Senate Bill 788 would close that loophole and fully protect the coast from new oil drilling

Dear Friend, The coastal oil spill on May 19 in Santa Barbara County highlighted how destructive any oil spill can be, and also demonstrated why most Californians oppose expanding offshore oil drilling. More than 20,000 gallons of oil fouled the beach and ocean, created a nine-mile-long oil slick, killed wildlife and polluted water and air. One way to make sure another devastating spill doesn't occur on our California coast is to support Senate Bill 788. This bill will close a legal loophole that would allow new oil drilling to occur in certain sensitive parts of California's ocean waters, including the Tranquillon Ridge off the Santa Barbara coast. SB 788 will come up for a Senate vote on Wednesday. Call your state senator and urge a "Yes" vote on SB 788 to stop new ocean oil drilling. Tranquillon Ridge is part of one of the most biologically diverse ocean environments in the world. Since 2003, oil companies have been pursuing a plan to exploit a legal loophole and drill the offshore area through techniques that involve slant drilling from onshore at Vandenberg Air Force Base out to the ridge. Senate Bill 788 would close that loophole and fully protect the coast from new oil drilling. Help stop this new ocean oil drilling plan. A loophole in the law must not allow California's coast to be put at greater risk by oil drilling. Sincerely, Kathryn Phillips Director

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

These animals are so grateful to the rescuers who saved them. This reminds me why I love humanity.

These animals are so grateful to the rescuers who saved them. This reminds me why I love humanity.

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These animals are so grateful to the rescuers who saved them. This reminds me why I love humanity.

The 4 most ridiculous arguments people use to defend Bill Cosby, presented by Amy Schumer.

A fake letter from Superman about the very real struggle we all face when we love someone.

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

NUCLEAR AGE PEACE FOUNDATION

Issue #215 - June 2015

Click here or on the image above to follow NAPF President David Krieger on Twitter.

• Perspectives
  • Grand Bargain Is Not So Grand by David Krieger
  • Exclusive Interview with General Lee Butler by Robert Kazel
  • Uprising by Ray Acheson
• Nuclear Zero Lawsuits
  • The Marshall Islands and the NPT
  • What the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits Seek to Accomplish
• Nuclear Insanity
  • MOX Gets Golden Hammer Award for Egregious Waste
  • UK Whistleblower on Trident Submarine Dangers
• U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy
  • U.S. Conducts Minuteman Missile Test During NPT Review Conference
• Peace
  
  • Women Cross Border Between North and South Korea
  • Transform Now Plowshares Activists Released from Prison
• Nuclear Waste
  
  • Las Vegas Mayor Opposes Nuclear Waste Shipments
• Resources
  • June's Featured Blog
  • This Month in Nuclear Threat History
  • The Growing U.S. Nuclear Threat
• Foundation Activities
  • Peace Poetry Awards: Deadline July 1
  • Paul Chappell Selected as CMM Institute Fellow
  • Save the Date: Sadako Peace Day is August 6
• Quotes

Perspectives

Grand Bargain Is Not So Grand

by David Krieger

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has two major purposes and together they form a grand bargain. First, the treaty seeks to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons to other countries.  Second, the treaty seeks to level the playing field by the pursuit of negotiations in good faith to end the nuclear arms race at an early date and to achieve nuclear disarmament. The goal of the grand bargain, in other words, is a world without nuclear weapons.
It is the disarmament side of the grand bargain, though, where things really break down. The five nuclear-armed countries that are parties to the NPT (US, Russia, UK, France and China) appear more comfortable working together to maintain and modernize their nuclear arsenals than they do to fulfilling their disarmament obligations under the treaty. Their common strategy appears to be “nuclear weapons forever.”
To read more, click here.

Exclusive Interview With General Lee Butler

by Robert Kazel

Today, General Lee Butler is 75, and he has never stopped believing nuclear arms to be an enormous danger and outrageously immoral. They permit imperfect leaders to play God, he says, and make it all too easy for the planet to be ruined for all future generations in a span of hours. He’s incredulous that scores of U.S. missiles are still kept on hair-trigger alert, poised to be launched in minutes. And he is more disillusioned than ever that defense strategists and politicians keep defending nuclear deterrence: a theory born in the 1950s that asserts nations can prevent nuclear war by keeping nuclear weapons ready for use in retaliation. Butler believed that once, fervently. But he now says deterrence probably never made much sense, and certainly is unbelievable in a world of unstable, unpredictable regional nuclear actors and terrorists who seek to actually use weapons of vast, destructive power.
Now Butler has penned his life story, a project he painstakingly worked on for many years after he and his wife, Dorene, left Omaha and moved to a gated community in Laguna Beach, Calif., in 2001. The self-published memoir, which he expects to be out this summer, recounts his boyhood in Georgia as part of an Army family and his 33-year military career starting with his graduation from the Air Force Academy in 1961. It explains in depth why he ultimately called for the total elimination of nuclear weapons, and discusses his disillusionment with government officials who, he says, have allowed shortsightedness, petty politics and bellicosity to obstruct the road to world nuclear disarmament.
In a wide-ranging interview at his house recently, Butler spoke with NAPF about the perils of nuclear weapons that arose during and just after the Cold War, and why the dangers continue. The following is an edited version of the conversation.
To read more, click here.

Uprising

by Ray Acheson

A certain restiveness could be felt Friday evening at the United Nations at the close of the 2015 NPT Review Conference. The draft outcome document was not adopted, though it was not this fact that seemed to bother most. The content of the final draft was unacceptably weak on disarmament, as the majority of those taking the floor lamented in their closing remarks, and the process to develop it was extremely problematic. The discontent was rather about why it had been rejected. Three states parties blocked its adoption on behalf of Israel, a non-state party possessing nuclear weapons. If the month-long review of the Treaty’s implementation and attempts to develop actions for moving forward had not already sufficiently underscored the depth of the Treaty’s discriminatory orientation privileging nuclear-armed states, the Conference’s conclusion certainly did.
But the Conference has ended, leaving interested states now with the chance to pursue effective measures for nuclear disarmament. Instead of a text that moves backwards in some areas from previous commitments and threatened to stall progress for another five years, states parties can continue to rely on the outcomes from 1995, 2000, and 2010 to guide their actions in terms of Treaty implementation. And in the meantime, there is also space for what theWashington Post describes as “an uprising” of 107 states and civil society groups. These states are “seeking to reframe the disarmament debate as an urgent matter of safety, morality and humanitarian law,” and have pledged to fill the gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons.
To read more, click here.

Nuclear Zero Lawsuits

The Marshall Islands and the NPT

In a recent article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Robert Alvarez writes about the history and impact of U.S. nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands. He also explores the importance of the Marshall Islands' Nuclear Zero Lawsuits for upholding the disarmament promises of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and the momentum of the effort to highlight the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.
Alvarez writes, "The humanitarian initiative and the Marshall Islands lawsuits have received a chilly, some might say hostile reception from the nuclear weapons states, for an understandable reason: The nuclear weapons countries are engaged in costly modernization efforts that all but guarantee the continued existence of nuclear weapons for decades, and perhaps beyond. The Marshall's lawsuits and the humanitarian initiative both seek to make the nuclear states seriously negotiate toward nuclear disarmament."
Robert Alvarez, "The Marshall Islands and the NPT," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 27, 2015.

What the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits Seek to Accomplish

by David Krieger

These are important lawsuits.  They have been described as a battle of David versus the nine nuclear Goliaths.  In this case, however, David (the RMI) is using the nonviolent means of the courtroom and the law rather than a slingshot and a rock.  It is worth considering what these lawsuits seek to accomplish.

• To challenge the “good faith” of the nuclear-armed countries, for their failure to initiate negotiations for nuclear disarmament as required by the NPT and customary international law.
• To awaken people everywhere to the magnitude of the threat posed by nuclear weapons.
• To achieve a “conversion of hearts,” recognized by Pope Francis as necessary for effective action in changing the world on this most challenging of threats.

These are high aspirations from a small but courageous country.  If you would like to know more about the Marshall Islands Nuclear Zero lawsuits, and how you can help support them, visit www.nuclearzero.org.
David Krieger, "What the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits Seek to Accomplish," Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, May 6, 2015.

Nuclear Insanity

MOX Gets Golden Hammer Award for Egregious Waste

The Washington Times has awarded its Golden Hammer Award to South Carolina's Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel facility. The MOX program, which is intended to convert 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for nuclear power plants, is viewed by many as an egregious example of government waste.
In 2004, the project was expected to cost $1.6 billion, with a completion date of 2007. Now, in 2015, over $4 billion has been spent on the project, which is only 67% completed. Congress appears likely to provide $345 million in funding for MOX in Fiscal Year 2016. At this rate, studies have shown that the lifecycle costs for MOX will reach $114 billion. The MOX plant also lost its only potential customer for the fuel, Duke Energy. No other nuclear utility has been willing to take the risk of using MOX fuel in nuclear reactors.
Kellan Howell, "Congress Keeps Funding Overbudget Plutonium Site with No Real Customers," Washington Times, May 7, 2015.

UK Whistleblower on Trident Submarine Dangers

The safety and security of the Royal Navy’s four Vanguard-class nuclear submarines, each carrying more than a dozen Trident nuclear missiles, was called into question when William McNeilly claimed that Britain’s nuclear weapons system was an “accident waiting to happen.” The damning 18-page report includes accusations of lax security, fire hazards, and poor quality food among other things.

The Royal Navy has firmly dismissed these allegations, while some defense experts admitted that there could be elements of truth in some of McNeilly’s claims. Historically, the Ministry of Defense has downplayed incidents involving its submarines, stating that the “technical complexity of running a nuclear submarine is vast.”

Jamie Merrill, “Trident Whistleblower William McNeilly Transferred to Portsmouth Naval Base as Royal Navy Disputes his Claims About the ‘Silent Service,’" The Independent, May 22, 2015.

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy

U.S. Conducts Minuteman Missile Test During NPT Review Conference

Three days before the end of the 2015 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, the U.S. conducted a test of a Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. The Minuteman III is the United States' land-based missile that is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the other side of the planet in around 30 minutes.
The test went against the call of dozens of nations at the NPT Review Conference for the U.S. and other nuclear-armed nations to take their nuclear weapons off high-alert status and to pursue negotiations for nuclear disarmament. The Air Force Global Strike Command stated that the ICBM test launch program is to “verify the effectiveness, readiness, and accuracy of the weapons system.”

Rick Wayman, Director of Programs and Operations at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, commented, “Conducting a nuclear missile test, particularly at this time, sends a clear signal to the international community that the United States believes it can continue to possess nuclear weapons indefinitely and with impunity.”

“U.S. Schedules Yet Another Controversial Minuteman III Test,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, May 19, 2015.

Peace

Women Cross Border Between North and South Korea

Women Cross DMZ, an international group of female peace activists led by Gloria Steinem, crossed one of the world’s most militarized borders, between North and South Korea, in order to draw attention to the need for a permanent peace treaty. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the division of the Korean peninsula. Other goals of the group were to highlight the suffering of divided families and promoting peace over war.

Mairead Maguire and Medea Benjamin, both members of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Advisory Council, took part in the action. Maguire, recipient of the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize, said, "We are here today because we don’t believe in war. You can get to human rights when you have a normal situation and not a country at war."

“Gloria Steinem and Female Activists Cross Korean Demilitarized Zone,” The Guardian, May 24, 2015.

Transform Now Plowshares Activists Released from Prison

On May 8, a federal appeals court ruled that the government had overreached in charging three Transform Now Plowshares activists with sabotage, ordering the release of Sister Megan Rice and her two fellow activists. The group nonviolently broke into the grounds of the Y-12 Highly-Enriched Uranium Manufacturing Facility on July 28, 2012 and conducted a symbolic conversion of the site, spreading human blood and painting peace slogans on the walls.

After so much time in jail, Sister Megan Rice, 85, has no intention of stopping her anti-nuclear activism and is more committed than ever. One threat is that the federal government might challenge the recent ruling and try to have her thrown back in prison. “It would be an honor,” Sister Rice said during the ride. “Good Lord, what would be better than to die in prison for the anti-nuclear cause?”

William J. Broad, “Sister Megan Rice, freed From Prison, Is Unapologetic for Anti-Nuclear Activism,” The New York Times, May 26, 2015.

Nuclear Waste

Las Vegas Mayor Opposes Nuclear Waste Shipments

In response to a Department of Energy announcement that it would begin shipping uranium waste from Tennessee for storage in Nevada, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said that she would lie down in the highway to stop the transport vehicles.
"We know what happened in the nuclear testing days,” Goodman said. “We were told at the test site, ‘These things are harmless, go out and take your children to watch these wonderful mushroom clouds.’”

“I know it would bring funds to Nevada,” she added. “Sometimes there’s other, better ways to find funding.”
James Dehaven, "Vegas Mayor Will Lie Down on Highway to Block Nuke Shipments," Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 5, 2015.

Resources

June's Featured Blog

This month's featured blog is Defusing the Nuclear Threat, written by NAPF Associate Martin Hellman. Hellman is Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University and an expert in risk analysis.
Recent articles include "Solving a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma," and "Saber Rattling Works, but Which Way?"
To read the blog, which is updated frequently, go to www.nuclearrisk.org.

This Month in Nuclear Threat History

History chronicles many instances when humans have been threatened by nuclear weapons. In this article, Jeffrey Mason outlines some of the most serious threats that have taken place in the month of June, including the June 3, 1980 incident in which the malfunction of a 46-cent computer chip caused U.S. warning systems to falsely display that the Soviet Union had launched 2,200 nuclear missiles at the United States.
To read Mason's full article, click here.
For more information on the history of the Nuclear Age, visit NAPF's Nuclear Files website.

The Growing U.S. Nuclear Threat

The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) is a network of over 30 groups around the United States, most of which are located in areas that are part of the vast U.S. nuclear weapons complex. ANA recently released a report entitled "The Growing U.S. Nuclear Threat." The report documents numerous nuclear weapon programs that are part of the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration that are vastly over budget, have major oversight and management problems, and a general lack of accountability.
Rick Wayman, NAPF Director of Programs, wrote the executive summary for this report. Wayman wrote, "The Department of Energy's budget is set to increase this year as in years past. The increased spending will undermine efforts to make the nation more secure. New, provocative investments in weapons programs and infrastructure will undermine non-proliferation efforts and introduce uncertainties into the U.S. stockpile. At the same time, cuts to the cleanup budget and failure to hold DOE and the NNSA accountable leave health risks unaddressed, environmental damage unrepaired, and urgent waste challenges unmet."
To read the report, click here.

Foundation Activities

Peace Poetry Awards: Deadline July 1

The deadline for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's annual Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards is July 1. The contest encourages poets to explore and illuminate positive visions of peace and the human spirit. The Poetry Awards include three age categories: Adult, Youth 13-18, and Youth 12 & Under. Cash prizes of up to $1,000 will be awarded to the winners. For more information on how to enter, click here.

Paul Chappell Selected as CMM Institute Fellow

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Peace Leadership Director, Paul K. Chappell, has been selected as a 2015 CMM (Coordinated Management of Meaning) Institute Fellow and is one of six fellows to present at the 2015 CMM Learning Exchange and Global Integral Competence conference. This event will be held in Munich, Germany, fromSeptember 17- 20, 2015.
Chappell’s project title is “Literacy in the Art of Living, the Art of Listening, and the Art of Waging Peace.” One of the Institute’s current priorities is to promote research and interventions on selected topics that take a “communication perspective” and contribute to the common good. Proposals for the 2015 fellowships have focused on issues of conflicts and how these may be resolved or prevented by taking a “communication perspective.”
To read more, click here.

Save the Date: Sadako Peace Day is August 6

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation will hold its 21st Annual Sadako Peace Day commemoration event on Thursday, August 6. This year's event, which falls on the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, remembers the victims of the U.S. atomic bombings and all innocent victims of war. NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell will deliver this year's keynote address.
The event will take place at 6:00 p.m. at the Sadako Peace Garden at La Casa de Maria - 800 El Bosque Road, Montecito, California. The event is free and open to the public.

Quotes

"Some powerful people make their living with the production of arms. It's the industry of death."
-- Pope Francis

"Why is it that only the security of the five [nuclear-armed members of the NPT] requires nuclear weapons, whilst no one else needs nuclear weapons for their security? If the truth is that no one's security needs nuclear weapons, then all of our security is enhanced by getting rid of nuclear weapons. If this is indeed the case, what makes it so different for the five that they feel that they have to be exempted from this universal truth?"
-- Ambassador Abdul Minty of South Africa. To read his full statement, click here.

"No one can keep a straight face and argue that sixteen thousand nuclear weapons are an appropriate threshold for global safety. We are seeing nuclear nations modernize and rebuild when they could use the opportunity to reduce. There is no right to 'indefinite possession' to continue to retain nuclear weapons on security grounds."
-- Tony de Brum, Foreign Minister of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. To read his full statement, click here.

"Nothing could be worse than fear that one has given up too soon and left one effort unexpended which might have saved the world."
-- Jane Addams (1860-1935), American peace activist and 1931 Nobel Peace Laureate. This quote is featured in the book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, available online in the NAPF Peace Store.

Editorial Team

McKenna Jacquemet
David Krieger
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

YES, RELIGIOUS CONSERVATIVES ACCEPT CLIMATE CHANGE -- JUST NOT THE ONES YOU THINK

YES, RELIGIOUS CONSERVATIVES ACCEPT CLIMATE CHANGE -- JUST NOT THE ONES YOU THINK

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FOX NEWS AND THE VICTIMIZATION OF DENNIS HASTERT

THE SUPREME COURT MAY TAKE UP A CASE THAT COULD BE A GAME CHANGER ON ABORTION ACCESS

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS IS POISED TO SCORE A MAJOR VICTORY AGAINST RACIAL JUSTICE

YES, RELIGIOUS CONSERVATIVES ACCEPT CLIMATE CHANGE -- JUST NOT THE ONES YOU THINK

WHAT BEAU BIDEN WANTED EVERYONE TO KNOW ABOUT THE ISSUE THAT DEFINED HIS CAREER

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

Bernie Sanders Calls For Early Presidential Debates With Democrats, Republicans

The Huffington Post  |  By Igor Bobic

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday called for early presidential debates between both Democrats and Republicans to discuss critical issues ahead of the 2016 primary season.

In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press," the newly declared presidential contender said the additional debates would provide contrast to where both parties stand on jobs, income inequality, health care and Social Security.

"I hope very much that we can begin with the Democratic candidate debates as early as July and have some Republicans in those debates as well,” Sanders said.
READ MORE

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TRUTH will set you FREE.

“We Have a Federal Deficit Because We Have a Trade Deficit.”

“We Have a Federal Deficit Because We Have a Trade Deficit.”

Low Visibility in Washington, DC These Days Dear FRIEND: Team Grayson here. Recently, our Congressman with Guts was on national TV, explaining in simple terms the awful ramifications of the "Fast Track" trade legislation that had just passed the Senate, and is heading to the House. Proponents of "Fast Track" are proffering smoke and mirrors, as they try to jam it through Congress. Congressman Grayson is just about the only one in Washington, DC, who can blow away that smoke, and shatter those mirrors. Listen: Thom Hartmann: In the best of the rest of the news, it's illegal to disclose the details of "ObamaTrade." And the President is using that secrecy to confuse the American people. Earlier this month, President Barack Obama downplayed Senator Elizabeth Warren's opposition to the TPP because, he said, "she's a politician like everyone else." This week, Warren's office released a report titled "Broken Promises: Decades of Failure to Enforce Labor Standards in Free Trade Agreements." Rather than criticizing the TPP outright, the report shows what happened over 20 years of so-called "free trade deals" promising to help American workers and consumers. Yesterday, Presidential consultant Michael Wessel published a story in Politico showing how the Obama Administration has made it impossible for elected officials, or advisors like himself, to criticize details of the deal. And unlike past trade deals, even the Administration's cleared advisors, like Michael Wessel himself, can't make specific public criticisms. They also aren't being kept up-to-date on what revisions and proposals are being made by partner countries, which make consultations much more restrictive than past administration's trade deals, according to Wessel. Taking the Senate floor last week, Barbara Boxer shared her story about trying to read the TPP's text. Take a look: [Video] Sen. Barbara Boxer: And as soon as I get there, the guard says to me 'hand over your electronics.' OK. I gave over my electronics. Then the guard says 'You can't take notes.' I said 'I can't take notes?!' 'Well, you can take notes, but you have to give them back to me and I'll put them in a file.' So I said 'Wait a minute, I'm going to take notes, and then you're going to take my notes away from me? And then you're going to have them in a file and you can read my notes?'" TH: So our elected officials can't make notes, can't make real public criticisms, and the President's advisors are not even up to date on changes to the deal? And we're supposed to believe that this deal is being negotiated in the best interests of the American people? Here now to discuss what's going on with the TPP, and the TPA ["Fast Track"], US Representative for Florida's 9th District, Congressman Alan Grayson. Congressman Grayson, welcome back! Congressman Alan Grayson: Thank you. TH: And thanks so much for being with us and for sharing with us that extraordinary video that you did that's over at TradeTreachery.com. Do I have that right? REP. GRAYSON: That's right, and more than a million people have watched it on Facebook alone. TH: Oh, that's fabulous. Let's start at the beginning here. Can you explain the difference between the TPP and the TPA, this new acronym that the Administration has rolled out? Go for it. REP. GRAYSON: Yes, sure. The TPA is procedural, the TPP is substantive. The TPA is what people have been referring to when they speak of "fast track legislation," when they refer to that. The TPP is the deal itself, which the fast track legislation would create a fast track for. Then there's the TTIP, which is the Atlantic version of the TPP. That's also a substantive arrangement -- a treaty, if you will -- that the fast track [legislation] would enable. TH: So, what is the argument against Fast Track, the TPA? Let's start with that, because that's what's being debated right now. REP. GRAYSON: Well, it's a delegation of our legislative responsibilities to the executive branch and to unelected officials. What Fast Track does, very simply, is that it takes away our responsibility for hearings, for oversight, for subcommittee and committee and floor amendments, and in the Senate, even the filibuster. It sweeps all of that away to make a "fast track" for this so-called trade legislation that would increase the deficit, send jobs offshore, and eliminate our sovereignty. That's what it does. In fact, one provision in the fast track legislation limits the debate for House members on this bill to 83 seconds each. That's 83 seconds each! TH: Wow. To your best understanding of what's in the deal, and I realize if you've read any part of it you can't tell us because you would go to jail . . . What will, in your opinion, what will the TPP do to the American worker and the American economy? REP. GRAYSON: Drive us deeper and deeper into debt, and further destroy our jobs base. What the TPP does is that it continues a long line of trade giveaways that started with NAFTA. Since NAFTA went into effect, we've lost 5 million manufacturing jobs, and 15 million other jobs. Fast-Track greases the skids for deals like that to go even further. Right now we have free trade agreements, about a dozen of them, with 18 relatively small countries. Fast-Track, the TPP, the TTIP, all of those would extend that to 50 other countries, almost overnight. And the problem we have is very simple: We are buying the goods and services from other countries, we're putting them to work, and in return they're not buying an equal amount of our goods and services. Instead, they're lending us the money to buy their goods and services, buying our assets, not creating any jobs in the United States by buying our assets, making inequality in this country higher and higher, and driving us deeper and deeper into debt.That's how we end up with an $11 trillion cumulative trade debt. $11 trillion! Every man, woman, and child in this country already owes $35,000 apiece to foreigners, and these deals would make that worse. TH: For decades, conservatives have been hysterical about the budget deficit. This is not the budget deficit you're referring to, it's the trade deficit. It's the difference between what we bring in from selling things versus what we put out buying things. Can you talk a little bit about exactly why we should be concerned about the trade deficit, and why is it that most Americans don't even know that there is a trade deficit, much less one that last month, for example, was $50 billion? REP. GRAYSON: Well, the government deficit is money that we owe to ourselves. For the most part, the holders of government debt are Americans. So, if we needed to pay off the debt, we could do that. If we were willing to raise taxes, we could pay off the debt very quickly. We were heading in that direction under the Clinton Administration. We were only 8 years away under the Clinton Administration from paying off all the federal debt. The trade debt, the trade deficit, is entirely different. That's not money we owe to ourselves. That is 100% money that we owe to people and businesses in other countries, even governments in other countries. And the result of that is that we can't tax ourselves to pay that off. All we can do is hope that they don't ask for their money back. And we're talking about half a trillion dollars every year. In fact, the 14 largest trade deficits in the history of the human race are our 14 last trade deficits, going back during the last 14 years. It's a half a trillion dollars a year, over a billion dollars a day, and cumulatively now over $11 trillion. And it all started with NAFTA. Before NAFTA went into effect, in 200 years of our history, we never had a trade deficit of $135 billion in any year. Every single year since NAFTA has gone into effect, for over 20 years, we've had a trade deficit of over $135 billion. And one [deficit] causes the other. Because when you take that money out of our economy, when you take that money out of buying our goods and services, the government has to step in and make up the difference; otherwise, our economy collapses. The reason why we have a federal deficit is because we have a trade deficit. TH: Wow. And it's astonishing to me that this conversation never happens on the Sunday [news] shows, it never happens in the mainstream media, and the vast majority of Americans don't know what you're talking about when you talk about the trade deficit, as opposed to the federal deficit. It's astonishing. Mitch McConnell recently said that the reason why he's pushing so hard for TPA, for Fast-Track, was not specifically for the TPP, for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or what I call "SHAFTA," the Southern Hemisphere Asian Free Trade Agreement, but that it's because it's a six-year authorization, and he fully expects that the next President will be a Republican. And that Republican President, for the first four years of his presidency, assuming he or she is elected to more than one term, would be able to push through all kinds of "trade deals," all over the place. Shouldn't that really be front-and-center? Again, that seems like something that most Americans don't know, that Mitch McConnell even said it, much less that that's how the Republicans are thinking. REP. GRAYSON: Well, that may be true, but look, there's been a bi-partisan "shafting" of the American public. The initial trade deal, NAFTA, was something that was passed under a Democratic President. And we've had more of these passed under Democratic Presidents and Republican Presidents alike. In fact, there's a unity among our elites in this country. They'll do whatever they need to do to help multinational corporations increase their profits, even if it means giving away our sovereignty.That seems to be the one thing that Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on these days. "Let's placate, let's appease, let's give more power to the multinational corporations through these trade deals, and to hell with America." TH: Yeah. Last week we had 13 Democrats go along with the Republicans for Fast-Track in the Senate. REP. GRAYSON: And they switched [sides] to do that! TH: Right. REP. GRAYSON: They switched! TH: Right - right! REP. GRAYSON: It's the classic case of "I was against it before I was for it." And it will dog them for the rest of their days. TH: Right. And I think they switched [their votes] the day after the big train crash, and so most people don't even know about it. Again, it didn't get covered by cable news. So, anyhow, that's where it's at in the Senate right now. Where's Fast-Track in the House? REP. GRAYSON: Fast-Track in the House is waiting for Fast-Track in the Senate. Everybody agreed the Senate would go first. In fact, when Fast-Track was originally introduced, which was in the last Congress, the 113th Congress, it [was introduced in] the Senate, and was dormant for two years. Now it's being pushed forward, because the TPP, the TTIP, these other deals behind it are almost ready. So now they need to push Fast-Track through. The original plan was to wait for the "lame duck" session [last year], but they weren't ready for that, so now they're going to jam it through right now, as best as they can. And this means coming down hard, hard, on anybody who wants to maintain our labor base, our labor standards; protect our environmental laws, our safety laws; [so that they can] make sure, instead, that multinational corporations get every single thing they want. TH: Right. And you can learn all about it at TradeTreachery.com. And there's also an interesting website for conservatives, it's called ObamaTrade.com, and it's the Conservative argument against it. The hard-right argument, let's say. Yesterday, the World Trade Organization ruled that our United States country of origin labels on meat violate global "free trade" standards. First, I'm curious if you're familiar with the ruling. REP. GRAYSON: Yes. TH: And if you could comment on it. And secondly, is this the sort of thing that we can expect more of under TPP? REP. GRAYSON: It'll be that, and worse. Basically, what we're doing is that we're setting up -- and this is according to published reports; I'm not giving out any secret or confidential information, this is on WikiLeaks -- we're setting up a secret tribunal before the World Bank, and another secret tribunal before the United Nations. Both of these tribunals will be able to issue enforceable awards, arbitration awards or judgements, against not just our federal government, but also our state governments, our county governments, and our municipal governments. And they can do so whenever a corporation believes that its right, it's God-given right, to profit, has been impaired -- by a safety regulation, a health regulation, an environmental regulation, or simply a labeling regulation, like the one that you described. TH: Yeah, it's absolutely astonishing. TradeTreachery.com, you've got to check it out. And watch the video that Congressman Grayson put together. It is brilliant. Congressman Alan Grayson, you are such a light in Congress. Thank you for being with us tonight. REP. GRAYSON: Thank you, Thom. Yes, if you haven't seen our Trade Treachery video, then check it out, by clicking here. And whether or not you've seen it, help us get out the word on it, and fight back against trade treachery, by contributing to our "Truth in Trade" Fund today. Over 1,000,000 people have watched the Trade Treachery video on Facebook already; with a little bit of help from you, we can double that. Help us spread the word.

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

Shell sought to influence direction of Science Museum climate programme

Shell sought to influence direction of Science Museum climate programme

May 31st, 2015

by John Donovan. 

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“These emails reveal that the Science Museum is a significant cog in Shell’s propaganda machine…” 

Terry Macalister: Sunday 31 May 2015 

“These emails reveal that the Science Museum is a significant cog in Shell’s propaganda machine,” said Chris Garrard, from the anti-oil sponsorship campaign group BP or not BP?

FULL ARTICLE

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Posted in: BP, Business Principles, Climate Change, Environment, Oil, Pollution.
Tagged: BP · Climate Change · CO2 Emissions · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Science Museum ·Shell

The TRUTH will set you FREE.