Source: examiner.com

Scientists and public demand ending human rights violations in Gulf of Mexico region.

Over 100 scientists and academic institution, research laboratory, conservation organization leaders plus human rights defenders from as far away as Norway and Greece signed the Scientists Consensus Statement on the Use of Chemical Dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico calling for the Obama Administration to immediately halt chemical aerial spraying in the Gulf region. A public petition to end dispersant use is also gaining momentum.

Non-consensual human experiementation

Scientists expressing grave concern about the unprecedented aerial spraying of chemical dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico region believe a large-scale, uncontrolled non-consensual human and environmental experiment is being conducted in the Gulf region according to reports sent to the writer including one from the "Ocean Doctor" David E. Guggenheim, Ph.D.

Read more: http://www.examiner.com/x-10438-Human-Righ...

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Check out the my UnCensored Activist NewsBlog - http://senselessworld-cory.blogspot.com/

Source: AFP

Panama's ex-dictator Manuel Noriega on Tuesday dismissed charges of laundering drug money as an "imaginary banking scheme" concocted by the United States as he took the stand in a French court.

The 76-year-old general denied taking payments from Colombian drug lords in the 1980s and told a Paris courtroom that cash deposits transferred to French banks came from his legitimate businesses and the CIA.

"I say with much humility and respect that this is an imaginary banking scheme," Noriega told the court in Spanish through his interpreter on the second day of his trial.

"I will have the opportunity to produce documents that show that I was a victim of a conspiracy mounted by the United States against me," he said.

Read more: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0629/trial-nor... /

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Infoshop
Friday, June 25 2010 @ 03:26 AM UTC

Contributed by: Anonymous

Maria and her family lived in a building that had water seeping into the walls, causing huge amounts of black mold to grow. Maria, who cleans houses for a living, kept wiping the mold away, but almost immediately it would grow back again. She reported the problem to the landlord, a company that owns several large properties in Seattle. Instead of dealing with the problem, the head of property management dismissed Maria's concerns and insulted her about her poor English. Maria's kids started getting sick and having to go to the hospital with respiratory problems.

Five-week campaign beats back predatory landlord in Seattle

Maria and her family lived in a building that had water seeping into the walls, causing huge amounts of black mold to grow. Maria, who cleans houses for a living, kept wiping the mold away, but almost immediately it would grow back again. She reported the problem to the landlord, a company that owns several large properties in Seattle. Instead of dealing with the problem, the head of property management dismissed Maria's concerns and insulted her about her poor English. Maria's kids started getting sick and having to go to the hospital with respiratory problems.

At this point, Maria decided they had to get out of that building. She gave notice to the company that they were moving. It was 15 days from the end of the month, instead of the customary 20 days notice, but the landlord gave no indication that it would be a problem if they went ahead and moved, so they did. A few weeks later, the company sent Maria a letter. It said that she owed them a full month's rent ($800) for the month after she had moved out, that they were keeping her entire deposit, and that they were charging her an additional $700 in mysterious fees. If she didn't pay them $1500, her credit and rental history could be ruined.

http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story...

Watch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-MCqvZXXJE...

Source: Alexander Higgens blog


BP’s latest oil spill response update for June 4th says the total amount of the dispersant used in the Gulf of Mexico more than 1,021,000 gallons.

But what most people don’t know is that the active ingredient of the toxic chemical dispersant, which is up to 60% by volume, being sprayed by BP to fight the Gulf oil spill is a is a neurotoxin pesticide that is acutely toxic to both human and aquatic life, causes cancer, causes damage to internal organs such as the liver and kidneys simply by absorbing it through the skin and may cause reproductive side effects.

In fact the neurotoxin pesticide that is lethal to 50% of life in concentrations as little as 2.6 parts per million has been banned for use in the UK since 1998 because it failed the UK “Rocky shore test” which assures that the dispersant does not cause a “significant deleterious ecological change”.

Corexit has also earned the highest EPA warning label for toxicity which means the effects of the toxic chemicals to the eye are corrosive resulting in irreversible destruction of ocular tissue and other tissue with corneal involvement along with an burning that can persist for more than 21 days and effects to human skin are corrosive resulting in tissue destruction into the dermis and/or scarring.

Read more: http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2010/06/0... /

Source: Upside Down World

A five month long mobilisation against BP in the Casanare region of Colombia has escalated after the Colombian army entered the BP installations with force this week and confronted workers who have been peacefully occupying BP installations since May 23 to protest BP´s failure to conclude negotiations with the workers and community.

At midday on Wednesday a heavily armed commando group of the National Colombian Army leapt over the security fence of the Tauramena Central Processing Facility and subjected the group of workers to physical and verbal aggression. Oscar Garcia, of the National Oil Workers Union said “this war-like handling of a group of workers is an excessive use of force and treats a labour conflict as though it were an issue of public order. This shows how BP is bent on war against workers who are only demanding that their fundamental rights be respected.”

The calm response by the striking workers brought the situation temporarily under control but the army remains present and tensions are high. Colombia continues to have the highest level of trade union murders in the world with 17 trade unionists murdered so far this year.

“It is no secret that since BP arrived in the early nineties we have not been able to organize workers until now due to the presence of paramilitary groups operating in the oil fields,” said Edgar Mojica from the National Oil Workers Union.

Read more: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/colombia-a...