Rising Gas Prices

Everyone is talking about the ‘new’ economic recovery yet gas prices are rising and may torpedo the process. Let’s face it, our economy responds to consumer purchases and with higher gas prices there is less left for us to buy anything.

 

The article below might help you find the best gas prices, the pennies, nickels and dimes you save add up over the long term. So for what it is worth….

 

 

ust as the economic recovery begins to accelerate, another roadblock has jumped in the way. In this case it’s America’s old familiar enemy: Rising prices at the gas pumps. The national average cost for regular unleaded gasoline is already 8% higher this year alone, now at $3.529 a gallon, according to AAA.

 

This is the highest price point ever seen this early in the year. Seasonally prices rise heading into the Summer driving season, but never has the average price of gasoline topped $3.50 this earlier in the New Year.

 

Furthermore, gasoline demand has dropped 10%; meaning Americans are driving less but the amount of money we’re spending on gasoline is rising.

 

As individuals we can’t do much about price hikes but Gregg Laskoski of GasBuddy.com says there are some things we can do to minimize the damage done to our personal finances every time to fill the tank. In the attached clip Laskoski discusses 5 ways to find cheap gas prices.

 

1. Track Prices Via Websites and Mobile Apps

 

Is your local station gauging you? The only way to know is to be aware of what you should be paying. Thanks to the Internet, drivers can drill down and find the average price by zip code. Laskoski’s Gasbuddy.com, Gaspricewatch.com or scores of other web sites or mobile applications make it easy to find gas stations taking the least amount of profit from consumers.

 

2. Inconvenience Yourself

 

It shouldn’t come as much of a shock but the easier it is to find a gas station, the more you’re going to pay. Laskoski says gas stations just off the highway cost more than others just down the way. If you’re willing to spend an extra ten minutes in your car you can find stations that make it time well spent. And, avoid affluent areas; that gas station conveniently existing right in the middle of town is likely charging a premium.

 

3. Fill Up at the Right Time

 

Urban legend says gas prices are lowest during hours when most folks are sleeping, from midnight to 5am. Laskoski debunks that myth, but says there is a best time to fill-up that most people wouldn’t think of: Wednesday. Gas prices are highest on weekends when the most people are out on the road. Filling up in the middle of the week saves you both sleep and money.

 

4. Mind the Fine Print on Your Credit Card & Reward Programs

 

Many companies offer “club” membership at their stations but the real savings come somewhere else. Liskoski says to look for partnerships between your local gas retailer and other merchants. Often times pairing the right card with the right grocery store is where you’ll find the benefits.

 

5. Get Out of the Car (Opt for Self-Service)

 

Despite the near-death of full-service, many gas stations will give you the option of having an attendant fill it up. The next time you’re tempted, take note of the premium being charged per gallon and start doing some math. At a reasonable-sounding quarter per gallon premium, you’re going to pay $5 more to fill a 20 gallon tank. One stop per week for a year works out to $260 a year for the right to sit in your car.

 

The bottom line is gasoline prices are going higher for all of us, and likely to get much worse. We can’t reverse that trend but with a few simple tips we can ease the pain, if only a little bit.

 

Let us know if you have other tips in the comment section below, visit us on Facebook, or Tweet me @Jeffmacke

 

For more money-saving ideas check out Yahoo! Shopping!

 

Good luck in the days to come. I hope this will help you save a few bucks.

More saber rattling in Iran…WW III coming?

The news never stops when it comes to Iran vs. The West/Israel. It certainly looks as if an armed conflict is on the horizon. The belligerence from all parties is getting pretty intense in my opinion.

 

With Russia and China both supporting Iran, looks like they are itching to see the pawns at play…Will the U.S. take the bait? Or will someone in D.C. become suddenly enlightened and figure a way out of this mess.

 

A war will be devastating for the population and the world economy. Then again, going further down the bunny hole, maybe that is what the power elite want…less people and more control over resources…anything is possible in my opinion.

 Iran threatens to hit any country used to attack its soil

 

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran will target any country used as a launchpad for attacks against its soil, the deputy Revolutionary Guards commander said, expanding Tehran’s range of threats in an increasingly volatile stand-off with world powers over its nuclear ambitions.

 

Last week, Iran’s supreme clerical leader threatened reprisals for the West’s new ban on Iranian oil exports and the U.S. defense secretary was quoted as saying Israel was likely to bomb Iran within months to stop it assembling nuclear weapons.

 

Although broadened and sharpened financial sanctions have begun to inflict serious economic pain in Iran, its oil minister asserted Saturday it would make no nuclear retreat even if its crude oil exports ground to a halt.

 

Iran says its nuclear program is for civilian energy purposes. But its recent shift of uranium enrichment to a mountain bunker possibly impervious to conventional bombing, and refusal to negotiate peaceful guarantees for the program or open up to U.N. nuclear inspectors, have thickened an atmosphere of brewing confrontation, raising fears for Gulf oil supplies.

 

“Any spot used by the enemy for hostile operations against Iran will be subjected to retaliatory aggression by our armed forces,” Hossein Salami, deputy head of the elite Revolutionary Guards, told the semi-official Fars news agency Sunday.

 

The Guards began two days of military maneuvers in southern Iran Saturday in another show of force for Iran’s adversaries associated with tensions over its disputed nuclear program.

 

Sunday Israel appointed a new air force chief who last month, in his position as top military planner, warned publicly that Israel could not deal a knock-out blow to its enemies, including Iran, in any regional conflict.

 

The United States and Israel, Iran’s arch-enemies, have not ruled out a military strike on Tehran if diplomacy fails to resolve the nuclear stalemate. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to visit Washington next month, his office said Sunday, and Israeli political sources said he is likely to meet U.S. President Barack Obama while there.

 

Iran’s Salami did not identify which countries he meant as possible hosts for military action against it.

 

The six, U.S.-allied Arab states in the Gulf Cooperation Council, situated on the other side of the vital oil exporting waterway from Iran, have said they would not allow their territories to be used for attacks on the Islamic Republic.

 

But analysts say that if Iran retaliated for an attack launched from outside the region by targeting U.S. facilities in Gulf Arab states, Washington might pressure the host nations to permit those bases to hit back, arguing they should have the right to defend themselves.

 

The Gulf states that host U.S. military facilities are Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

 

THREAT TO SHUT VITAL OIL CHANNEL

 

Iran has warned its response to any such strike will be “painful,” threatening to target Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf, along with closing the Strait of Hormuz used by one third of the world’s seaborne oil traffic.

 

Betraying nervousness about possible blowback from any military strike on Iran, two of its neighbors – Qatar and Turkey – urged the West Sunday to make greater efforts to negotiate a solution to the nuclear row.

 

Speaking at the annual Munich Security Conference attended by top world policymakers, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said an attack would be a “disaster” and the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program could be ended very rapidly.

 

“If there is strong political will and mutual confidence being established, this issue could be resolved in a few days,” he said. “The technical disputes are not so big. The problem is mutual confidence and strong political will.”

 

He added: “A military option will create a disaster in our region. So before that disaster, everybody must be serious in negotiations. We hope soon both sides will meet again but this time there will be a complete result.”

 

Turkey was the venue of the last talks between Western powers and Iran a year ago which ended in stalemate because participants could not even agree on an agenda.

 

Qatari Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Mohamed al-Attiyah said an attack “is not a solution, and tightening the embargo on Iran will make the scenario worse.

 

“I believe that with our allies and friends in the West we should open a serious dialogue with the Iranians to get out of this dilemma. This is what we feel in our region.”

 

Tehran has warned several times it may seal off the Strait of Hormuz, throttling the supply of Gulf crude and gas, if attacked or if sanctions mean it cannot export its oil.

 

A military strike on Iran and Iran’s response, which might include an attack on the oilfields of No. 1 exporter Saudi Arabia, would send oil prices soaring, which could seriously harm the global economy

 

(Additional reporting by William Maclean in Munich and Michael Holden in London; Writing by Mark Heinrich; Editing by Sophie Hares)

 

I suggest prayer and lots of it might be in order here. Appears that the human logic to the situation is lacking.

 

You might want to consider preparing with some food and water stored up at home…just in case.

 

WW III…on the horizon?

In my mind WW III will begin with a strike on Iranian Nuclear facilities. China and Russia are firmly in the Iranian camp. That this will happen is almost a certainty now.

 

The best case is that the ‘super powers’ allow their pawns to fight it out and not get involved directly. Sure lots of covert business will most likely transpire but short of a ‘declaration of war’ or an invasion might keep the contest from spreading.

 

I personally hope and pray that all of this can be avoided. How is anyone’s best guess considering the belligerent stances of everyone involved.

 

By Nicole Gaouette and Jonathan Ferziger – Feb 3, 2012 2:21 PM MT

 

The U.S. and Israel are publicly disagreeing over timing for a potential attack on Iran’s disputed nuclear facilities, as that nation’s leader said it won’t back down.

 

The U.S. and Israel have a “significant analytic difference” over estimates of how close Iran is to shielding its nuclear program from attack, Aaron David Miller, a former Mideast peace negotiator in the Clinton administration, said today.

 

“There’s a growing concern — more than a concern — that the Israelis, in order to protect themselves, might launch a strike without approval, warning or even foreknowledge,” he said in an interview.

 

The differing views were underscored by public comments this week by senior Israeli and U.S. defense officials.

 

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said yesterday that Israel must consider conducting “an operation” before Iran reaches an “immunity zone,” referring to Iran’s goal of protecting its uranium enrichment and other nuclear operations by moving them to deep underground facilities such as one at Fordo, near the holy city of Qom.

‘Nearing Readiness’

 

“The world has no doubt that Iran’s nuclear program is steadily nearing readiness and is about to enter an immunity zone,” Barak said in an address to the annual Herzliya Conference at the Interdisciplinary Center campus north of Tel Aviv. “If the sanctions don’t achieve their goal of halting Iran’s nuclear weapons program, there will arise the need of weighing an operation,” Barak said.

 

The U.S. holds the view that “there is still time and space to pursue diplomacy” with Iran over its nuclear program, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said today in Washington. He added that the U.S. “is absolutely committed to preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons.”

 

In Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today that his nation won’t abandon its nuclear efforts and warned that a strike against the nuclear program would damage U.S. interests in the Middle East “10 times over,” according to the Associated Press. He said, without providing details, that he would disclose a letter that he said President Barack Obama sent Iran’s leaders.

 

Referring to Israel as a “cancerous tumor,” Khamenei said in his Friday sermon that “if any nation or any group confronts the Zionist regime, we will help.” He said that Iran has assisted anti-Israel groups such as Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas.

SWIFT Sanctions

 

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee unanimously approved yesterday a bill that would increase the economic pressure on Iran. The proposal targets Iran-related banking transactions, Iran’s national oil company and leading tanker fleet, joint ventures in mining and energy projects. It also would require corporate disclosure of Iran-related activity to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

One provision calls on the administration to provide a report to Congress within 60 days detailing Iran-related financial transactions facilitated by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, the Belgian member-owned institution known as Swift, and its competitors. The measure would give the president authority to sanction Swift to cut off such services. A similar bill, with stronger language mandating the imposition of sanctions, was submitted in the House yesterday.

 

Within Israel, there isn’t consensus that striking Iran is either good or necessary. Ephraim Halevy, a former head of Israel’s Mossad security agency, is one of two former intelligence chiefs who have spoken against a strike.

Panetta’s Concerns

 

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta declined to comment directly on a report by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius that Panetta believes there is a strong likelihood Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June. Panetta and other U.S. officials have repeatedly warned Israel not to act alone.

 

“Israel has indicated that they’re considering this” through public statements, Panetta told reporters traveling with him yesterday in Brussels. “And we have indicated our concerns.”

 

Israelis think Iran will reach the immunity zone in “half the time the Americans think it will,” Miller said. “To take that difference and talk about a growing rift” between Israel and the U.S. “is by and large an overstatement,” he said.

Obama-Netanyahu Relations

 

Tension between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be complicating communications on the issue, a U.S. defense official said. “There’s no love lost between the two of them, and there’s a trust deficit,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the news media.

 

Defense officials have been concerned that Obama hasn’t warned Netanyahu directly enough about the risks of a Israeli preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, including for U.S. interests in the region such as bases in in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, according to the official.

 

James Clapper, the U.S. director of national intelligence, said Jan. 31 that communication with Israel was good. “We’re doing a lot with the Israelis, working together with them,” he told the Senate intelligence panel.

Unknown Intentions

 

The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, has said it is “premature” to resort to military force because sanctions are starting to have an impact on Iran. In a Jan. 26 interview with National Journal, Dempsey said he delivered a similar message of caution to Israel’s top leadership during a visit to the Jewish state in early January.

 

U.S. intelligence agencies think Iran is developing capabilities to produce nuclear weapons “should it choose to do so,” said Clapper.

 

“We do not know, however, if Iran will eventually decide to build nuclear weapons,” he said.

 

While leaders of both countries agree that time must be given to gauge the impact of the latest set of economic sanctions on Iran, Israel’s patience is shorter than that of the U.S., Ephraim Kam, deputy director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, said.

‘Too Late’

 

“It will take at least six months to see whether sanctions are effective and by then it may be too late,” said Kam, author of the 2007 book, “A Nuclear Iran: What Does it Mean, and What Can be Done.”

 

“We’re definitely using different clocks,” he said.

 

Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz told the Herzliya conference on Feb. 1 that his nation must be “willing to deploy” its military assets because Iran may be within a year of gaining nuclear weapons capability. Gantz said international sanctions are starting to show some results.

 

Moshe Yaalon, Israel’s vice prime minister and its former top military commander, played down Iran’s ability to shelter its activities from a military attack. “It’s possible to strike all Iran’s facilities, and I say that out of my experience as IDF chief of staff,” he said at the conference, referring to the Israeli Defense Forces.

 

The U.S., its European allies and the International Atomic Energy Agency have challenged the government in Tehran to prove that its nuclear work is intended only for energy and medical research, as Iranian officials maintain.

 

Mehdi Khalaji, an Iran specialist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said in an interview that he doubts that the U.S. or Iran will launch a military strike this year. Rather, he cited the possibility than Iran might stage a provocation and use any response as an excuse to launch an asymmetrical attack against U.S. and Israel targets using proxies such as Hezbollah

 

My advice is to keep praying for peace and preparing for some hard times to come….food, water, guns and ammo. Preparedness is not a bad idea especially considering the hardship you could experience if you don’t…

Actions of a Police State

Even if you disagree with what the Occupy participants are protesting, although I can’t see how you could,they have the right to protest..in my opinion.

 

Further, the actions by the police in almost every instance of the ‘clearing them out’ exercises has been rather violent and intimidating and has resulted in needless injuries and arrests. The more the police state raises its ugly head the more galvanized we should all become!

 

Why do Wall Street Bankers get off with but a slap on the hand, if that, yet protesters, most of whom are non violent, are being harassed and thrown into jail? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

 

It is time to change America…past time!

 

 

Associated Press

 

WASHINGTON – Dozens of U.S. Park Police officers in riot gear and on horseback converged before dawn Saturday on one of the nation’s last remaining Occupy sites, with police clearing away tents they said were banned under park rules.

 

At least seven people were arrested in the move, which left large swaths of open space at the encampment and raised questions about exactly what would remain.

 

Police said they were not evicting the protesters. Those whose tents conformed to regulations were allowed to stay, and protesters can stay 24 hours a day as long as they don’t camp there with blankets or other bedding. Police threatened to seize tents that broke the rules and arrest the owners.

 

The police used barricades to cordon off sections of McPherson Square, a park under federal jurisdiction near the White House, and checked tents for mattresses and sleeping bags and sifted through piles of garbage and other belongings. Some wore yellow biohazard suits to guard against diseases identified at the site in recent weeks. Officials also have raised concerns about a rat infestation.

 

By Saturday afternoon, seven were arrested, including four who refused to move from beneath a statute and three who crossed a police line.

 

The National Park Service, which has allowed the protesters to remain in the park for months, has said it will give protesters notice if police decide to clear the park.

 

Protesters had braced for a confrontation when the park service said it would start enforcing the ban Monday, though no crackdown happened until Saturday.

 

Despite what police said, some protesters said the crackdown amounted to eviction.

 

“This is a slow, media-friendly eviction,” protester Melissa Byrne said. “We’re on federal property, so they have to make it look good.”

 

The officers poured into McPherson Square just before 6 a.m., some on horseback and others wearing routine riot gear. As a helicopter hovered overhead, they shut down surrounding streets and formed neat, uniform lines inside the park.

 

The police initially turned their focus to dragging out wood, metal and other items stored beneath a massive blue tarp — which protesters call the “Tent of Dreams” — that had been draped around a statue of Maj. Gen. James McPherson, a Union general in the Civil War. Protesters agreed to remove the tent.

 

Later, in a lighter moment, Park Police used a cherry-picker to remove a mask of 17th-century English revolutionary Guy Fawkes that had been placed on the statue.

 

The mood turned more tense, with occasional shoving, in the afternoon as protesters complained police were indiscriminately seizing tents.

 

Jeff Light, a lawyer who represents a couple of Occupy protesters and who was at McPherson Square, said he expected to challenge the police actions in court. He said he was frustrated because a lawyer for the government had said there were no plans to seize tents that complied with the regulations.

 

“Here they are,” Light said, “doing something different than what they said in court.”

 

The Washington demonstration is among the last remaining Occupy sites, enjoying First Amendment protections by virtue of its location on federal park service property.

 

Similar to the New York protesters, who strategically occupied a park near Wall Street to highlight their campaign against economic inequalities, the District of Columbia group selected a space along Washington’s K Street. The street is home to some of the nation’s most powerful lobbying firms

 

At every opportunity write about the police state, put up your personal experiences. Heck try to write one of the insensitive B*^&%$# in Congress…we must put forth the effort.

Unemployment Numbers Not as Good As Headlines

The not so funny thing about labor statistics, especially unemployment numbers, are the multiple ways to evaluate them and of course, Main Stream Media’s attempts to make a silk purse from a sow’s ear!

 

It appears that over 1 million jobs have just evaporated, thus reducing the overall workforce…ie people with real jobs. So the reverse is that some people just dropped out of the calculation of unemployment, which of course will make that number look better since there are fewer people unemployed included in the final calculation.

 

Also, there appears to be a ‘softening’ in the quality of jobs. Higher paying jobs are losing ground to the lower paying manufacturing and construction jobs. This is good and bad, more of the later mean that some type of rebound might be remotely possible now. Maybe, just maybe some of our manufacturing jobs are coming home! We can only hope this is the start of a trend….

 

 

It’s the headline that a President facing re-election with a dismal economic record didn’t want to see:

1.2 million people driven out of the workforce in a single month!

A frantic White House exploded into damage-control mode, as a deeply shaken President Obama retreated into his chambers. Nervous spokesmen fanned across the airwaves to stammer apologies, search for silver linings among the storm clouds, offer campaign boilerplate about “hope and change,” and desperately search for some way to blame George Bush for an absolute unemployment disaster that occurred over three years after he left office…

 

What’s that, you say? You didn’t see that headline? Well, of course not, silly. All you’re seeing in the headlines is good news, because the official, heavily-massaged U-3 unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent. Fewer people in the workforce means the percentage of unemployed people in the workforce drops.

 

ZeroHedge is incredulous:

 

A month ago, we joked when we said that for Obama to get the unemployment rate to negative by election time, all he has to do is to crush the labor force participation rate to about 55%. Looks like the good folks at the BLS heard us: it appears that the people not in the labor force exploded by an unprecedented record 1.2 million.

 

No, that’s not a typo: 1.2 million people dropped out of the labor force in one month! So as the labor force increased from 153.9 million to 154.4 million, the non institutional population increased by 242.3 million meaning, those not in the labor force surged from 86.7 million to 87.9 million. Which means that the civilian labor force tumbled to a fresh 30 year low of 63.7% as the BLS is seriously planning on eliminating nearly half of the available labor pool from the unemployment calculation.

 

As for the quality of jobs, as withholding taxes roll over Year over year, it can only mean that the US is replacing high paying FIRE jobs with low paying construction and manufacturing. So much for the improvement.

 

Now, I suspect that while a lot of people dropped out of the workforce last month, part of what we’re seeing here is some numerical mutation that caused an abnormally large chunk of the labor-force reduction from the past year to be piled into a single month. There was some decent overall job creation in January, with about 243,000 jobs added to non-farm payrolls, and a nice 50,000 job bump in the manufacturing sector. That total is good enough to modestly outpace current population growth. With the usual backwards adjustment to previous months, it looks like the final quarter of 2011 pretty much kept pace with population growth.

 

However, the fact remains that even as we get back to the (dismal) 8.3 percent U-3 unemployment we last saw in February 2009, the work force is about half a million people smaller in absolute numbers, and that doesn’t include the increase in the working-age population over the past two years. Throw them in, and you’re looking at roughly 1.5 million jobs completely vaporized, to the point where they don’t even count in the official, widely-reported unemployment statistics.

 

Measuring unemployment is a complex endeavor, but the headlines always get boiled down to a single, heavily manipulated number, compiled using data that won’t really be finalized for another month or two. It also matters what type of jobs we’re talking about, how well they pay, how long they last, and how they are distributed across both geography and demographics. Whether or not the liberal grousing about “burger flipping jobs” accounting for those low Bush unemployment figures was accurate, the basic point is sound enough – you really don’t want an economy stuffed with minimum-wage, short-term menial labor.

 

There is no way to have sustained, robust job growth with the anemic GDP figures we’ve been seeing, and which the Congressional Budget Office forecasts to get even worse next year, causing unemployment to rise again. If we were experiencing strong job growth, GDP would be growing more as well.

 

But you don’t hear any of that “burger flipper” stuff out of liberals any more. All you’ll hear today is that we’re “moving in the right direction,” even as the American workforce collapses.

 

So the final analysis is: Read deeper into the good news, it isn’t all roses…sure there is some of the smell of roses but in my opinion the crop has not come in yet. Remember the MSM wants you to see the world through their rose colored glasses…to what end you might ask?

WHY CONGRESS MUST BE SCRAPPED OR DRAMATICALLY OVERHAULED

Have you lost confidence in congress? Are you wondering if the democratic process simply continues to place mostly corrupt or at least corruptible individuals into office. Well I have to say that, unfortunately, you are mostly correct in that respect. In order to illustrate the point take a few minutes to view this video about just what goes on in Washington.

I presume that you would agree that change is in desperate need in our nation’s capital.

We’ve been sold out again. We must act now to safeguard organics.

I wrote about this issue back in 2011 and it is a key one in the field of Organic Agriculture, basically the standards we must all abide by or not to consider food truly organic.Big players in the Organic World are playing Russian Roulette with Organic Standards and the opponents they are getting into bed with are the very dastardly people at Monsanto, who themselves have kept a very unhealthy bedmate, the USDA, as their concubine for many years.We consumers rely upon Organic pioneers to support the industry, not cower to those who would weaken it. Learn more below!

In this article below by Ronnie Cummins of the Organic Consumers’ Association, Ronnie responds to reader comments with a new article: Monsanto Nation: Exposing Monsanto’s Minions

“The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must.” — Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011

In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto’s Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation’s 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America’s organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it’s time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto’s controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for “coexistence” with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.

In a cleverly worded, but profoundly misleading email sent to its customers last week, Whole Foods Market, while proclaiming their support for organics and “seed purity,” gave the green light to USDA bureaucrats to approve the “conditional deregulation” of Monsanto’s genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant alfalfa. Beyond the regulatory euphemism of “conditional deregulation,” this means that WFM and their colleagues are willing to go along with the massive planting of a chemical and energy-intensive GE perennial crop, alfalfa; guaranteed to spread its mutant genes and seeds across the nation; guaranteed to contaminate the alfalfa fed to organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds that will require even more deadly herbicides such as 2,4 D to be sprayed on millions of acres of alfalfa across the U.S.

In exchange for allowing Monsanto’s premeditated pollution of the alfalfa gene pool, WFM wants “compensation.” In exchange for a new assault on farmworkers and rural communities (a recent large-scale Swedish study found that spraying Roundup doubles farm workers’ and rural residents’ risk of getting cancer), WFM expects the pro-biotech USDA to begin to regulate rather than cheerlead for Monsanto. In payment for a new broad spectrum attack on the soil’s crucial ability to provide nutrition for food crops and to sequester dangerous greenhouse gases (recent studies show that Roundup devastates essential soil microorganisms that provide plant nutrition and sequester climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases), WFM wants the Biotech Bully of St. Louis to agree to pay “compensation” (i.e. hush money) to farmers “for any losses related to the contamination of his crop.”

In its email of Jan. 21, 2011 WFM calls for “public oversight by the USDA rather than reliance on the biotechnology industry,” even though WFM knows full well that federal regulations on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) do not require pre-market safety testing, nor labeling; and that even federal judges have repeatedly ruled that so-called government “oversight” of Frankencrops such as Monsanto’s sugar beets and alfalfa is basically a farce. At the end of its email, WFM admits that its surrender to Monsanto is permanent: “The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well True coexistence is a must.”

Why Is Organic Inc. Surrendering?

According to informed sources, the CEOs of WFM and Stonyfield are personal friends of former Iowa governor, now USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and in fact made financial contributions to Vilsack’s previous electoral campaigns. Vilsack was hailed as “Governor of the Year” in 2001 by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and traveled in a Monsanto corporate jet on the campaign trail. Perhaps even more fundamental to Organic Inc.’s abject surrender is the fact that the organic elite has become more and more isolated from the concerns and passions of organic consumers and locavores. The Organic Inc. CEOs are tired of activist pressure, boycotts, and petitions. Several of them have told me this to my face. They apparently believe that the battle against GMOs has been lost, and that it’s time to reach for the consolation prize. The consolation prize they seek is a so-called “coexistence” between the biotech Behemoth and the organic community that will lull the public to sleep and greenwash the unpleasant fact that Monsanto’s unlabeled and unregulated genetically engineered crops are now spreading their toxic genes on 1/3 of U.S. (and 1/10 of global) crop land.

WFM and most of the largest organic companies have deliberately separated themselves from anti-GMO efforts and cut off all funding to campaigns working to label or ban GMOs. The so-called Non-GMO Project, funded by Whole Foods and giant wholesaler United Natural Foods (UNFI) is basically a greenwashing effort (although the 100% organic companies involved in this project seem to be operating in good faith) to show that certified organic foods are basically free from GMOs (we already know this since GMOs are banned in organic production), while failing to focus on so-called “natural” foods, which constitute most of WFM and UNFI’s sales and are routinely contaminated with GMOs.

From their “business as usual” perspective, successful lawsuits against GMOs filed by public interest groups such as the Center for Food Safety; or noisy attacks on Monsanto by groups like the Organic Consumers Association, create bad publicity, rattle their big customers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, Costco, Supervalu, Publix and Safeway; and remind consumers that organic crops and foods such as corn, soybeans, and canola are slowly but surely becoming contaminated by Monsanto’s GMOs.

Whole Food’s Dirty Little Secret: Most of the So-Called “Natural” Processed Foods and Animal Products They Sell Are Contaminated with GMOs

The main reason, however, why Whole Foods is pleading for coexistence with Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and the rest of the biotech bullies, is that they desperately want the controversy surrounding genetically engineered foods and crops to go away. Why? Because they know, just as we do, that 2/3 of WFM’s $9 billion annual sales is derived from so-called “natural” processed foods and animal products that are contaminated with GMOs. We and our allies have tested their so-called “natural” products (no doubt WFM’s lab has too) containing non-organic corn and soy, and guess what: they’re all contaminated with GMOs, in contrast to their certified organic products, which are basically free of GMOs, or else contain barely detectable trace amounts.

Approximately 2/3 of the products sold by Whole Foods Market and their main distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI) are not certified organic, but rather are conventional (chemical-intensive and GMO-tainted) foods and products disguised as “natural.”

Unprecedented wholesale and retail control of the organic marketplace by UNFI and Whole Foods, employing a business model of selling twice as much so-called “natural” food as certified organic food, coupled with the takeover of many organic companies by multinational food corporations such as Dean Foods, threatens the growth of the organic movement.

Covering Up GMO Contamination: Perpetrating “Natural” Fraud

Many well-meaning consumers are confused about the difference between conventional products marketed as “natural,” and those nutritionally/environmentally superior and climate-friendly products that are “certified organic.”

Retail stores like WFM and wholesale distributors like UNFI have failed to educate their customers about the qualitative difference between natural and certified organic, conveniently glossing over the fact that nearly all of the processed “natural” foods and products they sell contain GMOs, or else come from a “natural” supply chain where animals are force-fed GMO grains in factory farms or Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).

A troubling trend in organics today is the calculated shift on the part of certain large formerly organic brands from certified organic ingredients and products to so-called “natural” ingredients. With the exception of the “grass-fed and grass-finished” meat sector, most “natural” meat, dairy, and eggs are coming from animals reared on GMO grains and drugs, and confined, entirely, or for a good portion of their lives, in CAFOs.

Whole Foods and UNFI are maximizing their profits by selling quasi-natural products at premium organic prices. Organic consumers are increasingly left without certified organic choices while genuine organic farmers and ranchers continue to lose market share to “natural” imposters. It’s no wonder that less than 1% of American farmland is certified organic, while well-intentioned but misled consumers have boosted organic and “natural” purchases to $80 billion annually-approximately 12% of all grocery store sales.

The Solution: Truth-in-Labeling Will Enable Consumers to Drive So-Called “Natural” GMO and CAFO-Tainted Foods Off the Market

There can be no such thing as “coexistence” with a reckless industry that undermines public health, destroys biodiversity, damages the environment, tortures and poisons animals, destabilizes the climate, and economically devastates the world’s 1.5 billion seed-saving small farmers. There is no such thing as coexistence between GMOs and organics in the European Union. Why? Because in the EU there are almost no GMO crops under cultivation, nor GM consumer food products on supermarket shelves. And why is this? Because under EU law, all foods containing GMOs or GMO ingredients must be labeled. Consumers have the freedom to choose or not to choose GMOs; while farmers, food processors, and retailers have (at least legally) the right to lace foods with GMOs, as long as they are safety-tested and labeled. Of course the EU food industry understands that consumers, for the most part, do not want to purchase or consume GE foods. European farmers and food companies, even junk food purveyors like McDonald’s and Wal-Mart, understand quite well the concept expressed by a Monsanto executive when GMOs first came on the market: “If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it.”

The biotech industry and Organic Inc. are supremely conscious of the fact that North American consumers, like their European counterparts, are wary and suspicious of GMO foods. Even without a PhD, consumers understand you don’t want your food safety or environmental sustainability decisions to be made by out-of-control chemical companies like Monsanto, Dow, or Dupont – the same people who brought you toxic pesticides, Agent Orange, PCBs, and now global warming. Industry leaders are acutely aware of the fact that every single industry or government poll over the last 16 years has shown that 85-95% of American consumers want mandatory labels on GMO foods. Why? So that we can avoid buying them. GMO foods have absolutely no benefits for consumers or the environment, only hazards. This is why Monsanto and their friends in the Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations have prevented consumer GMO truth-in-labeling laws from getting a public discussion in Congress.

Although Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Democrat, Ohio) recently introduced a bill in Congress calling for mandatory labeling and safety testing for GMOs, don’t hold your breath for Congress to take a stand for truth-in-labeling and consumers’ right to know what’s in their food. Especially since the 2010 Supreme Court decision in the so-called “Citizens United” case gave big corporations and billionaires the right to spend unlimited amounts of money (and remain anonymous, as they do so) to buy media coverage and elections, our chances of passing federal GMO labeling laws against the wishes of Monsanto and Food Inc. are all but non-existent. Perfectly dramatizing the “Revolving Door” between Monsanto and the Federal Government, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, formerly chief counsel for Monsanto, delivered one of the decisive votes in the Citizens United case, in effect giving Monsanto and other biotech bullies the right to buy the votes it needs in the U.S. Congress.

With big money controlling Congress and the media, we have little choice but to shift our focus and go local. We’ve got to concentrate our forces where our leverage and power lie, in the marketplace, at the retail level; pressuring retail food stores to voluntarily label their products; while on the legislative front we must organize a broad coalition to pass mandatory GMO (and CAFO) labeling laws, at the city, county, and state levels.

The Organic Consumers Association, joined by our consumer, farmer, environmental, and labor allies, has just launched a nationwide Truth-in-Labeling campaign to stop Monsanto and the Biotech Bullies from force-feeding unlabeled GMOs to animals and humans.

Utilizing scientific data, legal precedent, and consumer power the OCA and our local coalitions will educate and mobilize at the grassroots level to pressure giant supermarket chains (Wal-Mart, Kroger, Costco, Safeway, Supervalu, and Publix) and natural food retailers such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s to voluntarily implement “truth-in-labeling” practices for GMOs and CAFO products; while simultaneously organizing a critical mass to pass mandatory local and state truth-in-labeling ordinances – similar to labeling laws already in effect for country of origin, irradiated food, allergens, and carcinogens. If local and state government bodies refuse to take action, wherever possible we must attempt to gather sufficient petition signatures and place these truth-in-labeling initiatives directly on the ballot in 2011 or 2012. If you’re interesting in helping organize or coordinate a Millions Against Monsanto and Factory Farms Truth-in-Labeling campaign in your local community, sign up here.

To pressure the nation’s largest supermarket chains to voluntarily adopt truth-in-labeling practices sign here, and circulate this petition widely.

To pressure Whole Foods Market to take the lead, sign here, and circulate this petition widely.

And please stay tuned to Organic Bytes for the latest developments in our campaigns.

Power to the People! Not the Corporations!

Insider trading. Why the rules for congress and the senate allow them to do things that would end us up in jail.

The playing field is not level for you and I when it comes to insiders trading.  Members of Congress do it all the time and it is LEGAL!  You and I would be investigated, spend tens of thousands if not hundreds on lawyers, go to jail and pay hefty fines.  I suppose it is yet another part of the ‘retirement’ plan for Congressional members!  The video below points out just how unfair the game is when it comes to the markets and trading!

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7388130n

Will this false flag be their excuse to start the war with Iran?

Though we loathe to admit it, the truth is that false flag events have been repeatedly used to justify wars around the world. Check out the video below for more specific information. Let’s stay informed!

What is our country coming to? Housing’s last resort for those who are flat broke.

When we look at the state of our nation closely, the reality betrays a far different situation than the one painted by mainstream media. Homelessness is on the rise. Young families having to move back with mum and dad or grandparents. Unemployment numbers of 20% or more in many places. Cities emptying and halving their populations and for more and more Americans long term stay hotels with paper thin walls are becoming home. Read more below!

A long way down the US housing ladder, beneath the grisly ‘projects’ of The Wire and the trailer parks hymned by Eminem, beneath the slums of New Orleans and the ghettos of Detroit, you’ll find the long-stay hotel. Cheap, not very cheerful, and pretty much a last resort, these institutions provide four walls and a roof, for a few hundred bucks a month. It’s some of the cheapest accommodation you’ll find anywhere in the US, aside from a cardboard box.

Long-stay hotels can be found in almost every major American city. They offer none of the privacy of trailer parks, and even less of the permanency. Guests make do with postage stamp-sized rooms, paper-thin walls, and nylon sheets. You’ll rarely find them listed in tourist guides, even the section of a Lonely Planet devoted to ‘rock-bottom dives’. Staying in one isn’t exactly what you might call a holiday. It is, however, an experience. So says Kalpesh Lathigra, whose compelling photo-essay on the Wilmington Hotel in Long Beach, Southern California, is published on these pages.

A British documentary photographer, he stumbled upon the place while looking up relatives during a family holiday to Los Angeles (it is owned by his uncle, Bachu), and has since re-visited for extended periods, building close relationships with its most colourful and well-established residents.

“The hotel is one of those places with a feel that you know just has to be recorded,” he says. “There’s something in the ether. I remember walking in for the first time, and straight away realising that it had this weird character that cried out to be photographed.

“The carpet looked like it was bought in the 1970s. The doors are this ugly blue. My idea of American hotels and motels was of a place where you came and stayed for a night or two. But here, every room was occupied by someone who had been living there long-term. It felt like one of those places that has a real story to tell.”

Lathigra’s images capture some of the unlovely realities of life at the $150-a-week Wilmington, which is situated a stone’s throw from the industrial fug of Long Beach port, and a half-hour’s drive from the mansions of Beverly Hills and the Hollywood sign. They show peeling paint, filthy curtains, and nicotine-stained walls – not to mention the battle-scarred men and women who have ended up inhabiting the building’s 30-odd rooms.

Every long-stay hotel revolves around rules. Residents must forego drugs (though alcohol is allowed). They must pay their rent on time, and agree not to hog the shared bathrooms. Every 28 days, so as not to breech hotel licensing rules, they must clear everything out of their rooms, and check in all over again. There is no room service and chambermaids are non-existent: guests make their own beds and wash their own sheets.

Yet for all the superficial grimness, there is also a tangible sense of community to the Wilmington. Residents adorn their rooms with rudimentary tokens of homeliness, from family photos to kettles, computers, televisions, stoves and objets d’art.

They build relationships, looking after neighbours’ children and watching each other’s backs. You’d be hard pressed to call their situation happy, but most hold out hope for a better future, and still buy into the American dream.

“A lot of them have come from broken families, or bad situations. And this is what they’re left with. It’s pretty much the last resort, the only one they could afford,” says Lathigra.

“But they still have good relationships, play together, listen to music, and party. There’s a weird dynamic: people keep their doors open and neighbours can walk

in and make themselves at home. You could say that they rely on each other for family.”

Every resident has a story. Mike, known as ‘Jesus of Wilmington’, was working as a roofer, but lost his job in the 2008 recession. He is currently doing casual jobs in Long Beach port, hoping to save enough to buy a truck and get his career back on track.

Sandra, who suffers drug and alcohol problems, recently had the children in her photograph taken into care until she can complete a course of rehab. Ron, the dapper gentleman standing in a hallway, is a former war hero who can barely scrape by on his Air Force pension.

“I love America, but there’s this side to it that’s never mentioned to you, and I hope these photos capture that,” says Lathigra. “Here’s a place, a short drive from the Hollywood Hills, where you have people eating spaghetti four nights a week because it’s all they can afford. The US is such a seductive, successful, wealthy society, but it also has these big cracks, and I guess this kind of place shows people fall through them all the time.”

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