Big Money Wins in the Big Skies of Montana - Amy Goodman

Amy Goodman: Big Money Wins in the Big Skies of Montana - Truthdig 

The outstanding Amy Goodman looks at this decision. Very good -  a must read.

And these guys in Montana are fired up, and rightly so.
The Supreme Court has dissed them overturning their 100-year sensible tradition.

 John Bohlinger, Republican Lieutenant Governor of Montana:
"The United States Supreme Court blocked our state law, because they said corporations are people. I’ll believe that when Texas executes one.”

Citizen's United has to be overturned. "Four states are now on record—Hawaii, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Mexico—calling for an amendment."

"“I never bought a man who wasn’t for sale,” William A. Clark reportedly said. He was one of Montana’s “Copper Kings,” a man who used his vast wealth to manipulate the state government and literally buy votes to make himself a U.S. senator. That was more than 100 years ago, and the blatant corruption of Clark and the other Copper Kings created a furor that led to the passage, by citizen initiative, of Montana’s Corrupt Practices Act in 1912. The century of transparent campaign-finance restrictions that followed, preventing corporate money from influencing elections, came to an end this week, as the U.S. Supreme Court summarily reversed the Montana law."

 "Bohlinger said, “Now, Republicans and Democrats don’t always agree on policy matters, but there’s one thing we do agree on, and that is, corporate money should not influence the outcome of an election.” To which Schweitzer added: “Here in Montana, we have a proud, 100-year history of keeping corporate money out of our elections. Corporations aren’t people, and they should not control our government.... The United States Supreme Court blocked our state law, because they said corporations are people. I’ll believe that when Texas executes one.”

"Perhaps the only silver lining in the Supreme Court’s decision to send Montana back to the age of the Copper Kings is that a mass movement is building to assert the rights of people over the power of money in politics."

Citizen's United has to be overturned.
"Four states are now on record—Hawaii, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Mexico—calling for an amendment."
Let's keep up the effort until it is done.

Sign here  http://www.sherrodbrown.com/petition/overturn-citizens-united-g/?gclid=CPGYzKXW9rACFYUaQgodKFVgvw

And here http://www.sanders.senate.gov/petition/?uid=f1c2660f-54b9-4193-86a4-ec2c39342c6c

Barely sustainable: tasteless supermarket tomatoes. Why? (LA Times article)

I've posted several times: buy local. Fresher. Bred for taste. Local fruits and vegetables don't travel as far: less pollution costs. Supports local economies. I love heirloom tomatoes - oddly shaped and colored, and so tasty they're like a different fruit! We all know supermarket tomatoes: bland, bred to have 2 month shelf lives, picked too early, covered in thick polish wax, usually rife with pesticides, ... This is barely sustainable food production. The LA Times article has even more to say about it, a genetic decrease in sugar due to breeding for uniformity of color. See first paragraph above again. 8)

Beyond Rio: Pursuing 'Ecological Citizenship' - NYTimes.com

Beyond Rio: Pursuing 'Ecological Citizenship' - NYTimes.com 

Yes, thought provoking, modernist thought. Great ideas there.

My ideas about U.S. Constitutional amendments promoting people and health, and demoting corporate profit (Rio+20 Corporations Are Warned Post, and article linked) mesh nicely with Dobson's notions.
Let's claim our future. It, and we, are closer than we think.

On the rise: The melting Arctic VIDEO 5:10 | The Economist

On the rise: The melting Arctic | The Economist 

"Warming temperatures due to climate change are dramatically changing the environment in the Arctic; the impact will be felt around the world."

"The video... accompanying this week’s special report on the Arctic examines why the region is affected by global warming more than elsewhere, what effects this warming is likely to have on the Arctic and the wider world, and what can be done to mitigate the result of all this."

Northwest sees record returns of sockeye salmon

Northwest sees record returns of sockeye salmon - Yahoo! News 

Great news for this fishery, and sustainability.

"...Biologists credit habitat improvements in the Okanagan Basin of northern Washington and Canada, improved dam operations, and favorable ocean conditions for the numbers....

Ritchie Graves, a NOAA Fisheries Service biologist who makes sure federally owned dams are living up to their Endangered Species Act obligations not to kill too many salmon, said the survival rate for young salmon swimming downstream to the ocean has been higher than ever the past three years, hitting about 50 percent for sockeye.

Those improved dam operations have also benefited chinook, coho, chums, pinks and steelhead, said Graves. The six species combined accounted for 1.8 million salmon over Bonneville in 2010, compared to 471,144 in 1938."

BPA Linked to Brain Tumors for the First Time | Mother Jones

BPA Linked to Brain Tumors for the First Time | Mother Jones 

Not sustainable.

"The news just keeps getting worse for bisphenol A. Lab and animal research has linked it to reproductive disorders, obesity, diabetes, and cancers sensitive to hormonal activity, like those of the breast and prostate. Studies show that more than the vast majority of Americans have measurable levels of BPA in their urine...

Now a new study from China has found an association, for the first time, between human exposure to BPA and brain tumors. The kind of  tumor, called meningioma, is usually benign and occurs more frequently in women than in men...

Despite the limitations, the findings are another reminder that ubiquitous chemicals like BPA are likely to inflict significant damage before the weight of evidence finally convinces federal agencies to take greater steps to cut human exposures. As Sydney noted in her post yesterday, the FDA still thinks it's not a problem for us to ingest the chemical with our canned tomato soup."

Court Upholds EPA's Right to Regulate CO2 | Mother Jones

Court Upholds EPA's Right to Regulate CO2 | Mother Jones 

Sustainable.

"Turns out the Obama Environmental Protection Agency didn't make up all that stuff about carbon dioxide being bad for you. On Tuesday, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals upheld the EPA's determination that greenhouse gases warm the planet are dangerous for humans, as well as the agency's ability to regulate those gases..."

Flood insurance bill halted by... abortion amendment??

Flood insurance bill snag: Abortion - POLITICO.com 

How is it possible Congress is so broken and misdirected?
With floods ravaging parts of the Southeast, it's seen fit to try to shoehorn in anti-abortion amendments so we can pass flood insurance?

This is glaringly broken. Let's please demand that only relevant matters are considered in these cases. Political gamesmanship should just be out the question when basic functions of our government - such as helping us fiscally in the cases of floods - might be held up due to 'playing politics.' This is upsetting and nearly infuriating to learn about. Shame on Senator Paul, and the GOP for this asinine distraction and waste of everyone's time.

"That’s at least according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who said Tuesday that a Republican senator is insisting on a vote on an amendment defining “when life begins.” Reid didn’t name the senator, but it was Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who had offered the amendment.

“I think some of this stuff is just – I have been very patient working with my Republican colleagues in allowing relevant amendments on issues, and sometimes we even do non-relevant amendments,” Reid said. “But really, on flood insurance?”

“After all the work that’s been put on this bill, this is ridiculous that somebody says ‘I’m not going to let this bill go forward unless I have a vote on when life begins,’” Reid continued. “I am not going to do that, and I think I speak for the majority of senators.”"

Poll: Obama beating Romney in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (+video) - CSMonitor.com

Poll: Obama beating Romney in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (+video) - CSMonitor.com