Colorado Set to Pass Mandatory GMO Labeling Initiative 'Load Willin and the Crick Don't Rise'

This coming Tuesday Nov. 4th is election day stateside. It's pretty much a contest between corporate supported candidate A and B at all levels. The shining light in U.S. politics is the ballot initiative. The process, though the results here too are most often bought by the big-bucks side, contains a crack in the Corporate Empire's armour and they know it. That's why between 2012 and mid-2014, this David (the people) vs. Goliath (giant corporations) struggle over GM food labeling has unleashed a total of $100 million in spending by Monsanto and industry lobby group, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), to block GMO labeling in campaigns across the U.S.

Lauren McCauley of CommonDreams writes, "As voters in Oregon, California, Hawaii and Colorado prepare to weigh in on whether genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, should be banned or regulated in their states or communities, grassroots campaigns are being overwhelmed by millions that agrochemical and food industry titans are pouring in to defeat such measures."  It's obvious that citizen-led initiatives to regulate GMOs face deep pockets from agribusiness.

The crack, i'll grant ya, is tiny, but, thin edge of the wedge wise, if the normally fearful were to stand up, if the middle class could for an instant be unfazed by the deceivers, if GMO labeling could mandated by initiative and the sky doesn't fall, then by the next election cycle state after state will vote for labeling.

GMOs are an indispensable part of agri-business. GMOs require doses of pesticides to fight the on going evolutionary battle that Mother Nature's 'pests' present...Ca-Ching. GMOs, their snakeoil sales teams say, generate huge profits and they do but those profits go to he banks that finance the special equipment, the seed itself, the petro-chemical fertilizers, the ground water pumps, etc. not the farmers. The multi-generation farmers mostly go bankrupt as soon as they miss a beat [think drought or twister] the land gets sold, agribusiness buys it up. GMOs are the linchpin of the global theft of agricultural land from the hands of the flesh and blood people.

Millions of people are aware that chemical-and energy-intensive industrial food and farming as a whole, not just GMOs, pose a fundamental threat to public health, the environment and climate stability. Forty per cent of all greenhouse gases come from the use of fossil fuels and chemical-intensive industrial agriculture.

Even more disgusting are the endless lies about GMOs feeding the world. The U.S. devotes 40 per cent of its corn crop to ethanol production. Corn growers use the most fertilizer of all major U.S. crops and every year millions of tons of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer leach into groundwater and run off the fields into suface and underground waterways eventually reaching the oceans and creating a massive dead zones like the one in the Gulf of Mexico where no marine life can survive.

But, as usual, i digress. Tuesday will be a big day for the flora, fauna, microbes, minerals, forces and faeries if the chronically fearful can stand up on their back legs and be strong. All 4 states are seeing massive ad buys by the corporations peddling fear. Poll numbers in Oregon, California and Hawaii that once showed the Yes side winning widely have now reversed, as they have in previous initiatives under the combination barrage of corporate lies and middle class self-interest.

Then there's Colorado where i predict that Coloradans, having seen that the falling sky syndrome preached by the corporate criminals before the pot referendum two years ago not only didn't happen but that things turned out better than anyone dared dream, will pass the mandatory labeling initiative.

Harper Using Fear Tactics to Gut Civil Lberties in War on Tree-Huggers and Other Terrorists

A couple days ago Thomas Mulcair agreed that the War Memorial shooting in Ottawa was not terrorism. He gave a great answer here as to why words, especially words that are both undefinable and carry such gravitas, matter so much. Within minutes of the attack Canadian authorities and MSM were using the 'T' word. Almost immediately Harpo began using the killing to market the need for an upgraded 'security state'.

Daniel Therrien, the federal Privacy Commissioner, a former government national security lawyer, says, "Police and security agencies have enough powers to combat terrorism." Other civil liberty wachdog groups are warning that the 'Canadian National Security Bill May Curtail Civil Liberties. Harpo thinks that Canadians will fall into the trap that Americans did after 9/11 by permitting passage of the Patriot Act and the pandora's box of so-called "security" measures have since gone wild.

Glen Greenwald said a few days ago, "It is always stunning when a country that has brought violence and military force to numerous countries acts shocked and bewildered when someone brings a tiny fraction of that violence back to that country." Harpo, though wasn't shocked, he was waiting for this, it's just like squeezing a tube of toothpaste. A lunatic attacks, the fear factor, amplified by the media and the 'T' word in every sentence, skyrockets. Harpo wants you to fear these attacks by 'outsiders' while he guts your civil liberties in another part of his god-given quest to subdue the environment in the service of the corporate elites who support him.

Words matter. When Justin Bourque murdered 3 Moncton Mounties and shot two others then both personally and in written form catalogued his obhorance of Canada's foreign policy in the Middle East, and beyond, as well as his anti-capitalist, anti-authority, anti-police and pro-violence stances, never once has Bourque called a terrorist in the MSM or by the authoritires...Crown prosecutor Cameron Gunn said Bourke targeted police to start a rebellion...HUM guess Bourque didn't fit the 'T' profile somehow, maybe it's his first name?

Bourque, pled guilty and is being sentenced for three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. Speaking through tears, Justin Bourque apologized in a Moncton, N.B., courtroom Tuesday morning during his sentencing hearing. Bourque, is/was a murderer by Mulcair's definition and mine.

What's missing in Bourke's case is the bogeyman paste. Harpo squeezed the Middle East toothpaste and he needed bogeyman paste to squirt out. A reader and buddy sent this link that's circulating among Canada's First Nation folks today, it's about the effects of bogeyman paste.

Ottawa and the Media Can Break the Circle of Fear by Calling Zehaf-Bibeau a Criminal or Murderer

Yesterday morning a murderer shot and killed Canadian soldier Nathan Cirillo [above] at the Ottawa war memorial. Cirillo was 24 and as his uncle said, "...didn't deserve this".

IMO both of the young people killed yesterday were victims. Terrorism is the word being jumped to across Canadian synapses today. Defining terrorism though is a slippery business. The same group may be described as 'freedom fighters' by its supporters and considered to be 'terrorists' by its opponents. For instance, ANC leader Nelson Mandela was, at one point, considered a terrorist by the 'civilized' world.

Terror is an emotional state not a political one. The innocent family huddled in wait of the drone's bombs are in terror. Terror is an internal state, once terrorized an individual or group will often react irrationally when another uncontrollable negative situation occurs. Around and around it goes - the molested child becomes the adult molester,  the terrorized become the terrorizer. Terror may go into remission, but there is no cure.

Both of these people who died yesterday in Ottawa are victims of 'blowback'. As Glen Greenwald said today, "It is always stunning when a country that has brought violence and military force to numerous countries acts shocked and bewildered when someone brings a tiny fraction of that violence back to that country. Regardless of one’s views on the justifiability of Canada’s lengthy military actions, it’s not the slightest bit surprising or difficult to understand why people who identify with those on the other end of Canadian bombs and bullets would decide to attack the military responsible for that violence."

We need a new word. Tomis Kapitan's well written piece The Reign of ‘Terror’, mentioned by Greenwald, attempts to corral terrorism's definition but it doesn't consider how everyone who actively opposes the Empire's goals is a terrorist now, how in Canada Ottawa's new anti-terrorism strategy lists environmentalists and First Nations as threats.

We need a new word because we are all terrorized. For instance, look at the reaction in Amerika to Ebola recently if you want to see a terrorized population in action. The obvious, irrational, over-reaction illustrates how terror closes eyes, closes them even to the exact actions that could save the terrorized were they able to open their eyes and act decisively.

When negative shit happens a wise person or group doesn't react, they respond. Michael Zehaf-Bibeau is/was a murderer. Ottawa's response in the coming days should be to never mention the slippery 'T' word, instead, if i were Emperor, i'd command the use of criminal, the 'C' word.  Breaking the circle of fear would be the most appropriate response IMO.

Oregon Set to Become a Part of History With Twin Legal Pot and GMO Labeling Initiative Wins

The clock is ticking, two weeks to go. On Nov. 4th Oregonians get to vote on initiatives legalizing pot, #91, and GMO Labeling, #92. The two Yes campaigns have similarities, including supporters. The big difference between them is that just as in the prior mandatory GMO labeling votes in California and Washington, the corporate goons are spreading the bucks and lies around, but, whereas in the past the pot legalization efforts in other states always faced lagging far behind in fund raising, now that Colorado and Washington have had such success, many of the nay-sayers have packed up their tents and its the Yes campaign raising way more money..

Tax revenues in both Wash and Colo. are up far beyond projections. Colorado estimated revenue prior to passage – Year 1: $4.7m to $22.6m Actual revenue from recreational – Year 1 in first 6 months: $17.2 million - Colorado Department of Revenue, July 2014 Crime and traffic accidents, both bogey men in earlier anti-pot campaigns, have decreased since legalization. The Washington stats are similar though of shorter duration due to the more effective foot-dragging by politicians in Wasgington St. Colorado has also seen a explosion in jobs related to pot tourism, motels, car rentals, tour operators, twinkie sales...they all employ people who in turn buy stuff and pay taxes.

The website 'Sensible Changes Coming to Oregon – Be a part of history!' has an easy to use online registration setup [still 4 days o register]. Surely the good people of Oregon won't be hoodwinked by slick, fork tongued, liars as their neighbors in Wash. and Calif. were. But who knows...in the meantime there's lot of good info and encouraging testimony on the Yes on 92 website.

The Yes on 91 website is great too and it's chocked full of great info. and stats. on both Colorado and Washington. Living up here in Canada makes me jealous of the state by state initiative process in America. Though far from perfect and subject to big money's pressure, among other things, it does give people a venue to force change past the barrier of vested interests. Whether they take that opportunity or not...

Next year i'm hoping Justin Trudeau can use the genius of folks like Afroman, who's video below rocks my boat "Because i got high."

The Deserts Will Re-Bloom Someday Despite Us. For Now Head North, It's The New West.

The white “bathtub ring” of mineral deposits marks the decline of Lake Mead

My daughter and i often drove over Hoover Dam and Lake Mead on our winter road trips to escape the rain. Each time we commented that it seemed even lower than the last. Lake Mead which is able to store two years of the Colorado River’s historic annual flow currently holds only 9 months worth of that flow. Lake Mead hasn't been this low since it was being filled.

Satellites show groundwater supply at greater risk than previously thought. The bigger problem is that the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin has experienced rapid and significant groundwater depletion since late 2004 according to a new study by NASA and University of California, Irvine. Many experts agree that about 70 percent of the Colorado River Basin water supply goes toward irrigated agriculture. YIKES

Bigger yet is the reality that the Western states and surrounding deserts are all in the worst drought in 2,000 years and they are far from alone. There are wide swaths of moderate to severe drought stretching from Oregon to Texas, with problems impacting numerous states west of the Mississippi River. Even more frightening is that much of the rest of the world is dealing with water scarcity issues too.  In fact, North America is actually in better shape than much of Africa and Asia.

Decades after reading 'Cadillac Desert', and years after watching 'Last Call at the Oasis', after driving the desert southwest's blue roads as often as possible, after loving every mile, every cactus, every critter and realizing both what a lucky shit i am to have been born when and where i was and how all of it is into all kinds of catastrophic trouble because of the rogue primate's obscene abuse of everything it sees.

i may never drive the 'dark desert highways, cool wind in my hair' again but i know that, try as we might to destroy them, we can't. About one day after we're finally history a seed will sprout through the cracked asphalt somewhere, it'll grow nourished by the good soil we idiots paved over once upon a time and it's seed and it's seed will walk on the winds generation after generation. Others will too, the desert will re-bloom someday despite us.

If you live in the desert, it ain't gonna get better soon, my advice is to head north [it's the new west].

i loved our road trips though i'm sorry now a bit for the extravagance i see in them that i didn't then. i've learned and keep learning that all i can do is my best, as defined by the parameters of what i know and believe that day everyday. As i was lucky to be born when i was, i'm lucky to now live on a small piece of the Great Mother's bosom with abundant clean water, air and poor hard working neighbors. It perfectly fits with my beater to beamer real estate metric.

It Takes 5000 Years to Replenish Groundwater, Yet the Frackers Keep Pumping Waste Into Californian Aquifers

An email yesterday from a friend/comrade schooled me about a recent report that almost 3 billion gallons of oil industry waste water have been illegally dumped into central California aquifers that supply drinking water and farming irrigation, according to state documents obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity. The waste-water entered the aquifers through at least nine injection disposal wells used by the oil industry to dispose of waste contaminated with fracking fluids and other pollutants. This despite the fact that California's State Legislature recently came to its senses, if only partly and momentarily, and halted the re-injection of fracking waste water, warning it may be contaminating California's aquifers.

California’s oil and gas fields produce billions of gallons of contaminated waste-water each year, and much of this contaminated fluid is injected underground. California has an estimated 2,583 waste water injections wells, of which 1,552 are currently active in different ares throughout the state. For sure i'm gonna get emails say, "lay off Califiornia, eh, it's no worse than most places". Ain't that the truth, but California grows so much of the US and Canadian food supply, it's in a mega-drought, its pumping its aquifers dry, the snows ain't there to re-fill the dam damns, the urban sprawl gallops everywhere in the desert southwest laying more of water pipe for more houses...etc.

Ironically, Tulare County, in the San Joaquin Valley of California and home of Tulare Lake, ran out of tap water a couple of weeks ago and is now trucking in everything due to that state’s never-ending mega-drought. Another report says chances are increasingly high that California and other states could be facing a water crisis worse than anything seen in 2,000 years. "Nobody knows how disastrous it's going to be" say most California water experts in their private moments over a beer.

Much of Tulare Lake is now disguised as interstate highway but this too shall pass someday.

Tulare Lake was the largest of several similar lakes in its lower basin. Most of the Kern River's flow first went into Kern Lake and Buena Vista Lake via the Kern River and Kern River Slough southwest and south of the site of Bakersfield. If they overflowed, it was through the Kern River channel northwest through tule marshland and Goose Lake, into Tulare Lake. Musta been magnificent until shortly after the Europeans arrived. For lots more interesting stuff check out 'Tulare Lake Today' .

On average, groundwater resources are 5000-years old. That is, it takes, on average, 5000 years for a drop of rain that makes its way into a freshwater aquifer to make its journey to a spring or the sea. By contrast, river waters globally average a residence time of 17 days between rain and entry to a sea (if they aren't sucked out first). On average a water molecule spends around 8 days in the atmosphere once evaporated from a surface water body or transpired from vegetation before returning as precipitation.

This 5000-year (fresh) groundwater residence time is important because 1) it demonstrates that groundwater mining (extracting at a net rate that exceeds replenishment) is a serious problem and 2) that pollution of such resources will take heroic measures to mitigate, if even possible. Groundwater is special. Mistakes regarding it are more or less permanent.

But, as we all know, corporations have only one master - shareholder profits. It's far more effective to use a few bucks to buy off the politicians than conform to the regulations they might impose on the flow of shareholder cash. So it sure appears meaningful government regulations are impossible without a 9.0 earthquake event.

That very earthquake is coming, one way or another, with or without regulations. The best option IMO is already well unfolded - demand reduction fueled degrowth and modest deflation. The DOW has dropped 1500 points in 3 weeks, Asia's oil demand is off 60% in the last year, the petrodollar is dodging BRICS but wobbly. In reponse - panic is currently gripping global central-planning headquarters as pictured below courtesy of Victor Leonardi:

Cottonwoods Will Break Through the Desert's Dams and Snow Will Cover the Sierras Again Someday

There is only so much fresh water and it is under attack, a pincer attack, one of the pincers is fracking because of its ability "break caprock, shoot out of zone, link to natural fractures and penetrate into groundwater" says an independent technical review panel appointed by Canadian Natural Resources. Pressures created by the fracking of shale rock can create a zig-zag of traveling fractures that resemble the cracking of ice on a frozen lake.

Further, the geology and terrain interact to make no two 'plays' the same making the whole science of hydraulic fracture models fail to predict fracture behaviour precisely, and in many cases, models fail completely, largely because of incorrect information and assumptions used in the models." So whatever the industry or any expert says, they just don't know what they don't know.

California's State Legislature recently came to its senses, if only partly and momentarily, and halted the re-injection of fracking waste water, warning it may be contaminating California's aquifers. [Technicians were probably lucky to recovered their data at the rate California's aquifers are dropping]. There's an estimated 25,000 fracking wells in Calif [millions more globally]. They take between 2-8 million gallons of water each, some much more, and a well may be fracked multiple times, with each frack increasing the chances of chemical leakage into the soil and local water sources.

The western states, especially California, are in a drought that's going from bad to catastrophic. The U.S. Drought Monitor reported that more than half of the state is now in experiencing 'exceptional' drought, the most severe category available. And most of the state – 81% – currently has one of the two most intense levels of drought. While California’s problems are particularly severe, that state is not alone in experiencing significant drought right now. There are wide swaths of moderate to severe drought stretching from Oregon to Texas, with problems impacting numerous states west of the Mississippi River. Even more frightening is that much of the rest of the world is dealing with water scarcity issues too.  In fact, North America is actually in better shape than much of Africa and Asia.

So, California isn't unique, neither is drought. Loooooong droughts come and go from the desert as they did when they drove out the Chaco 1100 years ago. Of course the snows and rain will return but maybe not until the humans have been eliminated long enough for the climate to return to it's mid-glaciation period. Fortunately one day though the cottonwoods will break through the dams, the snows will return to the high sierra and California's big valley will have its lake back and filled with migratory birds and countless other life forms.

One of the greatest lessons in my life comes from geology's accounting of the scale of time. We are a speck, we can, have and will continue to take down countless innocents in our hubris, but in the looooooong run we'll be a thin shiny line in the sediment. Life will continue on it's merry way without us. That realization gives me the power/energy to care, to try to help civilization break it's fall, to help some fellow travelers have some seed in the feeder, some crunchies in the bowl each day.

Water is under attack from our callous abuse in the immoral pursuit of possessions, We could all change...but in any case, cottonwoods will break through the desert's dams and snow will cover the Sierras again someday.

Frack is Wack, It's Insane, It's dumb, It's Capitalism and Only Terrorists are Opposed

Yesterday, October 11th, was "Global Frackdown Day", a day when anti-fracking activists all over the world demanded an end to the destructive practice of hydraulic-fracture drilling that the oil and gas industries are aggressively trying to expand in regions across the planet.  On Friday the group sent a joint letter (pdf) to United Nations Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon, in part it reads:

"Mounting scientific evidence shows that fracking is not only inherently unsafe for both public health and ecosystems, but that fracking may actually drive global warming more than conventional fossil fuels due to methane leakage from oil and gas drilling operations and their attendant infrastructure. According to the 2013 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Synthesis report, methane from oil and gas is 87 times as powerful at trapping heat as carbon dioxide, pound for pound, over a 20-year period and 36 times more so over 100 years. So, while natural gas may burn relatively cleaner than oil or coal, the cumulative effect of extracting gas and building the necessary transport infrastructure is a greater threat to the planet. net."

Everywhere the frackers go, extensive groundwater contamination, air pollution, land fragmentation, property devaluation, road destruction, earthquakes, public health issues, soon follow. This includes contamination of drinking water by fracking fluid, massive water consumption (an average frack well requires 2 to 8 million US gallons of water over its lifetime), air pollution, fugitive methane emissions and lost habitat from thousands of roads, wells and pipelines.

The details of fracking's complex impact on geology and groundwater are the focus of a new independent technical review looking into the 2013 bitumen leak in northern Alberta which found hydraulic fracturing to be the main culprit. The panel, also documented that industry frack jobs, contrary to industry claims, can break caprock, shoot out of zone, link to natural fractures and penetrate into groundwater. The same paper added, "All hydraulic fracture models fail to predict fracture behaviour precisely, and in many cases, models fail completely, largely because of incorrect information and assumptions used in the models."

"In simple terms", as Andrew Nikiforuk says, "pressures created by the industrial injection of fluids in bitumen or shale rock can create a zig-zag of traveling fractures that resemble the cracking of ice on a frozen lake." As a consequence California recently halted the injection of fracking waste warning of contaminated aquifers.

Fracking is the dumbest idea yet in a long-term series of dumb moves, 'Frack Is Wack', but it makes rich people richer, so their govt. and media stooges line up to praise it. Tons of good vibes from The Mud Report to everyone who put out their energy to bring awareness to the stupidity of making things worse. Of course, each of those good vibeees will now be under surveillance as a probable terrorist, in fact a recent report says that just being opposed to fracking makes one a probable terrorist.

IMO it's not a change of energy sources we need, it's a change of lifestyles. The rich can only get richer when we buy the needless bangles their advertising stooges dangle. Frack is Wack, but it thrives in the cultural field of consumption as palliative. Conservation, as in simplicity, and efficiency can slow our demand for fossil fuels, creating energy [unused] with no footprint. None of this, or my other schemes, will make the rich richer, so they don't get much press but lottsa followers from .gov websites.

Fracking will lose its allure when the next even Free-er Lunch delusion comes along or, when the people stop consuming needless crap or when the bubble bursts. But in the meanwhile, everyday the fucking frackers blast unknown chemicals, and who knows what else, into the earth, fracturing it for short term profit at the expense of the non-renewable, clean fresh water our children will need. It's insane, it's dumb, it's capitalism and only terrorists are opposed.

Organic Agriculture and Perennial Grasses, Not Green-Washed Corporate-Ag, are the Solution

Dr. Kristine Nichols and Mark 'Coach' Smallwood, of the Rodale Institute, are walking with a message and carrying a solution.

The solution to many of the biospheric blights our current consumption creates is, as Dr. Kristine Nichols and Mark 'Coach' Smallwood of the Rodale Institute are trying to draw broader attention to, beneath our feet. It's the soil, it's organic agriculture's ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Combined with 'the Perennial Solution - perennials are thrifty, their long, massive root systems hold on to soil, water, and fertilizer, which means less pollution as well as sequestered carbon.

Many studies like the 40 year multinational, multidisciplinary, peer reviewed study 'Organic Agriculture and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in the Context of Food Security' have proven that "If farmers could stop planting GMOs, and make the transition to organic farming, farm and ranch land can become a significant sink or sequestration pool for greenhouse gasses, literally sucking excess greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere and sequestering them safely in the soil, where they belong."

The data that Rodale has collected since 1981, and others have corroborated, from Rodale's Farming Systems Trial has revealed that soil under organic agriculture management can accumulate about 1,000 pounds of carbon per acre foot of soil each year. This accumulation is equal to about 3,500 pounds of carbon dioxide per acre taken from the air and sequestered into soil organic matter.

Billions of tons of carbon - excess waste generated extractive capitalism, can be returned to the soil, our water resources can suffer one less huge contamination source, our pollinators would throw no-pesticide party, our weather as well as our climate would gradually 'relax', especially after the heating already built in by the 30 year timelag ends.

In addition to capturing more carbon as soil organic matter, organic agricultural production methods also emit less greenhouse gases through more efficient use of fuels. Energy analysis by Dr. David Pimentel from Cornell University show that organic systems use only 63% of the energy input used by the same sized 'conventional' agri-business operations.

Family farmers produce nearly 80 percent of the world’s food, things can change, there are solutions. So why don't our 'dear leaders' hear them? Money honey, as always. Capitalism ate government for lunch long ago, it had the MSM for dessert. Small scale, locally produced, hands on organic framing doesn't make the rich richer [the opposite in fact] so it can't possibly get access to the microphone. Organic farming and the reestablishment of perennial grasslands IS a real challenge to the status quo.

One of the articles published in the first muddy month here was 'Organic Gardening and Carbon Sequestration'. Re-reading it just now and then going over my most recent offering on the topic i'm happy to report that not much has changed in five years between my ears, but sad to report not much has changed beyond that space either. Please read Soil not Oil by Vandana Shiva and please visit, follow and support La Via Campesina in their bottom-up fight against the forces of evil globally.

Kristine and Mark are due to arrive on Oct. 16th from eastern Pennsylvania after completing their 160-mile journey to Washington, DC with a walking sticks, a brimmed hats, and a simple but profound message: Organic agriculture can reduce the output of carbon dioxide by 37-50%, reduce costs for the farmer, and increase our planet’s ability to positively absorb and utilize greenhouse gases.

Of course, the giddy miracles aren't even dreamable without reduced demand for needless crap, without conservation, without reducing our demands on this one blue dot we share.  But if somehow ...be it recession, deflation, degrowth or outright economic collapse, disease, or enlightenment...we do figure out how to be happy with less, we can re-establish the natural balance thrown off kilter right now by our over-indulgence and through long practiced methods of organic agricultural methods re-establish a little bit on the 'garden'.

Naomi Klein - Heroine and Heroin - Offers No Real Challenge to Capitalism in Her New Book

i've loved, read, re-read and learned tons from Naomi Klein's two previous books, i'm pretty sure i will again this time [once i find a copy to borrow]. In the meantime there's been countless interviews in the media in which our heroine has done very well, she's quick, smart, well spoken, sure glad she's there. Her presence in the spotlight brings capitalism's role into the conversation, into new eyes and ears. The Tyee recently said, "We Must Heed Naomi Klein's Call" and that, Her new book 'This Changes Everything' makes clear what we're up against and what has to happen. But...but ...but

But Naomi's book is being criticized from both sides. From the right-wing, her celebrity lefty status means Naomi is a big bulls-eye, the left...the defiant delusional left, like me, see Naomi's solutions as unreal and based on faulty assumptions. In addition, her injunctions about conservation and change are roundly seen as 'do as i say, not as i do', especially as they come from a rich globe trotting celebrity.

Germany is held up by Klein, throughout the book apparently, as a paragon of renewable energy changeover. The reality is that Germany's renewable energy policy is a failure because when the sun goes down and the wind stops so does the electricity generation. Germany now relies on an expanding coal generation system that burns thermal coal, Donbass coal, [the dirtiest kind] to balance the demand. The results are an overall rise in GHGs not a drop.

Not only do the 'green alternatives' require a parallel non-green capacity to be built and maintained but the new technologies themselves come with their own GHG footprint embedded and usually overlooked in the rosy scenario projections. Another seldom accounted for reality is neither solar or wind arrays ever produce anywhere near the capacity the rosy eyed engineer's project [in the real world birds shit on panels, rats eat through wires, etc]. Then there's the efficiency lost in the transmission of the electricity through the grid. For example, if a power plant produces electricity at 30%, higher than average for wind or solar, efficiency and the grid is 40% efficient, the electricity at the householder level is only 12%.

As energy expert Ozzie Zehner of the University of California-Berkeley says, "There is an impression that we have a choice between fossil fuels and clean energy technologies such as solar cells and wind turbines. That choice is an illusion. Alternative energy technologies rely on fossil fuels through every stage of their life. Alternative energy technologies rely on fossil fuels for mining operations, fabrication plants, installation, ongoing maintenance and decommissioning."

The basic problem is that there is no free lunch. There is no way to consume our way out of over-consumption. There is only one 'green' alternative, the only energy source with no footprint is conservation. Naomi in her new book joins the long list of those who want to change energy sources not lifestyles.

As Pogo famously said, "I've seen the enemy and he is us." The fossil fuel industry is driven by demand, just like all capitalist expansion. Until humans learn to live within their means, learn that hard work isn't a sin - debt is - and get rid of capitalism, capitalist expansionism (endless growth) will continue. And oil, be it tar sands crud or any other will, like water, flow and ooze via the path of least resistance to meet the demands of consumers.

Naomi is allowed access to the media microphone because her ideas offer no real challenge to the status quo. Naomi's message is philosophical heroin. Her focus on top-down government action to regulate the supply side argument sets back the wider environmental movement because even if some magical solution to GHGs is regulated the overall effect is just a license to continue the unlimited growth paradigm [keep shopping] that is the real evil destroying the biosphere. Regulations, technological innovation, pixie dust...any meaningful solution, other than conservation, leads to more consumption, more short term profits, more costs to be paid by future generations, more, more more...

As far as the corporate owned and operated MSM goes 'the way that can be spoken of is not the way'. Divestment in one aspect of the capitalist matrix is meaningless if the money is simply moved to anther aspect of it. If you're really ready to dropout of capitalism ya gotta get your money out. If you need an investment, put it in your home's insulation, in your kids education, in your backyard garden or in some other positive change. Folks need to stop driving to the mall, stop consuming useless plastic crap and just slow down.

Project Fear Rules, Hope Drools in Scottish Referendum and Most of Modern 'Civilization'

Here's a few fun stats from yesterday - one day in a thousand where a delusional old iconoclast could 'believe' again:

The young and the poorer voted Yes. The post-referendum poll from Lord Ashcroft does a good summary of who voted how and why. However, the most telling distinction is the following:
Voters aged 16-17: YES: 71%; NO: 29%
Voters aged 65+: YES: 27%; NO: 73%

and,

The Sydney Morning Herald's post vote polling showed the most important statistic IMO: "More than half of No voters said fear for the future was the most important factor affecting their vote, while 80 per cent of Yes voters said they voted because they were hopeful for the future."

So 'project fear' worked, again. Many fearful and older Scots were afraid of how an independent Scotland might change their lives. The ‘No’ campaign’s slogan ‘Why take the risk?’ played a big part in fostering this view. ‘Yes’ campaigners say ‘project fear’ was a unconcealed effort by the British establishment to win at any cost.

The pollsters got it right in Scotland. Living here in Canada i've seen how wrong the pollsters can be recently. The 'gold standard' for political polling here in Canada has been telephone polls for decades, that's what pollsters are trained to do, what the media is trained to report. But the younger generations, the cell phone loving, social media addicted folks don't have home phones and the poor don't even have homes let alone phones. So, my fantasy was that the 'AYE' campaign would be underrepresented in the Scottish polling, but...

In the end i'm grateful to have had nearly a full day of mystery where the future might have changed, where a crack in the Wall St, wall may have appeared. It felt good. From the look on the faces of so many young Scots it won't be the last vote they have.

Is September 18th Scottish Independence Day? Excitement Mounts Across Scotland.

Spontaneous march to Scottish parliament Wednesday evening 

There's 2 hours to go before the polls close in Scotland and Vancouverite, Jackie DeRoo, a self confessed "Democracy Tourist" has been in the midst of the madness that is Scotland these last few days. Spontaneous marches like the one above to Scottish parliament last night are erupting all around her, Jackie says she's "witnessing the biggest commonwealth event in 100 years."

Checking out the Scottish independence referendum LIVE UPDATES in between chores, there's some neat pictures and other stuff. But from what i can gather from across the timezones is that the AYEs believe they've won [though i'm sure the Unionists are skulking around thinking they've won as well]. Time will tell but emotionally the AYEs have it by far in Scotland today.

Living here in Canada i realize how wrong the pollsters have been recently. The 'gold standard' for political polling has been telephone polls for decades, that's what pollsters are trained to do, what the media is trained to report. But the younger generations, the cell phone loving, social media addicted folks don't have home phones and the poor don't even have homes let alone any kind of phone. The pollsters are looking through old scratched glasses and the old demographic does favor the Unionist side because the older folks are the more they feel they have to protect the stuff they've earned through a lifetime of work. Very valid, for them, but not of those less enfranchised.

AYE Scotland, Will Be the Domino Cascading Toward Liberty That the Banks and Elites Fear

Everyday folks everywhere understand that anything the banks, corporations and politicians are so unanimously against can't be all bad. In a few hours the polls will open in Scotland. The Scottish are on the brink of perhaps changing the course of world history. Watching it unfold from Canada, where twice i saw how the elites made hollow promises in advance of the Quebec referendums, and twice saw those promises evaporate, it's 'like deja-vu all over again'.

Take heart supporters of liberty in Scotland in the last 150+ years 50 independence votes like yours have taken place, the score is 44- YES only 6-NO [including the two i watched here in Canada].

An AYE in Scotland over the next hours won't in itself cave in or cripple the elites, but their momentum toward liberty creates domino effect the minds of other dreamers, other liberty lovers. The Catalans are watching in droves, billions of others are watching silently. There must be a crack in the Wall St. wall somewhere, let's hope it's AYE Scotland today, everywhere soon.

"On 18th. September, 2014, between the hours of 7am and 10pm, absolute sovereign power will lie in the hands of the Scottish people. They have to decide whether to keep it, or give it away to where their minority status makes them permanently powerless and vulnerable." – Jim Sillars

Mining Engineers and Experts All Know The Solution to Tailings Pond Failures is Dry Stacking

Design of the Dry-Stack Rock Buttress at the Rosemont Copper Mine south of Tucson, Arizona.

There is a viable, safe alternative to depositing mining 'waste' in tailings ponds - Dry Stacking. Every mining expert, every mining engineer, every mining manager, including all of those involved in the recent Mount Polley tailing pond failure, know about dry stacking, it's not new, it was first written up in the mining journals in 1903. In fact, one of the world's foremost experts lives, works and writes out of Vancouver - Jack Caldwell. Jack's article 'Thirty Years of Tailings Seepage History from Tailings & Mine Waste' was the centerpiece of the global conference on mining wastes, Proceedings Tailings and Mine Waste, held in Vancouver, BC, November 6 to 9, 2011. Jack has written extensively on the Mount Polley tailing pond collapse [linked to here].

There is a growing use of the practice of dewatering tailings using vacuum or pressure filters so the tailings can then be stacked. More and more mines are choosing to filter press their tailings and place the tailings in a stack. Dry Stacking is increasing because of the need to reduce water consumption; the need to limit seepage from the tailings; and the imperative to build a stable stack not subject to slope failure, breaching or collapse. The water savings reduces the impacts on the environment and leaves the tailings in a dense and stable arrangement and eliminates the long-term liability that ponds leave after mining is finished.

AMEC, Mt. Polley's British engineering firm, also oversees the Raglan Mine, a large nickel mining complex in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, where, as AMEC reports,  "Approximately 700,000 tonnes/year of tailings are deposited over the estimated remaining life of the mine of about 15 years, with the possibility of increasing the production rate and/or the length of mine life. Tailings solids comprise about 70% silt sizes. Immediately prior to filtering, the tailings stream is thickened, with thickener underflow at 60-65% solids. Filtered tailings are loaded on trucks, hauled to Tailings Repository, dumped, spread and compacted to form a stable stack with 5H:1V side slopes." Obviously AMEC is/was well qualified to design a filter-pressed tailings stack operation for Imperial Metals...but, we'll get to the but in a minute.

The Greens Creek Filter-Pressed Dry-Stack operation.

Another great parallel to the situation at Mount Polley is exemplified by the Greens Creek Mine on Admiralty Island, in the Alaska panhandle. Once again mining expert Jack Caldwell has been involved here for decades. Jack says, "The first I heard of filter pressing of tailings was way back in the early 1980s. We had concluded that a conventional tailings facility would not work at the proposed Greens Creek Mine on Admiralty Island, in the Alaska panhandle. There was too much water from rain and too large an earthquake to use conventional hydraulic deposition. Andy Robertson suggested use of filter presses to make a dried---or at least low moisture content solid. There was much skepticism at his suggestion. As of today the dry stacking operation is 33years old, the filter-presses are pressing away. In the summer of 2010 Greens Creek's dry stack operation opened its seventh expansion."

Dry Stacking is happening all around the globe where ever progressive governments and far-sighted corporations understand the long term economics of mining, where ever they understand what externalized costs are and who always ends up paying them. By definition:"If external costs exist, such as pollution, the producer may choose to produce more of the product than would be produced if the producer were required to pay all associated environmental costs."

Here comes the but, All the experts agree but say, "There are potential merits to dry stacked tailings these systems are often cost prohibitive due to increased capital cost to purchase and install the filter systems and the increase in operating costs (generally associated electricity consumption and consumables such as filter cloth) of such systems."

Like so many other issues where short-term corporate and banking interests are allowed to escape paying the full cost of their operation through limited liability or because regulations are shoddy [often due to corrupt governments being bought off by moneyed interests] the corporate management does their job which is to maximize shareholder's quarterly profits.

So when you hear or read something about the Mount Polley collapse and the cost of remediation [estimated at $400millionCdn] remember that you'll pay that cost as soon as Imperial Metals' $15millionCdn insurance policy runs dry. Remember too that you and your children are paying for every environmental disaster that spewed pollution into the commonly owned biosphere since the corporations and banks figured out how to run this racket.

Commodity prices are soaring, corporate profits are soaring, but the corporations never have any dough for precaution, the governments never have any dough for social justice or schools, or safety inspectors or ...tomorrow the prime mover of buts, the free trade but...or is that butt?

Mt. Polley's Toxic Slurry, Above and Below Water, Will Poison the Biosphere for Generations to Come

Hazeltine Creek was 2 meters wide before the Mt' Polley disaster

The Mount Polley tailings pond failure will be a 5 billion litre lump of coal in our common environment's stocking for generations to come [if our descendants survive that long]. As Brian Olding, an environmental consultant who authored a report on the Mount Polley Mine in 2011 says, “Water will continue to run through literally tons of this sediment and grass will grow through the sediment. Imagine if a moose eats that grass, and then an aboriginal person comes and shoots that moose. Then we have a food contamination issue on our hands.”

i grieve for the First Nations hunter and his family. i grieve too for the moose and it's moose family. i grieve for my kids and grandkids and yours too. What Brian is lamenting is the same thing Harvey Scott, with the Keepers of the Athabasca, worries about when reflecting on the long-term effects created when on Oct. 31, 2013, 670,000 cubic metres of water and 37,000 cubic metres of sediment poured out of a containment pond at the Obed mine. That much smaller spill devastated two small creeks and sent a murky sediment plume floating down the Athabasca River. Harvey says, " Toxic sediment will continue to wash down the river to the Peace-Athabasca delta and slowly make its way up the food chain. Each time there's a surge or a spring freshet, some of the sediment will flow down that far."

The Obed mine spill is similar to last week's Mount Polley spill in that the bulk of the sediment flowed into the forest and stream banks below the dam. In the long run the biggest problem won't be the drinking water but the sediment that is distributed along the shore lines and on the lake bottoms.

Toxic slurry was deposited far in the forest

The portion of the slurry [slurry contents list here] deposited on dry ground will be dried by the sun and wind making it able to be blown all over the place. We will all breathe it, our kids will breathe it and play in it, our crops will be affected by it and there will be no way to accurately know what effects are taking place much less who to blame them on. The portion that is underwater will be stirred up over and over again by storms and dredging operations. The particles will be ground up by the stirring into smaller and smaller particles that will slowly be taken up in the aquatic food chain downstream and every lifeform will drink and eat it from now on.

Huge kudos go to Vancouver-based geotechnical engineer Jack Caldwell who wrote in his article 'Mt Polley Tailings Failure: Lies versus the Truth',  "I can accept that the water and all it nasty constituents will be diluted by the rivers and lakes into which the water is flowing.  But what of the solids?  They are in the river, on the banks, and now in the lake.  Will it ever be possible to clean this up, or will these tailings have to be allowed to wash by rain into the lake to join the bottom sediments?"

Jack's words are corroborated by Ramsey Hart, Canada programs coordinator with MiningWatch Canada who says, "Certainly most toxicity is associated with sediments. Those aren't going anywhere; they're now distributed through the watershed."

Jack Caldwell has written four articles since the Mount Polley disaster, each short article focuses one or more of the most important issues surrounding the collapse and explains in clear non-technical language what the spin doctors from the corporation and government are trying so hard to obscure. [articles available here, here, here and here]. As Jack says, "Nobody but me is prepared to say why it failed.  I suspect it failed because there was too much water in the dam, the corner gave way, an upstream slide occurred, and the disaster ensued.   They are saying nobody could have anticipated this.  Rubbish.  It was entirely predictable given the facts.  It is just nobody had the courage to speak." Jack has the expertise and the courage to speak. Hopefully today's Tyee article on mine safety that quotes Jack extensively is the forerunner of many to come.

Finally, the Tyee had another interesting article today titled 'Tailings Dams "Have Not Breached," Says Minister... Except When They Have' which in addition to listing all the breaches the guberment dis-information ministers want the press not to focus on, also shows how willfully ignorant Queen Christy's ministers are.

The sad reality is that Bennett, in this case, and the political class generally can say anything they want in the age of truthyness. There's always a semantic bush they can hide behind if/when they get pressure from a lawsuit. In the end they know that the majority of citizens only want to hear 'don't worry, be happy' so they can continue consuming needless crap with the lowest possible guilt level.

Only An Independent Investigation of Mt' Polley, With Subpeona and Indictment Power, Can Work

Mount Polley Tailings Pond Disaster

Yesterday Stephen Hume of The Vancouver Sun added his voice to those of First Nations, Gerald MacBurney, a former foreman who worked on the tailings pond, Brian Olding, the environmental consultant who carried out the 2009 assessment for the company and local First Nations groups, Jack Caldwell a reknown independent mining expert and others [including mr. mud] in demanding an independent review of the Mount Polley tailing pond collapse.

Hume's article offers a simple logical argument saying, "The dam didn't fail because of an act of god or black magic by some anti-mining necromancer. The dam failed because of its design, or its construction methods and materials, or its flawed operational management. While the mining company Imperial Metal is accountable for the design, construction and operational management of the dam it deploys to contain its hazardous mine waste, the provincial government is responsible for ensuring that the design is adequate, the construction methods are fully up to current safety code, and the dam is properly operated. Adding, "Clearly, this did not happen. So the prescribed design, the construction methods and materials or the operational management standards and the government’s approval, monitoring and enforcement protocols must be inadequate in some way."

Considering that both the original engineering firm that designed, built and maintained the original compound  warned Imperial Metals of the impending problems when they abandoned ship and the engineering firm that took over, AMEC said the railings pond's level was to high and instructed the company to bring in five million tonnes of rock to shore up the outside of the dam in order to handle the increased amount of water in the tailings pond two things seem apparent: 1. the company didn't listen or didn't want to hear what the engineers were saying. 2. the engineering firms aren't going wear this disaster or the liability for it.

Likely B.C. resident Gerald MacBurney worked at Mount Polley for seven years, the last two as a foreman directing work on the tailings dam says "the company never carried through, perhaps only bringing in one million tonnes of rock because they didn’t want to take their large equipment - big haul trucks that can carry as much as 120 to 200 tonnes - away from delivering ore to the mill." MacBurney said he raised the issue with bosses numerous times, at one point warning one of them that if the rock wasn’t brought in, the dam would break. His concerns increased after what he calls a breach in May 2014. He says he saw water spilling over the top of the dam, (while Imperial Metals says there was no breach). He quit the next month.

MacBurney's story is consistent with internationally respected independent mining  expert Jack Caldwell's assessment of 'What caused the Mount Polley tailings pond failure?'  Jack's long career brings a historic perspective when he says, "My first impression is that this is in a direct line of failures from Bafokeng, through Merriespruit, to now. Nothing has changed, this failure looks just like the failed Bafokeng dam looked when I went out to see it the week after it failed way back in the earlier 1970s. As at Bafokeng, I suspect it was a combination of overtopping, piping and basal failure. We will probably never know for sure as the evidence is washed away to the lake or strewn on the ground downstream of the failed facility. Thus some still claim that at Bafokeng the bulldozer sent to raise the embankment induced liquefaction of the wet tailings."

Wonder what the operator of this stranded Cat has to say eh!

Jack Caldwell ends his comments where a truly independent investigation should start theirs, "Can’t help but notice the stranded bulldozer at Mt Polley. Had it gone up there to raise the embankment? Maybe the driver of the bulldozer we see perched on the edge of the failure zone saw something. If he did, you can be sure he is safely under wrap and key at this time."

Then there's the independent report conducted by Brian Olding, the environmental consultant who carried out the 2009 assessment for the company and local First Nations groups, that issued several warnings about the safety of the tailings pond and dam. Olding says in a very good interview by the CBC [available here], "The pond levels were already getting too high five years ago. I requested a structural engineering company be involved, and that was nixed," Olding said. "They did not want to deal with that problem at that time."

The B.C. Ministry of Environment also revealed to reporters that it had warned the mine operator of exceeding safe drinking water guidelines in the tailings impoundment, including high levels of selenium, sulphate, and molybdenum. Long before the May warnings about the height of the tailings pond itself.

All in all Imperial Metals had plenty of warning and even though they knew what the potential danger was they not only continued with business as usual Imperial jacked up production in the months just before the disaster as the Vancouver Sun reported: "Imperial has increased production at Mount Polley. The company reported in its second-quarter financial report that throughput at the mine’s processing mil was up to 23 per cent to 23,404 tonnes of rock per day and meal production totalled 12 million pounds of copper, up 46 per cent, 11,867 ounces of gold, up 24 per cent and 33,813 ounces of silver,up 35 per cent from the same quarter a year ago."

There's more to the tangled web of financial sewage and there's the whole issue of why the industry ass kissers in the B.C. government are so desperate for royalties and party contributions that they'll do anything and everything for a buck. But those parts will have to wait for the next Mud Report because my finger is tired and, the highest priority in my life, my best friend needs to go for a walk. So fully independent it must be 'cause the guberment has plenty to be scared of a deep pockets fed by your tax dollars for the liability lawyers to chase and Imperial Metals, no matter how willfully ignorant and dastardly they may be will have their bankruptcy ducks in a row.

Mt. Polley Tailings Pond Failed Because Corps Serve Shareholders and Govts Don't Serve Citizens

Mount Polley Mine's tailings pond disaster

The failure of Imperial Metals' Mount Polley Mine's tailing pond is the largest failure of a tailing pond in mining history. A tailings pond's job is to allow the heavy metals and other chemicals materials used to extract the more profitable minerals to sink and settle at the bottom. So when the asshole CEO of Imperial Metals says he'll drink the water after the solids settle he's just relying on people's naivete to work its magic. The main problem, the main danger long-term and short is the 'slurry' at the bottom. Personally i'd rather he invite all his capitalist friends and their government enablers over for a 'slurry' BBQ.

The truth is though that the executives at Imperial Metals were doing their job by avoiding every cost they could, by having the lowest liability insurance B.C.'s laws allow. That's capitalism. Every member of every corporate board of directors, CEO etc. is to maximize shareholder profits.  Time and time again the courts have ruled that if a corporations directors or executives choose to, say serve the public good, instead of the shareholder's profits they are in breach of the law. So the assholes running Imperial Metals were just doing their jobs.

The government's job, on the other hand, is to serve the best interests of the citizens - the public good.
over the last couple days article after article has shown that the both the B.C. and Canadian governments have actually done exactly the opposite. Jenny Uechi's article at The Vancouver Observer yesterday titled 'Understaffing, deregulation to blame for Mount Polley tailing pond disaster: critics' lays out the details of the B.C. government's history is this matter. very well: “The government isn't inspecting the mines, and the mining companies know it,” said Glenda Ferris, a longtime advocate for environmentally safe mining in British Columbia who has previously consulted with government and First Nations on mining issues. Ferris said the BC government has relied excessively on the mining industry to self-regulate itself as ministries underwent budget cuts in the 1990s, meaning that the problem could be systemic.

"You know, it's all about money,"  Xat'sull (Soda Creek) First Nation Chief Bev Sellars told the Vancouver Observer. She said the provincial government appeared to have let companies go on many violations and breaches in recent years. "The bottom line is, how much money can the mines make? How much money can they donate to political parties?"

Rafe Mair's piece 'Mount Polley Mine proves Liberal de-regulation doesn’t work' goes a step or two further by explaining the corporate 'truths'. But another unanswered question is what will happen if/when Imperial Metals goes bankrupt, as the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic did after the crude train explosion at Lac Mégantic, ultimately leaving taxpayers on the hook.

Remember how the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic paid the first cleanup costs and hung their heads in shame? Meanwhile in the background they were getting their ducks lined up so they would be prepared to file bankruptcy when the rest of the liability bills started to roll in. Right now Imperial Metals is undoubtedly doing the same thing behind the scenes - that's their job. The other mines they own will be being sold off to corporations outside of Canada. Those corporations will then lease back the machinery etc. to Imperial Metals.

Just like the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic, these guys will pay up to the extent of their liability insurance $13million Queen Christy said last night on Global TV. During the time it takes to go through that paltry bit Queen Christy will crow just like Harpo and Marois did about being tough on the villains. Then, oops, Imperial Metals will go bankrupt just like the railway line did and the taxpayers will pay the rest. One investment analyst who wants to remain anonymous said, "I'd watch for some kind of mysterious flipping of ownership of Red Criss Mine in the next few days."

Obama Betrayed His Oath, the Constitution and International Law by Arrogantly Excusing Torture

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing - Edmund Burke 

It's been 5 days since Obama arrogantly acknowledged during a White House briefing that "We tortured some folks." The evil asshole tried to excuse the immoral and illegal acts by asking everyone to remember "how afraid people were at the time". The arrogant asshole's next sentence should have been something like: "I am immediately resigning the presidency because I have betrayed my oath of office, the Constitution, the law, US citizens and the world."

Every day since i've expected to see the Congress ordering Obama's impeachment, expecting to see the Federal Marshals leading Bush, Cheney and Rumsfield out in handcuffs. Water boarding isn't a new thing, its use has been documented in numerous cases for centuries, it's been a favorite of torturers since at least the Spanish Inquisition. After WWII the US held war crimes trails, found Japanese officers guilty of torture for their use of waterboarding and executed them. During the Vietnam era the US put American soldiers on trial as torturers for using waterboarding, they were found guilty and received stiff sentences.

Waterboarding is torture! This has been clearly established in the UN Convention Against Torture [ratified by Ronald Reagan in 1987] and is illegal as well as immoral because Title 18, Part I, Chapter 113C of the US Code makes its use under any circumstances illegal. Yet, Obama, a Constitutional lawyer who vowed to prosecute those responsible for torture on numerous occasions during his '08 campaign, has had his toady Holder indict no one much less sent anyone to jail for these crimes.

Obama said at this obscene briefing that he had forbidden the use of SOME of the '"enhanced interrogation techniques” [torture] and had ordered closed SOME of the Bush-era rendition and black sites (offshore prisons). SOME is meaningless lawyer jargon, always remember, torture is still going on now. Not just in Guantanamo, but at many black sites all over the world.

One real journalist, Tom Engelhardt, asked yesterday: Who rules Washington? in his article 'The Rise to Power of the National Security State'. In it he says, "As every schoolchild knows, there are three check-and-balance branches of the U.S. government: the executive, Congress, and the judiciary. That’s bedrock Americanism and the most basic high school civics material. Only one problem: it’s just not so."

'The Fourth Branch' - NSA's Clapper and CIA's Brennan

Now there's 'The Fourth Branch' who has usurped the reins of power in Washington by using the tricks taught them by J.Edgar Hoover. Who in his decades running the FBI compiled a black file on every prominent person. Like Hoover, the spooks at the 17 different 'intelligent agencies in the U.S., know that everyone has done things in the past that they do not want exposed today. Clapper and Brennan learned well that once you've found any individual's soft underbelly they are easy to control. 'The Fourth Branch' uses the carrot of bribery and the stick of the embarrassing exposure of their dirty secrets to control whoever or whatever they choose.

"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression.

In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains

seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we

must be aware of change in the air, however slight,

lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."

- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas