Free Bradley Manning (Photo credit: savebradley)
English: Julian Assange and Daniel Domscheit-Berg at the 26C3 in Berlin, December 2009 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Truth Beckons's photo.
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Smirking Chimp added a new photo.
"I have lost all illusions about companies or federal and state government/agencies doing the right thing."
Injured Workers National Network Board Member And Organizer Of Texas Injured Workers Group On The Texas Explosion In Waco
Diane Wilson
www.texasinjuredworkers.com
www.iwnn.org
I am a fourth generation shrimper, born and bred in Texas, and a
reporter recently asked me if I was shocked by the West, Texas explosion
that killed 15 and injured 160 others. I told him the same thing I
told the reporter who in 2011 asked me if I was surprised about the BP
oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico. I said, ‘Hell no! I’m surprised
there aren’t more!’
I know that sounds a bit harsh, but believe
me, after twenty five years as a local environmental activist tracking
the comings and goings of the oil and petrochemical industries along the
Texas gulf coast, I have lost all illusions about companies or federal
and state government/agencies doing the right thing.
Catastrophic oil spills do not stop the drilling. Horrific accidents do
not stop business as usual. It’s just another blip on their company’s
data sheet, especially so, given that the majority of natural capital
costs (greenhouse gas emissions, water use, land use, air pollution,
land and water pollution, waste, etc) accrued by industry is zero. A
recent study by Trucost showed the total unpriced natural capital
consumed by the more than 1,000 global primary production and primary
processing region-sectors amounted to $7.3 trillion a year—13 percent of
the 2009 global GDP.
So yeah, that means the 30-year mercury
superfund site in our local Lavaca Bay where Alcoa documented (for
litigation purposes only!) 1,200,000 pounds of mercury ‘lost’ is not a
part of the county’s economic equation. Nor is the fact that all of the
shrimp houses are gone, a grand total of two shrimpers went out
shrimping on opening day this year, a Texas A&M study documented DNA
damage in the local oysters and cattle downwind of industry, and an
entire community was bought out by one of the local polluting companies.
These facts do not make it into the Chamber of Commerce meetings or
the economic bonanza celebrations for visiting dignitaries.
Another interesting fact brought out in the West, Texas explosion was
that it was actually a..well they don’t know what it was. It was
certainly not a worst-case scenario; the worst-case scenario was a
ten-minute release of a storage tank with no mention of an explosion. A
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality report stated ‘low impact’ for
the surrounding residential area (neighboring schools and nursing
home).
Try to wrap your mind around these sobering known facts:
the US has about 90 facilities—including chemical factories,
refineries and water-treatment plants—that in a worst-case scenario
would pose risks to more than l million people. About 400 other
facilities could pose risks to more than 100,000 people. Now this is a
lot of trust to place in companies where everything is ‘self reporting’.
But do not fear. The government does take this a bit serious
and has removed the worst-case info off the website just in case there
are terrorist minded folks snooping around. Now, the government doesn’t
require the companies to remove the stockpiling of explosive and
dangerous material or substitute to something less harmful; the
government simply takes the info off the Internet. You can’t see it.
It’s not there. No danger at all to workers or communities.
The US government does not seem bothered by West Fertilizer Company’s
apparent failure to self report the stockpiling of 540,000 pounds of
ammonium nitrate (the 1995 Oklahoma federal bombing required 2,000
pounds) on the required Homeland Security database or, consequently,
that the Department of Homeland Security, tasked in 2006 with tracking
chemicals useful to terrorist, ‘was not even aware of this plant’.
President Obama in his several visits to Waco did not mention corporate
terrorism or speak about leaving no stone unturned to capture the
culprit/s. He made no calls for increased worker safety measures.
American killed by terrorists since 2000 is 3000. OSHA reports 4,800
Americans are killed every year by industrial accidents and another
55,000 die from occupational diseases. It is so good to know that
American industry, especially the ‘bidness’ friendly kind that exists in
Texas (Low Taxes! Low Regs!) and the state with the highest worker
fatality, can easily top any effort by terrorists when it comes to
killing Americans.
Diane Wilson
Texas Injured Workers Group
IWNN.org
Real Coastal Warriors
Injured Workers National Network Board Member And Organizer Of Texas Injured Workers Group On The Texas Explosion In Waco
Diane Wilson
www.texasinjuredworkers.com
www.iwnn.org
I am a fourth generation shrimper, born and bred in Texas, and a reporter recently asked me if I was shocked by the West, Texas explosion that killed 15 and injured 160 others. I told him the same thing I told the reporter who in 2011 asked me if I was surprised about the BP oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico. I said, ‘Hell no! I’m surprised there aren’t more!’
I know that sounds a bit harsh, but believe me, after twenty five years as a local environmental activist tracking the comings and goings of the oil and petrochemical industries along the Texas gulf coast, I have lost all illusions about companies or federal and state government/agencies doing the right thing.
Catastrophic oil spills do not stop the drilling. Horrific accidents do not stop business as usual. It’s just another blip on their company’s data sheet, especially so, given that the majority of natural capital costs (greenhouse gas emissions, water use, land use, air pollution, land and water pollution, waste, etc) accrued by industry is zero. A recent study by Trucost showed the total unpriced natural capital consumed by the more than 1,000 global primary production and primary processing region-sectors amounted to $7.3 trillion a year—13 percent of the 2009 global GDP.
So yeah, that means the 30-year mercury superfund site in our local Lavaca Bay where Alcoa documented (for litigation purposes only!) 1,200,000 pounds of mercury ‘lost’ is not a part of the county’s economic equation. Nor is the fact that all of the shrimp houses are gone, a grand total of two shrimpers went out shrimping on opening day this year, a Texas A&M study documented DNA damage in the local oysters and cattle downwind of industry, and an entire community was bought out by one of the local polluting companies. These facts do not make it into the Chamber of Commerce meetings or the economic bonanza celebrations for visiting dignitaries.
Another interesting fact brought out in the West, Texas explosion was that it was actually a..well they don’t know what it was. It was certainly not a worst-case scenario; the worst-case scenario was a ten-minute release of a storage tank with no mention of an explosion. A Texas Commission on Environmental Quality report stated ‘low impact’ for the surrounding residential area (neighboring schools and nursing home).
Try to wrap your mind around these sobering known facts: the US has about 90 facilities—including chemical factories, refineries and water-treatment plants—that in a worst-case scenario would pose risks to more than l million people. About 400 other facilities could pose risks to more than 100,000 people. Now this is a lot of trust to place in companies where everything is ‘self reporting’.
But do not fear. The government does take this a bit serious and has removed the worst-case info off the website just in case there are terrorist minded folks snooping around. Now, the government doesn’t require the companies to remove the stockpiling of explosive and dangerous material or substitute to something less harmful; the government simply takes the info off the Internet. You can’t see it. It’s not there. No danger at all to workers or communities.
The US government does not seem bothered by West Fertilizer Company’s apparent failure to self report the stockpiling of 540,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate (the 1995 Oklahoma federal bombing required 2,000 pounds) on the required Homeland Security database or, consequently, that the Department of Homeland Security, tasked in 2006 with tracking chemicals useful to terrorist, ‘was not even aware of this plant’.
President Obama in his several visits to Waco did not mention corporate terrorism or speak about leaving no stone unturned to capture the culprit/s. He made no calls for increased worker safety measures. American killed by terrorists since 2000 is 3000. OSHA reports 4,800 Americans are killed every year by industrial accidents and another 55,000 die from occupational diseases. It is so good to know that American industry, especially the ‘bidness’ friendly kind that exists in Texas (Low Taxes! Low Regs!) and the state with the highest worker fatality, can easily top any effort by terrorists when it comes to killing Americans.
Diane Wilson
Texas Injured Workers Group
IWNN.org
Real Coastal Warriors
Occupy Canada's photo.
Mural Mosaic
Most Shared on Democracy Now!
Private First Class Kimberly Rivera — a conscientious objector and pregnant mother of four — has just been sen...
Institute for Responsible Technology shared a link.
Monster Crash
Axis Tilt of the Earth
![@[356232221111943:274:Humanists and Atheists For Obama] <<CLICK HERE To join us!](https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s480x480/551376_462853667116464_779086501_n.jpg)
#IdleNoMore .. If you will not RESIGN for the Election Fraud in 80% of the ridings in 2011; maybe you should accept responsibility for your inept management and quit .. April 30th 2013
Their are other party leaders who will accurately spend our money and will actually produce a surplus and reduced debt; like we had before you 'stole' power.
Do the right thing for a change ! RESIGN so we do not have to force you out .. June 21st and the Stanley Mission Walkers are coming !
3.1 Billion is missing and unaccounted for ; your Treasury Board Minister, Tony Clements SPUN it nicely, but his story just does not add up !
http://www.cbc.ca/news/
Their are other party leaders who will accurately spend our money and will actually produce a surplus and reduced debt; like we had before you 'stole' power.
Do the right thing for a change ! RESIGN so we do not have to force you out .. June 21st and the Stanley Mission Walkers are coming !
3.1 Billion is missing and unaccounted for ; your Treasury Board Minister, Tony Clements SPUN it nicely, but his story just does not add up !
http://www.cbc.ca/news/
www.commondreams.org
>From Jail on Earth Day
by Sandra Steingraber
"My children need a world with pollinators and plankton stocks and a stable climate. They need lake shores that do not have explosive hydrocarbon gases buried underneath... The fossil fuel party must come to an end. I am shouting at an iron door."
Report: Wealthy Thrive and Poorest Dive as Surge in US Inequality Continues
by Lauren McCauley
"The great wealth divide in the United States has only become more exacerbated since the recession, as national policies have buoyed only the wealthiest Americans while the remainder have been left adrift."
|
Hundreds of Chicago Students Walk Out of Standardized Test by Lauren McCauley "Hundreds of Chicago students walked out of state exam Wednesday. Their message: 'We are over-tested, under-resourced and fed up!'" |
||
| Let George W. Bush Discuss His Legacy However He Likes... from the Hague by Jodie Evans and Charles Davis "Kill a few, they call you a murderer. Kill tens of thousands, they give you $500 million for a granite vanity project and a glossy 30-page supplement in the local paper." |
||
| Voice from Yemen: Obama's Drones Stir 'Growing Hatred of America' by Jon Queally "If America is providing economic, social and humanitarian assistance to Yemen, the vast majority of the Yemeni people know nothing about it," said Al-Muslimi. "Everyone in Yemen, however, knows about America and its drones." |
||
| The Same Motive for Anti-US 'Terrorism' Is Cited Over and Over by Glenn Greenwald "Just listen to what the people who are doing these attacks are saying about why they are doing them. Or listen to the people who live in the places devastated by US violence about the results." |
||
| Denial of Boston Suspect's Rights 'Yet Another Erosion of the Constitution' by Andrea Germanos "Civil liberties groups are decrying 'yet another erosion of the Constitution' following reports from officials that the main Boston bombing suspect would not be read his Miranda rights before being questioned." |
||
| New Abortion Restrictions Show Lawmakers’ Complete Contempt for Women by Robin Marty "The notion that women will 'figure it out on their own' drips with contempt for poor individuals, who are most affected by these policies, especially when they will be forced to come up with additional medical expenses out of their own pockets." |
||
by Jill Richardson
"Critics of nitrogen fertilizer often compare it to a drug. The first hit feels really good, and your crops grow big and beautiful. But as the microbes in your soil die and your carbon is depleted, you need more and more fertilizer just to get the same yields."> Report: Deadly Human-Made 'Cocktail' Threatening World’s Pollinators
by Jacob Chamberlain
"A 'cocktail' of human-made pressures are threatening insect pollinators across the world, whose decline will have 'profound environmental, human health and economic consequences,' according to a new report."
a link.
1,000,000 Strong Against Offshore Drilling added a photo from April 30, 2013 to their timeline.
![''My Petition to the President - A Deaf Whale Is a Dead Whale'' : A call for 100K signatures by May 15th!: Join Ted Danson founder of @[6334782252:274:Oceana] -plz sign petition here />> www.wh.gov/e8hu. Stop SEISMIC airgun testing for OIL and GAS OFF the U.S. EAST COAST. Like - Sign SHARE IF you say NO to OIL Exploration off of EAST COAST.
''In the ocean you find a symphony of sound, from the clicking of snapping shrimp to the long mournful wails of whales, & zips of dolphins. Now imagine this oceanic sound-scape shattered by DYNAMITE -like BLASTS, every 10 secs for days & wks on end. Blasts so loud they can literally DEAFEN MARINE mammals that need to listen to live, possibly injuring or KILLING these animals by the TENS of THOUSANDS. This grisly scenario may soon become a reality in an area of the ATLANTIC Ocean 2x the size of California, where the Dept of the Int is currently reviewing a proposal to test the seafloor with SEISMIC AIRGUNS, all in the speculative pursuit of more offshore OIL and GAS.'' Ted Danson
read TED DANSON'S ARTICLE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ted-danson/my-petition-to-the-presid_b_3185090.html](https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s480x480/262326_576066905757660_481162741_n.jpg)
Real Coastal Warriors
1,000,000 Strong Against Offshore Drilling added a photo from April 30, 2013 to their timeline.
Real Coastal Warriors
1,000,000 Strong Against Offshore Drilling added a photo from April 30, 2013 to their timeline.
Real Coastal Warriors
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