Corporate criminals and their accomplices: BP and MMS

Hermit crabs: dispersants increase the toxicity of oil

By Jeffrey St. Clair
Transcribed by Andrea Hektor
Socialist Worker

Jeffrey St. Clair is co-editor with Alexander Cockburn of the muckracking Web site and newsletter CounterPunch–where he has written extensively on BP’s Gulf catastrophe and other environmental issues. At the Socialism 2010 conference in San Francisco, he described the conveyor belt between the executive suites of energy companies and the offices of government agencies that regulate them–and how this incestuous relationship set the stage for the BP disaster.

The Global Political Awakening and the New World Order

The Technological Revolution and the Future of Freedom, Part 1

By Andrew Gavin Marshall
Global Research

There is a new and unique development in human history that is taking place around the world; it is unprecedented in reach and volume, and it is also the greatest threat to all global power structures: the ‘global political awakening.’ The term was coined by Zbigniew Brzezinski, and refers to the fact that, as Brzezinski wrote:

“For the first time in history almost all of humanity is politically activated, politically conscious and politically interactive. Global activism is generating a surge in the quest for cultural respect and economic opportunity in a world scarred by memories of colonial or imperial domination.” [1]

Ex Monsanto Lawyer Clarence Thomas to Hear Major Monsanto Case

By D. Snodgrass
Celsias

In Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms, No. 09-475, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case which could have an enormous effect on the future of the American food industry. This is Monsanto’s third appeal of the case, and if they win a favorable ruling from the high court, a deregulated Monsanto may find itself in position to corner the markets of numerous U.S. crops, and to litigate conventional farmers into oblivion.

Here’s where it gets a bit dicier. Two Supreme Court justices have what appear to be direct conflicts of interest.

Universal Environmental Rights: In Honor of the 2009 UN Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change

Guest Blogged by Diane Perlman

On December 10, 2009:

• It will be the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human RIghts, spearheaded by Eleanor Roosevelt in the aftermath of World War II;
• President Barack Obama will be receiving his Nobel Peace Prize;
• It will be the fourth day of the UN 2009 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, with 240 NGO events and 2,000 other events scheduled during the two week conference; and
• The streets in Copenhagen and around the world will be filled with people, in the biggest demonstration of global unity calling for a sound treaty and global actions to remedy the greatest crisis ever faced by humanity.

As the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change coincides with Human Rights Day, let’s consider whether our 2009 world calls for amending the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and whether it is appropriate to elevate our basic needs for survival to the level of universal human rights.
 
Here is a draft proposal to amend the UDHR in honor of Copenhagen. Suggestions, endorsements or strategies for its use are most welcome in comments. 

The End of Capital and the Future of Work

By Kostas Lambos, PhD

In recent years there has been much discussion about a certain end: Some speak of the “end of history”1, others mention the “end of work”2, while the dark powerful hubs of obscurantism present the “end of the world” in the form of eschatological prophecies by charlatans or Hollywood-style creations by certain “future predictors”.

Work, either in the form of food collection activity, or in the form of classical music creation and scientific research in the field of astrophysics and molecular biology, constituted –and still constitutes- the basic element of organized social co-existence and at the same time the sole power for development, setting in effect the measure for any civilization.  

Victory in the Amazon

Defeating the US-Peru Free Trade Pact

By Laura Carlsen

Thousands of indigenous people from the Amazon jungle of Peru accomplished the unthinkable last week. Their movement to save the Amazon and their communities forced the Peruvian government to roll back implementing legislation for the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement that would have opened up the vast jungle to transnational oil and gas, mining and timber companies.