March 9, 2013

Whole Foods GMO Labeling To Be Mandatory By 2018

Whole Foods has announced that by 2018, all products in U.S. and Canada stores must be labeled if they contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This is the first national grocery store to set a deadline from GMO labeling.

“We are putting a stake in the ground on GMO labeling to support the consumer’s right to know,” said Walter Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, in a press release. “The prevalence of GMOs in the U.S. paired with nonexistent mandatory labeling makes it very difficult for retailers to source non-GMO options and for consumers to choose non-GMO products. Accordingly, we are stepping up our support of certified organic agriculture, where GMOs are not allowed, and we are working together with our supplier partners to grow our non-GMO supply chain to ensure we can continue to provide these choices in the future.”

Genetically modified organism have been manipulated through genetic engineering by introducing changes into DNA structure.

This announcement comes at a time where interest in GMO labeling is at an all-time high. During the November election, a mandatory GMO labeling initiative -- Prop 37 -- was introduced in California. Millions of dollars poured in from various corporations such as Monsanto and PepsiCo against the ballot measure, which was ultimately defeated. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/08/whole-foods-gmo-labeling-2018_n_2837754.html?ir=Business&ref=topbar

March 8, 2013

Naked Florida man professes his love for cocaine

CRESTVIEW – A 21-year-old man who told officers he loved cocaine and needed more cocaine was arrested after he was caught running naked through an apartment complex.

On Feb. 24 the Crestview Police Department received numerous reports from Bel-Aire Apartments about a man running naked and yelling through the complex. At one point he tried to get into a car of a woman and her young child.

When lawmen arrived the man, now wearing pajama pants, leaped onto the hood of the patrol car and wouldn’t get down until ordered. He lay down on the grass nearby, where he made several comments about loving cocaine and needing more cocaine.

Then, he got up and tried to run away. When the officer ordered him to stop, he ran back toward the officer and dove head-first in a slide to the officer. The officer tried to handcuff him but he got away. The officer gave chase. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/local/crime/police-blotters/naked-man-declares-he-loves-cocaine-and-needs-more-1.106369

March 8, 2013

Man pretends stolen beer is his member, ends up charged with assault

http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/news/x711928689/Medford-man-pretends-stolen-Somerville-beer-is-his-genitals#axzz2MsVtuw1I


Somerville, Mass. — Police arrested a 26-year-old Medford man after he reportedly stole two cans of beer, told a woman that the cans were his penis and then threw one of the cans at her. Jonathan Scull of 50 Newbern Ave. was charged with threat to commit a crime, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, shoplifting by concealment and resisting arrest.

Police responded on Feb. 26 at 6:57 p.m. to Woody’s Liquors on Broadway for a report of assault. A female employee told police she saw a man, later identified as Scull put two cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon down his pants and leave the store. She followed him onto Broadway and asked him why he had a bulge in his pant leg around his ankle. He replied, “It’s my [genitals]!” The woman said she pointed out that the bulge around his ankle was clearly not his genitals. The man then threw a beer can at her head and fled down William Street into Medford.

Police caught up with Scull in Medford, where Scull reportedly told them that since they weren’t in Somerville, his actions at the liquor store were none of their business and they should “f--- off.” Police said Scull refused to be handcuffed and screamed obscenities as three officers tackled him. He reportedly told officers that if they removed his handcuffs he would “kick the s--- out of them,” and that he would have killed them if they didn’t have badges.

March 8, 2013

Kansas lawmakers WILL NOT BE DENIED their lap dances........

A Kansas legislative committee voted Friday morning to kill legislation that could have effectively banned strip clubs and lap dances in the state.

The state House Federal and State Affairs Committee used a voice vote to kill the measure, referred to as a ban by state legislators and designed to place zoning restrictions on where strip clubs could set up shop. The zoning restrictions included prohibiting strip clubs from within 1,000 feet of schools, playgrounds, day care centers, libraries and churches.

The Friday vote to kill the bill came shortly after the same committee had amended the legislation, removing provisions that would have strictly regulated what happened inside strip clubs, effectively banning them from the state, according to legislators. The provisions also would have prohibited lap dances and semi-nude wrestling and tumbling. Committee members argued that even with the amendment that removed the provisions and preserved only the zoning restrictions, if the bill had passed, the full House of Representatives would likely have sought to reinstate the broader bans.

State Rep. Brett Hildabrand (R-Shawnee) told The Huffington Post that he voted against the final bill -- despite authoring the amendment that preserved the zoning restrictions -- because while he thinks local governments should have the authority to regulate zoning, he more broadly believes the government should not regulate business. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/08/kansas-strip-club-ban_n_2837302.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

March 8, 2013

Richard Wolff: Austerity: Another "Policy Mistake" Again

Austerity: Another "Policy Mistake" Again

Friday, 08 March 2013 00:00
By Richard D Wolff, Truthout | Op-Ed


Capitalism prescribes the same policy mistakes over and over again - austerity, punishment for debtors (unless they are financial institutions), labor cost cutting – that exacerbate its inevitable crises. When will we attack the structural roots of crisis?

Shoddy political theater distracts people with vague demons called debt ceiling, fiscal cliff and now, sequester. Party leaders posture for major donors, media boosters and the faithful. They claim to save us from the demons. Meanwhile, backstage they all agree on austerity as the "necessary" response to "our major problem," namely federal budget "imbalance." "We" are spending "beyond our means," accumulating "government debts." So "we" must raise taxes and cut spending - impose austerity - to regain balance.

On January 1, payroll taxes rose (from 4.2 to 6.2 %) for 150 million Americans. Their checks shrank as that regressive tax became more so. Obama's hyped "tax increase for the rich" was comparatively trivial. It affected only the very few Americans earning over $450,000, raising their top tax rate from 35 percent to 39.6 percent. Our leaders hope we forgot the 1950s and 1960s, when the top tax rate was 91 percent. On March 1, the sequester hit, unleashing federal spending cuts.

Higher payroll taxes cut personal spending on goods and services; that worsens unemployment. That reduces income and sales taxes while requiring more unemployment compensation, thereby also worsening Washington's budget imbalance. By cutting federal spending on goods and services, the sequester also worsens unemployment, reduces tax revenues and increases unemployment compensation outlays. No wonder critics scream that austerity now is crazy and counterproductive. Europe's three-year austerity program pushed its unemployment rate in February 2013 to 11.9 percent.

Why do "our leaders" agree on austerity (and disagree only on its details)? Why ignore that austerity not only undercuts the economy, but risks the government's budget too? Why ignore alternatives to austerity? For example, tax the largest corporations and richest 3 percent to fund a bottom-up stimulus program. That could help balance the federal budget, directly aid most people and likely outperform the failed top-down (trickle down) policies of Bush and Obama. FDR's policies in the 1930s provide one example to start from. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/14917-austerity-another-policy-mistake-again

March 8, 2013

Rabid right-wing dogfight: Pam Geller accuses CPAC of suborning Sharia Law

March 8, 2013 | Add “CPAC vs. Islamophobes” to the growing list of internal conservative squabbles.

“What are they doing at CPAC? Essentially, they are enforcing the Shariah,” said anti-Islam blogger Pamela Geller. “Under the Shariah, the blasphemy laws, you cannot say, you cannot offend, you cannot criticize and you cannot insult Islam. That is effectively what they’re doing, they are enforcing the Shariah.”

Right Wing Watch reports that Geller was speaking on “The Janet Mefferd Show” about her recent snub from this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, at which she usually holds an unofficial panel. “This year I could not get an event, I was banned,” she said, though also noted that in the past, “I wasn’t warmly welcomed because of the influence of what can only be described as Muslim Brotherhood facilitators or operatives like (ex-Bush staffer and Muslim) Suhail Khan and (anti-tax conservative) Grover Norquist.” ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/pamela-geller-cpac-enforcing-shariah

March 8, 2013

Cenk Uygur: The 3 Real Problems With Drone Strikes

Published on Friday, March 8, 2013 by The Young Turks
The 3 Real Problems With Drone Strikes

by Cenk Uygur


It's frustrating to see how muddled the debate over drones has become. Some people are wondering why we're all so concerned over a new vehicle that delivers bombs, as opposed to planes. No, no, that's not it at all. Drones don't kill people, the U.S. government kills people. It's just a tool. The problem isn't the tool; the problem is how we are using it.

So, in order to clear up the confusion let me just state the three biggest problems with how we are using the drone program.

1. We have used drones to execute U.S. civilians without a trial. In the case of Anwar al-Awlaki, the government seems to be indicating he was a really important operational leader for al-Qaeda. Their evidence for that -- nothing. At least nothing they have presented to the public or any other branch of government. The old saying is that you could indict a ham sandwich, but apparently they couldn't indict Awlaki.

Does that mean our government couldn't produce any evidence at all on this supposed terrorist mastermind, or has such disdain for any other branch of government that they think it's beneath them to show a shred of evidence to a court before they order the execution of a U.S. citizen? ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/03/08

March 8, 2013

The Invisible Fist: The GOP respects the hand of the market, but disrespects those who work for it

from In These Times:


The Invisible Fist
The GOP respects the hand of the market, but disrespects those who work for it.

BY Leo Gerard, United Steelworkers President


The invisible hand of the market, which the GOP worships as an infallible god, is curled into a fist and is pounding America’s lowest-paid workers.

Those workers have complained about the grinding poverty level of minimum wage. Walmart warehouse workers and New York fast food workers are demonstrating in the streets. They’re fed up. Well, they would be if they could afford enough to eat. President Obama responded, asking Congress to raise the minimum wage, which was last increased to $7.25 an hour in 2009.

Republicans, the party of NO, replied to Obama’s request with a surly “No way!” Respect the hand, they said, referring to their beloved spectral regulator of the market. Government, Republicans said, must not tell business what to do, must not “burden” business by requiring it to pay a little more. Republicans never mention the burden under which 18 million minimum wage workers struggle, working full-time for $15,080 a year, barely enough to feed, clothe and house themselves. That’s because Republicans revere non-humans—corporations and invisible hands—while denigrating and disrespecting humans who work with their hands to serve food, care for the elderly and stock shelves.

The disrespect could be heard in Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s voice as he derided 47 percent of all Americans as “takers.” That huge number Romney despises includes minimum wage workers—84 percent of whom are 20 or older—whose children receive immunizations and antibiotics through Medicaid because employers paying minimum wage virtually never provide health insurance. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/14686/gop_worships_the_hand_disrespects_those_who_work_with_them/

March 8, 2013

If A Driverless Car Crashes, Who's Liable?

(NPR) Some number of years from now, the technology may exist for cars to drive themselves. This could save thousands of lives a year (90 percent of fatal car accidents involve human error).

But getting the technology right won't be enough. Governments and courts will have to figure out lots of new legal and regulatory issues. One key question: If a driverless car crashes, who's liable?

"It's absolutely the case that after the first accident involving an automated vehicle, there will be an automated ambulance chaser following," says Robert Hartwig, President of the Insurance Information Institute.

The auto industry is aware of the legal risk. "We have great exposure as an industry in terms of product liability," says Dan Gage, of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. "And I think as an industry ... most of us suspect that there will always be someone in that driver's seat." ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/03/08/173766352/if-a-driverless-car-crashes-whos-liable

March 8, 2013

Sleepless America: The Deadly Cost of Fatigue in Transportation

Sleepless America: The Deadly Cost of Fatigue in Transportation

March 7, 2013 by ntsbgov
By Mark Rosekind


When you step onto a bus, airplane, or train there is a sacred trust that the operators have taken all reasonable measures to ensure you arrive safely at your destination, every time. When you turn the ignition on in your own vehicle, you join this sacred trust, to ensure that you, your passengers, and those around you will arrive safely at your destinations, every time. Next week, America prepares to turn its clocks ahead and collectively as a nation we each lose an hour of sleep. In one night, this will generate a 300 million-hour national sleep debt and in the few days it takes our bodies to adjust, our nation will accumulate over a billion hours of lost sleep. In transportation, this lost sleep kills, injures, and costs billions of dollars.

National Sleep Awareness Week, March 3 through 10, highlights the tragedies that result from sleep loss and operating vehicles while fatigued. Just three years ago 10 people died when a truck plowed into seven cars and caused a massive pile-up on Interstate 44 near Miami, Oklahoma. It was the worst highway accident in the state’s history. The driver suffered from a deadly combination of an altered work schedule, acute sleep loss, and sleep apnea. He never even touched the brakes.

The hour we lose when clocks are set forward every spring offers our already sleep-deprived country a glimpse into the dangers of operating vehicles while fatigued. Perhaps the most basic requirement for safely operating any vehicle is to be awake, and though necessary, just being awake is not sufficient. Safe travel requires every vehicle operator to have obtained optimal sleep and be wide-awake and maximally alert, every time. There is a 17 percent increase in crashes on our roadways on the Monday following the time change. But fatigue safety risks are a life-threatening concern far beyond this annual clock change. Every year, an estimated one million roadway crashes and near-misses are likely fatigue-related, with thousands of people losing their lives and being injured. Fatigue-related tragedies are played out across every hour of the day throughout our nation’s transportation system. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://safetycompass.wordpress.com/2013/03/07/sleepless-america-the-deadly-cost-of-fatigue-in-transportation/