Gavin Aronsen - No Disclosure, Please, We're Contractors

Earlier this month, the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee approved the Keeping Politics Out of Federal Contracting Act [1] (KPOFCA), which would prohibit the government from forcing federal contractors to disclose campaign spending and lobbying expenditures as a condition for keeping their contracts. In response, 14 watchdog groups are urging senators [2] to block the bill, condemning it as a "pay-to-play" political maneuver that would make it easier for corporations to peddle influence in the shadows.

The bill is the latest chapter in a debate over transparency for the companies that rake in more than $536 billion [3] in federal contracts annually. In April 2011, the Obama administrationdrafted an executive order [4] (PDF) that would have required corporations bidding on federal contracts to disclose any political spending greater than $5,000, including money given to dark-money groups such as the Chamber of Commerce that do not disclose their donors. Following staunch opposition from Republicans and the Chamber, President Obama hasn't acted on the order [5].

Meanwhile, a rider attached to the 2012 Omnibus Appropriations bill preempted the order by prohibiting the government [6] from requiring corporations to reveal their political spending as a precondition to bid on federal contracts.

Read More:

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/05/federal-contractors-campaign-disclosure-kpofca

Danny Weil - The Washington Post, PBS and the Koch-Funded American Enterprise Institute Attack Community Colleges

There has been an interesting spate of "news" recently regarding the nation's public community colleges. The timing of articles appearing in March and April seem suspicious as they all follow on the heels of the defeat of California Assembly Bill 515, which would have partially privatized the California community college system.

The bill would have allowed for the creation of an internal governing board within community college districts that could then be authorized to sell college courses based on a students' ability to pay. This proposed pay-to-play system would have semi-privatized the 112 community colleges. The fact that it did not pass has infuriated the corporate press, eager to see all education privatized.

The corporate articles also come after a wave of opposition to the Student Success Task Force (SSTF) recommendations developed by the California community colleges chancellor's office, recently announced on January 11, 2012. The recommendations, if adopted, would centralize control of community colleges, impose assessments developed by for-profit corporations and develop target assessments. SSTF also would set up a rationing program for students, giving students the bum's rush by limiting the amount of time and number of classes students could take at a California community college. SSTF is basically "Race to the Top" for the California community college system with the same onerous privatization and financialization schemes.

Read More:

http://truth-out.org/news/item/9383-the-washington-post-pbs-and-the-koch-funded-american-enterprise-institute-vilify-community-colleges

Michael A. Smith, MD - Is Processed Fructose Stealing Your Smarts?

A new study from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) shows that what you eat can influence how you think.

Specifically, the researchers were worried about all of the fructose in the American diet. They reported that eating a diet heavy in processed fructose over the long term alters your brain’s ability to learn and remember information.

Let’s start by looking at fructose itself. What is it, and is it ever okay to eat it?

Fructose is a Natural Fruit Sugar

Fructose in its natural form is called fruit sugar. It’s a simple sugar found in many plants and is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose. These simple sugars are absorbed directly into the bloodstream during digestion and can be used for immediate cellular energy.

From plant sources, fructose is found naturally in honey, tree and vine fruits, flowers, berries and most root vegetables. In plants, fructose may be present naturally as the monosaccharide or as a component of sucrose.

Here’s the point we’re trying to make: Fructose in its natural form is not the problem. In nature, sugars can be found in foods that are also rich in antioxidants and fiber. And those accompanying nutrients can help minimize the impact of natural sugar. 

Read More:

http://blog.lef.org/2012/05/processed-fructose-brain-power.html

Exercise and a Healthy Diet of Fruits and Vegetables Extends Life Expectancy in Women in Their 70s

Women in their seventies who exercise and eat healthy amounts of fruits and vegetables have a longer life expectancy, according to research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Researchers at the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University studied 713 women aged 70 to 79 years who took part in the Women's Health and Aging Studies. This study was designed to evaluate the causes and course of physical disability in older women living in the community.

"A number of studies have measured the positive impact of exercise and healthy eating on life expectancy, but what makes this study unique is that we looked at these two factors together," explains lead author, Dr. Emily J Nicklett, from the University of Michigan School of Social Work.

Researchers found that the women who were most physically active and had the highest fruit and vegetable consumption were eight times more likely to survive the five-year follow-up period than the women with the lowest rates.

Read More:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120530100512.htm

One in six cancers 'caused by treatable infections'

Bacteria, viruses and parasites cause around 2m cases of cancer in the world each year, experts believe.

Of the 7.5m global deaths from cancer in 2008, an estimated 1.5m may have been due to potentially preventable or treatable infections.

Scientists carried out a statistical analysis of cancer incidence to calculate that around 16% of all cancers diagnosed in 2008 were infection-related. The proportion of cancers linked to infection was three times higher in developing countries than in developed ones.

Key cancer-causing infectious agents include human papillomavirus (HPV), the gastric bug Helicobacter pylori and the hepatitis B (HBV) and C viruses.

These four were together believed to be responsible for 1.9m cases of cancer, mostly gastric, liver and cervical cancers.

Cervical cancer accounted for around half of infection-related women's cancers. In men, more than 80% of infection-related cancers affected the liver, stomach and colon.

Dr Catherine de Martel and Dr Martyn Plummer, from the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, wrote in the Lancet Oncology journal: "Infections with certain viruses, bacteria, and parasites are one of the biggest and preventable causes of cancer worldwide  … Application of existing public-health methods for infection prevention, such as vaccination, safer injection practice, or antimicrobial treatments, could have a substantial effect on future burden of cancer worldwide."

Read More:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/may/09/cancers-treatable-infections/print

Report: 'Leading' Companies Mislead Public on Climate Change Policies

Today, the Union of Concerned Scientists released an analysis of 28 'leading' US companies who publicly express concern about climate change but, behind closed doors, support thinktanks and other groups that misrepresent climate science, exposing major differences between what they say and what they actually do regarding climate change.

Looking at 28 Standard & Poor 500 publicly traded companies, the report examines the companies' public commitments to sustainable and green values, in contrast to those same companies' recent lobbying and funding choices, which in most cases favored organizations devoted to discrediting climate science such as the Heartland Institute.

“Corporations' increased ability to influence policy should come with an increased responsibility to let the public know how they are doing so,” said Francesca Grifo, director of UCS's Scientific Integrity Program and a contributor to the report. “Companies may play a role in policy discussions, but right now, it’s simply far too easy for them to get away with misrepresenting science to achieve their goals.”

“The actions of many of these companies come right from the tobacco industry playbook, where the end goal is delaying sensible regulations that protect our health and safety,” said Grifo. “Companies generally find that complying with new rules is not as burdensome as they first imagined. But that doesn’t prevent them from obfuscating the science to create confusion and delay.”

Read More:

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/05/30-7

Jeff Cox - Time Bomb? Banks Pressured to Buy Government Debt

US and European regulators are essentially forcing banks to buy up their own government's debt—a move that could end up making the debt crisis even worse, a Citigroup analysis says.

Regulators are allowing banks to escape counting their country's debt against capital requirements and loosening other rules to create a steady market for government bonds, the study says.

While that helps governments issue more and more debt, the strategy could ultimately explode if the governments are unable to make the bond payments, leaving the banks with billions of toxic debt, says Citigroup strategist Hans Lorenzen.

"Captive bank demand can buy time and can help keep domestic yields low," Lorenzen wrote in an analysis for clients. "However, the distortions that build up over time can sow the seeds of an even bigger crisis, if the time bought isn't used very prudently."

"Specifically," Lorenzen adds, "having banks loaded up with domestic sovereign debt will only increase the domestic fallout if the sovereign ultimately reneges on its obligations."

Read More:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47633576

Power of Mother Nature 1080p HD (Video)

Power of Mother Nature 1080p HD
Musics:
1. Immediate - Trailerhead - "Prelude to Paradise" 
2. 2 Steps from Hell - Invincible - "Black Blade" 
3. 2 Steps from Hell - Invincible - "Heart of Courage"

Robert Scheer - Hope Burning

So now we have Rambo Obama, a steely warrior who, according to a lengthy leaked insider account in The New York Times, hurls death-dealing drones at anyone who threatens the good old USA. Including children. Those children are presumed guilty by virtue of proximity, and the Times plays along, not even modifying a targeted terrorist with the word “alleged,” as once had been the paper’s convention: “When a rare opportunity for a drone strike at a top terrorist arises—but his family is with him—it is the president who has reserved to himself the final moral calculation.”

Obama as the cool triggerman is an image useful to White House operatives as they buff the president’s persona for the coming election. But what it reveals is the mindset of a political cynic whose seductive words cloak the moral indifference of a methodical executioner. Forget Harry Truman, who obliterated the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or Lyndon Johnson, who carpet-bombed millions in Vietnam. The Democrats have got themselves another killer, one whose techniques are as devastatingly effective, but brilliantly refined.

The story obviously was planted in The New York Times to benefit the Obama political campaign. Otherwise, why would the president’s former chief of staff, William Daley, and three dozen current and past intelligence insiders provide the newspaper with the most sensitive details of national security decision-making?

Read More:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/hope_burning_20120531/

Mike Barrett - Factory Farms Produce 100 Times More Waste than U.S. Population

If you thought you were a major contributor to pollution, just wait until you hear this. Factory farms produce 100 times more waste than every single person in the United States combined. The amount of waste produced by these factories is in such mass quantities that it is virtually impossible to clean up properly. Much of this waste is dumped into the water supply, drastically increasing overall water pollution as well as contributing to the pollution found in drinking water.

Back in 2008 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made a decision that affected many factory farms. They stated that any confined animal feeding operation (CAFO), also known as factory farms, “designed, constructed, operated, and maintained in a manner such that the CAFO will discharge” animal waste must apply for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit under the Clean Water Act. The livestock industry ridiculed this notion.

There have been past rulings concerning this issue that forced farmers to have a permit to discharge waste and to have a set plan as to how the waste would be discharged, or they would face civil or criminal penalties. The 2008 ruling went further with the issue, putting even more criteria in place to follow.

Read More:

http://naturalsociety.com/factory-farms-produce-100-times-waste-us-population/