The Wettest Rainforest in the United States Has Gone Up in Flames
by Subhankar Banerjee
The Nation
7/30/15

"When fire can eat a rainforest in a relatively cool climate, you know the Earth is beginning to burn."



The wettest rainforest in the continental United States had gone up in flames and the smoke was so thick, so blanketing, that you could see it miles away. Deep in Washington’s Olympic National Park, the aptly named Paradise Fire, undaunted by the dampness of it all, was eating the forest alive and destroying an ecological Eden. In this season of drought across the West, there have been far bigger blazes but none quite so symbolic or offering quite such grim news. It isn’t the size of the fire (though it is the largest in the park’s history), nor its intensity. It’s something else entirely—the fact that it shouldn’t have been burning at all. When fire can eat a rainforest in a relatively cool climate, you know the Earth is beginning to burn.

....SNIP....a very long, detailed, well-written account by a resident of the area who has a rich history & love for the PNW...please read if you have time, it's fascinating & educational. though tragic....


...A team of international climate change and rainforest experts published a study earlier this year warning that, “without drastic and immediate cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and new forest protections, the world’s most expansive stretch of temperate rainforests from Alaska to the coast redwoods will experience irreparable losses.” In fact, says the study’s lead author, Dominick DellaSala, “In the Pacific Northwest…the climate may no longer support rainforest communities.”...

....The harbors of Washington, a state that prides itself on its environmental stewardship, have already become a support base for one, and the other will likely join the crowd in the years to come. Washington’s residents will gradually become more accustomed to oil rigs and tankers and trains, while its rainforests burn in yet more paradisical fires.

In the meantime, the Olympic Peninsula is still wreathed in smoke, the West is still drought central, and anthropogenic is a word all of us had better learn soon.

http://www.thenation.com/article/the-wettest-rainforest-in-the-united-states-has-gone-up-in-flames/

I think their members care a lot but the temptation for an easy photo moment on stage at whatever cost to the most progressive candidate in the race was opportunistic by the leadership and reckless as well as inconsiderate towards someone who has long supported civil rights.

Does it matter what someone does in their life or is it all about a show for the cameras? I think the leadership who set up this incident wanted publicity at any cost and they took the easiest way to get some by targeting a supporter.

Nobody got arrested or anything else, a safe and easy one this time! What was their goal to keep it up until they drove Bernie (old white guy?) from the stage? Made everybody wonder what was really going on. Now we read of FBI surveillance. It is almost a guarantee that undercovers are infiltrators.

While there is no proof as yet of agent provocateurs ala Cointelpro... the pattern and modus operandi sure looks like more than simple coincidence. Certainly the end result looks conveniently like exactly the kind of negative press moments attempted back in the Sixties about progressive advocates.

Guess it was just a coincidence (?) but the rightwingnuts are all laughing because only the civil rights supporter took the hit.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/07/24/netroots-nation-confrontation-wasnt-about-blacklivesmatter-all

Ben & Jerry’s founder criticizes money in politics at GrassRoots 2015
News, Stories, Top
July 21, 2015
by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

TRUMANSBURG, N.Y. — A co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream attended the 2015 GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance this weekend to promote the Stamp Stampede, a campaign aimed at reducing the influence large corporations have on politicians and elections.

“It’s about the power of numbers of people over huge amounts of money,” said Ben Cohen.

“Whatever you may care about … the reason why things are screwed up is because politicians are being paid large sums of money to pass laws that benefit those who already have so much at the expense of everyone else.”

Lobbyists Fundraising for Clinton, Bush, Rubio and Kasich Are Coworkers
7/22/15

Just how incestuous is the small world of big money politics? The leading Democratic candidate and at least three major Republican candidates are all relying on members of the same lobbying firm to help them raise presidential campaign cash: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

Akin Gump is hardly a household name, but the law and lobbying firm is famous in Washington for its ability to sell access to those in power. Akin Gump’s employee roster is filled with former members of Congress, and its client list is a veritable who’s who of elite interests, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Monsanto, Boeing, Chevron, Gilead Sciences, Pfizer and AT&T. The United Arab Emirates and Japan are among the foreign governments represented by the firm.

....Last week, the Clinton, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio campaigns filed reports with the Federal Election Commission to list their lobbyist bundlers, revealing that all three have relied on Akin Gump for campaign cash. In Clinton’s case, her campaign not only used Akin Gump lobbyists as bundlers, but the Clinton campaign treasurer, Jose H. Villarreal, works for Akin Gump’s lobbying division, though he is not registered as a lobbyist. In addition, former Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., who is now employed by Akin Gump, has been tapped to raise money for the presidential campaign of Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, who kicked off his candidacy on Tuesday.

For Clinton, Akin Gump lobbyists Donald Pongrace, Scott Parven, Allison Binney, Brian Pomper and Arshi Siddiqui are listed as bundlers. Together, Akin Gump’s pro-Clinton team brought in $129,850 in the first six months of this year.

....The arrangement means that in practical terms, if an establishment candidate makes it to the White House, there’s a good chance he or she will have won with money raised by Akin Gump.....

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/22/top-fundraisers-hillary-clinton-jeb-bush-work-lobbying-firm/

Vice President Joe Biden declared last week that the “one single thing” that would make it possible to turn liberal priorities into law would be to “get private money out of the political process.” Democratic candidates, he said, should “start in our own party” by only taking limited amounts of money during primaries from “millionaires and billionaires.”

Noticeably, Biden did not then add: “… And that’s exactly what I’ll be doing as I run for the Democratic presidential nomination, starting today!”

So while these were nice words on Biden’s part, it was a little like LeBron James holding the ball with 30 seconds left in game seven of the finals, saying, “I think one of our good players should really take a shot!” (Of course, that may be too flattering to Biden. He’s more like the Democrats’ Karl Malone: two finals, no championships.)

If anyone is living up to Biden’s words, it’s Bernie Sanders, who has committed to not accepting Super PAC support. By contrast, Super PACs affiliated with Hillary Clinton have so far raised $24 million, including million-dollar-plus donations from billionaires Haim Saban and George Soros. Of the $47.5 million Clinton’s campaign itself has raised to date in donations capped at $2,700, just one-fifth came from donors giving $200 or less, compared to four-fifths of Sanders’ $15 million.

Biden was speaking to Generation Progress, the youth arm of the think tank Center for American Progress, which is closely linked to the Democratic Party. Biden told his young audience that “no matter how much you love me or somebody else, you have to demand” of Democratic candidates that they take limited money from the 1 percent — at least during primaries. For general elections, Biden said, in which even candidates who dislike the current system can’t be expected to unilaterally disarm, “it’s going to require a constitutional amendment” nullifying Citizens United and related Supreme Court decisions....

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/21/joe-biden-democrats-start-party-get-private-money-politics/

Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Cries of Betrayal, Calls to Organize as Obama Approves Arctic Drilling

'With this decision, President Obama has given Shell an open invitation to turn the Chukchi Sea into an energy sacrifice zone,' said Marissa Knodel of Friends of the Earth

President Barack Obama on Wednesday afternoon gave the final go-ahead for Royal Dutch Shell PLC to drill for oil in the Chukchi Sea near Alaska, flouting fierce public opposition to the extraction over the severe danger it poses to the ocean ecosystem, climate, and coastal communities.

"The president has made a big mistake allowing Shell back into the Arctic," declared Center for Biological Diversity Alaska director Rebecca Noblin in a press statement released Wednesday. "The risks of a devastating oil spill in this harsh environment are just too great, particularly for a company with such poor performance record. This is a reckless move by a country that is still struggling to reduce its impact on global warming."

The permits granted Wednesday mean that the oil giant can commence with drilling exploratory wells as soon as its vessels and equipment reach the sea. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced it has included some conditions, limiting Shell to "drilling only the top sections of wells and prohibit Shell from drilling into oil-bearing zones."

But campaigners say that the restrictions are weak, and the fact that Shell will now be permitted to drill in the Arctic constitutes a deep betrayal of Obama's own pledge to make tackling climate change one of his top three priorities during his second term.

Moreover, the decision comes as scientists warn that to avert a climate catastrophe, the majority of fossil fuel deposits around the world must remain unused....

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/07/22/cries-betrayal-calls-organize-obama-approves-arctic-drilling

Kayaktivists Across the Country Paddle in Protest of Arctic Drilling
7/18/15



Environmentalists furious with President Barack Obama's continued support for Arctic drilling on Saturday descended on the White House and paddled onto waterways across the United States united in a call to end this dangerous expansion of our fossil fuel energy system.

In a display of solidarity with Seattle's 'kayaktivists'—who through repeated direct actions have tried to thwart Royal Dutch Shell's Arctic drilling plans—activists in Minnesota, Florida, Boston, Detroit, and elsewhere launched floating protests to denounce what they say is a "fool's journey" to drill for oil in the Chukchi Sea in the Alaskan Arctic.

#mpls says #ShellNo! pic.twitter.com/XAqDmAmHTV

— Lois Norrgard (@lnorr10) July 18, 2015



Meanwhile, in Washington D.C.'s Lafayette Park, protesters donned polar bear and walrus suits and held signs calling on the president to suspend Shell's permit. The oil giant's drilling fleet is currently making its way from the Port of Seattle to the Alaskan coast, where it could begin exploratory drilling as soon as next week, activists warn.



Happening Now: Enviros sound alarm on Arctic oil exploration and tell White House stop new drilling permits #ShellNo pic.twitter.com/FQ7oYzQNw5

— john zangas (@johnzangas) July 18, 2015

Environmentalists have repeatedly criticized Arctic drilling as one of the most dangerous and extreme forms of fossil fuel extraction, as it threatens one of the world's most pristine ecosystems while concurrently ensuring even greater carbon emissions....

READ MORE~
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/07/18/kayaktivists-across-country-paddle-protest-arctic-drilling

Stop Shell. Save the Arctic.
7/18/15

...As early as next week, the Royal Dutch Shell oil company could begin exploratory drilling in the Arctic, exposing these waters to the risk of devastating oil spills and ensuring more carbon pollution, which would undermine the gains our country is now making in the fight against climate change.



One of the last pristine oceans on earth, these waters support a rich web of marine and animal life, from tiny phytoplankton to majestic bowhead whales. Eiders, snowy owls and caribou live along the coast. And the ocean hosts some of the most productive fisheries anywhere in the world. Why would we put all that at risk, when our own government tells us there’s a 75 percent chance of a major oil spill if the Arctic leases in the Chukchi Sea are fully developed?

....SNIP of 2 pages of history of past spills & relevant facts....

...Now imagine a similar disaster in the Arctic, a place where pack ice makes sea travel all but impossible eight months out of the year for any craft other than the sturdiest icebreakers; where gale force winds can kick up waves as high as a three-story building; and where winters that begin in September with wind-chill factors that make temperatures feel like 10 degrees below zero.

Want to talk about capping a blowout under those conditions? Or cleaning up massive clots of frigid oil in seas where an iceberg can peel open the hull of a ship like a paring knife through a potato skin? Or how long it might take for coldwater habitat to recover from an oil spill?....

....The fossil-fuel industry wants us to believe we’re stuck with oil and all the damage, danger, and destruction it brings. That we have no choice but to accept that 30 years from now we might need Arctic oil — based on demand assumptions, which the International Energy Agency says would result in an average global temperature increase of at least six degrees Celsius — three times what science states the planet can sustain.

Well, we’re not stuck with oil. We can do better than assume climate failure.

We’ve already cut our oil consumption in this country 21 percent as a share of our real economic output over just the past decade. Imagine what we can do in the decades to come if we put our minds to building on that success....

Read article in full here~
http://ecowatch.com/2015/07/18/stop-shell-save-the-arctic/3/

“What will your administration do differently [than] those prior? We are already past the tipping point and most of us here would agree we now need to make plans and discontinue the bicker and inaction in Congress over climate change.”

“Are you for or against fracking?”

“What about the Keystone [XL] pipeline?”

Hillary Dodges Questions on Climate, Keystone and Fracking in Facebook Q&A
7/21/15

....Thousands of potential voters took part in the chat, during which Clinton pledged to reduce the debt load for students, prosecute bad actors on Wall Street, expressed solidarity with Black Lives Matter and joked that she “never met a pantsuit [she] didn’t love.”

Clinton, however, did not respond to the environmental questions Facebook users raised and her campaign website offers little information on her environmental positions, with the exception of proclaiming that “America must lead the world in developing and deploying new clean energy sources that will power our economy, protect the health of our families and address the global threat of climate change.”

Yet, environmentalists are raising concerns over Clinton’s opaque environmental stance. While serving as Secretary of State in 2010, Clinton stated she was “inclined” to support the Keystone XL pipeline and in June her campaign hired former TransCanada lobbyist, Jeff Berman as a consultant.

Karthik Ganapathy, a spokesperson for 350.org, told Business Insider last week that Clinton’s lack of a clear stance on the Keystone XL was indefensible. “It’s even more indefensible when [Republican presidential candidates] Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have taken a position on it when you, as the Democratic front-runner, have not,” he said....

http://ecowatch.com/2015/07/21/hillary-facebook-q-and-a/

Hillary Clinton's Biggest Campaign Bundlers Are Fossil Fuel Lobbyists
Clinton's top campaign financiers are linked to Big Oil, natural gas and the Keystone pipeline.
7/17/15

WASHINGTON -- Nearly all of the lobbyists bundling contributions for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign have at one time or another worked for the fossil fuel industry. A list of 40 registered lobbyists that the Clinton camp disclosed to the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday revealed a number of Democratic Party lobbyists who have worked against regulations to curb climate change, advocated for offshore drilling, or sought government approval for natural gas exports.

Clinton, the former secretary of state, has called climate change the most “consequential, urgent, sweeping collection of challenges we face as a nation and a world” and says it would be a major focus of her administration if she wins the White House. But having so many supporters who have sold their services to fossil fuel companies may complicate her emphasis on pro-environment policies.

Scott Parven and Brian Pomper, lobbyists at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, have been registered to lobby for the Southern California-based oil giant Chevron since 2006, with contracts totaling more than $3 million. The two bundled Clinton contributions of $24,700 and $29,700, respectively. They have helped Chevron over the years resist efforts to eliminate oil and gas tax breaks and to impose regulations to reduce carbon emissions.

The two Clinton bundlers also were part of a much-criticized campaign by Chevron to manipulate Congress into inserting language into the Andean Trade Preferences Act that would require Ecuador to dismiss a longstanding lawsuit against the company for polluting the Amazon jungle. Democratic lawmakers pushed back against the campaign and the lawsuit is continuing....

Read much, MUCH more here~
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-bundlers-fossil-fuel_55a8335ee4b04740a3df86c5

Bill Clinton’s Apology: Not Accepted!
by Herbert Dyer, Jr.
July 21, 2015

....big SNIP....

It was just this past week at the NAACP’s annual confab when Bill Clinton made a naked play for Black votes for his wife Hillary in next year’s presidential sweepstakes. Bill’s ploy followed a similar effort by President Obama himself. Now in his sixth year in office, Obama has had an epiphany of sorts. He has suddenly realized that there may be too many black people locked up and for no good reason. Thus, the President has issued a supremely belated call for an overhaul of the criminal justice system. He has even commuted the sentences of some 40-plus federal prisoners (out of 7,000-plus applicants and 30,000 overall) convicted under draconian drug laws. (Seems more like a commutation lottery than a compassionate or committed effort to right an obvious wrong).

Bill Clinton not only agreed with Obama but went so far as to say that the 1994 anti-crime law he enacted was a major reason so many Black men and women are now languishing in county jails, state and federal prisons, and are otherwise under some form of “supervision” by this nation-state’s “criminal justice system.” And both Obama’s and Bill’s belated “initiatives” follow Hillary’s own call for an end to the “incarceration generation.”

These political theatrics are so chock-full of hypocrisy and cynicism that it is just impossible to ignore: Bill and Hillary Clinton, President Obama, and Democrats and Republicans across the board have all considered Clinton’s 1994 anti-crime law as one of Clinton’s crowning achievements as President. Politicians of all stripes have consistently credited that law with lowering crime rates nationwide by essentially unleashing police forces onto Black communities to rid them of dangerous open-air, street corner drug dealers, uncontrollable drug addicts, shoplifters and other petty thieves of all description, unlicensed/unregistered drivers, illegal U-turners and lane changers, jaywalkers, and, of course, those dastardly public urinaters.

....SNIP....The devastating effects of Clinton’s law are now being felt by millions upon millions of people – mostly Black and Brown people. The numbers are well known by now: 2.2 million-plus people are now behind bars, double the number locked up when Clinton came to power. The US holds a full 25 percent of the entire world’s prisoners, while it constitutes only five percent of its population. Almost half of that percent are Black and Brown people.

The Clintons are counting on the forgiving nature of Black people....

Read in entirety~
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/21/bill-clintons-apology-not-accepted/