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A fertile alternative to the corporate news media.
Diane Wilson got fished out of the Blog at Democracy now after an attempt to present the "Black Planet" award at a British Petroleum shareholders meeting. Since this was in London, she didn't get teargassed or beaten as is the custom stateside, but after 30 minutes of persistence, she did get arrested. She reports:
When I saw they absolutely were going to do everything they could to block me out, I had a baggy of molasses I had stuck in my bra, believe it or not, and I ripped it out, and I put it on my face, and I put it on my hands. And I said, "This is why they do not want us in here. They want us to go away. They want us to be quiet. They do not want any attention brought on this oil." And so, I probably stood there for, oh, 20 or 30 minutes, and eventually they arrested me. They hauled me off and arrested me.The is the same Diane who went on the lam 6 years ago after her famous protest at Dow Chemical. She comes from a long line of fishermen, who have seen a bountiful resource completely destroyed by toxic industries who have absolutely no concern for human life or the need to make a living and have safe food. The picture links back to its source at Democracy Now, and here's the historic banner-drop at Dow Chemical.
I was charged with disrupting the peace. And I kept laughing about that, and I said, "Disrupting the peace for BP?" That was pretty outrageous. You know, they had disrupted our lives down there. But just appearing at the door of a BP general assembly, and we’re disrupting the peace. And they took me down to the Forest Gate Metropolitan Police. And I must say, the police in London are extremely, extremely nice. They kept wanting to get me coffee.
Whats a negawatt?Further evidence that the smart money is on clean tech, is that Pacific Gas and Electric and Exelon have quit the US Chamber of Commerce and Duke Energy has left the National Association of Manufacturers." From Bill Hewitt, earlier this month
Get the pdf
According to independent sources, more than 100 people have died as of Wednesday in Myanmar's oil pipeline blaze
On Monday, AFP reported the death of at least 14 workers at an oil fire in central Myanmar. That is the only report we had until yesterday, and casualties continue to mount. According to AFP "Authorities were battling to put out the blaze, which broke out on Sunday near Pakokku town in the Magway region." The official who passed the information to AFP did not want to be named.
The vast majority of industry in tightly controlled Mynmar is in the hands of the French company Total, and California based Chevron. Chevron took over the operations of UNOCAL after UNOCAL was sucessfully sued for sponsoring the rape and torture of villagers along their pipeline in Myanmar.
UNOCAL had long been one of the brands sold by the oil giant Chevron, but until the recent settlement, UNOCAL operated as an independent corporation.
The source for this article was a Malaysian publication Mysinchew.com, by way of AFP. Since then, the democratic resistance has leaked eyewitness accounts of villagers nearby: reported Wednesday - DOGSPOT
Death toll exceeds 100, Democratic Voice of Burma
On Tuesday a tsunami smashed into a remote Indonesian island chain while in central Java a volcanic eruption left 13 people dead.
An intial 7.7 magnitude underwater quake triggered the tsunami 15 minutes later. After 5 hours, the islands were rocked by a 6.1 magnitude aftershock, and a series of smaller quakes in the range of 5.1 to 6.2 magnitude. The apocolyptic scenario was completed by 3 eruptions of the Merapi volcano, which erupted yet again on Friday.
Details, along with seismic reports, have been moved to DOGSPOT
Two in a row for GRIST - they released a great issue yesterday. In "The GOP changes its tune on cap-and-trade", Dan Weiss explains how and why the Republicans are:
"...repudiating Reagan's legacy of cap-and-trade for cheap political gain to curry favor with polluting industries".
"Cap-and-trade is a cost-effective alternative that allows the firms that can more cheaply reduce their emissions below their required limit to sell any additional reductions to companies that are not able to make reductions as easily. This creates a system that guarantees a set level of overall reductions while rewarding the most efficient companies and ensuring that the cap can be met at the lowest possible cost to the economy.The Reagan White House conceived the first cap-and-trade program to reduce pollution. It was used in the 1980s to phase out lead in gasoline at a lower cost."
Dan Weiss also sites Cap and Trade proposals by Newt Gingrich, George W. Bush, and Sarah Palin as recently as 2008. What a short memory we are supposed to have! Republicans bank on contributions from major polluters in exchange for their flip-flop on this issue dear to companies like Peabody and Chevron. Even before the court ruling that opened the floodgates of money for the upcoming election, Chevron has recently laundered millions through the Chamber of Commerce, an effort that is being scaled up this year. But not for candidates who support even the mildest attempts to mitigate the real cost of dirty industry.
Daniel J. Weiss originally posted his article at The Center for American Progress.
The latest pdf is here and here.
The online version -
Who is Chevron, who promotes their greenwash ?
- contains useful links to information that might be included in a "long version".
"I caught up with Bobby Ryan, Chevron’s vice president for global exploration, to get his take on the announcement so soon after the lifting of the moratorium, which came in the aftermath of the blowout on a BP well that killed 11 rig workers and flooded the gulf with millions of barrel(sic) of oil. He said that despite the accident, the gulf continues to be one of the crucial areas of focus for Chevron, the second largest American oil company after Exxon. “We are going to continue to explore,” he said."Unfortunately, there is more. Read it and you'll agree. Fresh Green Blog is a green blog -:)
Even as I type this, several news outlets continue to distribute a spoof from environmentalists that preceded a genuine effort from Chevron. The fake press releases include a link to chevron-weagree.com where a slick slide show presents a message that would be a complete turn-around for the oil giant. Chevron has launched an effort to take it down...
Full story has been updated and moved
The original spoof site has been archived, and can easily be mirrored. http://dogspot.us/chevron/
You can download the entire site as an archive
This is only one slide from the spoofed Chevron website. The latest update is here: Masks come off in Chevron charade