Public Herald

What Did Your Shirt Cost?

Laurel Dammann — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:30:33 +0000

Video: “Bangladeshi Workers Pay Price for West’s Cheap Clothes” Bangladesh has been a country of wiggle room for Western retailers looking to cut costs, however, the April 24 collapse of eight story Rana Plaza has turned Bangladesh into [...]

Freedom To Disagree: “The Revolution Is Being Televised”

Melissa Troutman — Mon, 06 May 2013 10:55:08 +0000

In this remarkable video by Adam Pletts for Al Jazeera, [7:59] a former real-estate construction manager turned media activist states, “It was impossible before the revolution to make a media centre or publish any photo or video against the regime.” Sitting on the floor, snacking and smoking cigarettes in a village guarded by the Free Syrian Army, a team of media activists points to coverage by Reuters on the T.V. and have differing opinions about editing the team’s video content for distribution. One main debate surrounds how much “flesh and blood” is too much to show before it’s too shocking for people to even watch. The former construction manager, who now serves as media coordinator, states, “This discussion is normal and necessary. For 50 years the regime took only one side and never listened to the others sides. So if I behave the same way now, I will be behaving like the regime.” But later [16:05] he seems to contradict himself: “I am an activist, only an activist. I am with the revolution, so I will only tell this side.”

Dark Matter: EPA Tackles Conflicts of Interest on Scientific Panels

Laurel Dammann — Mon, 06 May 2013 10:45:54 +0000

EPA adds safeguards to spotlight conflicts on scientific panels by David Heath for The Center for Public Integrity The Environmental Protection Agency announced new safeguards Friday to prevent conflicts of interest or bias from tainting its science, including [...]

Part 1 of “Fracking Road Trip” Series: Truthout Documents Fracking Across the States

Laurel Dammann — Mon, 06 May 2013 10:35:26 +0000

The Mines That Fracking Built by Mike Ludwig for Truthout.org This story is the first installment of Truthout’s Fracking Road Trip series on the wide-reaching impacts of the fracking industry. The bluffs rise up gently from the rolling [...]

Fracking’s “New Saudi Arabia”

Laurel Dammann — Mon, 06 May 2013 10:30:19 +0000

Sand Land: Fracking Industry Mining Iowa’s Iconic Sand Bluffs In New Form Of Mountaintop Removal A collaborative report by Steve Horn of DeSmogBlog and Trisha Marczak of Mint Press News Within immediate vicinity of a central battleground of the [...]

Popping Pills: Despite Manipulated Test Data, Drugs Meet with FDA Approval

Laurel Dammann — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:45:38 +0000

FDA Let Drugs Approved on Fraudulent Research Stay on the Market by Rob Garver and Charles Seife for ProPublica On the morning of May 3, 2010, three agents of the Food and Drug Administration descended upon the Houston [...]

Fertilizer Institute Lobbied Against Legislation for Safer Chemical Facilities

Laurel Dammann — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:40:22 +0000

Fertilizer trade group opposed stricter security rules by Jim Morris for The Center for Public Integrity Like many, the Fertilizer Institute, a trade group, has extended its condolences to the people of West, Texas, where a blast at a fertilizer plant [...]

Sign of the Salamander

Laurel Dammann — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:45:08 +0000

Hellbender Salamanders: Giant Indicators of Clean Water by The Allegheny Front LISTEN TO FULL SHOW: Each summer since 2007, Eric Chapman leads a team out intoLittle Mahoning Creek in Indiana, Pa. They risk life and limb hoisting rocks the [...]

No Whistling: Whistleblower Activites Potentially Criminalized in Pennsylvania

Laurel Dammann — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:40:58 +0000

Bill would limit whistleblower activities on PA farms by Natasha Khan for Public Source Chickens crammed into wire cages next to the rotting carcasses of other chickens. The floor of a barn coated with flies. Hens with their [...]

Watched: Jacquelyn Kingsley saw “Triple Divide”

Laurel Dammann — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:40:17 +0000

Triple Divide is a tremendously moving film. To hear landowners and farmers speak of having their land rights and human rights violated was powerful and upsetting. I appreciate their willingness to honestly describe what they're going through. Their testimonies, along with the demonstration at the beginning of the film of how fracking representatives approach landowners, give audiences an idea of our collective vulnerability to the manipulations and deceptions of an uncaring and immoral industry. However, at the end of the film, one man's clarion call reminds us that we can always develop our collective strength. I love the bold and inspiring declaration of the landowner who says he will not succumb without a fight. That's what we all have to do to the extent that we are able: intelligently and peacefully resist. I think it's great that the film emphasizes the importance of high quality and exceptional streams and bodies of water that are being threatened by fracking operations and a lack of state protection. Perhaps the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) should be prosecuted for failing to punish industry/ company violations of the commonwealth laws in its state and endangering these vital water sources, aquifers, and thus the public health. Hopefully, residents will place more pressure on the DEP to execute its responsibilities in a more transparent and timely fashion. Triana Energy should refer to themselves not as "21st Century Explorers" but as 21st Century Colonizers. In fact, all of the natural gas companies depicted in the film could be labeled as 21st Century Colonizers as their profit-driven and short-term interests drive their destructive exploitation of already established communities.

Public Herald

What Did Your Shirt Cost?

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