27 July - Life in the Waste Dump

 The Agonist

The Giving Trees: Five Trees You’ve Never Heard of that Are Helping to End Hunger

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet.
We know that trees can help mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon dioxide from the earth’s atmosphere. But what is less widely understood is how many of these trees can also help to bring an end to hunger and poverty.

• Voter Photo ID: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
• Boater fine over (US/Canada) border crossing irks Thousand Islands residents
• Norway's Maximum Sentence 21 Years
• Christie's Myopic Education for His Children
• Gawker Investigating Relationship Between Fox News And Chris Christie
• Administration Backs Reid's Plan
• Counterjihad - Not A "Religion Of Peace?"

• Mexican cartels move into human trafficking

  IMF demands end to partisan bickering over debt ceiling as America's deadline day looms

  Afghan president outlines conditions for future US ties

  Alarming ‘dead zone’ grows in the Chesapeake

  Mass protests continue in Spanish capital 

  Iranian Exile Group Poses Vexing Issue for U.S. in Iraq

  Foreign investment begins to pour into Iraq

  ** China's CNPC starts oil output in Iraq
  ** Al-Qaeda cell in Baghdad smashed
  ** Kurdish rebels kill Iranian commander, five guards
  ** Pentagon wants new Iraq security pact
  ** For wounded veteran, medical marijuana's been a godsend  

  Iran, Iraq, Syria to sign contract to transit natural gas to Europe

  Aid reaches drought victims in Islamist area of Somalia

  UK: Militarizing the police force

  German neo-Nazis increasingly target young people onlinehttp://agonist.org/20110724/german_neo_nazis_increasingly_target_young_people_online

  The Effects of Our Toxic Environmental Bio-Terrain on Life
• When the well exploded, I was researching a disease pandemic some call Morgellons. This is not the name for this disease now. It is clearly Hyper-Toxicity, Degradation of the Bio-Terrain, Neurocutaneous Syndrome, and recently has surfaced as the BP Oil Gulf Plague.
  
  Before I submit the evidence from this crime scene, I want to give you a heads-up on what I had been working on for years here in the southern United States. I find it interesting that, in early 2006, I began pulling strange PCBs, fibers and other organisms out of the skin of humans and was just astounded. I wanted to know what this new disease was. I called
  an old professor of mine, as these samples I was viewing looked almost shrimp-like. He had never heard of this. His advice was to call the Department of Marine Biology in Washington, DC.
  
  I was excited and very curious, and the next morning I dialed a phone number. In my enthusiasm at finding something that was so interesting, I began telling my story to the man who picked up the phone in D.C. He listened very intently. Then these words, that I shall never forget and in retrospect haunt me. "Lady," he said, "if you know anything about this disease, you start screaming and you keep screaming, because if you don't and something happens to you, you will be missed." He went on to say, "You have not reached the Department of Marine Biology. You have reached the Department of Geology. I want you to stay away from this god-forsaken town (D.C.). I have 3 years left in this hellhole before I retire, so you scream and don't stop." I began screaming like a wild woman then, and heeding his advice, will not be silenced now.
  
  I do not believe in accidents any more. This scientist knew something, and he knew I was on to something. Could it be that this was a warning sign of things to come, and this honest geologist knew something and had seen evidence of what I was relating? The answers to these questions may never be forthcoming, but the Universe reveals things to us when we need to look at them. It is a shame that more scientists are not curious about the human condition, because people continue to be polluted by food, water, environment and man's greed to tear apart and alter the perfection of Mother Earth's gifts.
  
  Marine Toxicologist Dr. Riki Ott helped countless individuals while fighting valiantly for the people of Alaska in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez spill. She could have earned $250,000 a year in the employ of various companies, but instead chose to assist people and wildlife. Dr. Ott worked diligently over years on books and documentaries which illustrate her knowledge and concerns. She duly warned us of the treatment that was inflicted upon the people by the Exxon Valdez spill. Now she has taken her time and her dime to come to the Gulf Region and educate people up and down the coastlines of our precious Gulf of Mexico.
• • Lots of Inconvenient Truths -- Chemical Illness Epidemic in the Wake of the BP Blowout - one month agoRecently Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer overseeing the $20 billion Gulf Coast Claims Facility to "make it right" for people harmed by the British Petroleum oil blowout disaster, told a Louisia...
  • Will the Government Let BP Reduce Its Fines and Penalties for Deepwater? - 4 months agoGretna, LA -- As the one-year memorial of British Petroleum's tragic deepwater well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico approaches, federal investigators are gathering evidence to support criminal charg...
  • BP's Promise Versus What BP Really Means: Some Insights on Making People Hole (Whole) and Just Us (Justice) in the Gulf - 6 months agoSanta Rosa Beach, Florida. When Louisiana fisherman Michelle Chauncy called the BP claim office (Kenneth Fineberg's Gulf Coast Claims Facility) last Friday to check on the status of her claim for...
  • Bio-Remediation or Bio-Hazard? Dispersants, Bacteria and Illness in the Gulf - 10 months agoOcean Springs, MS -- A grandmother made me rethink all the bio-remediation hype. The "naturally-occurring oil-eating bacteria " have been newsworthy of late as they are supposedly going to ...
  • An Open Letter to US EPA, Region 6 - 11 months ago
    
    
    Dahr Jamal, a dedicated reporter with Aljazeera News, interviewed Dr. Rodney Soto on January 5, 2011. The following paragraphs are copied from that interview. Dr. Soto explained the health impacts on his patients. "Many of the chemicals
    present in the oil and dispersants are known to cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, kidney damage, altered renal functions, irritation of the digestive tract, lung damage, burning pain in the nose and throat, coughing, pulmonary
    edema, cancer, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, difficulty breathing, delayed reaction time, memory difficulties, stomach discomfort, liver and kidney damage, unconsciousness, tiredness/lethargy, irritation of the upper respiratory tract, and hematological disorders."
    
    Dr. Soto classifies two types of symptom groups: acute exposure that includes skin and respiratory problems; and a second, larger group of people with no symptoms, but who still have toxicity. He believes the pathways of exposure occur through air, skin, and contaminated seafood. While there are many examples of acute exposures, Dr. Soto's concern is that most residents who are being exposed will only show symptoms later. "This latter group develops symptoms over years," he told Al Jazeera.
    "I'm concerned with the illnesses like cancer and brain degeneration for the future. This is very important because a lot of the population down here may not have symptoms. But people are unaware they are ingesting chemicals that are certainly toxic to humans and have significant effect on the brain and hormonal systems." Dr. Soto is most concerned about the long-term effects of the toxins, because they have "tremendous implications in the human immune system, hormonal function, and brain function." The toxic compounds in the oil and dispersants are "liposoluble" - meaning they have a "high affinity for fat," according to Dr. Soto. "The human brain is 70 percent fat," Dr. Soto added, "and these will similarly effect the immune cells, intestinal tract, breast, thy- roid, prostate, glands, organs, and systems. This is also why this is so significant for children." His particular concern for children involves toxins which cause "development of the depressed immune system and a resurgence of cancer." Dr. Soto believes that for resi- dents along the area of the Gulf Coast affected by BP's toxic chemicals, the solution is either to relocate or to engage in an intensive, long-term detoxification regime that includes systemic detoxification programs."
  • You will see from my research and pictorials that the lesions and symptoms of these people are strikingly similar to those suffering from Morgellons, NCS, Hyper- Toxicity and Lyme Disease. Doctors continue to diagnose most of these patients with staph, but how do we know without a culture and sensitivity? This BP Oil Spill Plague is far worse. Now, finally. the truth. We have ingested, sprayed into our environment and treated our bodies and homes with countless chemicals based on petrochemicals. Take a good look around. We have allowed science to tinker with the natural wonders of our world and disrupt the ecosystems of our Earth, skies, and waters all in the cause of money and greed. We have allowed our Government to run roughshod over our rights to choose what we eat, drink and choose to supplement in the forms of herbals and
    pharmaceuticals. It is no wonder everyone is sick. This is what we and our governmental regulatory bodies have allowed since the beginning of the Industrial Age.
    
    Our country has consequently become a toxic dump - created of the Corporations, by the Corporations and for the Corporations. If we do not speak up to educate and protest, then they will take more of our personal rights. It is time to stop this madness, which benefits so few while harming so many.
  • 'Toxic waste' behind Somali piracy
    Pirates say $8m ransom is reparation for years of hazardous waste dumping by firms.
    
    http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2008/10/2008109174223218644.html
    
  • Somalia Piracy Began in Response to Illegal Fishing and Toxic Dumping by Western Ships off Somali Coast
    http://www.democracynow.org/2009/4/14/analysis_somalia_piracy_began_in_response 
  • EU APPROVES DUMPING OF NUCLEAR WASTE IN AFRICA -
    http://maishinski.blogspot.com/2010/04/eu-dumping-nuclear-waste-in-africa.html 
  •  
  • Switzerland and Italy have been dumping TONNES OF DANGEROUS TOXIC WASTE (including ATOMIC WASTE) in East African waters for MORE THAN 20 YEARS! All this has been going on with the full knowledge and tacit approval of the western Governments.
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  • Glenn Greenwald: Norway Attacks Expose U.S. Media’s Double Standard on "Terrorism" 
  • Norway Attacks Reveal Growing Violent, Anti-Muslim Sentiment in Europe 
  • Making anti-Muslim sentiment mainstream  
  • Horn of Africa Famine: Millions at Risk in "Deadly Cocktail" of War, Climate Change, Neoliberalism
  • UN begins food aid airlift to Somalia 
  • Protests in Swaziland over shortage of drugs 
  • KENYAN CHURCHES: UNPATRIOTIC HYPOCRITES? -
    http://maishinski.blogspot.com/2010/04/hypocricy-of-kenyan-churches-beware-of.html 
  • Some Kenyan Church organizations are allegedly linked to the rich colonial settler communities who stole large tracts of the most productive African land in Kenya. These powerful foreign settlers are against the proposed constitutionand have been intensely lobbying for status quo. Colonial settlers were the primary source and promoters of corruption, tribalism, racism, neocolonialism and instability in Kenya.
    
    Who owns over 75% of Kenya's most productive Land? Kenya was given "independence" on condition that foreign settlers are protected and retain massive tracts of stolen land. Settler owned Agricultural Companies were formed to hoodwink Kenyans that individual settlers no longer control resources.
    
    Whenever I see a poor or starving Kenyan I think of the colonial settlers with millions of stolen Acres of my ancestor's land.