Awareness | Debate | Action

All Blog Posts (138)

Trust-Busting Shows New Signs of Life

US government through the Obama Administration is finally rejecting soft stance on oligopolistic anti-competitive practices.

From: Dirt Diggers Digest

chronicling corporate misbehavior (and how to research it)

http://dirtdiggersdigest.org/archives/530

May 15, 2009 by Phil Mattera

"Everywhere you look, powerful forces are driving American industries to consolidate into… Continue

Added by Cromag on May 30, 2009 at 9:10am — No Comments

Wall Street's Best Investment II: 12 Deregulatory Steps to Financial Meltdown

The tail is wagging the dog of so called corporate governance. What's the point of voting. Giant oligopolies are gearing up to exploit the workers of global emerging markets by discarding current workforces to chase double digit growth and all at the US citizen's expense. GM is in receivership of the blessing of corporate bankruptcy to break away cleanly and be born-again under a different moniker to manipulate a whole new global culture. Reform is starting to sound like just another dirty… Continue

Added by Cromag on May 28, 2009 at 11:55pm — 1 Comment

Wall Street's Best Investment I: Paying for Policy in Washington

Wall Street's Best Investment I: Paying for Policy in Washington

By Robert Weissman

March 4, 2009

Financial deregulatory mania over the last three decades led directly to the current financial meltdown.

Were the deregulators acting out of principle? Perhaps.

But it couldn't have hurt that the financial sector invested a staggering $5.1 billion in political influence purchasing in the United States over the last decade.

The money flows are… Continue

Added by Cromag on May 28, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Behind the Bean: The Heroes and Charlatans of the Natural and Organic Soy Foods Industry

UPDATED: Philip H. Howard | Organic Processing Industry Structure updated Infographics

Revealing report on big-business's careless regulation and infiltration of the organic food industry. [Due to government subsidies, soy is one of the most prevalent ingredients in consumer foods]

Behind the Bean

The Heroes and Charlatans of the Natural and Organic Soy Foods Industry

The…

Continue

Added by Cromag on May 22, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Food

Immediate Moratorium on All Genetically Modified Foods Recommended

By Jeffrey M. Smith, executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, and author of the highly acclaimed Seeds of Deception and Genetic Roulette.

Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Food

--Click to see permaculture.org.au website with associated links--

On May 19th, the… Continue

Added by Cromag on May 20, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Top 20 Things You Should Know About Corporate Crime

--This Top 20 list is worth repeating until it disapears--

CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER

Top Twenty Things You Should Know About Corporate Crime

21 Corporate Crime Reporter 25, June 12, 2007

Twenty years ago, Corporate Crime Reporter, a weekly print newsletter, was launched. From the beginning, the most popular feature of Corporate Crime Reporter has been a question/answer format interview. Over the years, we’ve interviewed hundreds of prosecutors,… Continue

Added by Cromag on May 14, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Eli Lilly $1.4 Billion Settlement (it's not enough)

I just could not hold back from posting this any longer. How does a company, get away with making $4.8 billion of revenue for just one years worth of Zyprexa sales, end up paying only $1.4 billion in fines. How, exactly, is that a deterrent? The punishment does not come close to fitting the crime. Does this make our justice system a disgrace?

January 15, 2009

Lilly Said to Be Near $1.4 Billion U.S. Settlement

By… Continue

Added by Cromag on May 13, 2009 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Doctor Arrested at Public Roundtable on Health Care Reform Speaks Out

Published on Saturday, May 9, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

Why We Risked Arrest for Single-Payer Health Care

by Margaret Flowers, M.D.

On May 5, eight health care advocates, including myself and two other physicians, stood up to Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and the Senate Finance Committee during a "public roundtable discussion" with a simple question: Will you allow an advocate for a single-payer national health plan to have a seat at… Continue

Added by Cromag on May 9, 2009 at 5:29pm — No Comments

Oligonomy Defined

The vocabulary of economists has no word to describe an increasingly common phenomenon. An oligopoly, as you know, is a market sector in which there are few sellers. An oligopsony is a market sector in which there are few buyers. But there are an increasing number of market sectors in which the same companies are both oligopolies and oligopsonies. This situation I propose to call an oligonomy.

In an oligonomy, companies act as an oligopoly to one group, as an oligopsony to another.… Continue

Added by Cromag on May 7, 2009 at 11:30am — 1 Comment

H.R. 875 Hysteria Debunked by Factcheck.org

March 27th, 2009

This is a Re-post from Factcheck.org in case someone wanted to add comments on this topic.

QUESTION:

Would a new bill in Congress make my backyard organic garden illegal?

This one keeps hitting my inbox.

---------------------------------------------

Hello friends and fellow citizens,

BEWARE THE FOOD POLICE! HR 875/S425

IT WOULD NATIONALIZE FARMING- DESTROY… Continue

Added by Cromag on April 30, 2009 at 9:39am — No Comments

Earth Day April 22nd! 2009 - What are you doing to celebrate?

Earth Day is a name used for two different observances, both held annually during spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and during autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.

These are intended to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the Earth's environment. The United Nations celebrates Earth Day -- which was founded by John McConnell in 1969 -- each year on the March equinox.

In addition, a global observance -- originated by Gaylord Nelson as an environmental… Continue

Added by Cromag on April 22, 2009 at 2:50pm — No Comments

Lost your Job? Start a local Urban Farming Service!

Entrepreneurs turn clients’ land into household pantry

Want a garden without having to pick up a shovel?...

Want to feed your family with healthy organic foods?

Donna Smith and Robyn Streeter, collectively called Your Backyard Farmer, are just beginning their second season in business and already are in the black —or should we say green.

Their formula: transform ordinary yards into personal farmers markets, leaving weekly harvests in wicker baskets… Continue

Added by Cromag on April 16, 2009 at 11:00am — No Comments

Ooooby is here! (Out of Our Own Back Yards)

Ooooby – Out Of Our Own Backyards – a Ning social network dedicated to connecting for food growers and locavores, and working towards a “goal of food interdependence”. Ooooby is about Building web solutions to inspire, encourage and enable people to grow food and connect with other food growers and locavores.

Things to do on Ooooby

* Connect with others in your area in order to share food, seedlings, seeds, information and more.… Continue

Added by Cromag on April 13, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

David Beats (Monsanto) Goliath

Percy Schmeiser, a long time farmer and farm equipment dealer from the small rural community of Bruno Saskatchewan has been growing canola -- the yellow-blossomed oilseed that used to be known as rapeseed -- for 40 years, and he knows his stuff. He's been experimenting, developing his own varieties, using his own seed and generally prospering with canola. reaping the benefits derived from growing an increasingly popular crop.

So when Monsanto, the giant multinational agro-chemical… Continue

Added by Cromag on April 13, 2009 at 1:00am — No Comments

10 Things We Didn’t Know About Food

How the authors of the new [book] Rough Guide to Food lost their appetites for the food industry.

by George Miller and Katharine Reeve

from CommonDreams.org

A surprise consequence of writing a book about food was that we lost our appetite. A month in, we realized we had underestimated just how devastating the effects of our industrial food systems are on our health, animal welfare, climate change… Continue

Added by Cromag on April 12, 2009 at 7:30pm — No Comments

NOT for Cancer Prevention: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Cancer Society (ACS)

The American Cancer Society's mission statement says it is dedicated to "preventing cancer and saving lives—through research education, advocacy, and service." Yet what the Society seems to do best is accumulate wealth

Both the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society (ACS) are fixated on damage control—screening, diagnosis, and treatment—and genetic research, and are largely indifferent to cancer prevention.

Of an approximately $4.6 billion 2003… Continue

Added by Cromag on April 11, 2009 at 1:00am — 1 Comment

Spoiled: Organic and Local Is So 2008

You can view more related links and participate with your comments on this article at MotherJones.com

Spoiled: Organic and Local Is So 2008

By Paul Roberts | Mon March 2, 2009 4:28 PM PST

a couple years back, in a wheat field outside the town of Reardan, Washington, Fred Fleming spent an afternoon showing me just how hard it's gotten to save the world. After… Continue

Added by Cromag on April 10, 2009 at 1:04am — No Comments

Opinion Laundering

Mar 29th, 2006

by Dan Gillmor.

In "Think Tanks for Sale," Slate’s Timothy Noah exclaims:

Among the many revelations of the scandal surrounding the Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff is the remarkable degree to which the capital’s think tank “scholars” can be bought.

It’s absolutely true. The sleaze [that] Noah documents so well in this posting is well worth a look (and, I… Continue

Added by Cromag on April 9, 2009 at 3:00pm — No Comments