Monthly Archives: April 2015

The Gulf Oil Spill You Never Heard About May Be the Largest Ever

The AP charges that Taylor Energy Company ‘has downplayed the leak’s extent and environmental impact’

Taylor Wells slick as seen by satellite imagery from September 26, 2011

Written by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer for Common Dreams, published April 17, 2015

While Gulf Coast residents and environmental groups focus on the upcoming five-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, a damning Associated Press investigation has exposed the lingering impacts of a separate 2004 leak in the Gulf of Mexico—one that few people know about, and one that is far worse than the industry wants to admit.

Taylor Energy Company, which formerly operated the oil platform that collapsed during Hurricane Ivan, “has downplayed the leak’s extent and environmental impact, likening it to scores of minor spills and natural seeps the Gulf routinely absorbs,” according to AP journalists Michael Kunzelman and Jeff Donn. Continue reading →

New Film on Indian Point Explores ‘Nuclear Power in the Age of Fukushima’

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Film alleges former nuke commission chair was ousted by pro-industry forces who thought he was being ‘too aggressive’ in his efforts to protect the public.

Indian Point sits on the east bank of the Hudson River in Buchanan, New York, just south of Peekskill. (Photo: Indian Point Film)

Written by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer for Common Dreams, published April 16, 2015

A new documentary, premiering Friday at the Tribeca Film Festival, provides a glimpse inside the aging nuclear plant known as Indian Point—as well as a slew of new arguments against nuclear power.

The 94-minute film, titled Indian Point and directed by Ivy Meeropol, features unprecedented footage of the three-unit nuclear power plant station, which was designed in the 1950s and sits in Buchanan, New York, just 35 miles up the Hudson River from Times Square.
Continue reading →

Money vs Local Laws – Texas Style

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On Friday, the Texas House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation that would override local efforts to regulate a wide variety of oil and gas activities. House Bill 40 – widely known as the “Denton fracking bill” – preempts regulation of oil and gas operations by municipalities. The bill is widely seen as a response to the vote in Denton last year to ban fracking inside the city limits.

Texas State Capitol. Photo by Daniel Mayer (Own work) [GFDL), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Texas State Capitol. Photo by Daniel Mayer (Own work) [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The bill gives the Texas Railroad Commission authority to preempt city laws when it comes to subsurface oil and gas operations, including hydraulic fracking. Cities would still have authority over surface activities such as noise, lights, traffic and setbacks, although the distance from wells to homes, schools and churches would have to be “commercially reasonable.” Continue reading →

‘I Know We Will Win’: Largest Ever Low-Wage Worker Protest Sweeps United States

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Day of action calling for a $15 minimum wage and the right to organize reached far beyond US borders

“Fast-food workers are joining together and standing up for what’s right, and with students, #BlackLivesMatter activists, adjunct professors, home care, Walmart, child care, and airport services workers standing with us, we are stronger than ever,” said Terrence Wise, fast food worker in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo: fightfor15.org)

Written by Sarah Lazare, staff writer for Common Dreams, published April 16, 2015.

In what is being called the largest low-wage worker protest the United States has ever seen, tens of thousands of fast food, laundry, home care, child care, retail, and education employees walked off the job or staged rallies on Wednesday in more than 200 cities across the country.

They were joined by workers in 35 countries on six continents, from New Zealand to Brazil to Japan.

The mobilization was part of the movement for a $15 dollar minimum wage in the U.S., which has touched off a nation-wide conversation about poverty and inequality since fast food workers began a series of rolling strikes and workplace actions more than three years ago. Continue reading →

As Bills Advance, Will Grassroots Resistance Finally Overcome Fast Track Push?

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Grassroots and labor groups to hold week of action calling on Democratic lawmakers to block secretive trade pact

Under fast track, ‘fast’ is little more than a euphemism for ‘avoid the public, and benefit the fortunate few,’ warns Ohio State law professor Margot Kaminski. (Photo: Backbone Campaign/cc/flickr)

Written by Lauren McCauley, staff writer for CommonDreams, published April 14, 2015.

Signaling that loud grassroots resistance may be working, congressional Democrats are failing to get behind the White House’s push for unilateral authority over the secretive 12-nation trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), according to news reports on Tuesday.

At issue is whether the House will approve a pending bill that would grant President Barack Obama ‘Fast Track’ trade promotion authority, which would allow the White House to bypass Congress and seal the deal on the controversial TPP. Continue reading →

Impunity, Death, and Blowback: Report Exposes Illegal US Drone War in Yemen

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With hundreds of civilians killed, US drone campaign set ‘dangerous’ international precedent as Yemenis face even greater threat from US-backed coalition attack

The brother of a drone strike victim told researchers, “We had hoped that America would come to the region with educational and development projects and services, but it came instead with aircrafts to kill our children.” (Image via Open Society Justice Foundation/ Mwatana Organization for Human Rights)

Written by Lauren McCauley, staff writer for CommonDreams, published April 14, 2015.

A new investigation into the United States’ killer drone campaign in Yemen, published Tuesday, finds that not only does that program fail to conform to protocols established by U.S. President Barack Obama, but that the strikes have in fact led to increased anti-American sentiment and greater regional destabilization.

The study by the Open Society Justice Foundation comes as Yemeni civilians, already under siege, face even greater threat from international “counterterrorism” efforts as a U.S.-backed attack on that country has killed an estimated 364 civilians, including at least 84 children and 25 women. Continue reading →

Blackwater Guard Sentenced to Life in Prison for Role in Notorious 2007 Massacre

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Three other former Iraq military contractors receive 30-year prison terms

Written by Andrea Germanos, published April 13, 2015, by CommonDreams.

Blackwater mercenaries in Iraq. Photo via YouTube

Update (4:35 PM EST):

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth on Monday sentenced former Blackwater security guard Nicholas Slatten to life in prison for his role in a 2007 attack on Iraqi civilians, which left 14 dead and wounded 17 others.

The Associated Press reports that the three other Blackwater employees—Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard—were sentenced to 30 years and one day each on charges that included manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and using firearms while committing a felony. Continue reading →

‘We love being Lakota’: native autonomy in Pine Ridge

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‘We love being Lakota’: native autonomy in Pine Ridge

By Peterson Rasamny. Published April 12, 2015 by ROAR Magazine.

‘The Native and the Refugee’ documentary project explores the similarities between the struggles and experiences of Native Americans and Palestinians.

By Matt Peterson & Malek Rasamny, photo by Chris Huber for Rapid City Journal.

In December 2014, we visited the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in what is now South Dakota. We chose to begin our project at the archetypal site of struggle for land, sovereignty and autonomy among natives in the United States. It was the Lakota people, including warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, who put up some of the most historic fights against the US military forces in the nation’s expansion westward.

Continue reading →

Report Reveals How Corporate Tax Dodgers Avoid Paying Their Fair Share—or Any Share At All

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Bernie Sanders declares: ‘At a time when we have massive wealth and income inequality, and when corporate profits are soaring, it is an outrage that many large, profitable corporations paid nothing in federal income taxes last year.’

Among its findings, Citizens for Tax Justice reveals that not only did media giant Time Warner pay nothing in federal income taxes last year, it received a rebate of $26 million from the IRS even though it made $4.3 billion in U.S. profits. (Photo: Zhu/flickr/cc)

Written by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published April 10, 2015.

Pointing to egregious examples of Fortune 500 corporations “manipulating the tax system to avoid paying even a dime in tax on billions of dollars in U.S. profits,” a new report from Citizens for Tax Justice makes a sharp case for corporate tax reform.

The 15 companies cited in the CTJ analysis represent a range of sectors within the U.S. economy, from toy maker Mattel to financial services corporation Prudential to broadcaster CBS to media giant Time Warner.

Continue reading →

Chevron Whistleblower Leaks ‘Smoking Gun’ in Case of Ecuadorian Oil Spill

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Videos sent to Amazon Watch described as ‘a true treasure trove of Chevron misdeeds and corporate malfeasance’

‘The videos are a true treasure trove of Chevron misdeeds and corporate malfeasance,’ said Kevin Koenig of Amazon Watch. ‘And, ironically, Chevron itself proved their authenticity.’ (Screenshot from The Chevron Tapes)

Written by Lauren McCauley, staff writer for CommonDreams. Published April 8, 2015.

In what is being described as “smoking gun evidence” of Chevron’s complete guilt and corruption in the case of an oil spill in the Ecuadorian Amazon, internal videos leaked to an environmental watchdog show company technicians finding and then mocking the extensive oil contamination in areas that the oil giant told courts had been restored.

A Chevron whistleblower reportedly sent “dozens of DVDs” to U.S.-based Amazon Watch with a handwritten note stating: “I hope this is useful for you in your trial against Texaco/Chevron. [signed] A Friend from Chevron.” Continue reading →

Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Monthly Archives: April 2015

The Gulf Oil Spill You Never Heard About May Be the Largest Ever

The AP charges that Taylor Energy Company ‘has downplayed the leak’s extent and environmental impact’

New Film on Indian Point Explores ‘Nuclear Power in the Age of Fukushima’

Film alleges former nuke commission chair was ousted by pro-industry forces who thought he was being ‘too aggressive’ in his efforts to protect the public.

Money vs Local Laws – Texas Style

Report Reveals How Corporate Tax Dodgers Avoid Paying Their Fair Share—or Any Share At All

Bernie Sanders declares: ‘At a time when we have massive wealth and income inequality, and when corporate profits are soaring, it is an outrage that many large, profitable corporations paid nothing in federal income taxes last year.’