Rob Kall - 15 Playbook Strategies Corporatists and Conservatives Use to Strip Mine America and Erode Democracy

There is a playbook with a collection of tools and strategies conservatives use to erode democracy and strip mine the treasures, assets and strengths of the USA. They are almost always masked as changes aimed at serving democracy, the constitution, rights or capitalism. They are not separate. They are not coincidental.

Naomi Klein described a systemic approach to strip mine nations and weaken freedoms in her profoundly important book, Shock Doctrine. This article continues, in that tradition,  to list ways that the the Right is exploiting and despoiling America for corporations that are not at all loyal to the US and that do not care about the people of the nation.

When you see one of these approaches being employed or if you are victim to one of them, you should be aware that they come from the same play book.

These include:

De-regulate-- To increase profits or power, eliminate regulations that protect people, workers, the environment. Glass Steagall was a case of de-regulation that dreaded trillions of economic suffering on the middle class. Every day there are thousands of lobbyists aiming at deregulating ecological, economic, worker and many other  protections. 

Read More:

http://www.dailycensored.com/2012/05/22/15-playbook-strategies-corporatists-and-conservatives-use-to-strip-mine-america-and-erode-democracy/

Taylor Lincoln - Wall Street Wants Congress To Roll Back Financial Derivatives Regulations

Revisiting the lessons from deregulating derivatives is particularly important right now because Congress seems to have forgotten them. A report we just issued provides a road map of how derivatives wrecked the economy in 2008 and could do so again if Wall Street gets its way.

Nine bills that would roll back the derivatives reforms created in the wake of the financial crisis are moving in Congress. These proposals, most of which have already passed in committee, have been put forth in the name of furthering the competitiveness of U.S. companies and creating jobs for Main Street. These are quite brazen claims, since deregulating derivatives arguably did more to harm economic competitiveness and job creation than anything Congress has done for a very long time.

Here is the history, in brief: At the end of the Clinton administration, financial derivatives were relatively new and sat in a regulatory netherworld. In practice, they were not regulated. But they bore all the hallmarks of traditional futures, which by law must be traded on regulated exchanges.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and successive Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers (a trio Time magazine dubbed The Committee to Save the World) argued that financial derivatives investors were too “sophisticated” to require oversight. Regulating derivatives would “cause the worst financial crisis since World War II,” Summers claimed.

Read More:

http://www.alternet.org/story/155528/wall_street_wants_congress_to_roll_back_financial_derivatives_regulations

Thomas Mountain - The Looting of Nigeria

As western oil companies loot some $140 Billion a year of Nigeria’s black gold two thirds of the country’s 100 million people live on less than $2 a day.

Nigeria’s “official” oil production figures show about 3 million barrels a day being pumped from their oil fields into the holds of western tankers though for decades now informed observers have estimated up to one third of all Nigerian oil is actually “stolen”, secretly loaded onto oil tankers after bribes are paid to corrupt government officials.

If 4 million barrels of oil are being shipped out of Nigeria daily at $100 a barrel, times 30 days a month times 12 months you arrive at almost $150 Billion a year in potential oil revenues for Nigeria.

The problems is not just theft but the fact that the western oil companies are literally looting Nigeria’s oil, paying as little as a 9% royalty.

Do the math, 9% of $150 Billion minus the one third oil that is stolen and the Nigerian government only receives about $10 billion a year of this amount.

Simply put, at $100 a barrel the western oil companies get $91 and Nigeria only gets $9. Or more shockingly, Big Oil makes $140 billion a year vs. Nigeria’s $10 Billion.

Read More:

HTTP://WWW.COUNTERPUNCH.ORG/2012/05/22/THE-LOOTING-OF-NIGERIA/

Richard (RJ) Eskow - 10 Reasons You Should be Suspicious of Wall Street's Facebook Fiasco

Three of Wall Street biggest and best-known financial institutions handled the Facebook IPO, so why were people immediately suspicious when the stock soared and then promptly tanked? Easy answer: Because three of Wall Street biggest and best-known financial institutions handled the Facebook IPO.

Each of them - Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase - has a history of exactly the kinds of unethical and/or illegal behavior that might, just might, explain what happened with Facebook.

Mark Gongloff offers a good overview of Mr. Zuckerberg's Wild Ride, in which a stock that was offered at an IPO price of $38 soared to $45 and then plunged to its current (as of this writing) price of $31. A lot of people lost money - which means a lot of people made money, too.

Zuckerberg promptly sold his 30.2 million shares, netting a quick billion dollars and change. That tells you what he thinks of this investment.

Here are ten reasons why it makes sense to be suspicious of the Facebook IPO, starting with the fact that any overview of the three institutions which handled it might best be described as "rounding up the usual suspects":

1. Morgan Stanley has a history - and a culture - of tricking their own clients into making lousy investments.

It was Morgan Stanley's brokers who, in one notorious account, loved to brag "I ripped his face off!" after convincing one of the firm's own clients to buy a stock that the firm knew was lousy. (See Frank Portnoy's account in Fiasco.)

Read More:

http://ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2012052122/10-reasons-facebook-ipo-looks-very-suspicious-3-them-are-named-goldman-sachs-m

Ralph Nader - The Rise of Re-Use

Last week I read that the glitzy world of virtual reality created instant multi-millionaires and several billionaires when Facebook went public selling shares.

Last week I also noted the important real world problem of some 250 million tons of solid waste a year in our country alone.

Guess which “world” gets the most investment, status, fame, klieg lights, and attention of the skilled classes and the power structure?

Guess which world is more important for our wellbeing and that of the planet?

You’ve heard of CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s 900 million users exchanging gossip and other personal pleasantries or worries through a medium that inflates narcissism.

You’ve probably not heard of Ben Rose of the New York City Materials Exchange Development Program (NYC MEDP) or the equivalent organizations in your communities providing services to thousands of charitable non-profit groups which promote the donating and reusing of materials to avoid incineration, landfilling and recycling.

Read More:

HTTP://WWW.COUNTERPUNCH.ORG/2012/05/22/THE-RISE-OF-REUSE/

Urgent! Help Us Stop a Disastrous Anti-supplement Amendment

Dear friend:

Senator Dick Durbin is once again attempting to get rid of your supplements, and it may happen today, unless you act NOW.

There is an FDA bill before the Senate that is relatively uncontroversial, but it’s considered a “must-pass” bill. Sen. Durbin is planning to offer a last-minute amendment to that bill, slipping it in under the radar and piggy-backing it on a bill that will go through without debate. This amendment will destroy DSHEA—the law that protects your supplements from unnecessary government intrusion and regulation.

The amendment says, among other things, that supplement companies must register their products with the FDAwithin 30 days, or they will be considered “misbranded” and companies will be subject to outrageous financial penalties, possibly even jail time. To avoid this, many companies will simply remove their supplements from the shelves until they are able to comply with the new requirement.

That’s right. Thirty days after this law goes into effect, many supplements will disappear.

There are several other dirty tricks this amendment will do. We need you to contact your senators IMMEDIATELY and tell them to vote NO on the Durbin dietary supplement amendment.

We can’t express how dangerous this amendment is, or how urgent it is that you take action NOW.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION!

The Alliance for Natural Health USA
6931 Arlington Road, Suite 304
Bethesda, MD 20814 
www.anh-usa.org

Heat-Related U.S. Deaths Projected to Rise 150,000 by Century's End Due to Climate Change

 More than 150,000 additional Americans could die by the end of this century due to excessive heat caused by climate change, according to a detailed analysis of peer-reviewed scientific data by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The “Killer Summer Heat” report, released today, projects heat-related death toll through the end of the 21st century in the most populated U.S. cities. The three with the highest number of total estimated heat-related deaths through 2099 are: Louisville, KY (19,000 deaths); Detroit (17,900); and Cleveland (16,600), according to the report.

Other cities’ estimated death tolls through the end of the century include: Baltimore (2,900 deaths); Boston (5,700 deaths); Chicago (6,400 deaths); Columbus (6,000 deaths); Denver (3,500 deaths); Los Angeles (1,200 deaths); Minneapolis (7,500 deaths); Philadelphia (700 deaths); Pittsburgh (1,200 deaths); Providence, R.I. (2,000 deaths); St. Louis (5,600 deaths); Washington, D.C. (3,000 deaths).

The full report details are available online at http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/killer-heat/. 

Read More:

http://www.nrdc.org/media/2012/120522b.asp

Paul Greenberg - The Clean Water Act at 40: There’s Still Much Left to Do

When you turn 40, three questions inevitably arise:
1) Who am I?
2) What have I done?
3) What else can I do?

Forty years ago, the U.S. Congress, in an uncharacteristically uncowardly move, overwhelmingly overrode President Nixon’s veto and passed the most powerful law for the protection of water in American (and perhaps world) history. Yes, this year the Clean Water Act officially enters its midlife crisis years.

Since it is a law, and not a person, we won’t expect it to buy a red sports car and hook up with another law half its age. But having aged and weathered and yet oftentimes stood firm against its adversaries even if its knees became not quite what they used to be, it is worth asking this much buffeted piece of legislation in its 40th year, the three essential questions of mid-life.

So, to begin with, Clean Water Act, who are you?

Read More:

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_clean_water_act_at_40_theres_still_much_left_to_do/2532/

UN Chief: Ocean's Biodiversity Must Be Protected

Speaking on the International World Biodiversity Day, UN chief Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday warned that over-consumption and rampant pollution was threatening the world's ocean and marine biodiverity. "Despite its importance, marine biodiversity has not fared well at human hands," he said in a prepared statement.

"Commercial over-exploitation of the world’s fish stocks is severe," he continued.  "Many species have been hunted to fractions of their original populations.  More than half of global fisheries are exhausted, and a further third are depleted.  Between 30 and 35 per cent of critical marine environments — such as sea grasses, mangroves and coral reefs — are estimated to have been destroyed.  Plastic debris continues to kill marine life, and pollution from land is creating areas of coastal waters that are almost devoid of oxygen.  Added to all of this, increased burning of fossil fuels is affecting the global climate, making the sea surface warmer, causing sea level to rise and increasing ocean acidity, with consequences we are only beginning to comprehend."

Echoing Moon's message, Braulio Ferreira de Souza Diaz, the UN's Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said that "human society has yet to learn about the value of the biodiversity of the oceans. Only four per cent of the marine ecosystem has been protected while the rest is facing severe threat,” and warned that oceans all over the world are fast turning acidic which could lead to destruction of the entire marine wealth.

Read More:

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/05/23?print

Michael A. Smith, MD - Does Black Tea Beat Green Tea for Heart Health?

The popularity of green tea is well-deserved and completely understandable given the numerous health benefits it offers. Not a day goes by without some new clinical research demonstrating its benefits and solidifying its top position in the supplement industry. But emerging cardiovascular research is about to turn green tea black.

This is no surprise to tea enthusiasts. They have long known that all teas are loaded with antioxidants, the age-fighting nutrients all over mainstream media today. So it’s not unexpected that black tea is starting to form its own reputation within the industry as a disease-fighter.

Black Tea Improves Heart Health

A study recently published in Preventive Medicine showed that nine grams a day of black tea antioxidants was associated with a 36% drop in triglycerides and a significant 17% decrease in the ratio of bad LDL cholesterol to good HDL cholesterol — an important marker of heart health.¹

The research was conducted on 87 subjects, between the ages of 25 and 60. They either consumed three cups of black tea a day or the same volume of hot water for 12 weeks. Simply put: The results are impressive.

Read More:

http://blog.lef.org/2012/05/black-tea-green-heart-health.html