on mRNA vaccines is not based on science. As a life long anti vaxxer he disproportionately listens to those who expouse anti vaccine views And he believes them. It’s outrageous.”

Dr. Michael White, an Associate Professor of Genetics at Washington University in the St. Louis School of Medicine declared it a “Completely insane decision to walk away from one of the most promising medical technologies, allowing the US to get smoked in this area of biotech by other countries with more foresight.”

“A bad day for science, and huge blow to our national security,” declared immunologist and virologist Rick White. “This decision will have dangerous repercussions.”

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http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/07/wisconsin-republicans-climate-change

Wisconsin Republicans are looking to place a Florida-style moratorium on the ability of a key public official to work on matters related to climate change on state time.

State treasurer Matt Adamczyk, a Republican, says his plan to prohibit Tia Nelson, the executive secretary of the state’s Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, from “engaging in global warming or climate change work” on the job is part of an attempt to trim government spending, which has included fighting for his own office to be eliminated.

How much fossil fuel has been used in your lifetime?

The committee tasked with managing some of Wisconsin’s public land, along with a trust to fund school libraries, is set to vote on the measure in its 7 April meeting.

Nelson’s supporters on the board, including Wisconsin secretary of state Doug La Follette, have characterised the vote as a politically motivated witchhunt which comes as the result of Nelson’s participation in a global warming taskforce created by then-governor Jim Doyle, a Democrat, in 2008.

Adamczyk alleges that Nelson’s co-authoring of a report on policy recommendations for the state to address climate change amounted to theft of the state’s time.

Nelson declined to comment on the allegations.

She said that in 10 years leading the agency and working with both Republican and Democratic majority boards, this marked “the first time climate change has been a part of the conversation”.

Adamczyk has taken a special interest in the commission’s spending since he took office in November, reportedly calling for Nelson, who is the daughter of Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, to be removed from BCPL’s letterhead within a week of taking office, and telling Nelson he was “beyond disappointed” that the office maintained a New York Times subscription, and urging its cancellation.

sorta forget rove griffin US atty

David Iglesias (R) believes he was removed from office at the behest of two NM Republican congressmen when he refused to prosecute state Democratic senators before the November 2006 election.^[71] refuse ^vote ^suppression?

Kevin Ryan (R) Though described as "loyal to the Bush administration," he was allegedly fired for the possible controversy that negative job performance evaluations might cause if they were released.^[72]

John McKay (R) Was given a positive job evaluation 7 months before he was fired. After a close WA governor's race resulted in a Democratic victory, local Republicans criticized McKay for not investigating allegations of voter fraud.^[73]

Paul K. Charlton (R) Was given a positive job performance evaluation before he was dismissed. He may have been fired because he had started a corruption investigation about Rick Renzi (R) AR.^[74]

Carol Lam (R) oversaw the Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham military contracting corruption case. Congressman Darrell Issa complained (falsely) that Lam was not prosecuting illegal border crossings aggressively enough.^[75]

Daniel Bogden (R) was dismissed after 17 years because of a vague sense that a "stronger leader" was needed. His loyalty to President Bush was questioned by Kyle Sampson(R) Chief of Staff and Counselor to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales(R).^[76]

Margaret Chiara(R) Was given a positive job evaluation in 2005, and told she was being removed to "make way" for another individual.^[77]

Todd Graves (R) had been pressed to bring a civil suit against Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, (D) for allegedly failing to crack down on voting fraud.^[78]

Bud Cummins (R) allegedly was asked to leave so Timothy Griffin, an aide to Karl Rove, could have his job.^[79]

Thomas M. DiBiagio (R) believes he was asked to step down due to his corruption investigations into the administration of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R).^[80]

2012

Familiar mega-banks and investing powerhouses such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Macquarie Bank, Barclays Bank, the Blackstone Group, Allianz, and HSBC Bank, among others, are consolidating their control over water. Wealthy tycoons such as T. Boone Pickens, former President George H.W. Bush and his family, Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing, Philippines’ Manuel V. Pangilinan and other Filipino billionaires, and others are also buying thousands of acres of land with aquifers, lakes, water rights, water utilities, and shares in water engineering and technology companies all over the world.

.01% beef ranchers get huge subsidies:

Some of America's biggest welfare ranchers:

David and Charles Koch (Koch Industries)

The brothers hold a half-dozen grazing permits on public land in Montana to go with its 300,000-acre Matador Ranch there. The brothers are tied for fourth place on Forbes 2014 400 Richest People in America list (net worth: $ 42 billion each). The Koch family ($ 89 billion) is #2 on Forbes Richest Families list; Koch Industries is #2 on Forbes America's Largest Private Companies list, ($ 115 billion in sales).

J.R. Simplot Corp.

The largest U.S. public lands ranching entity (with an estimated 2 to 3 million acres of allotments in CA, ID, NV, OR and UT) is #63 on Forbes 2014 list of America's Largest Private Companies ($ 5.8 billion in sales). In 2014, the family was #29 on Forbes list of America’s Richest Families (net worth: $ 8 billion).

Bruce McCaw (McCaw Cellular)

McCaw was #382 on Forbes 400 list of America’s Richest People in 2005 (net worth: $ 925 million). Through his 9 sprawling ranches, he controls a significant number of public grazing leases in ID and possibly NV. One of them (Camas Creek ranch) includes 272,000 acres of Federal grazing allotments in Idaho's Camas Prairie. Grazing permitted to his other ranches could easily double or triple that to a million acres or more.

Barrick Gold

The Canadian mining company is one of the two largest public lands ranchers in NV, ranking 771st on Forbes Global 2000 list of the World’s Biggest Public Companies in 2014, (sales: $ 12.56 billion). Like many other large public lands ranchers, Barrick buys ranches to secure water rights.

Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA)

The supplier of drinking water to Las Vegas is a large NV public lands rancher with an estimated 1 million acres of public grazing allotments. Like Barrick Gold, it, buys up private ranches to gain their water rights.

W. Barron Hilton (Hilton Hotels)

The hotel heir dropped off Forbes Billionaires list (ranked #459 in 2011) as well as its list of the 400 Richest Americans (#144 in 2010), with a net worth of $ 2.5 billion. He died in 2013.

Though records are hard to pin down, Hilton's heirs inherited a ranching operation in the CA-NV border area, which has been known to have vast public lands grazing allotments permitted to it.

Mary Hewlett-Jaffe (Hewlett-Packard)

Jaffe holds the largest BLM public lands grazing permit in central ID and is among the top 15 public lands ranchers in the state (estimated at under 200,000 acres that are said to be in extremely degraded condition, according to sources).

James Barta (Sav-Rx.com)

Barta is not on any Forbes rich lists, but owns one of the largest cattle ranching operations in the U.S., according to his attorneys. Barta holds grazing permits to nearly 900,000 acres of public grazing allotments in connection with two properties: White Horse Ranch (in OR) and Soldier Meadows (in NV). Barta may have additional NV grazing leases through two other ranches in NV, according to Jon Marvel, founder of Western Watersheds Project.

T. Wright Dickinson

Though not on any Forbes list, the Dickinson family is a large public lands rancher, with grazing permits estimated at more than a half million acres of CO, UT and WY public lands under its LLC, Vermillion Ranches. Dickinson is a former County commissioner and proponent of county efforts to gain control of federal lands, according to the Denver Post.

Stan Kroenke (Kroenke Group) & Ann Walton Kroenke (Walmart)

With just two of his ranches (in MT and WY) totaling 664,000 acres (not including public grazing allotments), Kroenke is one of the ten top land owners in the U.S. In 2014, he ranked #89 on Forbes list of the 400 Richest Americans, #247 on its Billionaires list, and #5 on its list of Richest American Sports Team Owners (net worth: $ 5.8 billion). His wife, Ann Walton Kroenke (net worth: $ 5.6 billion), was #261 on Forbes Billionaires list and #11 on its list of America’s Richest Women.

Family of Robert Earl Holding (Sinclair Oil and hotels)

Forbes ranks the family #87 on its 2014 list of America’s Richest Families (net worth: $ 2.7 billion). With 400,000 acres of land, the family is the 19th largest private land owner in the US, according to the 2014 Land Report 100. This includes land that Forbes reported “may be the largest ranching operation in the Rocky Mountains.” Public grazing leases are associated with some of the family’s WY and possibly MT holdings, according to Jon Marvel, founder of Western Watersheds.

Ted Turner

He's the second largest U.S. land owner (2 million acres in 6 states), is estimated to hold grazing leases in MT and NM (estimated at as much as 300,000 acres), and owns the world's largest bison herd. Forbes ranked him #296 on its 2014 list of the 400 Richest Americans and #818 on its global Billionaires list (net worth: $ 2.2 billion).

The 'exclusive' photos of 'Russian invasion in Ukraine' in 2014 turned out to be easily found in the Web, with at least one of them dating back to 2008. Now, US senator James Inhofe is furious with the Ukrainian delegation for setting him up with the 'evidence'.

Questions have been raised about the veracity of reports that claim Russian troops have invaded Ukraine after US Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe confessed that several photos of Russian convoys he obtained from a Ukrainian parliamentary group were taken during the 2008 Georgia conflict, the Washington Free Beacon said.

On Tuesday, the Washington Free Beacon ran a story that unveiled "exclusive" photos of victims of militia bombs and Russian armed vehicles seemingly rolling into Ukraine.

The photos were provided to Inhofe's office in print by an obscure Ukrainian delegation, led by a Georgetown professor, who said the images were taken at the height of Russia's alleged military incursion between August 24 and September 5, 2014.

Inhofe's spokeswoman Donelle Harder was cited as saying they had checked back with their sources - none of them high-level Ukrainian officials - before releasing the photos. She said they had been quite confident about their authenticity since the imagery allegedly matched reports about the Ukraine conflict.

But speaking to The Mirror on Thursday, Sen. Inhofe confessed he was "furious" to learn that at least one of the photos was taken by Associated Press during Russia's military operation in Georgia back in 2008. Several other images are readily available elsewhere online and can be found using a Google Images search.

Among the Ukrainian delegation was Semen Semenchenko, the commander of the "Donbas" volunteer battalion and a newly elected member of the Verkhovna Rada. Earlier, he was known as Konstantin Grishin and was reportedly suspected of fraud in Crimea.

...

http://www.sott.net/article/292559-US-Senator-furious-over-duped-photos-of-Russian-invasion-in-Ukraine-still-wont-change-his-mind

http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/24/bryan-koon-refuses-to-say-climate-change

The saga of Florida’s ban of the “C-words” climate change is just getting ridiculous. “Even as Florida Governor Rick Scott denies reports of an unwritten policy banning administration officials from using the term ‘climate change,’ an employee of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection says he was suspended for expressing his views on climate change,” reports MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. The Florida official, Bart Bibler, joins Hayes on his show *All In With Chris Hayes* to tell his story. suspended and ordered to get psychiatric clearance to return

Also included in the segment, Gov. Rick Scott’s chief of emergency management, Bryan Koon, testified before the state legislature and refused to say the “C-words” during a state Senate hearing last week. State Sen. Jeff Clemens (D) asked Koon about FEMA requirements, which mandate that states have a “climate change plan” in order to receive preparedness dollars—a totally reasonable thing to talk about with the state’s chief of emergency management given theexpected impacts on Florida from climate change. The interaction at the Senate hearing is a bit like watching the older kid trying to get the younger kid to say a bad word. Watch as lawmakers and the audience actually laugh out loud at the Scott administration official who just refuses to say that naughty term:

nra2:

why take positions on immigration and bank policy?

The Consumer Coalition's top issues, Wise says, are reforming the CFPB to weaken its power; **"saving" Uber**, the popular ride-dispatching app; and attacking **Operation Chokepoint**, a Department of Justice program intended to force banks to close accounts of businesses they suspect of committing fraud. In June, the Consumer Coalition announced plans to run a $3 million to $5 million campaign to tear apart Operation Chokepoint, including $1 million in paid ads. Last summer, the group hired Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, as a paid adviser; he now gives closed-door speeches at DC steakhouses attacking Operation Chokepoint.

But the Consumer Coalition's interests don't make it any easier to decipher who's funding it. Wise—who admitted that corporate donors and "people who have interest in the industries" backed the group—denied that "any financial institution" was involved in paying its bills. Uber isn't funding it either, he says. The porn industry and the NRA, which have both been critical of Operation Chokepoint, haven't chipped in, either, according to Wise....

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/cfpb-us-consumer-coalition-brian-wise-elizabeth-warren

together at last, they eat their own; hit pre-flank

I also wanted to point out that last week we broke the story that notorious media-for-hire hatchet man James O'Keefe (remember ACORN?) appeared to be working hand in hand with Wisconsin Club for Growth's Eric O'Keefe in attacking Wisconsin Republicans who were not working in lockstep with Governor Walker. Last year, James released a video of an inebriated Wisconsin Senate President Mike Ellis, which forced him out of office. CMD exclusively revealed that the Koch-tied dark money guru Eric O'Keefe gave James O'Keefe $50,000, presumably for the hit on Ellis who was a quiet critic of the extreme Walker agenda.

http://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/01/12714/eric-okeefe-james-okeefe-mike-ellis

===

not exactly slapp, but

rush sues dccc and beck (sues killed younggril) fight free speech 2009

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/11/koch-brothers-web-influence

kochtopus has its own HR:

Center for Shared Services:{: $8,500,387:(style="box-sizing:border-box;color:#777777;"):}:

As the Washington Post has put it, this is a "human resources hub" for the Koch network. It recruits job candidates and provides adminstrative services to Koch network affiliates.

Received money from: -

- Freedom Partners $6,738,000
- TC4 Trust $1,762,387

United Negro College Fund:{: $25,000,000:(style="box-sizing:border-box;color:#777777;"):}:

This gift to UNCF supports historically black colleges and provides scholarships. The fund's decision to accept the donation led the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees to end a joint scholarship program with UNCF. In a letter to fund president Michael Lomax, AFSCME head Lee Saunders wrote that he was "truly stunned to learn that less than two weeks [after accepting the donation], you attended and spoke at the Koch brothers summit in California…The Koch brothers and the organizations they fund…support voter identification laws. They seek to restrict early voting and voter registration. They funded organizations that advocated for the Supreme Court's rolling back of the Voting Rights Act. The Koch brothers are the single most prominent funders of efforts to prevent African Americans from voting."

Received money from: -

- Charles Koch Foundation and Koch Industries $25,000,000

NPR Reduces Its Environment Team to One Reporter

NPR has cut back on the number of staffers focused solely on the environment and climate change.

Abrams Key Denier of Human Rights Abuses by Salvadoran Government

Of the Romero assassination, Abrams told the Washington Post in 1993 [9] that "anybody who thinks you're going to find a cable that says that Roberto d'Aubuisson murdered the archbishop is a fool." But as the Post noted in that same article, the U.S. Embassy sent at least two such cables to Washington fingering d'Aubuisson -- the December 21, 1981 cable, for example, describes: "A meeting, chaired by Maj. Roberto d'Aubuisson, during which the murder of Archbishop Romero was planned. During the meeting, some of the participants drew lots for the privilege of killing the archbishop."

Memorial at El MozoteBut Abrams is perhaps best known for denying one of the worst atrocities of the war, the massacre at El Mozote, where in December 1981 U.S-trained government soldiers marched into a village and murdered around 800 civilians, many of whom were women and children. The men were tortured before being shot, and girls as young as 10 were raped before having their throats slit. Abrams, who at the time was Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, dismissed reports published in the New York Times and Washington Post about the massacre, telling a Senate committee tasked with certifying the Salvadoran government's human rights record that the reports of deaths "were not credible" and suggesting the guerrillas had "significantly misused" the stories for propaganda. The U.N. Truth Commission later confirmed the newspapers' reports on the massacre, and the Salvadoran government (which elected its first left-wing president ever in 2009) officially apologized for the event in December of last year.

These and other denials helped justify another ten years of United States funding for the Salvadoran military and its death squads.The tiny country would receive$6 billion from the U.S. over the course of its civil war, making it the second-highest recipient of U.S. aid behind Israelduring that period, despite mounting death tolls and continued atrocities.

Elliot AbramsAbrams has remained unrepentant about U.S. policy in El Salvador, calling it [9] "one of fabulous achievement." He was convicted in 1991 of two misdemeanors for unlawfully withholding information from Congress during the Iran-Contra scandal but was pardoned by the first President Bush.

Abrams, Neocons Passing the Torch to VP Pick Ryan

This week,The Daily Beastfirst reported [10] that Abrams' latest act is advising Republican GOP candidate Ryan on foreign policy. Abrams told the website Ryan "knows more about foreign policy than people may think, in view of his concentration on the economy." Other right-wing foreign policy experts told The Daily Beast that despite Ryan's professed fiscal conservatism, he, like Reagan, supports spending billions or trillions to preserve U.S. military power and international influence.

Ryan has long been mentored by neoconservative Republican leaders who advanced U.S. policy in El Salvador. His first job in D.C. was as an aide to Sen. Bob Kasten of Wisconsin, a cheerleader for sending billions to El Salvador's brutal military government and who in the 1980s chaired the Senate foreign operations appropriations subcommittee responsible for approving those funds.

After Kasten lost his seat to Russ Feingold in 1992, Ryan became a speechwriter for the right-wing think tank Empower America, which was founded by Jeane Kirkpatrick and Jack Kemp. As a foreign policy adviser to Reagan in 1980 Kirkpatrick famously defended the rape, murder, and torture of four American Catholic missionaries (three of whom were nuns and one a lay missionary) at the hands of El Salvador's government forces, claiming "the nuns were not just nuns. The nuns were also political activists." Kirkpatrick went on to become Reagan's UN Ambassador. Kemp, who Ryan recently identified [11] as a key mentor, was also a major supporter of U.S. funding to El Salvador's military government.

pat sajak controls books:

In January 2014, Regnery was acquired along with other Eagle Publishing properties by Salem Communications.^[13]

hu experiment lawsuit jackson epa:

The American Tradition Institute has no central offices. Like many national

public interest policy and law institutes, its staff works from locations throughout the nation.

The hub of its environmental law activities are in Burke, Virginia. The mailing address of the

Environmental Law Center is 9033 Brook Ford Road, Burke, Virginia 22015. ATI and its

Environmental Law Center litigates matters on behalf of its members where those members

could otherwise assert their own rights, as in this case. Id at ¶ 10.

5. Landon Huffman is a member of the American Tradition Institute who supports

and shares the ATI’s purposes. See Huffman Decl. at ¶ 7.

6. In November 2006 and May 2007 Mr. Huffman participated in human

experimentation conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the kind at

issue in this matter. Id at ¶ 2.

7. He received a consent form that did not explain that he would be exposed to

something that the EPA claims to be lethal. Nor was he ever informed that human

experimentation was only supposed to be done in a manner that would potentially and directly

benefit those subjected to human experimentation. Id at ¶ 3.

8. He was lead to believe that the benefit of the experiment would be to help people

with asthma, something from which he suffers. He was not informed that the pollution EPA was

forcing into his lungs could actually cause him to have an asthma attack. Nor was he ever given

anything from EPA that would possibly relieve his asthma. Id at ¶ 4.

9. Since learning that the EPA considers the gases to which he was exposed were

lethal, he has been distraught and experienced emotional distress, such as a fear of becoming ill

or dying. His health is of utmost importance to him and he is disturbed by the fact that because

The relief sought in the instant matter will significantly ameliorate his suffering

and will help return honor to the memory of David Steiner and all those who died at the hands of

the “Doctors from hell.” Id at ¶ 8.

B. Defendants

26. Defendant United States Environmental Protection Agency is the federal agency

responsible for conducting experiments on humans that involved exposing those persons to toxic

substances the Agency believes will cause death and which the Agency therefore regulates under

the auspices of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S. C. Chapter 85.

27. Defendant Lisa P. Jackson is the Administrator of the United States

Environmental Protection Agency and, as such, is charged with the supervision and management

of all decisions and actions of the agency, including those that authorized human

experimentation. She is sued in her official capacity only.

28. Wayne Cascio, Martha Sue Carraway, Andrew J. Ghio, Jon R. Sobus, Joachim D.

Pleil and Michael C. Madden are self-identified by as EPA employees subject to oversight and

management control by Defendant Lisa P. Jackson and are the EPA employees who personally

ordered human subjects be placed into a gas chamber and exposed to a lethal gas.

They are also

1 See, Ghio, A. et al, Swiss Med Wkly. 2012;142:w13597 “Controlled human exposures to diesel exhaust” (citing

their organizational association as “National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory and National

Exposure Research Laboratory, US Environmental Protection Agency, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.” See,

http://www.smw.ch/content/smw-2012-13597/ (accessed 9/12/2012).

grist

Speaking of Monsanto, it turns out they are playing a role in Iowa’s proposed anti-whistleblower bill — a bill focused primarily on agriculture. Should the bill pass, it will become illegal to produce undercover videos at various types of agricultural facilities (as well as to get a job at a facility with the express intent of producing a video). Sarah Damian of the Government Accountability Project, a “whistleblower advocacy organization,” observes over at the Food Integrity Campaign’s blogthat Monsanto has been throwing lobbying dollars behind Iowa’s effort to draw a steel curtain around food production. And not without reason:

… Monsanto has more facilities in Iowa than in any other state in the country, with more than 25 offices. The company is heavily invested in the bill’s outcome because “crop operations” are also covered, which would apply to Monsanto’s seed houses, pesticide manufacturing plants and research facilities throughout Iowa. The biotech and crop chemical giant wouldn’t want any undercover videos produced on its clock, apparently.

That’s a bit ironic, however, given the fact that Monsanto investigators are notorious for trespassing on farmers’ property and going to extreme measures to produce evidence of seed patent infringement, including posing as land mappers or even joining a local Alcohol Anonymous group to gain the farmers’ trust and gain video access to their fields. Talk about undercover.

And don’t think that Monsanto hasn’t planned ahead. According to Damian, there are provisions in the bill that would allow Monsanto to continue snooping around farmers’ fields in its ongoing search for so-called “seed thieves” aka “patent infringers.”

nugent, hvy metal, grover goes to B man

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/grover-norquist-explains-why-he-s-going-to-burning-man-20140729

old but

‘U.S.’ Chamber Of Commerce Funded By Top Offshoring Companies

While it tells the American public it cares about American jobs, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce actually works to send jobs overseas on behalf of its corporate members, which include some of Asia’s top offshoring companies. Its secretly-funded $75 million political ad campaign attacks the “anti-jobs record” of Sen.Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jerry Brown (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Alexi Giannoulias (D-IL), Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV), and others.

s ThinkProgress previously noted, the Chamber has repeatedly sent out issue alerts attacking Democratic efforts to encourage businesses to hire locally rather thanoutsource to foreign counties. The Chamber has also bitterly fought Democrats for opposing unfettered free trade deals. The Chamber’s anti-American jobs agenda serves not only the profit-seeking of right-wing corporate executives in the United States, but also works to send jobs overseas to the following outsourcing companies, who are some of the dozens of :{foreign corporations:(style="color:#ed1c24;"):}: that pay member dues to the Chamber of Commerce’s 501c(6) account, which is used to fund its political ads:

ALEC: apr 14

Promoting Trojan Horse-like Fracking Regulations

Thirteen of the bills concern hydraulic fracturing, also known as "fracking."

ALEC has three items of "model" legislation in its library concerning fracking: two pro-fracking resolutions and a bill -- illogically titled "The Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Composition Act"-- that allows operators to keep secret the details of chemicals injected into a well by making a near impossible to challenge claim of "trade secrets." nick s cmd

stunning split on congr leadership LCV

wm robinson ucsb: rise of fascism, inequality // 30? but instability creates opp for ppl's movement (skep of L/R a la Nader) Talkies 7/26/14

global capitalism and the rise of

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/25141-prof-william-i-robinson-global-capitalism-is-in-the-midst-of-its-most-severe-crisis

http://www.prwatch.org/node/12540

“Hurricanes, Tornados and Earthquakes: Volatility as an Asset Class”

While activists push to protect precious water resources during the extended drought, others are looking to profit from the crisis.

Participants in this month's Freedom Fest in Las Vegas, an annual libertarian conference, were advised to capitalize on water shortages due to fracking by David Norcom of NorCap Advisors, a Dallas-based investment management firm specializing in energy-related stocks.

"Now, let's have fun," Norcom told the audience near the end of his presentation, which wastitled “Hurricanes, Tornados and Earthquakes: Volatility as an Asset Class.”

"This is the curve ball I wanted to throw at you. How many millions of gallons of water do you think it takes to frack one well?"

Norcom said that the total amount of clean water that could be spent on a single fracking well over its use is 10 million gallons, Norcom told the audience, "Those of you in California know how bad it's getting there, but you need to have a portfolio of water stocks in your account. If you had bought water stocks at the beginning of this year, they're up without dividends between fifteen and thirty percent."

The cost of water to Americans across the Southwest has risen dramatically since 2000, increasing more than sixty percent in cities like Phoenix, El Paso, and Los Angeles, and over one hundred percent in San Diego, Santa Cruz, and Las Vegas, according to a report by USA Today.

Some see this crisis in one of the essential needs for human life as an opportunity for profit.

"I will substantially argue to you that the water resource problem that we have in this country is very, very likely to continue, part of it being sucked up by the drillers over here," Norcom said.

From his perspective, that means water will have "a great place in a portfolio" of investments.

Whatever value fracking may have for speculators, its costs to those living near drill sites are serious. Fracking has been implicated in the record seven earthquakes that hit Oklahoma in just two days over the past weekend. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, which is investigating possible links between fracking and the quakes, Oklahoma's rate of earthquakes has increased by fifty percent since October 2013.

Perhaps seismometers will be the next "asset class."

http://m.spokesman.com/blogs/boise/2010/apr/14/free-market-think-tanks-across-country-start-news-operations-hide-funding-sources/

local regulation under hvy attack, ironically b/c agenda 21 ppl think that local control will somehow flip to international control. conservative governors just sellout to corps who want to extract/pollute

rod coronado broke parole by facebk friending

http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/donor_stats.php

Thus far super PACs have raised a total of $828,224,700

Portion of Money Delivered by Top 100 Donors

top 1oo gave 57% of $

2012

Portion of Money Delivered by Top 1% of Donors: 68%

===

ironically the actors who played gangsters were leftists/union men, while the patriots were anti-union, often associated with the real mafia; abramooff bought lansky memorabilia; norquist runs protection racket

fred malek am action network took out russ feingold

more crypto mirror OMG:

Tim Cook to Apple Investors: Drop Dead

Apple CEO Tim Cook tells Investors Who Care More About Return on Investment than Climate Change: Your Money is No Longer Welcome

:{As Board Member Al Gore Cheers the Tech Giant's Dedication to Environmental Activism, Investors Left to Wonder Just How Much Shareholder Value is Being Destroyed in Efforts to Combat "Climate Change"

Free-Market Activist Presents Shareholder Resolution to Computer Giant Apple Calling for Consumer Transparency on Environmental Issues; Company Balks

Cupertino, CA / Washington, D.C. - At today's annual meeting of Apple shareholders in Cupertino, California, Apple CEO Tim Cook informed investors that are primarily concerned with making reasonable economic returns that their money is no longer welcome.

The message came in response to the National Center for Public Policy Research's shareholder resolution asking the tech giant to be transparent about its environmental activism and a question from the National Center about the company's environmental initiatives.

"Mr. Cook made it very clear to me that if I, or any other investor, was more concerned with return on investment than reducing carbon dioxide emissions, my investment is no longer welcome at Apple," said Justin Danhof, Esq., director of the National Center's Free Enterprise Project.

===

OMG mirror

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Corruption

Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies is a book written byconservative author Michelle Malkin.^[1] The book claims that the Barack Obama administration has had dozens of instances of corruption.^[2] The title is a reference to "culture of corruption", a political slogan used by Democrats to refer to events that happened during the presidency of George W. Bush.

The book spent six weeks at #1 on the hardcover non-fiction section of the New York Times Best Seller list.^[3]

chalabi name floated

http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/13/vermont-sued-over-gmo-labeling-law/

new phenom: lobbyist getting elected (vs appt by b2) david jolly

staffers have long run tho schol of delay rev dr k street and staffers)

Keeping Tom DeLay above the Law & Order

On a May 2005 episode, a character on NBC's "Law & Order" who was investigating the murder of a federal judge said, "Maybe we should put out an APB for somebody in a Tom DeLay T-shirt." In response, the Free Enterprise Fund (which "advocates limited government and 'pro-growth' economic policies") worked with their PR firm, Shirley & Banister, to challenge the "witch-hunt to discredit Tom DeLay and the agenda he represents," in the words of FEF vice-president Lawrence A. Hunter. They had 450 T-shirts made, with DeLay's picture on the front and the words "Who's afraid of ['Law & Order' executive producer] Dick Wolf?" on the back. Shirley & Banister then organized and promoted a rally of T-shirt-clad DeLay supporters on Washington DC's Capitol Hill on June 2, 2005. Fox News, CNN and Roll Call covered the rally, according to O'Dwyer's PR Daily. [9]

bksh hired to to psy-op iraq; fake news, jessica lynch

odd too that pelgado got gigs BC BO

Fri May 16, 2008 at 03:17:23 PM PST

John McCain talks straight, but he acts crooked. Mr. Reform strays from the straight path by following crooked lobbyists for their money, money that comes from corporations and brutal foreign governments.

McCain's been embarrassed several times the last few weeks by lobbyists connected to his campaign. Last week he was forced to fire two lobbyists who had worked for the brutal military junta in Burma/Myanmar, the oppressive goons who are killing people through their refusal to let aid workers in to the country and help the millions of Burmese affected by the cyclone. This morning we learned about a lobbyist working for McCain who also worked for the governments of Serbia and Qatar.

McCain also had to dismiss one of his top operatives in Virginia, Craig Shirley. Shirley's has long been involved in shady dealings on behalf of the GOP, including hyping the orchestrated "rescue" of US soldier Jessica Lynch from a hospital in Iraq, and the scurrilous Willie Horton ad used against Michael Dukakis in 1988. Shirley was simultaneously an official with McCain's campaign and involved in an independent campaign against Democrats. The McCain campaign is spinning his dismissal as a matter of principle, when in fact Shirley was breaking the law by being on both sides of what should be a divide, the candidate campaign, and an independent operation that is legally prohibited from coordinating its activities with the campaign.

Most of these lobbyists are mid-level operatives who are primarily relied on to collect checks. But in a campaign jammed full of lobbyists, one lobbyist stands above all others: longtime McCain advisor Charlie Black. Charlie Black's mitts haven't only been all over grubby money from corporate special interests. As MoveOn shows, one of John McCain's top supporters has taken blood money:

rep jeff miller fla denier gets lots of MIC$ // no not inhofe?

===

entine fronts for neonics

Actor Steven Seagal and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office are facing a lawsuit for allegedly conducting an "improper" raid on a man's home and driving a tank through his front gate, while filming an episode of the reality show Steven Seagal: Lawman.

Jesus Llovera has filed a civil lawsuit against Seagal and members of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office for a raid conducted in March, 2011, based on allegations that Llovera was involved in cockfighting. Llovera filed a claim over the incident last fall.

Llovera, who previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of being present at a cockfight, was suspected of raising roosters and chickens on his property to fight, a felony, and also a violation of his probation.

The Sheriff's Office, which used "a tank, a bomb robot and 40 deputies," according to theArizona Republic, accidentally killed over 100 of Llovera's roosters and his 11-month old dog during the course of the raid.

===

Environmentalists who spent a month analyzing public comments on the Keystone XL linked more than half the pro-pipeline comments they examined to people in the oil industry. As the U.S. State Department considers whether to approve the project, the activists want those remarks to carry less weight than those written by people without a vested interest in the outcome.

Out of a random sample of more than 1,000 comments in support of the Keystone, the environmentalists connected about 60 percent of the commenters' names to oil and pipeline company employees, investors, lobbyists, attorneys and others working for the industry—all of whom could potentially benefit from the construction of the pipeline, the activists said. If built, the pipeline would carry diluted bitumen from Canada's tar sands region to the Texas Gulf Coast.

"We don't want to accuse anyone of wrongdoing ... but to me this raises a red flag," said Terra Friedrichs, a volunteer at the environmental group 350MA who led the analysis. 350MA is a Massachusetts grassroots organization that advocates for sustainable energy. It often collaborates with, but is not affiliated with the national group 350.org.

Regulations.gov, the website used to collect public comments, doesn't require people to disclose their names, nationalities, occupations or financial interests.

The State Department, which must decide whether the pipeline is in the national interest, said the comments page is open to all. "Throughout this process it's important that we hear the views of any member of the public that wishes to share their opinion or viewpoint," a department spokesperson said in an email.

The spokesperson added that all of the comments will be considered alongside other factors—"including energy security; environmental, cultural, and economic impacts [of the pipeline]; foreign policy; and compliance with federal regulations." The final decision on the Keystone will come from President Obama.

Friedrichs, who works as a socially responsible business consultant, agreed that everyone has a right to comment. But she said individuals on both sides of the debate should be required to disclose any financial interests in the project. A paid environmental lobbyist commenting in opposition should also have to explain his or her ties, she said.

350MA wants the State Department to conduct a thorough analysis of the comments before they're read, and to give more weight to remarks written by people who don't have a financial stake. "[We] ask that ALL of the comments be available for a six-month period of time so that research may be done into the identities of the commenters," Friedrichs said.

The agency received an estimated three million comments. Industry, union and environmental groups used mass emails and form letters to drive up their numbers. Both sides touted their final counts—one million in support of the pipeline, two million in opposition—as evidence of the public's backing or disapproval of the contentious project.

Regulations.gov has registered only about 125,000 comments. That's because some of the comments are still being processed, and also because petitions register as a single comment regardless of the number of signatures.

The Washington Post reported last week that nearly half of the two million anti-pipeline comments came from outside the U.S. Most were collected and translated by the advocacy group Avaaz.

The Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan organization that tracks money in politics,found that nearly 8 in 10 of the 125,000 registered comments were similarly worded pro-pipeline remarks submitted by people who listed BKM Strategies as the "originating organization." BKM is a consulting firm with ties to Dick Cheney's daughter Mary Cheney, who has an active role in political nonprofits that fund conservative causes.

In a **sentencing memorandum** released by Preet Bharara, the US attorney for the southern district of New York, on Friday the government**revealed that Monsegur** had directly helped to **identify and convict** eight of his peers in the Anonymous and LulzSec hacker collectives. Most notably, he was seminal in nailing Jeremy Hammond, who at the time was the FBI’s number one most wanted cybercriminal in the world, for his role in hacking into the private intelligence firm Stratfor.

Hammond was :{sentenced to 10 years:(style="background-color:#fff200"):}::{ :(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:in prison last November for his role in the computer breach. What was not discussed during Monsegur’s sentencing on Tuesday was that when he was convicted, Hammond claimed that Monsegur himself had directed much of his criminal activity, including attempts to break into the websites of foreign governments.

Hammond said that Monsegur, operating as “Sabu”, had supplied him with lists of foreign countries vulnerable to attack including Brazil, Iran and Turkey. Hammand went so far as to suggest that the FBI had been using him to launch cyber-attacks around the world, with Monsegur acting as the coordinator

Jeebus, NRA, isn't there anyone left in your organization who realizes how nutty you sound?

"[T]his month, in response to terrorists kidnapping 300 girls in Nigeria, First Lady Michelle Obama locked and loaded for battle with her own 'selfie,' with the unconditional surrender demand #BringBackOurGirls," the NRA's lobbying arm wrote in an editorial on its website. "Tyrants and terrorists, like murderers, rapists and robbers, understand only one thing: force. They laugh at, and are emboldened by, weakness. That is why it is important to preserve and promote the right to keep and bear arms. An armed citizenry deters violence." [...]

"Ms. Psaki's and Mrs. Obama's naiveté--thinking that Vladimir Putin or Boko Haram terrorists will change their ways because of tweets--would provide ample fodder for their ridicule, were we so inclined," the NRA said. "But while we appreciate the value of maintaining a sense of humor in the face of things that are disagreeable, we do so only within reasonable limits. There is nothing funny in this instance."

So how would we fix this? Should First Lady Michelle Obama have been packin' heat in her photo? Holding up a sign in one hand and an assault rifle in the other, maybe chomping down on a cigar while tigers ride orcas in the background?

Anyway, the NRA thinks that hashtags embolden terrorists, because of course they do.

Tyrants and terrorists, like murderers, rapists and robbers, understand only one thing: force. They laugh at, and are emboldened by, weakness. That is why it is important to preserve and promote the right to keep and bear arms. An armed citizenry deters violence.

Well, then get your heavily armed asses over there, fella. Them freedom bullets ain't gonna fire themselves. Oh right, I forgot you don't actually give a damn.

However, those of us who understand and value the Second Amendment will not forfeit the right to keep and bear arms, and we will not stake our personal safety on "#PleaseDontHurtMe" tweets. Instead, we will exercise our right to arms, by acquiring the best arms for defensive purposes and becoming proficient in their use. And we will do everything possible in 2016 to help elect a president who understands the importance of maintaining strength, whether dealing with common criminals here at home, or with international criminals on the world stage.

Sigh. Again—there's nobody on staff who might pipe up with a "you know, maybe let's not open our mouths on this one? I think we'll just look like asses."

Oh, while we have the NRA's attention: A suggestion. It seems like the becoming-proficient-in-their-use part could use some work. That's supposed to be your actual day job, right?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/19/1300462/-NRA-comes-out-against-BringBackOurGirls-campaign?detail=email

all gop members of energy subcomm are deniers; 2 main guys repeated david rose UK daly mail on polar ice up (btw cf http://www.energydepot.us/**

cites blog 1st name;

Too Much Spring Ice Threatens Alaskan Polar Bears

---

bizarre that conservatives would trash conservation, energy independence and all that. God wants us to waste: our freedom/way of life is at stake.

===

wackenhut had 4 mil files McC era; sells prison lanot to MS; silkwood?

===

gop tries to hold up ukraine help via imf tweak to disable the irs ability to look at 501c4?

3/14

One of the issues looming large at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the movement's three-day confab held just outside Washington, DC, is the "scandal" over the IRS singling out tea party groups (and other nonprofits) for additional scrutiny during the 2012 election cycle. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who spoke first on the main stage this morning, opened his speech with a jab at Lois Lerner, the ex-IRS official at the heart of the trumped-up controversy that has yielded no evidence to back up the right-wing claim that the White House sicced the IRS on tea partiers. (Lerner appeared for a second time before the House oversight committee yesterday, where she pled the Fifth Amendment.)

But Cruz's zingers paled in comparison to what Tom Fitton, the president of the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, said at a panel titled "IRS Targeting Scandal: Protecting the Voice of the People":

People are dying in the streets in Ukraine. People being oppressed by the political regime. That's what the IRS was doing.

To refresh, at least 75 people were killed in the protests in Kiev, the bloodiest period in the country's history since the fall of the Soviet Union. Soon after, Russian military forces invaded and essentially seized the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine. In response, Western countries have imposed sanctions against people and organizations accused of challenging Ukraine's sovereignty. In short, it's a crisis of international proportions. The IRS controversy is not. This supposed scandal has, however, briefly resuscitated the flagging tea party, which may explain the movement's continued obsession with the issue.

===

good news is that he's scared enough of tactic to steal it?

guessing just provided stats?

berman in cmd hit claim tobacco $; 30K in over $2 mil 1994? aclu AND wash legal

explicit strategy to support liberal farm groups, presumably as a front (small family farms hurt vs giant agribiz)

http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/tka13a00/pdf?search=%22economic%20policy%20institute%20dollar%22

note also Top Gun and Red Scorp inherent ability to use weapons.(top gun basically long ad for navy, actually boosted recruitment; // America's Army video game) MIC so pk rep

==

Berman’s fingerprints

So what exactly is the Environmental Policy Alliance? This new Berman front group has four campaigns:

Big Green Radicals, which bashes the three environmental organizations listed above;
Green Decoys, which targets hunting and fishing groups that certain powers think are too environmentalist;
LEED Exposed, which goes after sustainable certification in buildings;
EPA Facts, which targets the actual Environmental Protection Agency.

All of these sites have Berman’s fingerprints all over them. Never one for self-reflection, Berman takes the criticisms that opponents have made of his clients and tries to turn them around on his targets.:{

}:==

richard wolf 3/21/14 nyt 10 yr less life for poor ~ death panel

4 corps dodge taxes then lend $ rdwolff .com democracyatwork.info

===

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/20/bp-gulf-of-mexico-leases_n_4996314.html

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — High bids from Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas LLC made up more than one-third of the $850.8 million total at Wednesday's federal oil lease sale for the central Gulf of Mexico. It also was the first sale since the government said BP PLC can again secure federal contracts; the company made $41.6 million in high bids.

Freeport-McMoRan's 16 high bids totaled $321.4 million, including the day's biggest — $68.8 million — and six of the 10 highest, according to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

The second-highest bidder both for total and single bids was Chevron USA Inc., at $103.3 million and $62.4 million. That bid, announced after bids of $1.2 million, $2.6 million and $32.8 million for a Mississippi Canyon tract about 125 miles south of Dauphin Island, Ala., and about 20 miles from BP PLC Macondo well that blew wild in 2010, drew a chorus of "oohs" from the audience.

BP was the only bidder on a tract a few miles west of that one, getting it for $1.2 million. The company was suspended from new federal business after pleading guilty in November 2012 to criminal charges from a major oil spill in the Gulf two years earlier. The suspension was lifted Friday and BP bid a total of $53.8 million on 31 tracts Wednesday, with high bids on 24.

"As the nation's largest energy investor, BP is committed to the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, where we have been an active player for a quarter century and have a multi-billion dollar investment program underway," spokesman Brett Clanton said in an emailed statement. "BP's participation in today's lease sale not only underscores the importance of the region, but it is also a testament to the vital role BP plays in the American economy and to the country's energy future."

BP's highest bid was $8 million for an Atwater Valley tract about 180 miles south of Biloxi, Miss., and 10 to 15 miles northeast of the day's most hotly contested tract — the one for which Freeport-McMoRan bid $68.8 million. The other five bids included Exxon Mobil Corp.'s $45.5 million....

cmd 3/14 xl ROI

"One of the most profitable investments they make, one of the biggest returns they get on their money is the money that they pay into campaign contributions to politicians -- pay a few million dollars and they get back billions on those investments," says Oil Change International research director Lorne Stockman.

The Center for American Progress backs up Stockman's assertion. Its research finds that for every dollar the top five oil companies spent lobbying in Washington, they got back $30 in tax breaks. That translates to a 3000-percent return on investment.

Of course, they don't limit their contributions to the federal level. If the pipeline is approved, state governments will have much to say about how it's routed, how construction will take place, and how landowners will be compensated when their property is seized. Many states are willing to pay for that privilege.

"States offer property tax breaks for pipeline companies to build pipelines through their states. So we see very favorable property tax terms on the state level for these kind of projects," says Stockton.

Of Course ALEC Is Involved in the Keystone Cash

Not willing to leave anything to chance, the oil industry is taking action to make sure state legislators see things their way. As the Center for Media and Democracy (which publishes PRWatch) reported, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) sent nine state legislators on an industry-paid field trip to the Alberta tar sands in 2012.

ALEC, which receives funding from TransCanada, the Koch brothers (whose Canadian subsidiary has tar sands investments), and other fossil fuel corporations, set up the event to put legislators in the same room as the industry lobbyists who paid for the lavish private-jet travel and fine dining. ALEC also prompted each of the nine legislators to send their corporate sponsors a thank you note, with a reminder of what the lobbyists had paid for the tour.

CMD also uncovered emails between TransCanada's lobbyist and Ohio state Rep. John Adams in which the lobbyist provided Adams with a model bill in support of KXL, with Adams swiftly introduced in the legislature. The bill was co-sponsored by another participant in ALEC's Alberta field trip.

Politicians Prey on the Poor's Jobs Hopes

Big Oil's influence extends even to, and perhaps most powerfully in, local politics. Port Arthur, Texas, where the KXL pipeline is slated to terminate, is essentially a one-industry town. What few jobs there are, are in the refineries that dominate the city's landscape, or in the small businesses that serve them. And with one in five people unemployed, and one in four living in poverty, those with jobs are unwilling to put their livelihoods at risk. Activists say that includes elected officials.

Community organizer and environmental activist Hilton Kelley says what success his organization has had has come with little help from local politicians.

"A lot of times local government stands as a stumbling block in the way of local activists that are pushing for clean air and clean water, because they get the biggest part of their tax base from these industries," he says. "Maybe one or two council members had the heart to stand up in city council in Port Arthur say something but they're soon ousted. They don't get reelected the following year."

Kelley recognizes that his independence from the refineries is a rare luxury in Port Arthur, and it allows him to take the lead. "I have no connections to the plants," he says, "therefore they can't really hurt me like they could someone who retired from the plant someone who has a kid who works at the plant."

"They could possibly lose their job and all they'd tell them is, 'We don't need you anymore,' or, 'We cut that position.' But the reason they're letting them go is because their mother or dad was seen on TV protesting with me. I don't hold any animosity toward those who are really intimidated to stand with me, because I understand the dilemma."

American Dreams Denied in American "Sacrifice Zones"

That dilemma is often exploited by industries that use economic desperation in the communities they occupy. In exchange for a few jobs, the companies get to pollute. It's a phenomenon called "sacrifice zones."

"Oftentimes front-line communities, which tend to be low-income and minority communities, are left out of the conversation, ignored, and they bear the brunt," says Colarulli of the Sierra Club. "They're often called 'sacrifice zones' these places where people are living in [squalid] conditions. This is not the American dream. This is not the way we should have people living in America."

Of course none of this could happen without the media's acquiescence. We're not even talking about right-wing talkers like Rush Limbaugh, 2011 winner of Media Matters' "Climate Change Misinformer of the Year" award who recently told his listeners that they cannot concurrently believe in God and climate change. We're talking about the mainstream media that have given very little time to the issue of climate change and how KXL could impact it.

===

attacks on hayes http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/21/silencing_the_scientist_tyrone_hayes_on

novartis/syng seels both the estrogen mimick and breat cancer drug OMG

on sci comm

"God's word is true. I've come to understand that. All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the big bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell. And it's lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior. You see, there are a lot of scientific data that I've found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth. I don't believe that the earth's but about 9,000 years old.I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That's what the Bible says.

"And what I've come to learn is that it's the manufacturer's handbook, is what I call it. It teaches us how to run our lives individually, how to run our families, how to run our churches. But it teaches us how to run all of public policy and everything in society. And that's the reason as your congressman I hold the Holy Bible as being the major directions to me of how I vote in Washington, D.C., and I'll continue to do that."

Broun's comments were greeted with applause, and they probably reflect how a lot of his constituents feel about the same issues. He'sassured of re-election in any case, due to the fact that he has no Democratic Party challenger in next month's election.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who is running to be his state's governor ... Barack Obama “a subhuman mongrel” and “a chimpanzee. ... 1994,Nugent called the then-first lady “a toxic cunt” and “a two-bit whore”: ...

NSA cop 15

That could be why U.S. negotiators took the positions they did going into the conference, a Danish official told Information. "They simply sat back, just as we had feared they would if they knew about our document," the official said. "They made no constructive statements. Obviously, if they had known about our plans since the fall of 2009, it was in their interest to simply wait for our draft proposal to be brought to the table at the summit."

Members of the Danish delegation indicated in interviews with Information that they thought the American and Chinese negotiators seemed "peculiarly well-informed" about discussions that had taken place behind closed doors. "Particularly the Americans," said one official. "I was often completely taken aback by what they knew."

Personnel

From the CLWC website: ^[1]

Paul Rodriguez, Chair
Mayor Victor Lopez, Co-Chair, Central Valley, City of Orange Cove
Ruben Guerra, Co-Chair, Southern California, Latin Business Association
Tony Estremera, Co-Chair, Director, Santa Clara Valley Water District

Contact information and Burson-Marsteller connections

Website: gotwater.org

Patrick George, cell phone number 310-487-3001, is listed as the CLWC contact on the group's press releases. ^[2] George is a director of Burson-Marsteller's media practice, working out of the public relations firm's Sacramento, California office. ^[3] The same phone number, along with Patrick George's name and sometimes his Burson-Marsteller email address (patrick.george AT bm.com), is listed on press releases for Accenture ^[4], the newsletter of the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Associations ^[5], and announcements for the Friant Water Users Authority. ^[6]

===

Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act

The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act became law on November 27, 2006 upon receiving President Bush’s signature. Its stated purpose is “to provide the Department of Justice the necessary authority to apprehend, prosecute, and convict individuals committing animal enterprise terror.” Originally introduced by Sens. :{James Inhofe:(style="background-color:#fff200"):}: (R-Okla.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on September 8, 2006, the bill ultimately passed by unanimous consent in the Senate and a voice vote in the House.

Main article: Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act

kos bacher:

“Governor Brown has proposed building two massive $50 billion water tunnels to divert the Sacramento River to corporate interests in the Central Valley,” said Scow. “Most of the water will go to large agribusiness and oil companies while taxpayers will be stuck with the bill.”

“The Westlands Water District and Kern County Water Agency import water for the biggest agribusinesses and oil fields in the Central Valley,” explained Scow. “Now they’ve gotten Governor Brown to approve a massive tunnels project to bring them even more water, which they will sell for an enormous profit. Even worse, much of this water will go to oil companies who will pollute our groundwater with fracking. Help put a stop to this corporate water grab by asking Governor Brown to protect our state’s precious water.”

remember the ladies (pink guns?) ran out of white FF

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lucy_Burns_Institute cf prwatch

added franklin

===

ppl who lost homes in crash now rent, but now same banks are selling rent futures derivatives. blackstone

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/12/blackstones-big-bet-on-rental-homes/

great systems infographic

From Bloomberg:

The Blackstone Group LP, the world’s largest private equity firm, became the largest owner of rental homes in the U.S. , acquiring 41,000 homes in the past two years. In October, Blackstone offered the first-ever “rental-home-backed” security on Wall Street. The bond is backed by just a fraction — 3,207 — of the rental properties owned by Blackstone. Monthly rent checks from the properties will be used to service the $479.1 million security.

2. After Electric Automaker Tesla Becomes A Success, Fox Forgets Its Federal Loan.

Fox News and Fox Business hosts and pundits alike attacked Tesla Motors after the green technology company received federal loans to begin to produce electric automobiles. Once Tesla turned a profit, however, these conservative media figures developed amnesia [6] about the company's federal loan,even trying to use the company to dismiss the need for clean energy subsidies.

3. Bill O'Reilly Smears Tesla, Falsely Claims It Had Net Losses.

Fox News aired mixed messages about Tesla, offering the company praise and then disparaging it, all within the same week. Host Bill O'Reilly called the company a failure and claimed that it posted net losses. O'Reilly's statement, however, was untrue [7]. In fact, just days earlier, Fox News had heralded Tesla as a "success story [8]" after the company turned a profit [9].

4. WSJ Editorial Board Member: New York City's Bike Share Program Part Of "Totalitarian" Plot.

With a straight face, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board member Dorothy Rabinowitz said [10] that bicyclists were the "most important danger" facing New York City, and raged against bike share programs that are pursued by the "all powerful" "bike lobby" emboldened by "totalitarians." She emphasizes that "the city is helpless" before the driven ambitions of its "autocratic" mayor. Rabinowitz's overly hyped attack of a bike-share program attractedcriticism [11], notably from Comedy Central's The Daily Show [12]. However, Rabinowitz stuck by her attack, saying the bike racks are "instruments of aesthetic torture [13]" and told a bicyclist who asked her a question to instead ask "the therapist we hope this biker is consulting [14]."

5. Fox News: Wind Turbines May Cause "Devastating" Health Effects.

Fox News did not shy away from reporting on easily debunked allegations as if they were true, namely that clean energy was responsible for causing the dubiously named Wind Turbine Syndrome [15] among a handful of residents in a small Massachusetts town. In February, Fox News hyped [16] the "devastating" effects of wind turbines on a few residents in Falmouth, Mass. For all of Fox's reporting on the horrors of Wind Turbine Syndrome, the outlet failed to note that no evidence supports that this condition even exists, and multiple studies [17] have suggested that the array of health effects may simply be an effect of hypochondria. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection even concluded[18] in 2012 that "There is no evidence for a set of health effects from exposure to wind turbines."

6. Right-Wing Media Falsely Claim Energy Efficiency Responsible For Super Bowl Blackout.

When the lights went out inside the Super Bowl, fans and television personalities alike were initially baffled. The Drudge Report and conservative media figures on Fox News were quick to spin [19] their own narrative about why the blackout occurred, blaming the energy efficient LED lighting [20] outside of the stadium, despite the fact that the LED lights outside the stadium never [21] went out.

7. Fox News: Solar Power "Might Be Tanking Our Economy."

In February Fox News hosts used the misfortune of one solar company to admonish the entire solar industry, going so far as to say [22] that this sector is "tanking our economy," despite the fact that solar actually has helped to grow the U.S. economy. After California-based solar panel company, SoloPower, laid off employees and had trouble meetings requirements for its federal loan guarantee, Fox News hosts surmised that the solar industry and the nation's entire economy was in peril as a result. However, solar industry jobs have grown [22] in recent years, and dropping prices are driving record [23] installations.

8. When Fox Couldn't Point To Actual Facts To Smear Tesla, They Made Some Up.

In May, Fox Business reporter Elizabeth MacDonald was thinking on her feet when making disparaging comments about Tesla Motors. She claimed that the Tesla Model S "conks out after about 16 miles," when in fact [24] the car's battery boasts a battery range of 265 miles, making it the longest-range [25] electric automobile battery on the market at the time. The next day she said [26] that she "gave incomplete information," suggesting she was referring to the range if you charged the car for only half an hour using a mobile connector.

Vanguard Charitable is a top 15 U.S. nonprofit organization* that fulfills its mission to increase charitable giving by administering a donor-advised fund--a tax-effective way to consolidate, accrue, and grant assets to charity. Since our inception in 1997, we have helped donors fulfill their philanthropic goals and make lasting charitable impacts. brulle funds denial

===

META/PATTERN: income shifts up:

prop 13 OC gop CA taxpayer revolt sprrads across cty; defunded states and school districts turn to lotto to fund school(big chunk of $ that rw moguls want to pvtize/grab

3. Almost 70% of Corporations Are Not Required to Pay ANY Federal Taxes

And that's even before tax avoidance kicks in. The 'nontaxable' [10] designation exempts 69% of U.S. corporations from taxes, thus sparing them the expense of hiring tax lawyers to contrive tax avoidance strategies.

The Wall Street Journal [11] states,"The percentage of U.S. corporations organized as nontaxable businesses has grown from about 24% in 1986 to about 69% as of 2008,according to the latest-available Internal Revenue Service data. The percentage of all firms is far higher when partnerships and sole proprietors are included."

In recent years the businesses taking advantage of the exemption include [12] law firms, hedge funds,real estate partnerships, venture capital firms, and investment banks.

4. Lotteries Pay for Corporate Tax Avoidance

This means revenue comes from the poorest residents of a community rather than from billion-dollar corporations. Many of the lottery players don't realize how bad the odds are. Fill out $2 tickets for 12 hours a day for 50 years and you'll have half a chance of winning [13].

Some astonishing facts reveal the extent of the problem. Low-income households spend anywhere from five [14]to nine [15] percent of their earnings on lotteries. A Pennsylvania survey [16] found that nearly half of low-income residents planned to gamble at a newly-opened casino. America's gambling losses in 2007 were nine times greater [17] than just 25 years before.

===

stossel is a piece of work;

---

econ journal watch out of gmu

===

apr 5 2010 upper big branch, citeds 3K x since 95, twice on day of expl 356, rahall heard probs 2 mos before; bobby ray inman w/ DB for press conf (aslo ex head mine safety Suboleski appt by b2 357 inman attacked presss

===

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which monitors hate groups and antigovernment groups, released a report showing that 1,360 radical, antigovernment “patriot” groups and 321 militias actively operate within the United States. Released in March 2013, these statistics show an 813 percent rise in the number of such groups since 2008, with increasing numbers each year. Hate groups are most prevalent in California, with eighty-four total; Texas was second among states with sixty-two.

The SPLC counted over 1,000 hate groups in the US in 2012. By the SPLC’s standards, hate groups “have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics,” and their activities can include “criminal acts, marches, rallies, speeches, meetings, leafleting or publishing.”

With the numbers of Patriot groups now much higher now than they were during the peak of the militia movement in the 1990s, the threat of domestic terror attacks is very real. After the SPLC’s report was released, the Center’s president,Richard Cohen, sent a letter to the US attorney general as well as the Homeland Security secretary requesting them to “create a new task force to ensure the government is devoting the resources needed to address domestic terrorism.”

Hate groups are now transitioning from racist hatred to hatred focused on the government and its representatives. The patriot and militia groups are some of the fastest growing groups, and their goals and rhetoric must be understood in order to implement successful strategies to counter their behavior if it should become violent, according to the SPLC. The SPLC also identified “sovereign citizens,” who often operate as“lone wolves,”breaking away from the group to perform the violent acts. Unfortunately, with the use of social media and the Internet, hate groups are able to recruit and spread their beliefs more readily than in the past. pjt c

---

http://www.projectcensored.org/vanishing-u-s-science-reporters/

Vanishing U.S. Science Reporters

At the same time that human beings are facing multiple, unprecedented environmental calamities including climate change, acidification of the ocean, the Fukushima nuclear disaster, melting icecaps, ground water pollution, and other ecological catastrophes – the number of U.S. science reporters is rapidly declining, resulting in an information gap that is filled with sensationalized scandals, celebrity gossip and sports. From 85 weekly science sections in newspapers in the U.S in 1989, there were just 19 left by 2012. Without science reporters the public’s environmental ignorance will spread like an epidemic.

In 2009, Columbia University closed its earth and environmental science journalism program; in 2013 Johns Hopkins University retired its 30 year-old science writing program. Even as environmental tragedies sweep across the world, the reason cited for eliminating these programs is “poor job market”.

Scott Dodd, editor of the Natural Resources Defence Council’s On Earth.org, and who considers climate change the “most urgent story of our times”, told IPS that environmental issues are “consistently under-covered”. “A long-term story like climate change, where the news today isn’t all that different from the news last week or last year, it’s difficult without a deep knowledge of the subject to find a fresh angle and sell an editor on why it should be front page news,” Dodd said.

Sources:

Zofeen Ebrahim, “U.S. Science Reporters Becoming an Endangered Species”, Inter Press Service, October 15, 2013, http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/10/u-s-science-reporters-becoming-an-endangered-species/.

Katherine Bagley, “About a Dozen Environment Reporters Left at Top 5 U.S. Papers”, Inside Climate News, January 17, 2013,http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20130114/new-york-times-dismantles-environmental-desk-climate-change-global-warming-journalism-newspapers-hurricane-sandy.

Peter Sterne, “Networks Lose Two Veteran Science Reporters”, Columbia Journalism Review, April 8, 2013,http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/robert_bazell_ned_potter_leave.php

Student Researcher: Jennifer Moug (Sonoma State University)

Faculty Evaluator: Edward Beebout (Sonoma State University)

amazing array against wind; alec trying to undermine renewable eg rggi

===

spooky biz: The

cover

the

March

2008

issue

The

Progressive

featured

article

about

InfraGard,

little-‐known

partnership

between

private

industry,

the

FBI

and

the

Department

Homeland

Security.156

intermediaries

are

public

relations

firms,

crisis

management

firms,

and

law

firms.

The

advantage

intermediary,

from

the

corporate

perspective,

that

provides

the

appearance

distance

between

the

corporation

and

its

intelligence

gathering

–

other

words,

plausible

deniability

something

goes

wrong.

---

todd g

"Producers of oil, gas, and coal received more than $500 billion in government subsidies around the world in 2011... If their aim is to avoid dangerous climate change, governments are shooting themselves in both feet. They are subsidizing the very activities that are pushing the world towards dangerous climate change, and creating barriers to investment in low-carbon development and subsidy incentives that encourage investment in carbon-intensive energy.”

Of course a half-trillion dollars in subsidies doesn’t just happen. It cannot be said too often: the FFCs thrive by conniving with governments. They finance politicians to do their bidding. Seven of the ten largest companies [15] in the world are FFCs, as are four of the ten most profitable (just outnumbering three Chinese banks, which presumably have their own major FFC connections). These behemoths have phenomenal clout when they lobby for fossil-fuel-friendly development and against remedial policies like a carbon tax. And if this were not enough, they flood the world [16] with fraudulent claims that climate change is not happening, or is not dangerous, or that its dimensions and human causes are controversial among scientists whose profession it is to study the climate.

60's PR to newspaper reporter 1:1 now 4:1

rw billionaires get farm subsidyhttp://www.ewg.org/research/forbes-400-subsidy-recipients-1995-2012

Now, with this tax filing it is clear that this Koch-related operation is directly funding the NRA. The NRA received more than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, receiving $3,465,000. The NRA describes itself as a membership organization, where people can pay $35 to be a member and get a subscription to one of the NRA magazines. However, the NRA has not disclosed how much of its funding comes from gun manufacturers or non-profit groups such as the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce.

The Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce also gave millions to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, and the National Association of Manufacturers.

http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/09/12247/breaking-new-list-dark-money-shell-game-groups-connected-kochs

singer cites cqr, pal of milloy, now NAS?

===

FindLaw
Caselaw
California
CA Ct. App.
CALIFORNIANS FOR SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY v. REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Court of Appeal, Third District, California.

ResetAAFont size:PrintShareThis

CALIFORNIANS FOR SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY v. REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

CALIFORNIANS FOR SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. The REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Defendant and Respondent.

No. C028522.

-- July 06, 2000

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Theodore B. Olson, Los Angeles, Mark A. Perry, Thomas G. Hungar, Washington, DC, John C. Yoo, and Zumbrun & Findley, Ronald A. Zumbrun, Sacramento, John H. Findley, and Jeffrey H. Speich for Plaintiff and Appellant.Law Office of Eric G. Scheie, for The Claremont Institute, Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.Christopher M. Patti, James E. Holst, John F. Lundberg and Eric K. Behrens, Oakland, for Defendant and Respondent.

Plaintiff Californians for Scientific Integrity filed suit against defendant Regents of the University of California (the University), alleging the University had improperly permitted a professor to use public funds and resources to advance anti-smoking efforts. The trial court granted the University's demurrer and entered judgment in its favor.

In response to the June 11 incident, the company hired an Arizona-based private security firm, Bulletproof Securities [9]. Bulletproof employees created a stir when they were spotted in camouflage and masks with automatic assault weapons in hand. The firm was ultimately removed from the site [10] for not securing a license to operate in Wisconsin. Bob Seitz, the Gogebic lobbyist, said the firm has spent nearly a half-million dollars onBulletproof [11] so far, and was ready to spend much more. If Gogebic Taconite secures permission for further sampling of mineral deposits, the security firm may return [12].

Al Gedicks, a professor emeritus of environmental sociology at UW-La Cro

cline yacht 5 stateroom and a sub

http://academi.com/pages/about-us/board-of-directors/john-ashcroft w/ clearchannels fdr

Aspartame is not food. It’s defined as [14] a synthetic compound of two amino acids (l-aspartyl-l-phenylalanine o-methyl ester). The compound was discovered accidentally in 1965, by James M. Schlatter, a chemist at G.D. Searle Company. Schlatter was testing an anti-ulcer drug. When he licked his finger and discovered that his concoction tasted sweet, the market for artificial sweeteners was born.

Is aspartame safe? Not according to multiple studies conducted over decades. And, at one time, not according to the FDA. In 1975, the FDA put a hold on aspartame’s approval, citing deficiencies in the studies conducted by Searle and its contractors. An analysis [12] of 164 studies of aspartame’s potential impact on human safety found that of the 90 non-industry-sponsored studies, 83 identified one or more problems with aspartame. Of the 74 industry-sponsored studies, all 74 claimed that aspartame was safe.

So how did aspartame get into our food supply? We have Donald Rumsfeld, former U.S. Secretary of Defense to thank. In 1981, Rumsfeld, who had previously served as CEO of Searle, hand-picked [15] Reagan’s new FDA commissioner, Arthur Hayes Hull, Jr. It was Hull who ultimately gave aspartame the green light.

Here’s how it went down. On January 21, 1981, the day after Ronald Reagan's inauguration, Searle re-applied to the FDA for approval to use aspartame as a sweetener in beverages. Hull, the brand new FDA commissioner, recommended by Rumsfeld, appointed a five-person Scientific Commission to review the board of inquiry's prior decision. (A board of inquiry had been formed in 1975 when the FDA first questioned the validity of Searle’s studies on aspartame). When it became clear that the Scientific Commission was on track to uphold the 1975 ban by a 3-2 decision, Hull installed a sixth member on the commission. That led to a deadlocked vote. Hull then personally cast the tie-breaking vote. Voila. Aspartame was approved.

Hull soon left the FDA and eventually landed at Burston-Marsteller, the PR firm for Searle and for years, Monsanto. In 1985, Monsanto bought Searle and later spun off the company under the name NutraSweet. But not before Rumsfeld earned a handsome $12-million bonus, presumably for his role in greasing the wheels for aspartame’s approval.

In an article [16] published earlier this year in the New York Times, entitled “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food,” Michael Moss exposed the junk food industry for employing chemists to concoct additives intended to hook people on the very food that is making us, including our children, not only obese, but chronically ill.

vaciines to depop and

Recently, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) has beens sounding the alarm about a new and insidious plot involving so called "terror babies." Infants are sometimes known to be terrors in their own right, but this diabolical plan involves terrorists sending pregnant women into the US to birth their America-hating spawns. The mothers and their kids then return home where, the congressman says, the children "could be raised and coddled as future terrorists"— and later, "twenty, thirty years down the road, they can be sent in to help destroy our way of life." Gohmert, a member of the newly formed Tea Party Caucus and a supporter of a bill stemming from the "birther" conspiracy about the president's citizenship, has used the far-fetched terror baby conspiracy to bash the Obama administration's immigration policy and its legal challenge to Arizona's draconian law. "They figured out how stupid we are being in this country to allow our enemies to game our system," he said during a debate on the House floor in late June. "We won’t do anything about it we’ll even sue a state that tries to do something about it."

Here's the thing: There doesn't appear to be a morsel of evidence to support Gohmert's terror baby tale, which the congressman says he learned of from a woman on a plane while en route to the Middle East and from a retired FBI agent. (The FBI says it has no information about such a plot. And former top bureau official Tom Fuentes has called Gohmert's claims "ludicrous.") So last night Anderson Cooper featured Gohmert and his terror babies plot in the show's "Keeping Them Honest" segment. What followed was about 9 minutes of high-quality crazy, courtesy of a congressman known for making outlandish claims and staking out unorthodox and outright bizarre positions.

Gohmert was in feisty form and quickly came unhinged ("you're going to keep me honest!" he thundered), blasting Cooper for calling him out for political fear-mongering. "You're attacking the messenger," Gohmert yelled. "Anderson, you're better than this. You used to be good. You used to find that there was a problem and go after it instead of going after the messenger." Gohmert grow ever more irate, as Cooper repeatedly pressed him to provide any credible information to back up his claims. "Sir, do you want to offer any evidence?" Cooper asked at one point. "I'm giving up an opportunity to say what research and evidence you have. You've offered none, other then yelling." Let's just say Gohmert declined Cooper's offer. Just watch this clip. You won't be dissappointed. And, while you're watching, keep in mind that Gohmert is a former district and appeals court judge.

Blaming environmental groups

"Federal officials appear to be seeking proof to blame the flood of New Orleans on environmental groups, documents show," Jerry Mitchell of the Clarion Ledger (Mississippi)reported September 16, 2005.

"The Clarion-Ledger has obtained a copy of an internal e-mail the U.S. Department of Justice sent out this week to various U.S. attorneys' offices: 'Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps work on the levees protecting New Orleans? If so, please describe the case and the outcome of the litigation,'" Mitchell wrote.

"Shown a copy of the e-mail, David Bookbinder, senior attorney for Sierra Club, remarked, 'Why are they (Bush administration officials) trying to smear us like this?' ... The Sierra Club and other environmental groups had nothing to do with the flooding that resulted from Hurricane Katrina that killed hundreds, he said. 'It's unfortunate that the Bush administration is trying to shift the blame to environmental groups. It doesn't surprise me at all,'" Bookbinder said.

Mitchell said that "Whoever is behind the e-mail may have spotted" the September 8, 2005, National Review Online article "Greens vs. Levees. Destructive river-management philosophy" by John Berlau "thatchastised the Sierra Club and other environmental groups for suing to halt the corps' 1996 plan to raise and fortify 303 miles of Mississippi River levees in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.

"The corps settled the litigation in 1997, agreeing to hold off on some work until an environmental impact could be completed. The National Review article concluded: 'Whether this delay directly affected the levees that broke in New Orleans is difficult to ascertain.'

"The problem with that conclusion?," Mitchell asked? "The levees that broke causing New Orleans to flood weren't Mississippi River levees. They were levees that protected the city from Lake Pontchartrain levees on the other side of the city."

Of course, we all know that Bush has rewarded a number of people who went to bat for him in Florida in 2000 with plum jobs. One of those is his new UN ambassador John Bolton, who -- as the Herald article reminds us -- "[burst] into a Tallahassee library on behalf of the Bush-Cheney campaign to stop a recount of Miami-Dade County ballots." Another was recently picked by Bush to become chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts.

---

Melvin Sembler is a longtime friend of former vice president Dick Cheney and a Republican fundraiser.^[1] He served as theAmbassador to Italy2001 to 2005, appointed by President [George W. Bush in 2001.^[2] Sembler primary cause is Israel, and he is involved in funding many projects favored by the so-called Israel Lobby. His funding of right-wing Republican candidates has to do with his Israel advocacy.^[3]

In August 2007, Sembler was among prominent conservatives funding Freedom's Watch, a new White House front group^[4] which began "a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to urge members of Congress who may be wavering in their support for the war in Iraq not to 'cut and run'."^[5] Selmer, together with Sheldon Adelson, were the founding funders of this front group.^[6]

Mitt Romney named Mel Sembler as National Finance Co-chairman in the 2008 Presidential race. ^[7] Sembler is the millionaire funder behind the "superPAC" funding Romney.^[3]

Mel Sembler supported Republican presidential candidate John McCain in the 2008 Presidential race. ^[8]

On October 2008, Elizabeth Sembler, Mel Sembler's daughter-in-law was appointed to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting board by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate.^[9]

Sembler was executive director of Scooter Libby's legal defense fund. Scooter Libby was Dick Cheney's former chief of staff who was convicted of lying and obstruction of justice in the investigation into the leak of a CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.^[10]

In May, 2008, Sembler and his development firm were under federal investigation for an alleged briberyscheme in an real estate development project in Florida.^[11]

While a sitting Ambassador to Italy, Sembler was heavily criticized foroverseeing the purchase of an Italian palace near the Embassy. Sembler negotiated the purchase of the palace by the U.S. government for $83.5 million, and then named it after himself.^[12]

Sembler helped finance the 2000 Florida election recount that gave George W. Bush the presidency.

hacktivism

pirate bay, FBI turned sabu and bought servers, sabu told Hammond about vulnerabiliy and gave servers to use, maybe honeyhole to catch assange? 8/26/13 10 am BB only posted LINK!

tedo is koch lawyer?

David and Charles Koch have thrown another punch in their ongoing fight against The Cato Institute, the Washington, D.C.–based libertarian think tank that they helped found. On Monday the billionaire brothers filed a second suit in state court in Kansas against Cato, challenging its appointment of four new board members.

Also on Monday, Theodore Olson—the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner who's both a Cato board member and Koch Industries's outside counsel—filed an affidavit in support of the suit. And while Stinson Morrison, which filed the Kochs's first suit against Cato, is also working on the second suit, the brothers have also retained Williams & Connolly.

The skirmish between the Kochs and Cato began in early March when the brothers filed a lawsuit in state court in Kansasclaiming that they should have the option to buy the shares that belonged to the nonprofit's former chairman, William Niskanen. Niskanen died in October at age 78. At the time of his death, Niskanen owned 25 percent of Cato and the Kochs owned 50 percent, according to the brothers' first complaint.

The News21 database shows one of the rare instances of voter-impersonation fraud occurred in Londonderry, N. H., in 2004 when 17-year-old Mark Lacasse used his father’s name to vote for George W. Bush in the Republican presidential primary. The case was dismissed after Lacasse performed community service.

3 brooks bros WH, 2 to koch

A former Republican aide on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Malphrus also worked on the White House's Domestic Policy Council before becoming a judge. But he really showed his stripes in 2000, when Malphrus joined other Republicans in making a ruckus (chanting, pounding on windows and doors) outside the Miami-Dade Elections Department -- the so-called "Brooks Brothers Riot" -- during the Bush-Gore recount.

:{A View To A Kill

}:How Safari Club Int'l Works To Weaken ESA Protections :{

By Michael Satchell}: :{

The Humane Society of the United States}:

Lawyers. Ken Cuccinelli, his Deputy Wesley Russell and his ex-partner Milton Johns (Wegman's lawyer) [38] all got their JD degrees at GMU in the 1990s. So did David Schnare, of the **:{American Tradition Institute:(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:** [39] (ATI), well-known for FOIA harassment of UVA, Michael Mann, James Hansen, **:{Andrew Dessler and Katharine Hayhoe:(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:** [40]. FOIA has legitimate uses, but can also be employed for harassment. The reader can decide which **:{these:(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:** [41] are.

Schnare is also an Adjunct Professor who recently **:{taught a:{ :(style="color:#ed1c24"):}::(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:****:{:{GMU:(style="color:#ed1c24"):}::(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:****:{ course :(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:**[42]on how to do FOIAs, use the **:{:{Data Quality Act:(style="color:#ed1c24"):}::(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:** [43], using this **:{outline:(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:** [44]. it starts:

'This course is an introduction on how to sue the government when it does what it should not do. Citizens, advocates of small government and Tenth Amendment proponents engage

He also offers "externships" to give students practice, via a new 501(c)(3) "public charity," originally (and legally still) the **:{George Mason Environmental Law Clinic.:(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:** [45] it is now called the **:{Free Market :(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:****:{ELC:(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:** [46], consisting of him and **:{:{Chris Horner:(style="color:#ed1c24"):}::(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:** [47], as at ATI. He was :{:{looking for students:(style="color:#ed1c24"):}::(style="background-color:#fff200"):}: [48] to file FOIAs against some Virginia university, likely not GMU.

With now-Secretary of State Scott Gessler as lead attorney, in 2009 Western Tradition Partnership filed suit against Longmont’s Fair Campaign Practices Act. Western Tradition Partnership also funded the Longmont Leadership Committee who conducted a political campaign that unabashedly lied in order to oust certain council members in 2009 and replace them with members who would promote their radical agenda and who would consistently vote their rabid anti-environmentalism and their absolutism on property rights.

After Bryan Baum, mayor, and his majority won the 2009 election, they directed that the Campaign Practices Act lawsuit be settled, and Gessler was paid $68,500. Following that the Campaign Practices Act had much, if not most, of its transparency removed. Only 19 words were changed because of the lawsuit. The rest of the changes were instituted because the Baum majority wanted those changes.They were dutifully following the Republican playbook which opposes campaign contribution restrictions and transparency.

Western Tradition Partnership renamed itself American Tradition Partnership. Even though they are a 501c4 and can’t officially endorse candidates, they have thus far sent out two mailers — one that essentially endorses Bryan Baum and Heath Carroll (at-large) and the other against Sean McCoy and Sarah Levison.

Contrary to the assertion in the mailer, American Tradition Partnership is NOT a local organization. They were organized first in the state of Montana by two Republican state legislators. They later registered in Colorado. However, I have no doubt that there are members of our community, who have had and likely will have business before the city, who have chosen this avenue to contribute sums in excess of the $200/per person candidate campaign limit and to keep those contributions secret.

Under their previous name, Western (now American) Tradition Partnership was taken before the Montana Political Practices Commission for their campaign practices and attacks against Democratic candidates in Montana for the same practices that WTP used in Longmont in 2009 through the Longmont Leadership Committee.

The Montana Political Practices Commission in its ruling effectively called the organization “corrupt.” The Commission heard testimony from a former employee of Western Tradition Partnership that indicated that the organization promotes itself by telling contributors that their identities will never be known and that some of WTP’s contributions had origins in foreign countries, a violation of U.S. law.

Why all the interest in Longmont from an organization such as American Tradition Partnership?

In Western Tradition Partnership’s 2008 IRS “990” filing , Western Tradition Partnership had $665,725 in contributions. That was their first year in existence and the only documentation located to date. These contributions clearly come from the oil, gas and coal industries whose interests are the first priorities of Western/American Tradition Partnership and ultimately motivate other political activities.

During the first decade of the 21^st^century, Colorado’s state government shifted Democratic after a long history of being Republican. This change did not facilitate the interests of American Tradition Partnership. Longmont, a community that Republicans had consistently counted on as a Republican stronghold, was moving Democratic as well. In order for Republicans to retake control of state government, Longmont needed to be recaptured.

TOP Operating Oil/Gas Drill Sites

Because of advancements in oil and gas extraction technology, it is now possible to retrieve oil and gas that was previously uneconomical to recover. These techniques include directional and horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Colorado is among those states that have many of these deposits. The Wattenberg field is the 10^th largest gas field and 13^th largest oil field in the nation. It may come as a surprise that some of these deposits are under property owned by the City of Longmont. At least 54 of the identified wells are at the edge of or under Union Reservoir itself!

On August 25, 2004, Benjamin Ginsberg, the top election lawyer to the Bush campaign on campaign finance law, also resigned after it was learned that SBVT was one of his clients. Ginsberg stated that he was withdrawing to avoid being a distraction to the campaign. He declared that he had acted "in a manner that is fully appropriate and legal,"^{[83]^}(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swift_Vets_and_POWs_for_Truth#cite_note-nytlawyerresigns-82) arguing that it was not uncommon or illegal for lawyers to represent campaigns or political parties while also representing 527 groups. He also maintained that he did not disclose to the Bush campaign that he was simultaneously representing the SBVT group. After leaving the Bush campaign, Ginsberg retained his status as counsel to SBVT.

sam fox amb to belgium swift boat

In late 2007, with Obama in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Corsi gleaned a new opportunity to "rattle the cage." He punched out a proposal for an anti-Obama attack book, Obama Nation, and floated it to right-wing publishers. Mary Matalin, the longtime Republican consultant and former senior adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, was hunting for titles for her two-year-old publishing imprint, Threshold, a conservative division of Simon and Schuster. When Corsi's proposal landed on her desk, she was thrilled.

Matalin promptly signed Corsi to a lucrative deal, positioning Obama Nation as Threshold's premier release of the summer season. In anticipation of heavy sales, Matalin ordered the printing of 475,000 copies. When the book was released in early August, conservative foundations and think tanks ensured its early success with a massive bulk buy, propelling it to number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

===

sm sein huffpo

The Amazing Story Of Saxby Chambliss' Bum Knee

First Posted: 11-17-08 12:08 PM | Updated: 12-18-08 05:12 AM

Six years ago, Saxby Chambliss was able to win a seat in the United States Senate by deploying a series of highly personalized swipes at incumbent Democrat Max Cleland.

The attacks on Cleland's patriotism -- including running an ad that pictured the triple-amputee Vietnam veteran alongside Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden-- left a particularly bad taste in the mouths of observers, including Sen. John McCain, who called it "worse than disgraceful... reprehensible." Chambliss, after all, had never served in Vietnam. And the excuses he offered were so lame, he changed them on several occasions.

The most widely ridiculed yarn was that Chambliss' "bad knee" had kept him from serving.

"I was determined not to be physically fit," he explained during a debate in August 2002. "I had a bum knee. I had an old football knee that unfortunately they wouldn't take me."

:{It seemed all too unbelievable. And, generally, it was. Chambliss had sought and receivedfive student deferments from service in Vietnam. That he would, nevertheless, criticize Cleland's patriotism was a sharp dose of political chutzpah --- but one that ultimately worked.

Flash forward six years later and the dynamics of that race are in some respects being replayed once more. Chambliss currently finds himself in a runoff election against another Vietnam vet, Jim Martin, after neither candidate could secure 50 percent of the vote.}: John McCain, meanwhile, is campaigning on Chambliss' behalf, despite the harsh rebuke he offered during the Georgian's first run for higher office.

Cleland, meanwhile, is not exactly willing to let bygones be bygones. In an interview with the Huffington Post late October, the former Senator insisted that this current election was not about him. But he painted Martin's candidacy as a true opportunity for Peach State voters to right a wrong.

"The people in Georgia are still P.O.ed at the fact that [Karl] Rove and Ralph Reed and Chambliss and Bush, all of them have been totally discredited," he said. "People see [that the stuff in 2002 was a lie] and there is some regret out there that I am not still in the United States Senate. And so now they are taking that out in their support of Jim Martin who is a Vietnam veteran, who had a case of polio but overcame that to make sure he got into the military and serve in Vietnam. On the other side, you have Chambliss who got out of going to Vietnam with a trick knee."

Indeed, for Chambliss' critics, the notorious knee remains a symbol of the quibbles they have with the Senator: that the appearance he provides is removed from reality and that he has, at times, been an absentee Senator. Physical impairments aside, in October 2005, Golf Digest ranked Chambliss the #2 golfer in the Senate and the 33rd ranked golfer in Washington D.C. Sources close to Chambliss, in fact, once grew concerned that his reputation was suffering because of all the times he was spending on the links.

These sources didn't lack a legitimate reason. In a scathing column titled "Saxby Chambliss' Day Off," then-Roll Call reporter Mary Ann Akers wrote about how Chambliss once skipped work to play golf with Tiger Woods, while his colleagues held a closed door session in which they agreed to accelerate in inquiry into how the Bush administration handled intelligence about Iraq's weapons programs.

"Instead of being forced to talk about the uncomfortable issue of pre-Iraq war intelligence (or the lack thereof), Chambliss was 'the envy of golfers everywhere,' as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution put it," wrote Akers. "At least until he stepped up to what the newspaper called the club's 'unenviable first tee.' 'That was one of the more intimidating shots I have ever had,' the paper quoted Chambliss saying. 'Thank goodness it worked out.'"

"And thank goodness Chambliss, who sits on theSenate Select Intelligence and Armed Services committees, didn't have to suffer through the Democrats' tortuous questions about those elusive weapons of mass destruction and whether the Bush administration manipulated the truth and misled Congress into supporting the war."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/17/the-amazing-story-of-saxb_n_144307.html?view=print

In addition, Brown and Natural Resources Secretary John Laird continued the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative started by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2004. The conflicts of interest, failure to comprehensively protect the ocean, shadowy private funding, incomplete and terminally flawed science and violation of the Yurok Tribe's traditional harvesting rights have made the MLPA Initiative to create so-called "marine protected areas into one of the worst examples of corporate greenwashing in California history.

In a huge conflict of interest, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create so-called "marine protected areas" in Southern California. Reheis-Boyd, the oil industry's lead lobbyist for fracking, offshore oil drilling, the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and the evisceration of environmental laws, also served on the MLPA task forces for the North Coast, North Central Coast and Central Coast.

April 26, 2012

It’s Time to Stop Letting Congress Stomp on Nonprofit Advocacy Rights

Richard White/Chronicle of Philanthropy

By Gary Bass and Mark Rosenman

Nonprofit organizations have fewer rights to speak out about important public-policy matters today than they did last year.

The latest assault on advocacy came in a spending bill Congress approved to provide money to education, health, and human-service groups.

These new restrictions on advocacy were passed as part of a coordinated campaign by conservatives to quash popular democracy. Unfortunately, as contrasted with past “defund the left” efforts, charity leaders didn’t find out about them in time to take action to prevent their passage.

The challenges to nonprofit advocacy began more than three decades ago when the Heritage Foundation started making new restrictions a priority. This attack was pushed by the Reagan White House in the early 1980s, took the form of major Republican congressional legislative efforts in the mid-1990s, and has arisen in various forms since then.

Some conservative lawmakers and Republican White House officials have tried to go so far as to limit what charities can do with private contributions; others have tried to restrict the types of activities that nonprofits can conduct with federal funds.

Most of their efforts were stopped by groups whose missions were to serve as watchdogs to protect charities’ rights and the coalitions they organized.

Exec Who Allegedly Enabled Fraud Runs Chase’s Effort to Compensate Foreclosure Victims

An executive who the Justice Department says facilitated a scheme to defraud Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is now spearheading JPMorgan Chase's role in the government's program to compensate victims of the big banks' abusive foreclosure practices.

The executive,Rebecca Mairone,worked at Countrywide and Bank of America from 2006 until earlier this year, when she left for JPMorgan Chase, according to her LinkedIn profile.

In a lawsuit filed last month in federal court in New York, Justice Department attorneys allege that Countrywide, which was bought by Bank of America in 2008, perpetrated a two-year scam to foist shoddy home loans on Fannie and Freddie. Neither Mairone nor any other individuals are named as defendants in the civil suit, and no criminal charges have been filed against her or anyone else in connection with the alleged misconduct. But Mairone is one of two bank officials cited in the suit as having repeatedly ignored warnings about the "Hustle," as the alleged scheme was called inside the company, and she prohibited employees from circulating some of those warnings outside their division.

Mairone was chief operating officer of the Countrywide lending division that allegedly carried out the "Hustle." She took the helm of JPMorgan Chase's involvement in the Independent Foreclosure Review this summer, according to a former Chase employee.

===

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/02/puget-sound-whales-orcas_n_3696052.html?utm_hp_ref=green Puget Sound Killer Whales Will Remain Protected Under Endangered Species Act] 8/13 ([http://webbrain.com/brainpage/brain/E212D5AA-EEF5-535C-9D0D-27920B094E45;jsessionid=3DE5580394C9075F53F6AE2208B4FB9D#-346 the evil-doers]) 8/13.

Protecting Factory Farming from Regulation

One of the lesser publicized ventures of Koch Industries was its large-scale confined animal feed operations (CAFOs). At one point,Koch Beef Company was one of the largest cattle feeders in the U.S. When it sought to increase one of its already huge operations by 20,000 head of cattle, workers living a few hundred feet away expressed concerns for their health, and neighbors complained about an exponential increase in smell from Koch’s CAFO. But Koch persuaded friendly state regulators that the neighbors' concerns lacked “technical merit”-- although it ultimately divested the feed lots, while maintaining its Matador Cattle Company and grazing operations near Yellowstone National Park,along with other agricultural operations.

Is ALEC interested in protecting CAFOs? You bet. One of its bills,the**“Right to Farm Act,**” would bar any lawsuits by neighbors claiming nuisance from any activities that are typical in farming, including industrial agriculture. If this bill passed, it would likely benefit ALEC's agribusinesses members.

Halliburton, which also retained S3 to lobby Congress on energy issues, recentlyreached an agreement with the Department of Justice to plead guilty to destroying evidence in the investigation of the 2010 BP oil spill.While the disclosure does not specify a bill that S3 will lobby for or against, there isincreased interest in national fracking oversight rules. Right now, the “Halliburton Loophole” from the 2005 Energy Policy Act exempts fracking from the Safe Water Drinking Act of 1974.

It makes sense that both Koch and Halliburton would turn to S3 and Ference to seek influence. In 2004, Senator Inhofe hired him to be his legislative assistant focused on energy. Shortly after Ference started at Shockey Scofield early this year, he and several other “Inhofe Alumni” held a fundraiser for the Senator on Valentine’s Day.

Before the Republicans took back the House in the 2010 midterm elections, Ference told The Hill that blocking the EPA “would be a primary focus for our conference in the majority.” But Ference also said the GOP wanted to “cast aside this idea that Republicans are in the pockets of Big Oil and that’s it. I think we have a lot of great ideas.”

Those great ideas inspired the GOP House leadership to earn the distinction of having the “:{worst environmental record ever:(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:,” with 95 votes to :{dismantle the Clean Air Act:(style="background-color:#fff200"):}: and 317 votes that would harm the environment in total.

Ference’s assertiveness was not limited to energy policy fights — Politico reported in 2012 that Ference aggressively confronted fellow Cantor aide Brad Dayspring over the rollout of a jobs plan and they nearly got into a physical altercation. Dayspring submitted his resignation three days later.

RS (taibi?) on bush tax cuts for rich

Monica Goodling married Michael Krempasky, co-founder of RedState.com. She is currently employed under her married name, Monica Krempasky, at Corallo Media Strategies, a Virginia public relations shop run by former John Ashcroft spokesman Mark Corallo.^[37][38]=

^==^

synonymous with "anti-American" into the fabric of GOP talking points. In 2006, President George W. Bush's press secretary Ari Fleischer answered a press query about whether President Bush believed in fuel efficiency standards for automobiles saying, "That's a big 'No.'" The President believes that it's an American way of life, and that it should be the goal of policy makers to protect the American way of life. The American way of life is a blessed one. And we have a bounty of resources in this country... Conservation alone is not the answer."

After a decade of this brand of oily claptrap from the industry's political toadies and its talking heads on Fox News and hate radio, many conservative Americans now embrace the farcical presumption that buying and burning gas is a patriotic act. In 2008, as the oil industry raked in record profits by raking Americans with record prices at the pump, the party of the petro plutocrats proudly adopted Big Oil's rallying cry as its mantra "Drill, Baby, Drill."

By the way, Fleischer's use of the term "blessed" to describe unconscionable profligacy and immoral waste reflect another GOP orthodoxy -- the notion that God wants us to burn oil. A second study published this week by University of Pittsburgh Professor David Barker and Professor David Bearce of the University of Colorado found that a fundamentalist Christian belief in biblical End Times is a significant motivating factor behind Republican voter resistance to curbing climate change.According to Bearce and Barker, 76 percent of self-identified Republicans say they believe in the End Times. "Since the world is going to end at a predestined time anyhow," their logic goes, "it would be heretical to curb our destructive appetites under the delusion that we can do anything about pushing back God's ordained date."

jim jumps the shark:

pooley:

inhofe calleduscap failed biz looking for gov't help 168 //CEI that it was wealth transfer

Inhofe staff sent memo to gop on waxman comm: big new tax, but also dem siding w/ big biz 386, lose jobs, giveaway to polluters; gop protect consumers

===

Morgan also works with Russo Marsh & Rogers, a public relations firm that specializes in electing Republican candidates; with help from the Pentagon, ran "Truth Tours" to Iraq for right-wing US media personalities; and receives funding from Iraqi Kurds to run advertisements on American television stations thanking the United States for the war. Morgan is chairwoman of the Russo Marsh & Rogers-run pro-war lobby Move America Forward.

Republican National Committee has adopted oppositions to Agenda 21 as a core part of its platform and has asked that Mitt Romney include it as a part of his convention platform when the GOP convention gathers later this month....

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/08/15/523931/republican-party-officially-embraces-garbage-agenda-21-conspiracy-theories-as-its-national-platform/

-Coors has dumped 20,000,000 (yes, that's 20 million, not a typo!!) gallons of toxic liquid waste at the Lowry Landfill (EPA 1989)

-Coors holds a contract to provide high-technology ceramic materials for heat-seeking Stinger missiles. (Denver Post, 12/29/88)

-Coors Ceramics Co. secretly manufactured fuel elements for nuclear reactors in Golden Colorado, and stored liquid radioactive waste at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant. (Company Executive, 2/27/90)

Coors and Human Rights Fact Sheet

-1966, Joe Coors was installed as a regent of the University of Colorado. He became known for his advocacy of repressing campus dissent. Coors also sought to abolish Chicano and Black studies programs at the University, and to curtail the admissions of low-income students, because he believed such students would lower academic standards.

rr pimped scaife for pacif legal, #1

---In a lengthening stream of such narrowing decisions, Troy managed to restrict FDA's ability to use its statutes creatively, and this in turn deterred mid-level managers from advocating new approaches to emerging scientific issues, leaving the agency looking - and feeling - weak. There is a philosophical basis for this result that many see inBush Administration policies: reduce the power of government to "interfere" in the free working of the marketplace.

Troy's past use of forums provided by the ultra-conservative/libertarian Federalist Society and his actions since as chief counsel present a sharp contradiction between FDA's traditional modus operandi and that society's dictum: "The courts must declare the sense of the law; and if they should be disposed to exercise WILL instead of JUDGMENT, the consequences would be the substitution of their pleasure for that of the legislative body." In other words, if FDA did not get from Congress what it needs, it should not try litigation, or regulatory initiatives that might lead to litigation.

wlf vioxx

popeo: tort

The money collected by IOLTA is dedicated to providing legal representation andassistance to the poor, improvements in the administration of justice, and legal education to the public. The funds can be used for no other purposes.

As SourceWatch continues…

The WLF began filing suits in a number of states to prevent IOLTA from receiving the interest on lawyer trust accounts. Among the suits was one pursued all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States with a potential recovery of $20.

---

A Queens-born Columbia Law School standout, Troy, 44, came to the FDA primed for activism: Clerk for conservative icon Robert Bork; partner at blue-chip Wiley, Rein & Fielding; scholar at the pro-business American Enterprise Institute; litigant for the anti-regulatory Washington Legal Foundation.

Representing a tobacco company against the FDA in the late 1990s, Troy helped win a landmark Supreme Court ruling blocking the agency's attempt to regulate tobacco products.

Litigating for the legal foundation, which drug-company foundations help fund, Troy challenged the FDA's restrictions on promoting drugs for uses the FDA has not approved.

The policy, Troy wrote in 1999, reflects "an overzealous FDA."

Appointed in August, 2001, Troy had vast authority. With no FDA commissioner until November 2002, Troy reigned for more than a year as top administrator in an agency that regulates 22 percent of the U.S. economy.

"He sent a signal to companies that if you want to deal with the FDA on a number of issues, he's the man to see," said a senior FDA official.

In three years, Troy has held 129 meetings with lobbyists and others with issues before the FDA.

Mark McClellan, commissioner from October 2002 to March 2004, held 30 such meetings, FDA records show.

From 1998 to 2001, Troy's predecessor, Margaret Porter, held one meeting.

"She did not directly interact with industry," said Jane Henney, FDA commissioner in 1999 and 2000. "She felt those interactions were done by the staff, and [lobbyists] should make their case to them."

But the Bush administration made the chief counsel a political appointee for the first time since the 1980s, easing out civil-servant Porter and empowering Troy.

At the end of a meeting with cosmetics-industry officials two months into his job, Troy decided to delay indefinitelysunscreen regulations the industry opposed.

"We asked them to put it off. They've done what we asked," said Tom Donegan, general counsel of the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association.

Donegan's group opposed aproposed ban on sun-protection factors higher than 30, which the FDA found provided "extremely small" amounts of extra protection. Donegan told Troy the ban raised free-speech issues.

"He's very receptive," Donegan said.

The regulations, developed after 21 years of study and debate, also would have banned from sunscreen labels starting in 2003 terms such as "sunblock" and "waterproof," which it determined were "misleading" and "unsupported." Their use remains common.

Food-industry officials got Troy's help after a National Academy of Sciences study requested by the FDA recommended "trans fatconsumption be as low as possible" because it raised cholesterol. The FDA wanted that statement on food labels starting in 2006.

Industry officials who met Troy said the label may violate the First Amendment and could lead consumers and food processors to substitute similarly harmful saturated fat for trans fat.

And upon the recommendation of Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, President

Bush chose Pat Wood as head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

the main watchdog agency keeping tabs on Enron’s gas and

electricity businesses.

irs TP are part of ATI?

wtp meth house

Vladimir Putin, Russian cash join Schweitzer in attacking ATP’s free speech win

pendley sagebrush rebel condors attack

----

CORE uncle tom innis fronting for monsanto

Morano Pressured Gingrich To Cut Climate Chapter From His Book. When atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe was identified as a contributor to Newt Gingrich's book of environmental essays, for which she was asked to write an introductory chapter on climate change, Morano went on the attack. He dismissed her work as "trash science" and encouraged readers to contact her directly by repeatedly posting her email address on his blog. Morano alsoblasted Gingrichas a "long-time warmist" who shows "no signs of recanting," adding: "This is how Newt uses his intelligence?" Ranting on ClimateDepot.com, Morano wrote:

===

http://grist.org/politics/judge-demands-tech-companies-hand-activist-data-over-to-chevron/

Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas have attended these events. (According to Salon,"Thomas claimed he just made "a brief drop-by" at the Koch brothers' January 2008 Palm Springs political retreat to give a talk; in fact he was reimbursed for four days of “transportation, meals and accommodations” by the Federalist Society.^[56]"). The attendance of Thomas and Scalia has sparked debate over judicial ethics and the 2010Citizens United decision.^[57] Common Cause filed a petition with the Justice Department in January 2011 alleging a conflict of interest for these Justices, as David and Charles Koch operate foundations that contribute to political groups, which might benefit from relaxed campaign finance rules. ^[58] Common Cause has also noted that the Cato Institute, which Charles Koch founded, filed an amicus brief in Citizens United opposing campaign finance. ^[59] The Center for Competitive Politics also filed a brief in the case; the Center is headed by Bradley Smith, who is affiliated with the Institute for Humane Studies where Charles Koch is Chair of the board and funder. ^[60]

---

threatened with primary by koch$/inhofe:

But the effort may have broader implications. Tea party groups — like FreedomWorks — are potentially gearing up to target Alexander in his 2014 primary just as Sens. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) were targeted by the right this year.

The perception that Inhofe was tied to the groups’ activities was further enhanced given the background of one of his key committee aides. Inhofe’s deputy staff director on the panel, David Banks, was a partner for C. Boyden Gray’s Washington, D.C., law firm before coming to the committee. Gray is on the board of directors for FreedomWorks and has also had ties with Americans for Prosperity.

===

eye opening ppl at koch defend dream: ryan on save medicare, o'keefe, moncrief

===

Google hosts fundraiser for climate-denying Sen. Jim Inhofe

By Suzanne Goldenberg

Google, which prides itself on building a “better web that is better for the environment,” is hosting a fundraiser for the most notorious climate change denier in Congress, it has emerged.

===

Does ALEC Really Support Freedom of Assembly?

ALEC's efforts to limit the rights it claims to support did not end there.

Months before the ALEC meeting last week, a coalition of Oklahoma workers and civil rights organizations organized a screening of the Bill Moyers "United States of ALEC" documentary and a community forum to take place on May 3. The film was to be screened during the ALEC meeting but in a separate section of the Cox Convention Center. Speakers included representatives of CMD, AFSCME, Common Cause, a local church, the ACLU, and other groups.

The screening and panel was open to the public. Even ALEC members could attend.

But less than 24 hours before the event -- which constituted a basic expression of free assembly -- ALEC gave the community meeting the boot.

The hotel told organizers that ALEC invoked a clause in its contract allowing it the right to any rooms within the convention center, even those reserved by other groups. The ALEC community panel was moved from a room appropriate for a movie screening and panel discussion, and onto the floor of a stadium typically used for ice hockey (and which was kept at a temperature more appropriate for ice hockey than a movie screening).

"We were shocked," said Debra Wojtek, communications director at the Oklahoma AFL-CIO, who planned the event. "We had a signed contract for that room, and thought that a contract was a contract. But apparently not for ALEC." Because ALEC didn't actually use the room after claiming a right to it, Wojtek said, the AFL-CIO is considering legal action against ALEC for interference with contract.

....

Jane Carter, an economist at AFSCME, identified the problems with the ALEC privatization agenda, particularly the Public-Private Fair Competition Act, a "forced privatization" [11] bill that requires public services be turned over to corporate control if private industry claims they can do the service; this bill was recently introduced in Michigan. Phillip Martin of Progress Texas described how ALEC's healthcare agenda -- particularly its adoption of the Health Care Compact, which asserts state control over health care -- could be used to thwart federal healthcare reform.

===

soon koch friedmanhttp://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/CASE-STUDY-Dr-Willie-Soon-a-Career-Fueled-by-Big-Oil-and-Coal/

===

The Stratfor data included a number of unencrypted credit card numbers and validation codes. On this basis, the DOJ accused Brown of credit card fraud for having shared that link with the editorial board of ProjectPM. Specifically, the FBI charged him with traffic in stolen authentication features, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft, as well as an obstruction of justice charge (for being at his mother’s when the initial warrant was served) and charges stemming from his threats against the FBI agent. All told, Brown is looking at century of jail time:105 years in federal prison if served sequentially. He has been denied bail.

Considering that the person who carried out the actual Stratfor hack had several priors and is facing a maximum of ten years, the inescapable conclusion is that the problem is not with the hack itself but with Brown’s journalism. As Glenn Greenwald remarked inThe Guardian: “It is virtually impossible to conclude that the obscenely excessive prosecution he now faces is unrelated to that journalism and his related activism.”

Today, Brown is in prison and ProjectPM is under increased scrutiny by the DOJ, even as its work has ground to a halt. In March, the DOJ served the domain hosting service CloudFlare with a subpoena [16] for all records on the ProjectPM website, and in particular asked for the IP addresses of everyone who had accessed and contributed to ProjectPM, describing it as a “forum” through which Brown and others would “engage in, encourage, or facilitate the commission of criminal conduct online.” The message was clear: Anyone else who looks into this matter does so at their grave peril.

**Same Group and Donors Behind Fisher and Shelby County Cases**

The group that brought both challenges [9] is the Project on Fair Representation, a legal defense fund dedicated to reversing race-based legal protections and whose website says it devotes "all of its efforts to influencing jurisprudence, public policy, and public attitudes regarding race and ethnicity." The Project was founded and led by one person, Ed Blum, who coordinated the challenges in both the Fisher and Shelby County cases.

Blum has likened his role in high-profile litigation to "Yenta the matchmaker." "I find the plaintiff, I find the lawyer, and I put them together, and then I worry about it for four years," he said [10].

Blum urged Shelby County, Alabama, to bring its Section 5 challenge after the Department of Justice blocked its effort to dilute the voting power of its growing African-American population. He also connected with Abigail Fisher, a white student who was denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin and claimed it was because of her race. Blum was also behind the last Voting Rights Act challenge to make it to the Supreme Court, Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder.

The Project on Fair Representation covered the legal fees in both the Shelby County and Fisher cases using funds filtered through the secretive Donors Trust, which has been described as [11] a "Dark Money ATM" since it stealthily funnels money from the Kochs, Bradley and other funders to organizations in the right-wing network.

Typically, the identity of Donors Trust funders remain secret, but two of Blum's donors have been revealed [9]: the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, which gave at least $100,000 to bankroll Blum's latest legal challenges, and the Searle Freedom Trust, which for years has funded the Project on Fair Representation.

Bradley, which is headed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's campaign chair Michael Grebe, hands out $30 million in grants each year, and its support of Blum's group is only one example of its long-term effort to roll-back both voting rights and affirmative action.

omg:

To understand and protect our home planet; to explore the universe and search for life; to inspire the next generation of explorers … as only NASA can.

In Feb. 2006, the mission statement was “quietly altered” to remove the phrase “to understand and protect our home planet.” Even a year ago, NASA scientists predicted that because of the mission statement revision, there would “be far less incentive to pursue projects to improve understanding of terrestrial problems like climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.” Top NASA climatologist James Hansen called the deletion “a shocking loss,” because he had “been using the phrase since December 2005 to justify speaking out about the dangers of global warming.”

In contrast to the previous mission statement, the 2006 revision “was made at NASA headquarters without consulting the agency’s 19,000 employees or informing them ahead of time.” Instead, it was submitted as part of the 2006 Earth Science Research and Analysis budget, which is a joint product of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget and the NASA Administrator, Michael Griffin. http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2007/06/04/13576/griffin-nasa-mission/

The Heritage Foundation, through its Center for Media and Public Policy, is hiring an Investigative Journalist to conduct original reporting on policy issues.

brooks bros: cantor

Before joining Heritage in 2008 as Director of Strategic Communications, Cooper served for more than seven years in the administration of George W. Bush, completing his service as a senior policy adviser at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Between 2001 and 2004, Cooper was an aide in the Bush White House, first as associate director of policy and plans in the newly formed Office of Homeland Security, then as associate director of intergovernmental affairs for the Homeland Security Council.

one of 4 on DC letter to ambush CTW

helms, hagel, pat roberts, larry craig

---

koch try to buy LAT and:

I asked ICN Sassoon, fresh off his Pulitzer win, what he thought of the news of Koch Industries potentially bidding on the Tribune Company newspapers. "We reported on the Kochs' involvement in the tar sands, and they played hardball to try to shut us up," he wrote in an email."They pressured Reuters to drop us as a content partner, and ran ads on Google andFacebook calling me liar…. What we've experienced of them firsthand makes me think they would not be trustworthy stewards of the honorable traditions of journalism."

---

delay: DeLay is also a self-declared member of the Christian Zionists, an End-Time faction numbering 20 million Americans. Christian Zionists believe that the 1948 creation of the state of Israel marked the first event in what author Hal Lindsey calls the "countdown to Armageddon" and they are committed to making that doomsday clock tick faster, speeding Christ's return.

In 2002, DeLay visited pastor John Hagee's Cornerstone Church. Hagee preached a fiery message as simple as it was horrifying:"The war between America and Iraq is the gateway to the Apocalypse!"he said, urging his followers to support the war, perhaps in order to bring about the Second Coming. After Hagee finished, DeLay rose to second the motion. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "what has been spoken here tonight is the truth from God."

===

At least O’Donnell wasn’t actually a lawmaker. Last year, Oklahoma State Senator Ralph Shortley got wound up over a zany Internet theory claiming stem cells were being used in the production of artificial sweeteners, and proposed a bill prohibiting companies in Oklahoma [26] from using aborted fetuses to make food.

6. Evolution Is (Still) Out To Get Jesus

“I’m not a scientist, man,” Marco Rubio recently told GQ [27]. “I can tell you what recorded history says. I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians. Whether the Earth was created in seven days, or seven actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that.”

But Rubio’s fellow Republicans think they have answered it, as evidenced by the fact that they want schools to teach that humans and dinosaurs used to read GQ together. Republican-controlled state legislatures have been busy [28] trying to pass bills forcing public schools from elementary to college to teach that the world was created 6,000-9,000 years ago.

Their cover for this is the necessity of "teaching both sides” of the debate—though only one has scientific backing—but Georgia Representative Paul Broun recently showed the right’s hand. “All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell,” he said [29] during his (unopposed) run for reelection last year. “And it's lies to try to keep me and all the folks who are taught that from understanding that they need a savior.”

7. It’s Only Science If Republicans Agree With It

In perhaps the most unintentionally revealing law ever written by a Republican on science, Texas Representative Lamar Smith recently proposed that all scientific knowledge get his okay first. Called the “High Quality Research Act,” Smith’s bill would require any research receiving federal funds [30] to go through Smith’s Congressional Committee on Science, Space and Technology, all in the name of “accountability.” Accountability in this case means agreeing with Smith, a climate change denier who has no problem going after projects [31] he, or his donors, disapprove of.

:{==

syngenta evil:

In one document dated 2005, Ford noted areas of vulnerabilities of a Madison County judge the corporation thought might be assigned to the case: “Not showing up for work. Personal conduct. Skybox from Tillery. Dating websites – pic in robes.”

Stephen Tillery, whose firm, Korein Tillery, represented plaintiffs in the suit, said his firm had never given the judge a skybox. “I was never with the judge in a skybox,” Tillery said, adding, “He was not the judge in the case. They thought he might be, and they were looking for ways to disqualify him.”

The allegation over the skybox was the basis of a formal complaint Syngenta filed against Tillery with the Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission. The complaint was dismissed as without merit.

At least four public relations firms were hired to work on the Syngenta campaign, according to the documents. The White House Writers Group, based in Washington, D.C., and Jayne Thompson & Associates, based in Chicago, were heavily involved. Invoices show that the White House Writers Group received more than $1.6 million in 2010 and 2011. Thompson is Illinois’ former first lady, wife of former Gov. Jim Thompson.

Tillery said, “They did everything they could with dirty tricks. The extent they went to was unprecedented.” He added that only one firm working on behalf of Syngenta, McDermott, Will & Emery of Chicago, did not engage in “dirty tricks.” see also psych profiles on hayes, called bait and tape.

:{==

It has also now endorsed commercial whaling, reversing a US ban in place since 1986 [8].

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/05/obama-backing-deal-lift-global-ban-commercial-whaling/

"By using stealth tactics to pursue a corporate agenda, the Bush administration is undermining the very landscape of democracy. The White House has also been darkly brilliant at using the courts to do its dirty work -- through methods such as "sweetheart suits," the practice of encouraging states and private groups to file lawsuits against the federal government, and then agreeing to negotiated settlements that bypass environmental laws without any interference from Congress or the public. [10]

---

cheney engineered hit on gray davis?! (only unnamed sources?)

much of offensive capability evolved out of wise use (roots in coors/jbs anti-commie) TP revives.

:{Dark irony is that Wise Use is funded by extractive industries and ranching that basically

relies on gov't handouts, but scream abour free markets and individual property rights.}:

:{1994 was 1st combo of industry$ and xian footsoldiers? most anti-green congress to date; contr w/ am

:{--

CoC hired themis to spy and smear opponents

---

bill mck RS 8/15

Left to our own devices, citizens might decide to regulate carbon and stop short of the brink; according to a recent poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans would back an international agreement that cut carbon emissions 90 percent by 2050. But we aren't left to our own devices. The Koch brothers, for instance, have a combined wealth of $50 billion, meaning they trail only Bill Gates on the list of richest Americans. They've made most of their money in hydrocarbons, they know any system to regulate carbon would cut those profits, and they reportedly plan to lavish as much as $200 million on this year's elections. In 2009, for the first time, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce surpassed both the Republican and Democratic National Committees on political spending; the following year, more than 90 percent of the Chamber's cash went to GOP candidates, many of whom deny the existence of global warming. Not long ago, the Chamber even filed a brief with the EPA urging the agency not to regulate carbon – should the world's scientists turn out to be right and the planet heats up, the Chamber advised, "populations can acclimatize to warmer climates via a range of behavioral, physiological and technological adaptations."As radical goes, demanding that we change our physiology seems right up there.

USCoC: For its part, the chamber claims that it's not attacking the EPA's scientific assessment. Yet its announcement of the lawsuit did just that—charging that the agency failed to perform "careful analysis of all available data and options" before releasing the "flawed" finding. And in its public comments submitted in advance of the release of the endangerment finding last year, the chamber also disputed the science of climate change, suggesting, among other things, that rising temperatures might actually be beneficial for humans, and that any resulting problems could be addressed by the increased use of air conditioners.

uscoc: One of Boehner’s top individual donors was a U.S. Chamber lobbyist,6 and this year, Boehner invited the Chamber’s top lobbyist to attend a controversial closed-door meeting about the America Speaking Out project.7 On issue after issue that pits the U.S. Chamber against the mainstream business community and the general public, Boehner adopts the Chamber’s talking points. Most egregiously, after U.S. Chamber President Tom Donohue made headlines saying that American taxpayers should help pay for the BP oil spill cleanup, Boehner agreed: “I think the people responsible in the oil spill--BP and the federal government--should take full responsibility for what's happening there,” he said.

---

But that's not the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The U.S. Chamber is a hard-right ideological operation, which provides massive funding to conservative Republicans, including the new GOP majority in Wisconsin. If you want a sense of just how far right: Glenn Beck held a telethon on their behalf, and donated $10,000 of his money. [WHY?] "They are us," he said -- and an executive of the chamber called in to thank him. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent more money lobbying in 2009 than the next five biggest players combined; they spent more money on politics than either the Republican or Democratic National Committees. They're the biggest elephant in the jungle.

Despite their claim to represent three million American businesses, more than half their budget comes from just 16 companies. They don't have to identify them, but it's pretty easy to guess who they might be, since the chamber has devoted much of its time to thwarting any effort to control carbon emissions. For instance, they filed a brief with the EPA demanding they not fight global warming because "populations can acclimatize to warmer climates via a range of behavioral, physiological, and technological adaptations."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-mckibben/koch-brothers-the-us-cham_b_834462.html

Since the Occupy Wall Street protest began on September 17, New York security consultant Thomas Ryan has been waging a campaign to infiltrate and discredit the movement. Ryan says he's done contract work for the U.S. Army and he brags on his blog that he leads "a team called Black Cell, a team of the most-highly trained and capable physical, threat and cyber security professionals in the world." But over the past few weeks, he and his computer security buddies have been spending time covertly attending Occupy Wall Street meetings, monitoring organizers' social media accounts, and hanging out with protesters in Lower Manhattan.

As part of their intelligence-gathering operation, the group gained access to a listserv used by Occupy Wall Street organizers called September17discuss. On September17discuss, organizers hash out tactics and plan events, conduct post-mortems of media appearances, and trade the latest protest gossip. On Friday, Ryan leaked thousands of September17discuss emails to conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, who is now using them to try to smear Occupy Wall Street as an anarchist conspiracy to disrupt global markets.

pension plan DESTROYS PENALTY FOR BAD CONDUCT; even nixon rehabbed? but also attractor // incubator: you can't fail ~ market dogma (irony) ; thus encourages more extreme behavior? (amplify fdbk)

alec, norquist atu, rove gps?, berman are 501c4? not charities, but crypto lobbying firms? norquist no tax pledge is an extortion rachet? enforcer? citizens united org, ATI

BM owns co that does video news releases

Fox has made punditry standard b/c it's cheap; Colbert is a parody for rightwing mycountryrightorwrong

Stewart often mocks bad punditry? harmless barbs? has he even taken out anyone? (Beck has better score)

I want to believe that correction/ridicule is powerful disinfectant; and JS dos have pretty road appeal (even yound males; aintidote to So Pk Republicans?

JS does media criticism, thus is meta-meta?

singer sued lancaster

:{peter thiel funded o'keefe

forgot something today

House Republicans To Defund ACORN Again, Even Though It Still Does Not Exist

mojo on tobacco Use political allies to silence moral critics, including religious conservatives. William Saletan found that Ralph Reed's Christian Coalition (see Sin of Omission [7]) is particularly cooperative.

REED also sold evangelicals to abramoff for gambling

evil ju jitsu: "Give an inch, gain a decade." As Richard Kluger's history shows, the industry often fights regulation ferociously, then compromises to its own advantage. Tobacco companies fought health warnings, then used them to deny legal liability to consumers. When they were losing the fight over TV ads, they proposed their own ban and used it to prevent new brands from taking market share. When cigarette excise taxes passed, the tobacco companies raised prices and profits, while blaming the hike on bureaucratic government. mojo tob strikes back

===

to be consistent ideologically (pure, not get flnaked) will drive ppl to say silly stuff like baby w/ half brain shd go full term and live in pain; also media shock/clowns must constantly up themselves to hold audience; direct mail activists must up scare to bring in more $ (Beck is a bit of oldtimey evangelical selling salvation? 912 endtimes?) THIS IS AMPLIFYING FEEDBACK RARELY CORRECTED

Pratt's Ties to White Supremacists

Pratt told [17] the Washington Post that he bought his first gun in 1968 when "there were some racial difficulties" in Washington DC. "I heard on the radio that the police weren't sure they could control the rioters coming north on 16th Street, so I went out and bought a shotgun."

Pratt founded Gun Owners of America in 1975 with H.L. Richardson, a benefactor of the Religious Right. Described as "eight lanes to the right" [18] of the National Rifle Association, GOA was one of the early "New Right" groups [19] to focus their political activity on the state level, rather than just on national issues. The group became a major donor to state legislative races, and "put the fear of death into a lot of Democrats" [19] when the group helped defeat several powerful Democratic incumbents in California in 1982.GOA's focus on the states meshed well with ALEC.

But Pratt and the GOA were involved in more than just state politics. In the early 1980s, Pratt and the Gun Owners of America were outspoken supporters [20] of the white rulers in South Africa during apartheid, calling a press conference in 1984 to present "evidence" that allegedly tied Bishop Desmond Tutu to an effort to violently overthrow the white minority regime in the country. "Bishop Tutu's idea of Christianity, rather than one of bringing reconciliation of the divisions within South Africa is one that would welcome the extension of the atheist slave state from Russia to his own country," Pratt said. Bishop Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that same year.

At the time, Pratt was on the ALEC board.

Also in 1984, while he sat on the ALEC board, Pratt and GOA**presented a plaque** [21]to notorious El Salvador death squad leader Robert D'Aubuisson in 1984 for his "continuing efforts for freedom in the face of communist aggression which is an inspiration to freedom-loving people everywhere." D'Aubuisson, known as "Blowtorch Bob" for his use of a blowtorch to torture political opponents, also was involved in the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero.

In 1990 Pratt wrote a book titled "Armed People Victorious" based on his study of death squads in Guatemala and the Philippines, and advocated for similar "citizen defense patrols" in the United States. The idea reportedly caught on in 1992, when Pratt addressed [22] a three-day meeting of neo-Nazis and Christian Adherents organized by white supremacist Pete Peters. He shared the stage with a former Ku Klux Klan leader and an Aryan Nation official.

Pratt's lengthy ties to white supremacists forced him to step down [23] from his role as co-chairman of Pat Buchanan [24]'s 1996 presidential campaign, after his racist connections were publicized by the Center for Public Integrity and others.

assange says MIC w/ pvt intel like stratfor (remember hedge fund gambit0 tentacles out, gives $ to leadership pacs to get bigger chunk of tax $ at exprnse of human depts that can't lobby as well DN

cda climate min dep stumped; 1 did joint appreance w/ shell http://www.no-tar-sands.org/2012/10/activists-disrupt-speeches-by-canadian-minister-and-shell-chairman/

Just recently in my home state of North Carolina, a legislative proposal was unanimously approved by the State Senate's Commerce Committee that could make itillegal for Tesla to sell to NC state residents, or at the very least sell in any way other than via the established dealer network. The irony of lawmakers trying to ban the sale of an American-built, Motor Trend Car of the Year that sources from over 30 manufacturers in NC makes me shake my head and wonder.

After leaving the vice president's office, Patel co-founded The Daily Caller, a web based news company focusing on politics, policy, and current events. Patel is also co-founder and is managing director of Bluebird Asset Management, a hedge fund focused on mortgage backed securities^[2]

^----^

cut food stamps, boost agribiz subsidies: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/14/2013-farm-bill-senate_n_3273838.html 90$/mo

The Senate bill calls for a total of roughly $2.4 billion a year in cuts, while a House version to be considered Wednesday would save $4 billion out of almost $100 billion annually. Those cuts include more than $600 million in yearly savings from across-the-board cuts that took effect earlier this year.

Much of the savings in the House and Senate bills comes from eliminating the direct payments, which are frequently criticized because they aren't tied to production or crop prices. Part of that savings would go toward deficit reduction, but the rest of the money would create new programs and raise subsidies for some crops while business is booming in the agricultural sector....

In order to boost savings, the Senate bill would cut $400 million out of almost $80 billion spent annually on food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The legislation would save dollars by targeting states that give people who don't have heating bills very small amounts of heating assistance so they can automatically qualify for higher food stamp benefits.

The committee rejected amendments by Johanns and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., to expand the cut, while New York Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, a Democrat, said she will offer amendments on the Senate floor to restore the food stamp dollars. She said the cuts are immoral.

All three of those senators voted against the final bill, along with Roberts and Senate Minority Leader MitchMcConnell, R-Ky., who sits on the agriculture panel but did not attend the meeting....

Longtime critics of farm policy say that even with the belt-tightening, the legislation is still a giveaway to the largest farms which tend to receive the largest shares of the subsidies.

"It's very disappointing in a time of runaway deficits and record farm income," says Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group.

Farm groups defend the policy by using last year's drought as an example. Despite widespread losses, federally subsidized crop insurance helped farmers recover.

The bill would also limit payments to the wealthiest farmers and require farmers who receive crop insurance to comply with certain soil and water conservation requirements.

18 Arrested in Wisconsin Assembly for Using Cameras; Guns Still Allowed

Submitted by Brendan Fischer on November 2, 2011 - 7:36am

Eighteen people were arrested Tuesday, November 2 for using cameras in the Wisconsin Assembly gallery, including the editor of The Progressive magazine, Matt Rothschild.

Rothschild and others had gone to the capitol to protest a series of arrests in recent weeks of individuals who carried signs or took photos or video in defiance of an Assembly ban.

"We ought to have a right to take a picture," Rothschild said.

Guns, Yes. Cameras, No.

The protest was organized through a Facebook event called "Concealed Camera Day at the Capitol!" The event coincided with the implementation of Wisconsin's new concealed carry law, which allows residents to carry a concealed firearm -- including inside the Assembly gallery.

North Carolina attempts to legislate sea level

In June 2012, the North Carolina Senate passed a bill that would force the state’s Coastal Resources Commission to plan only for a steady linear rate of sea-level rise, whatever the actual numbers prove to be.

Though the US Geological Survey and other scientific organizations insist the North Carolina sea level is indeed rising at an accelerating rate, the denial law was advocated by NC-20, a coalition of coastal counties, and by allied real-estate agents and builders.

The NC-20 leader cited the late climate-change denier and thriller writer Michael Crichton in claiming that predictions of accelerated sea-level increase were unsupported by data. Moreover, NC-20 argued that the state could not afford to spend millions on elevating roads, buildings, septic tanks and other infrastructure, as an accelerated rate of sea-level increase would mandate.

��

Amid nationwide ridicule, the most offensive language in the new law did not survive the North Carolina House, but the final wording, which became state law in August, imposed a four-year moratorium on new sea-level calculations for regulatory purposes – meaning the same battle will be fought again in 2016. Moreover, the new law requires the Coastal Resource Commission to consider a “full range�� of hypotheses next time, including falling sea levels, unchanged sea levels, and decelerating increase in sea level. This is comparable to state laws requiring “balance�� between the teaching of evolution and the teaching of other notions, however farfetched.

NC-20 claimed a “huge win” and reiterated its position “that despite 80 years of manmade CO2 increase, there is no acceleration in Sea Level Rise.”

By allowing politics to get in the way of science, North Carolina legislators are putting their coast at risk and could cost the state more in the long run by delaying necessary infrastructure changes. Moreover, the story demonstrated again the extent to which US politicians defer to business interests in the face of scientific facts – a pressing issue up and down the East Coast, in the nation’s coalfields and oilfields, across its food-supply chain, and wherever drought is proving chronic. Most corporate news coverage of the North Carolina controversy, however, allowed audiences to dismiss it as a local issue and an instance of isolated backwardness.

References:

Bin, Omyung, et al. “Measuring the Impact of Sea‐Level Rise on Coastal Real Estate: A Hedonic Property Model Approach.” Journal of Regional Science 51 (2011): 751-767.

“Huge Win on Sea Level Rise.” NC-20: Twenty Counties, One Voice. July 2012. Accessed March 30, 2013. http://www.nc-20.com/

Lee, Jane J. “Legislating Sea Level Rise.” ScienceInsider.June 12, 2012. http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/06/legislating-sea-level-rise.html

North Carolina General Assembly. House Bill 819. “An Act To Study and Modify Certain Coastal Management Policies.” Aug. 3, 2012.�� http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/House/PDF/H819v6.pdf

US Geological Survey. “Sea Level Rise Accelerating in US Atlantic Coast.” June 24, 2012. http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3256&from=rss_home#.ULte54Npf0e

Student Researcher: Caitlin Megonigal, Frostburg State University

Faculty Evaluator: Andy Duncan, Frostburg State University

http://www.mediafreedominternational.org/2013/04/01/north-carolina-attempts-to-legislate-sea-level/

Oklahoma Agenda 21 Bill Leads To Tea Party Threat Against State Senator

The Huffington Post | By John Celock Posted: 04/02/2013 6:04 pm EDT | Updated: 04/03/2013 10:46 am EDT

Oklahoma state Sen. Cliff Branan

An Oklahoma tea party leader has threatened to turn a Republican state senator into a "laughing stock" and "dig into" his family members and associates unless he backs a bill blocking the United Nations' sustainability agenda.

State Sen. Cliff Branan (R-Oklahoma City) referred a March 26 email from Al Gerhart, co-founder of the Sooner Tea Party, to the state Bureau of Investigation, newsok.com reported. The email attacks Branan for not holding an immediate hearing on a bill to ban local governments in Oklahoma from implementing parts of the U.N. sustainability agenda, better known as Agenda 21.

“Get that bill heard or I will make sure you regret not doing it," Gerhart wrote in the email. "I will make you the laughing stock of the Senate if I don't hear that this bill will be heard and passed. We will dig into your past, your family, your associates and once we start on you there will be no end to it. This is a promise.”

Gerhart told newsok.com that he sent the email and acknowledged it was a political threat. He denied he intended it as a physical threat.

“We want to know what is going on down there," Gerhart told newsok.com. "We want to know if his wife has got a criminal history. We want to know everything about him. We want to find out if this man is a responsible citizen, if he's even got his family under control much less control of his office."

The Oklahoma legislation has passed the state House of Representatives, but Branan has not brought it before the Senate Energy Committee, which he chairs.

Agenda 21, drafted in 1992 but not ratified by the U.S. Senate, encourages sustainable development, including bike paths, mass transit and walkable communities. The plan does not contain the force of law in the U.S.

Conservative groups, :{led by the John Birch Society,:(style="background-color:#fff200"):}: have denounced the plan, falsely claiming it would take away private property rights and force people to live in urban centers. They have also wrongly maintained :{that it would end :(style="background-color:#fff200"):}:golf courses, scuba diving and floor tiles. The John Birch Society has advocated for people to pressure state and local officials to pass legislation rejecting Agenda 21, enlisting PTA presidents and milkmen in the effort.

Oklahoma state Sen. Patrick Anderson (R-Enid), sponsor of the anti-Agenda 21 bill, said in December that he wanted to preserve private property rights.

States around the country, most of them Republican-led, have taken up legislation to either prohibit the enactment of Agenda 21 by local governments or to pass resolutions opposing the plan. Democrats have largely dismissed the Agenda 21 criticism as tinfoil hat madness.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/02/oklahoma-agenda-21_n_3001579.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

http://www.alternet.org/print/story/154046/revealed%3A_how_syngenta_investigated_the_press_and_shaped_the_news_about_its_controversial_weed-killer_atrazine

syngenta tries to recruit a reporter to do 180?!

shawn otto 12/7/09 sensenbrenner sent ltr to ipcc pachuari to fire mann et al tactic called "concern appropriation" *** [apparently not a st'd term]

Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America http://shawnotto.com/foolmetwice/ rodale 2011

he has another related strategy? preemptive?

coulter calls left antisci, see also old charge of agw as faith"/religion/cult

an inverted view of reality:

New facts are still coming to light—and will likely continue to do so with the Justice Department inspector general's report expected in coming months. Among the discoveries: Fast and Furious' top suspects—Sinaloa Cartel operatives and Mexican nationals who were providing the money, ordering the guns, and directing the recruitment of the straw purchasers—turned out to be FBI informants who were receiving money from the bureau. That came as news to the ATF agents in Group VII....

Issa has alleged on Fox News that Fast and Furious is part of a liberal conspiracy to restrict gun rights: "Very clearly, [the ATF] made a crisis and they are using this crisis to somehow take away or limit people's Second Amendment rights." (Issa has a personal history on this issue: In 1972, at age 19, he was arrested for having a concealed, loaded .25-caliber automatic in his car; he ultimately pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered gun.)

��

Issa's claim that the ATF is using the Fast and Furious scandal to limit gun rights seems,to put it charitably, far-fetched. Meanwhile, Issa and other lawmakers say they want ATF to stanch the deadly tide of guns, widely implicated in the killing of 47,000 Mexicans in the drug-war violence of the past five years. But the public bludgeoning of the ATF has had the opposite effect. From 2010, when Congress began investigating, to 2011, gun seizures by Group VII and the ATF's three other groups in Phoenix dropped by more than 90%.

*Reporter Associate: Doris Burke http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/27/fast-and-furious-truth/*

b1 1988 campaign triumph of new media driven , run by Ailes 197 (less role for parties) ; hired guns/pollsters could actually invent issues; no coherent world view needed, just telegenic, articulate and good $ raiser cands 198. ailes liked neg ads and claimed ppl learned from them 199 lied that Duk failed to clean up Boston Harbor when in fact court forced 6B$ effort; showed very old radiatioon sign from where navy subs once fixed, and of course furlough (pgm started by GOP predecessor gov [modelled on RR's CA?] DUK ENDED THE PGM ?! [so who was gov when horton out? maybe Horton incident preceded? caused termination?). Horton ad produced by Larry McCarthy, fmr sr vp at Ailes communications 200. Atwater got story from Gore in primary, said if i can make W H household name, we'll win the election " 2000 in 88 b1 had no coatails, no vision, won by pandering on issues of no substance (pledge of alleg). camp become permanent, vs the 5 yrs 18 mo breathing room to actually legislate in past.

BizzarOMGworld

How much fossil fuel has been used in your lifetime?

NPR Reduces Its Environment Team to One Reporter

Abrams Key Denier of Human Rights Abuses by Salvadoran Government

Abrams, Neocons Passing the Torch to VP Pick Ryan

‘U.S.’ Chamber Of Commerce Funded By Top Offshoring Companies

Promoting Trojan Horse-like Fracking Regulations

“Hurricanes, Tornados and Earthquakes: Volatility as an Asset Class”

Keeping Tom DeLay above the Law & Order

Fri May 16, 2008 at 03:17:23 PM PST

Too Much Spring Ice Threatens Alaskan Polar Bears

===

note also Top Gun and Red Scorp inherent ability to use weapons.(top gun basically long ad for navy, actually boosted recruitment; // America's Army video game) MIC so pk rep

==

Berman’s fingerprints

Of Course ALEC Is Involved in the Keystone Cash

Politicians Prey on the Poor's Jobs Hopes

American Dreams Denied in American "Sacrifice Zones"

Personnel

Contact information and Burson-Marsteller connections

Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act

Court of Appeal, Third District, California.

CALIFORNIANS FOR SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY v. REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Blaming environmental groups

The Amazing Story Of Saxby Chambliss' Bum Knee

It’s Time to Stop Letting Congress Stomp on Nonprofit Advocacy Rights

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Does ALEC Really Support Freedom of Assembly?

Same Group and Donors Behind Fisher and Shelby County Cases

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Pratt's Ties to White Supremacists

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Guns, Yes. Cameras, No.

North Carolina attempts to legislate sea level

Oklahoma Agenda 21 Bill Leads To Tea Party Threat Against State Senator

**Same Group and Donors Behind Fisher and Shelby County Cases**