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CBC Hourly News
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Worid News at Six
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America's #1 Populist - Jim Hightower | Audio
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Mark Fiore Animated Political Cartoons
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Bilderberg and the Obama Deception | Film
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Top Stories
Attacking Out-of-Control Population at the source
Center for Biological Diversity - Current
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Through a network of more than 5,000 volunteers, the Center for Biological Diversity has distributed 250,000 free Endangered Species Condoms at Earth Day events in all 50 states — as well as Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico — to highlight how unsustainable human population growth is driving species extinct at a cataclysmic rate. This raises the total number of condoms distributed since the February launch to 350,000.
The earth’s population has nearly doubled since the original Earth Day in 1970. In those days, it was well understood that human overpopulation was causing the many environmental challenges cropping up around the world. Now, with the passing of the 40th anniversary of the original Earth Day, unsustainable human population growth is too often ignored, even though it continues to drive all the major environmental problems that plague our planet.

At 6.8 billion people, the human race is not only the most populous large mammal on Earth but the most populous large mammal that has ever existed. Providing for the needs and wants of this many people — especially those in high-consumption, first-world nations — has pushed homo sapiens to absorb 50 percent of the planet’s freshwater and develop 50 percent of its landmass. As a result, other species are running out of places to live

Editor - As a Ford Foundatuon Adviser to the Chilean government on regional development in the 1960s I discouraged the idea of measures to substantially increase the country's population for many reasons that are now evident around the world. No, it was not popular then, nor now in many circles that involves a state of blindness -- largely on grounds of religion. As the adherents of mindless eternal population growth so often cite, "go forth and replenish the earth." It seems to me now that the replenishment of the earth is dangerouly close to the tipping point after which a diminished food supply/per capita and adequate potable water -- to name only two of the many consequences of of overpopulation -- is already knocking on our doors. Increasing global emigratiom and population displacement brought on by a lack of sustainable means for life is the desperation of millions and growing.

UK | Faced with Societal Collapse Britain Embraces a Coallition Political Arrangement with teeth and national purpose| British Coalition Releases Plan for Government | Video
Editor - Britain leaves US behind in the race for the future -- and in solving current national communal issues. Do the political parties in the US have the courage to follow with a government that sets aside partisan politics to serve the basic values of democracy -- not those of individual avarice. At this point there are reasons to be pessimistic -- but that is projection only, not fact yet. Your editor recommends that you click the link and experience what is, in my opinion, an amazing document of national purpose, on a par with the American Constitution in organizing and diecting governmet for its citizens. Do view this video of hope and nationally unified action.

The New York Times ] By Robert Mackey - May 20, 2010
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On Thursday in London, senior members of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, including the prime minister, David Cameron, and the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, released a 34-page document declaring the new coalition government’s plans. The document, called “The Coalition: Our Programme for Government,” essentially replaces the separate campaign manifestos issued by the two parties last month.

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Gulf Oil

BP Accused of Cover-up by US Government
Reuters - May 20, 2010
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The U.S. government Thursday accused energy giant BP of falling short in the information it has provided about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, in a clear sign of Washington's growing frustration with BP's handling of the spiraling environmental disaster.

"In responding to this oil spill, it is critical that all actions be conducted in a transparent manner, with all data and information related to the spill readily available to the United States government and the American people," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a letter. The officials said in a letter to BP CEO Tony Hayward that despite claims by BP that it was striving to keep the public and the government informed, "those efforts, to date, have fallen short in both their scope and effectiveness."

US | Looming Scandal and Malfeasance of Office | Lawsuit to Challenge Salazar's Wholesale Disregard of Marine Mammal Protection Laws in Gulf of Mexico
400-plus Oil Projects Illegally Approved by Salazar Without Permits to Harm Endangered Whales
Center for Biological Diversity - May 14, 2010
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Complete here.

SAN FRANCISCO— The Center for Biological Diversity today filed a formal notice of intent to sue Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for ignoring marine-mammal protection laws when approving offshore drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Since Salazar took office, the Department of the Interior has approved three lease sales, more than 100 seismic surveys, and more than 300 drilling operations without permits required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act that are designed to protect endangered whales and other marine mammals from harmful offshore oil activities.

“Under Salazar’s watch, the Department of the Interior has treated the Gulf of Mexico as a sacrifice area where laws are ignored and wildlife protection takes a backseat to oil-company profits,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director for the Center.

Seismic exploration surveys, which are used by oil companies to search for oil, generate sounds loud enough to cause hearing loss in marine mammals, can disturb essential behaviors such as feeding and breeding, and mask communications between individual whales and dolphins. A single seismic survey carried out by scientists in the Gulf in 2007 was estimated to expose more than 3,000 whales and dolphins to dangerous sounds. More than 100 such surveys by the industry have been approved by Salazar since he took office in January 2009, all without any authorization to harm or harass marine mammals.

Similarly, noise from drilling operations can displace whales from important feeding areas. More than 300 drilling operations have been permitted by Salazar, all without authorization under the Marine Mammal Protection Act or the Endangered Species Act. Offshore oil activities also can harm marine mammals through pollution, vessel strikes, marine debris, and oil spills.

While certain adverse impacts on whales and dolphins are unavoidable if offshore oil development is allowed, mitigation measures that would be required if Interior complied with the law, such as seasonal limitations on seismic surveys during times of the year when endangered whales are present, could greatly reduce impacts on the species.

“The Department of the Interior is well aware of its obligations under the law, as well of the harm to endangered whales that can occur from oil industry operations, yet it has simply decided it cannot be bothered,” added Sakashita. “You or I have to follow the law, but Interior Secretary Salazar seems to think that he and the oil companies he is supposedly overseeing do not. That is unacceptable.”

The Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act prohibit private entities, such as oil companies, as well as federal agencies, such as the Minerals Management Service — the branch of the Interior Department responsible for managing offshore oil activities — from killing, harming, or harassing marine mammals, unless they have received authorizations and take measures to minimize the impacts of their activities. The Endangered Species Act protects species such as the sperm whale, which is listed as endangered, while the Marine Mammal Protection Act applies to all marine mammals, such as the bottlenose dolphin and the Florida manatee.

Today’s 60-day notice of intent to sue, sent by the Center for Biological Diversity to Secretary Salazar and the Minerals Management Service, is a legally required precursor to filing a lawsuit under the Endangered Species Act.

Related | Environmental group to sue US over oil permits
Group says US improperly approved offshore operations.
Center for Biological Diversity - By Deborah Zabarenko - May 14, 2010
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BP Blowout Environmentally. Economically, Technically, Governmentally Socially

Gulf Oil Spill: Government Remains Blind To Underwater Oil Hazard
Huffington Post - May 18, 2010
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Conflict of Interest Worries Raised in Spill Tests
The New York Times - By Ian Urbina - May 20, 2010
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Local environmental officials throughout the Gulf Coast are feverishly collecting water, sediment and marine animal tissue samples that will be used in the coming months to help track pollution levels resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, since those readings will be used by the federal government and courts to establish liability claims against BP. But the laboratory that officials have chosen to process virtually all of the samples is part of an oil and gas services company in Texas that counts oil firms, including BP, among its biggest clients.
“I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but there is just too much overlap between these people,” Mr. Kirschenfeld said.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, since those readings will be used by the federal government and courts to establish liability claims against BP. But the laboratory that officials have chosen to process virtually all of the samples is part of an oil and gas services company in Texas that counts oil firms, including BP, among its biggest clients.

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Opinion | Commentary | Editorials | Op-Eds | Polls

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United States Government

"In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress." -- John Adams

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." -- Mark Twain

Senate Passes Bill to Expand Financial Oversightof Wall Street
The NewYork Times | By David m. AVID M. Herszenhorn - Mayy 20, 2010
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WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday approved a far-reaching financial regulatory bill, putting Congress on the brink of approving a broad expansion of government oversight of the increasingly complex banking system and financial markets.

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Topical issues

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Activism at the Ground Level

"The strength of a democracy is, as in nature, in the roots, not in the flamboyant leaves and flowers that wither and die after a couple of days in public office."
-- Editor, homosapiens.ki

Grassroots International -Who We Are | VIDEO
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