AFTER WE KILL THE FISH, POLLUTE OUR BODIES WITH TOXINS AND GENETICALLY CHANGE GENDERS WITH CHEMICAL POLLUTIONS, WILL WE AGREE WE WERE WRONG?

WILL WE AGREE THAT CORPORATIONS DON'T REGULATE THEMSELVES? AND WE DO NEED GOVERNMENT TO CONTROL AND FUND REGULATIONS FOR THE HEALTHY WATERWAYS, SOIL, AIR?

Photo source

Only when the last tree has died

and the last river been poisoned

and the last fish been caught

will we ever realize we cannot eat money.

Cree Native American Proverb

Waterlife ~ A documentary film
This film concentrates on The Great Lakes of the USA and Canada. At the documentary website
Waterlife (see the very bottom for links to click), read the Director's Statement, About the Film, Resources/Community Action, dates and locations of screenings of the film and more.

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From the Waterlife website:
There are supposed to be 51 % boy babies to 49% girl babies...two girls to one boy are now being born....
Male frogs are losing their penis size and have been having ovaries.
There used to be fish, big fish, nice lake trout. Now, there is no fish.

When I was a kid, there was a lot of fisherman. It was right toward the middle of the 60's...that the lampreys wiped things out.


The following Lamprey information is from dnr.wi.gov/org

Evidence: Lampreys attach themselves to other fish and suck on their blood and body fluids. They leave rounded scars on the fish. When they first arrived on the Great Lakes scene, they killed large numbers of predatory sport fish. People began to notice the lack of large fish and the scars on others. Lampreys preyed on whitefish, lake trout and chub populations in lakes Superior and Michigan. The lamprey invasion made it hard on the people who fished the Great Lakes to make a living.

One sea lamprey can upset an ecosystem and food chain by eating an estimated 40 pounds of fish or more in its lifetime. Multiply that times 22,000 lamprey found in just one river and you have a lot of dead fish. Because of lower large fish populations, small fish, like the alewife, were able to increase in numbers. Alewives are also invader species which compete with native fish for food and habitat.

Invaded Territory: the Great Lakes and clear, cold streams throughout the Great Lakes region. Construction and improvements on the Erie and Welland Canal (between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie) around 1921 allowed sea lampreys to get through the canal to the next lake. Here's a list of their arrival dates in each lake:

• Lake Erie, 1921
• Lake Huron, 1932
• Lake Ontario, 1835
• Lake Michigan, 1936
• Lake Superior, 1938

Sea lampreys will lay over 100,000 eggs when spawning, much more than the native lamprey species.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR GOVERNMENT IS WE ARE NOT MORE ENGAGED IN IT

MY THOUGHTS

I feel part of our country's major problems are . . .

In a nutshell

1) Corporate owned media
We care about what we know about and yet our media decides what we want to know. And more often than not, media coverage decisions are based on what "sells" or what is titillating. And not on what will inform or help our lives by knowing a news story.

2) Corporate-beholding elected officials
Needed is campaign finance reform (we won't get it, until we, as a people, demand it). Why do we think Washington is so out of touch with what we citizens want? Because they have to spend unthinkable amounts of money to get elected, therefore take donations from corporations, who they answer to and not to the every day USA citizen who just wants a job and some reasonably priced health care.

"We the corporations"

On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions. The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule.

We Move to Amend.

We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:

• Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
• Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our votes and participation count.
• Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.

Make democracy legal in the USA. Send a message to the Supreme Court
movetoamend

3) Education
is a) not supported more by us as families, adults and b) standards could be higher by our educators in many cases. But it is both of theses things.

Granted this is from a 2002 report, however in a google search this is all that came up in a 15 minute search:

"South Korea has the most effective education system in the world's richest countries, with Japan in second place and the United States and Germany near the bottom, a United Nations study said Tuesday.

The ranking "provides the first 'big picture' comparison of the relative effectiveness of education systems across the developed world," the UNICEF study said."
Source: www.cbsnews.com/

Whitehouse plans to improve education

4) Not engaged in democracy and not knowledgeable of government's actions
We, as individuals, are not engaged in our government's actions. Sometimes we believe hearsay over reality. Most of us don't bother to vote and many times when we do vote, we do so uninformed. Many of us don't know the names of our own elected officials. We don't know what way our representative politicians are voting. Which means, we can't then hold them accountable even if we are the sort who would call or email them. How many times have you lobbied your elected officials about anything at all?

5) The world view is limited
The majority of USA citizens are not informed about our own government, but we have very limited, if any knowledge, of other countries' histories, governments and news. Our interests are insular. When I traveled to Europe I was so surprised that they knew our history better than I did. I had a public school education and I have undergraduate and graduate degrees.

I have learned more on PBS and good news shows and now online, than I ever did in a classroom or in a text book.

I suppose pointing this out may not be enough. There would unsurprisingly be a number of those who would believe there is no reason to be interested in other countries on the planet. We can't close up our borders and live in a capsule that isn't affected by others. We need to know what others do outside our boundaries. The harmful, but the wonderment created elsewhere just as much.

Photo from book: Please Touch
by Edwin M. McMahon and Peter A. Campbell

6) Children's welfare
We don't really care. The foster care system is broken. And how could it not be otherwise? Especially when the budget for it is axed year after year. It is a crime how we disregard the years of childhood. We should all hang our collective heads in mortifying shame.

Failing a child becomes legacy

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Uploaded by Slambovia

Alice in Space

Ridin' the Palisades up to her place
Wheels leave the ground, yeah the air here is laced
And I'm gone, I'm long gone
And its a long way out to Alice in Space

I visit Alice cause she understands
More of the child and less of the man
She don't game me
And she won't fall
But its a long way out to Alice in Space

She'll lift you up and she'll shed your disguise
And I've seen the ancients in Alice's eyes when she smiles

And its a long way out to Alice in Space
She'll lift you up and shed your disguise
Then see the ancients in Alice's eyes when she cries

Millions of people and one little lie
Zillions of children whose spirits have all flown away
They're long gone

And its a long way out to Alice in Space
And its a long way out to Alice in Space
Its a long way out

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Websites

adopt us kids

childrens aid society.org/adoption

Ten Ways to Help Children in Foster Care

Recommended books by Alice Miller

The Body Never Lies

The Drama of the Gifted Child

The Truth Will Set You Free

I GET IT - SOMETHING ISN'T RIGHT ABOUT WHAT GEORGE BUSH SAID ABOUT 9-11

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George Bush asked by a child about 9/11
If you ignore the editorializing and just watch and listen to George Bush, this video shows Bush being flip, joking when talking about 9/11. Odd.
Uploaded by babylonsfalling

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Another person's video about Bush and his claim to have seen the first plane going into the Twin Towers on TV before the video was available to TV
Uploaded by omarhani

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Rumsfeld in serious talk suggests another attack would solve the problem then laughingly continues his point
Uploaded by notanotherconspiracy
In a way I wish the editorializing was left out of these videos and just Rumsfeld and Bush be caught talking. I think that would be enough to show us who these men are.

"...That's what I was just going to say. This President's pretty much a victim of success. We haven't had an attack in five years. Hell, the perception of the threat is so low in this society that it's not surprising that the behavior pattern reflects a low threat assessment. The same thing's in Europe, there's a low threat perception.

"THIS PRESIDENT IS PRETTY MUCH A VICTIM OF SUCCESS....THE CORRECTION FOR THAT I SUPPOSE IS AN ATTACK AND WHEN THAT HAPPENS UH THEM EVERYBODY GETS ENERGIZED... " DONALD RUMSFELD

Bin Ladens allowed out of U.S. after 9-11

Former White House official confirms operation...

While the Saudis have long denied involvement in the massacre that claimed the lives of some 3,000 people, 15 of the 19 hijackers came from the kingdom.

Former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke described the Saudi exodus in an interview for the current issue of Vanity Fair on newsstands today. Clarke, who left the White House in February, lends confirmation to reports of the evacuation which first surfaced in September 2001, but have been dispelled as rumor and urban legend.

Citing Clarke, the magazine reports that within a week of the hijackings private planes picked up individuals from 10 cities, including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Houston and Boston. Aviation officials complained the flights took place before the government had lifted flight restrictions for the general public.

Read the full article at www.worldnetdaily.com

Terrorism: The deliberate creation and exploitation of fear for bringing about political change.

McCAIN'S VOTING RECORD DOESN'T SUPPORT WHAT JOHN McCAIN SAYS

FIRST

SMILIN' PALIN - AW SHUCKS CUTE - OKAY ON A DOLL

We got one debate, limited interviews with Sarah Palin and yet we are now supposed to think Palin is qualified because she could deliver sentences she crammed for.

Debates are for the unengaged. If you don’t know who you are going to vote for by now, you haven’t been paying attention.

Charm is charm. Sarah winking at the TV camera is used for her charm offensive. It wins some hearts. It is not a characteristic needed for a national leader, as long as real substance is lacking. Class president and prom queen okay. Sarah’s claim that the past is irrelevant is wrong. That is a cop-out for not knowing substantive information about the past. I hope there will be enough of us who can see through the pretty, the constant smile and go with the consistency and brains this time.

McCain's Voting Record: He Does Not Support Our Troups and Veterans

Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - Since everyone is at least a bit familiar with John McCain’s record when it comes to strolling through a market in Baghdad with hundreds of his closest guards, or how he wants to stay in Iraq for 100 years (except when he flip flops on that).

But not that many really, truly know just how horrific his voting record is when it comes to the troops. And it is pretty consistent – whether it is for armor and equipment, for veteran’s health care, for adequate troop rest or anything that actually, you know, supports our troops.

This is chock full of links to the roll call votes, and the roll call votes have links to the actual underlying bills and amendments. I present this so that there is support and things that can be rattled off when saying that McCain is not a friend of the military. Feel free to use it as you want, but this can be tied into the "Double Talk Express". But here is a very quick statement - John McCain skipped close to a dozen votes on Iraq, and on at least another 10 occasions, he voted against arming and equipping the troops, providing adequate rest for the troops between deployments and for health care or other benefits for veterans.

In mid 2007, Senator Reid noted that McCain missed 10 of the past 14 votes on Iraq. However, here is a summary of a dozen votes (two that he missed and ten that he voted against) with respect to Iraq, funding for veterans or for troops, including equipment and armor. I have also included other snippets related to the time period when the vote occurred.

September 2007: McCain voted against the Webb amendment calling for adequate troop rest between deployments. At the time, nearly 65% of people polled in a CNN poll indicted that "things are going either moderately badly or very badly in Iraq.

July 2007: McCain voted against a plan to drawdown troop levels in Iraq. At the time, an ABC poll found that 63% thought the invasion was not worth it, and a CBS News poll found that 72% of respondents wanted troops out within 2 years.

March 2007: McCain was too busy to vote on a bill that would require the start of a drawdown in troop levels within 120 days with a goal of withdrawing nearly all combat troops within one year. Around this time, an NBC News poll found that 55% of respondents indicated that the US goal of achieving victory in Iraq is not possible. This number has not moved significantly since then.

February 2007: For such a strong supporter of the escalation, McCain didn’t even bother to show up and vote against a resolution condemning it. However, at the time a CNN poll found that only 16% of respondents wanted to send more troops to Iraq (that number has since declined to around 10%), while 60% said that some or all should be withdrawn. This number has since gone up to around 70%.

June 2006: McCain voted against a resolution that Bush start withdrawing troops but with no timeline to do so.

May 2006: McCain voted against an amendment that would provide $20 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for health care facilities.

April 2006: McCain was one of only 13 Senators to vote against $430,000,000 for the Department of Veteran Affairs for Medical Services for outpatient care and treatment for veterans.

March 2006: McCain voted against increasing Veterans medical services funding by $1.5 billion in FY 2007 to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.

March 2004: McCain once again voted for abusive tax loopholes over veterans when he voted against creating a reserve fund to allow for an increase in Veterans' medical care by $1.8 billion by eliminating abusive tax loopholes. Jeez, McCain really loves those tax loopholes for corporations, since he voted for them over our veterans' needs.

October 2003: McCain voted to table an amendment by Senator Dodd that called for an additional $322,000,000 for safety equipment for United States forces in Iraq and to reduce the amount provided for reconstruction in Iraq by $322,000,000.

April 2003: McCain urged other Senate members to table a vote (which never passed) to provide more than $1 billion for National Guard and Reserve equipment in Iraq related to a shortage of helmets, tents, bullet-proof inserts, and tactical vests.

August 2001: McCain voted against increasing the amount available for medical care for veterans by $650,000,000. To his credit, he also voted against the 2001 Bush tax cuts, which he now supports making permanent, despite the dire financial condition this country is in, and despite the fact that he indicated in 2001 that these tax cuts unfairly benefited the very wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

So there it is. John McCain is yet another republican former military veteran who likes to talk a big game when it comes to having the support of the military. Yet, time and time again, he has gone out of his way to vote against the needs of those who are serving in our military. If he can’t even see his way to actually doing what the troops want, or what the veterans need, and he doesn’t have the support of veterans, then how can he be a credible commander in chief?

Why John McCain Gets an “A” on Bush Economics and an “F” from Veterans Groups

Sarah Palin: Leading Alaska’s National Guard Across the Bridge to Nowhere

McCain's Shameful Voting Record on Vet's Issue from vetsforobama.org

Before you read this account (courtesy of Veterans for Common Sense) of John McCain’s voting record on veterans’ issues, try to pretend for a second that you know nothing about John McCain. You don’t know about his biography. You’ve never heard his name in connection with the letters P, O and W before. You don’t even know that he’s running for president. You just know that there is a United States Senator who has done the following:

September 2007: McCain voted against the Webb amendment calling for adequate troop rest between deployments. At the time, nearly 65% of people polled in a CNN poll indicted that “things are going either moderately badly or very badly in Iraq.

July 2007: McCain voted against a plan to drawdown troop levels in Iraq. At the time, an ABC poll found that 63% thought the invasion was not worth it, and a CBS News poll found that 72% of respondents wanted troops out within 2 years.

March 2007: McCain was too busy to vote on a bill that would require the start of a drawdown in troop levels within 120 days with a goal of withdrawing nearly all combat troops within one year. Around this time, an NBC News poll found that 55% of respondents indicated that the US goal of achieving victory in Iraq is not possible. This number has not moved significantly since then.

February 2007: For such a strong supporter of the escalation, McCain didn’t even bother to show up and vote against a resolution condemning it. However, at the time a CNN poll found that only 16% of respondents wanted to send more troops to Iraq (that number has since declined to around 10%), while 60% said that some or all should be withdrawn. This number has since gone up to around 70%.

June 2006: McCain voted against a resolution that Bush start withdrawing troops but with no timeline to do so.

May 2006: McCain voted against an amendment that would provide $20 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for health care facilities.

April 2006: McCain was one of only 13 Senators to vote against $430,000,000 for the Department of Veteran Affairs for Medical Services for outpatient care and treatment for veterans.

March 2006: McCain voted against increasing Veterans medical services funding by $1.5 billion in FY 2007 to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.

March 2004: McCain once again voted for abusive tax loopholes over veterans when he voted against creating a reserve fund to allow for an increase in Veterans’ medical care by $1.8 billion by eliminating abusive tax loopholes. Jeez, McCain really loves those tax loopholes for corporations, since he voted for them over our veterans’ needs.

October 2003: McCain voted to table an amendment by Senator Dodd that called for an additional $322,000,000 for safety equipment for United States forces in Iraq and to reduce the amount provided for reconstruction in Iraq by $322,000,000.

April 2003: McCain urged other Senate members to table a vote (which never passed) to provide more than $1 billion for National Guard and Reserve equipment in Iraq related to a shortage of helmets, tents, bullet-proof inserts, and tactical vests.

August 2001: McCain voted against increasing the amount available for medical care for veterans by $650,000,000. To his credit, he also voted against the 2001 Bush tax cuts, which he now supports making permanent, despite the dire financial condition this country is in, and despite the fact that he indicated in 2001 that these tax cuts unfairly benefited the very wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

Then someone tells you that the Senator in question is a decorated war hero who spend five-and-a-half years in a POW camp in Vietnam, and is a symbol of what it means to be a veteran of foreign wars. Would you believe them?

A cursory dig through John McCain’s voting record begs the question: how can the same man who served so honorably as a soldier serve soldiers so dishonorably? How can we point to his experience in North Vietnam as the mold which forged his character, when the character that it forged voted against the interests of his fellow veterans time and time again?

McCAIN vs. McCAIN - WILL THE REAL McCAIN STAND UP? and furthermore THE SENATE BAILOUT BILL WENT OFF THE RIGHT TRACK

I had a good laugh with this first clip of

The Daily Show - Jon Stewart - October 2, 2008
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Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - Bailout Bill Passes

8:24

I am not happy with the Senate's Financial bailout/rescue bill. I am voting for OBAMA - BIDEN but that doesn't mean I agree with everything. This bill is not fit for the problem we have been hearing about since Paulson brought us the deal.

The Senate Breakdown of the Bailout Vote October 1, 2008

The House of Representatives Breakdown of the Bailout Vote September 29, 2008

WALL ST.'S RESCUE LEGISLATION: MAKERS OF RUM, TOY ARROWS TAG ALONG

Bill larded with 'goodies' for all

PAUL WALDIE

October 3, 2008

The U.S. government's $700-billion (U.S.) rescue plan won't just bail out Wall Street, it's also going to help rum makers, film producers, race car drivers, sheep farmers and children who play bow and arrows - provided their arrows are wooden.

The bailout legislation passed by the U.S. Senate Wednesday night contains dozens of special tax breaks and spending measures, many of which have been pet causes for some politicians for years. They were inserted largely to make the rescue package more palatable to members of the House of Representatives, who voted down an earlier version of the plan on Monday.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson proposed the rescue package last week as an emergency effort to get billions of dollars worth of bad housing-related investments off the books of financial firms. Since then, the plan has swelled from a three-page document to a 451-page piece of legislation loaded with $150-billion worth of extras. They include:

Dropping a 39-cent excise tax on wooden arrows made for children, a cause of politicians in Oregon to help manufacturers in their state;

Extending a cut in the excise tax on rum made in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands;

Increasing funding for the Wool Research Trust Fund, which provides grants to wool makers and sheep farmers, and for the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund;

Extending tax breaks for film and television productions, mine rescue training, undercover operations, motorsport race tracks, railway maintenance, idling reduction units in trucks, refined coal used by steel producers, small wind power projects, donations of food or books to charities, hurricane relief employees and people affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill;

New rules for mental health benefits and the disclosure of information in terrorist cases.

Adding tax and spending measures to proposed legislation is common practice in the U.S. Congress, but the financial rescue plan was supposed to be an emergency, targeted at just the bailout.

The bill now heads for a vote in the House of Representatives, where some members are proposing to stick on more measures including a $61-billion stimulus package.

The legislation "is no longer an emergency package, it's no longer a bailout package, it's just your typical year-end Christmas tree with goodies for everyone," said Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union, which has opposed the bailout bill.

Read the full article

Vermont US Senator Bernie Sanders

Watch Video of Independent Vermont US Senator speak about the financil bailout

Here is Bernie Sanders Senate Floor Speech on the Bailout:

Easy Street -- 10/02/2008

While the middle class has declined under President Bush's reckless economic policies, the people on top have never had it so good. For the first seven years of Bush's tenure, the wealthiest 400 individuals in our country saw a $670 billion increase in their wealth, and at the end of 2007 owned over $1.5 trillion in wealth. We have the most unequal distribution of income and wealth of any major country on earth, with the top 1 percent earning more income than the bottom 50 percent. There has been a massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the very wealthiest people in this country, when, among others, CEOs of Wall Street firms received unbelievable amounts in bonuses, including $39 billion in bonuses in the year 2007 alone for just the five major investment houses.

"“Maybe I am the only person in America who thinks so, but I have a hard time understanding why we are giving $700 billion to the secretary of the Treasury, who is the former C.E.O. of Goldman Sachs, which, along with other financial institutions, actually got us into this problem,” Sanders said. “Maybe I am the only person in America who thinks that is a little bit weird, but that is what I think.”

“Most of my constituents did not earn a $38 million bonus in 2005 or make over $100 million in total compensation in three years, as did Henry Paulson, the current secretary of the Treasury, and former CEO of Goldman Sachs,” Senator Bernie Sanders said moments before the Senate voted Wednesday for a $700 billion Wall Street bailout.

“Most of my constituents did not make $354 million in total compensation over the past five years as did Richard Fuld of Lehman Brothers,” Sanders added. “Most of my constituents did not cash out $60 million in stock after a $29 billion bailout for Bear Stearns after that failing company was bought out by J.P. Morgan Chase. Most of my constituents did not get a $161 million severance package as E. Stanley O'Neill, former CEO Merrill Lynch did.”

Sanders argued that those who caused the problems in our economy should pay for the solution. "If we are going to bail out Wall Street, it should be those people who have caused the problem, those people who have benefited from Bush's tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, those people who have taken advantage of deregulation, those people are the people who should pick up the tab, and not ordinary working people,” the senator had argued.

He offered an amendment that would have taxed the very wealthy to pay for the bailout. It lost on a voice vote.

So Sanders voted against the bailout bill, which nevertheless passed by a lopsided majority in the Senate. The plan reportedly is gaining ground in the House, which could take it up on Friday.

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Palin Debate Training

02:10

Sarah Palin has been training a month for this debate, just like Bronson Pinchot did for "Circus of the Stars."

The Daily Show full episode October 2, 2008

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Sarah Palin has her own rules. If/when she has problems as Vice-President and/or President one day, will she simply ignore the ones she doesn't like?

I think this question is ridiculous in a way: Who Won the VP Debate?
You can look good on the TV screen and come across as someone who has answered the questions good enough for a beauty contest, but that has no bearing on whether or not you are qualified to be Vice-President. I am hoping there are enough smart voters to see through the charm and vote for the one with real knowledge. The kind that didn't come from cramming.
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Palin: How long have I been at this? Like five weeks?

I skipped all but a few minutes of pundits after the VP debate tonight.

Am I the only one who noticed, that Sarah Palin smiled all the way through this debate? This looked more like what a beauty contestant does. She smiled all through talking about war. War and smiling just don't go together.

I am voting for Barack Obama and Joe Biden. However, the Senate bailout bill is wrong. The extra junk in the bill are as wrong as those who sold mortgages to those who couldn't afford them. We need to do something. But doing something shouldn't be an excuse to do things with rum and arrows.

COAL DUST AND BLACK WATER NO BIG DEAL. RIGHT...

PINOCCHIO BUSH AND DON BLACKENSHIP, CEO OF MASSEY ENERGY?

I watched Bill Moyers Journal tonight on PBS. The blatant neglect and disinterest of President Bush of the people in the Appalachian Mountains are clearly evident. President Bush believes the effects of coal dust from coal mining by blasting off the tops of the Appalachian Mountains is not only acceptable but should unleash MORE toxins on the United States citizens who live in these areas, such as West Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains. The Bush Administration/Environmental Protection Agency wanted to allow the disposal of waste into the nation's waters. According to a senior counsel for Earth Justice, this decision is "the biggest threat to our nation's waters in decades."

Mountaintop Method of Coal Mining

Mining in the United States is changing — as is the life of the miner in West Virginia and nationwide. The percentage of the nation's coal that comes from surface mining rose to 65% in 2000, and the Department of Energy expects that number to rise. In West Virginia, surface-mined coal now accounts for over 33% of the total — up from 10 percent 30 years ago.

Yes, personally I have chosen the human rights cause of working to stop genocide.
www.savedarfur.org
www.dreamfordarfur.org
www.sudandivestment.com
www.standnow.org
However, this issue of being totally untrustworthy of protecting our people and our planet - specifically the land our government should care for because it is within our boundary lines - just stinks. And according to a mother who lives in West Virginia and has black toxic tap water says the water from her tap stinks.

Why is it such a struggle to get our President, our congress, to do the right things? Paid corporate lobbyists are not in our best interest. And a government giving the lobbyists and corporations license to rape the land and rape us of our rights to water from our taps not to be toxic from corporate CEO’s abuse should not be a battle that we have to fight. We have a right to treatment better than this. Is it really a debatable wrong - that black toxic tap water is wrong? How can it be right? How can breathing coal dust be dismissed?

Life and resistance in coal country
West Virginia Town Fights Blanket of Coal Dust
Series Part Two
by Kari Lydersen
Sylvester, West Virginia; May 9, 2006
Residents in a small West Virginia fight against a coal crushing plant that has blanketed their town with dust and ruined their quality of life.
http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3140

The NewStandard that published the article at this link ceased publishing on April 27, 2007. Boy, I’d like to know what brought the shut down of this newspaper! I wonder if Don Blackenship, CEO of Massey Energy had anything to do with that!! Don Blackenship: "Seventh scariest person in America" at this link
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/10/24/164045/58

Another article from the same now defunct newspaper…
Dirtier Side Betrays Promise of ‘Clean Coal’
by Kari Lydersen
Mar. 15, 2006 –
Between the coal-rich Appalachian Mountains and coal-hungry energy consumers like the state of Ohio, critics say the concept of an eco-friendly use for the fossil fuel is far more misnomer than reality

Though most people probably associate coal with the bygone Industrial Age, the Bush administration considers it an essential part of the nation’s energy mix. At least 114 new coal-burning power plants are currently in the building or permitting stages around the country. According to a 2006 report from the US Energy Information Administration, US power consumption from coal is expected to rise 1.9 percent per year through 2030, significantly more than the expected rise in energy consumption from petroleum (1.1 percent) and natural gas (0.7 percent).
Coal burning power plant

Elisa Young, an aspiring organic farmer in Racine Ohio, finds herself surrounded by this growing industry. Up to four new coal-burning plants are proposed for her area, even though her bucolic land is already ringed by smokestacks. Three major coal-burning power plants are visible from her farm, which has been in the Young family for seven generations. Within a short span of 20 miles, American Electric Power Corp. (AEP) operates three power plants, and Ohio Valley Electric Corporation owns another.

Young would like to stay to farm her land, but she is up against an industry that would rather buy out the area than acquiesce to the health and environmental concerns of residents……..This is worth reading the entire article.
http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2936
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29 seconds of Bill Moyers Journal on what happens when the mining of coal is more important than the people who have to live with the effects. 29 seconds worth your time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1v6Pn3zGR8
From http://www.PatchWorkFilms.com
Mountains Don't Grow Back
Filmmaker B. J. Gudmundsson
This is excellent.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPixjCneseE
from www.ilovethemountains.org

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziuFW-7h1LM
"Wholly" Shit…Slurry that is
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http://appvoices.org/
Bringing People Together to Protect Our Mountain Heritage
Appalachian Voices

http://christiansforthemountains.org/
Christians who have become activists against the government, a government which was created in order to protect them. But instead the government has become a battle ground for drinking, cooking and bathing water that isn’t full of toxic residue from coal mining blasting.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

US: New coal dust standards mean increased black lung for miners
By Paul Sherman
25 June 2003

The Bush administration is proposing changes to safety measures for coal miners that will result in the additional deaths of hundreds if not thousands of miners from black lung each year.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has drawn up a set of new rules governing the acceptable levels of coal dust that miners can be exposed to while working in a mine. Under the new rules, which are set to be finalized and take effect later this year, mines will be allowed to quadruple the level of coal dust that miners breathe from the current level of 2 milligrams per cubic meter to 8 milligrams.

Under the proposal, the MSHA will take over dust testing, which is now done by the coal operators. This has been long sought after by the miners, because it is common knowledge that operators routinely falsify test results. However, the MSHA is currently understaffed and the Bush administration has cut back its funding, meaning the agency will not have the resources to check dust levels. To get around this problem, the new regulations will reduce the current level of 30 samples per year to as low as 2 or 3 a year for some mines.

The new rules will also exempt dusty mines from meeting health standards if they provide miners with spacesuit-type helmets that filter the air. Miners object to these devices because they are heavy to wear, block vision on the sides, get covered with dirt and grease, and scratch easily, drastically impairing vision.

The breathing of coal and rock dust causes black lung, the common name given to the lung diseases pneumoconiosis and silicosis. An excruciatingly painful and deadly disease, black lung killed more than 55,000 miners between 1968 and 1990 and more than 1,000 miners still die each year. Another 112,000 miners receive black lung benefits, but these numbers underestimate the extent of the disease, since government workers compensation laws have been changed to make it more difficult for miners to prove they have black lung and thus qualify for benefits.
From http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jun2003/coal-j25.shtml

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This Land is My Land
This Land was made for you and me.

OR THIS LAND IS NOBODY'S LAND
......THE LAND DOESN'T BELONG TO US
BUT WE BELONG TO THE LAND

THEREFORE THE LAND, THE PLANET, THE UNIVERSE
MUST BE PROTECTED

FROM US