Largest-Ever Dead Zone 'a Disaster in the Making' for La. Fishermen

Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone' - NASA Image

Paul Quinlan

New York Times

Louisiana's shrimpers expected 2010 to be a good year. Instead, they got the oil spill. Although many found temporary jobs working cleanup for BP PLC, hopes for recovery turned to 2011.

Now the swollen Mississippi River is expected to deliver another heavy blow to a seafood industry already on the ropes: a massive flush of fertilizer, animal manure, treated sewage, pesticide and urban runoff.

Scientists predict this polluted wash will give rise to the Gulf of Mexico's largest-ever 'dead zone,' a large swath of ocean devoid of fish, shellfish and other marine life.

'It's a disaster in the making,' said Clint Guidry, a third-generation Louisiana fisherman and president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association. 'Everybody paid their taxes and fixed their boat up, and they were ready to go back to work this year. It's not looking good.'

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The Government’s War on Cameras (Video)

Via Reason TV:

Who will watch the watchers? In a world of ubiquitous, hand-held digital cameras, that’s not an abstract philosophical question. Police everywhere are cracking down on citizens using cameras to capture breaking news and law enforcement in action.

In 2009, police arrested blogger and freelance photographer Antonio Musumeci on the steps of a New York federal courthouse. His alleged crime? Unauthorized photography on federal property.

Police cuffed and arrested Musumeci, ultimately issuing him a citation. With the help of the New York Civil Liberties Union, he forced a settlement in which the federal government agreed to issue a memo acknowledging that it is totally legal to film or photograph on federal property.

Although the legal right to film on federal property now seems to be firmly established, many other questions about public photography still remain and place journalists and citizens in harm’s way. Can you record a police encounter? Can you film on city or state property? What are a photographer’s rights in so-called public spaces?

These questions will remain unanswered until a case reaches the Supreme Court, says UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh, founder of the popular law blog The Volokh Conspiracy. Until then, it’s up to people to know their rights and test the limits of free speech, even at the risk of harassment and arrest.

Who will watch the watchers? All of us, it turns out, but only if we’re willing to fight for our rights.

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Big Pharma attempting to corner the market on medical marijuana

Medical Marijuana - Wikimedia Image

Tara Green
Natural News

As DEA raids and IRS harassment continue on state-approved medical marijuana, Big Pharma eyes the profitability of cannabis and prepares to muscle in, using its lobbyists and government connections to ensure a monopoly on legal sales of the drug.

In early April of 2011, two drug manufacturing giants, G.W. Pharmaceuticals and Novartis, announced they had formed an alliance to license and market GW's Sativex, a liquid cannabis drug. The drug is already available in Great Britain, as well as Canada and Spain. The licensing agreement with Novartis will enable sales to expand into markets in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. FDA Phase III trials are still being organized for Otsuka, GW's partner for licensing Sativex for the US market.

Unlike other cannaboids produced for recreational or medicinal use, Sativex is not a synthetic but an actual extract of the cannabis plant. It therefore lacks the side-effects of the synthetic drugs which merely attempt to replicate cannabis. Patients, primarily people diagnosed with MS or cancer, spray Sativex beneath their tongues.

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Spanish police clash with protesters

"More than 100 people injured as police fire rubber bullets at demonstrators in Barcelona."

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800 tons of fish die, rot on Philippine fish farms

"TALISAY, Philippines (AP) -- More than 800 tons of fish have died and rotted on fish farms in a lake near Taal volcano south of Manila, with authorities blaming it on a sudden temperature drop...."

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War is a racket - The US War Machine

History Channel Exposed

Was the Killing of Bin Laden really Staged by US Government?

Fake Photoshop Photo of Dead Bin Laden

According to Prominent Talk-Show Host Alex Jones, Osama Bin Laden has been Dead for Years

Rumors are being spread, theories are being born and arguments are being made that the US Navy SEAL take-down mission was a fake and that Osama bin Laden has been dead for years on the one side, as well as those saying that he is still alive on the other side of the conspiracy.

Speaking out for those believing that Osama bin Laden has been dead for quite some time, is the prominent talk-show host Alex Jones.

Alex Jones is far too suspicious about the announcement of Bin Laden's death, at a moment crucial for the re-election of President Obama, alleging that the "grand standing and gear mongering" perpetrated by the administration is but a "Swiss army knife of excuses" to sell the nation on the other problems America is currently facing.

Coincidence or Conspiracy?

The Sex Trafficking Of Americans

Amy Fine Collins has written one of those lengthy investigative pieces for Vanity Fair, on a subject that most people would prefer not to talk about in polite company. As such it’s a compelling read…

Google, Facebook play Good Cop Bad Cop at e-G8

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/25/us-eg-idUSTRE74O72L20110525
Google Inc Chairman Eric Schmidt and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg warned governments to tread lightly on Internet regulation because moves to tame its rough edges risked hurting its virtues.
At the conclusion of a two-day forum in Paris, their comments exposed deep rifts between tech titans, academics and policy makers even as they tried to agree on a message to take to world leaders at the Group of Eight industrialized nations meeting on Thursday in Deauville, France.
With the forum, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was seeking to put his stamp on the debate over regulating the Internet and encouraging the digital economy during his one-year term as president for the G8.