Tag Archives: rights

Giant hog farms are making people sick. Here’s why it’s a civil rights issue.

by JoleenPercy Posted on November 6, 2014

WHOLE HOG

Giant hog farms are making people sick. Here’s why it’s a civil rights issue.

By

6 Nov 2014 9:23 AM

Share

Share

Giant hog farms are making people sick. Here’s why it’s a civil rights issue.

×

The foul stench and pollution caused by North Carolina’s industrial swine farms has long impacted the quality of life — and the health — of nearby residents. This is a civil rights issue, according to environmental justice advocates. Earthjustice filed a complaint in September against the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), alleging that the pollution disproportionately affects African-American, Latino, and Native American communities living near the farms.

Since DENR gets money from the EPA, the complaint made its demands under the auspices of the 1964 Civil Rights Act:

Complainants hope that in the year 2014, the Office of Civil Rights will enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and EPA’s implementing regulations, and will respond with the full force of law — withdrawing DENR’s funding, if need be — to protect communities of color from the injustice of being forced to live and work near inadequately regulated industrial pollution sources.

And yes, we’re talking about the injustice of a whole lotta poop, but it’s no joke. More than 2,000 high-density farms in eastern North Carolina store the urine and feces of 9.5 million swine in “open-air cesspools” and then spray all that liquid manure onto nearby fields. That means nitrates, harmful bacteria, and parasites leach into the groundwater. Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide and feces particles can permeate the air. Nearby residents — who, according to a recent study on the issue, are at least 1.5 times as likely to be people of color — get asthma attacks, bronchitis, runny noses and eyes. There’s even been a study linking North Carolina’s hog farms to high blood pressure. Ugh.

The civil rights complaint is new territory for the DENR, reports the News & Observer:

DENR spokesman Drew Elliot said the agency is reviewing the complaint. “This civil rights process is not one we’re very familiar with,” he said. “It’s not something we deal with very much.”

Ouch. Well, perhaps it’s time they did. There are a lot of complaints to be leveraged against factory farms, but that certainly includes their impact on the folks living downwind.

Source:
Density Of Industrial Hog Farms In North Carolina Prompts Civil Rights Investigation

, MintPress News.

Environmental groups: NC swine farms discriminate against minorities

, The News & Observer.

Find this article interesting?

Donate now to support our work.Share

Please

enable JavaScript

to view the comments.

Get stories like this in your inbox

AdvertisementAdvertisement

Source: 

Giant hog farms are making people sick. Here’s why it’s a civil rights issue.

Posted in Anchor, bigo, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, solar, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Giant hog farms are making people sick. Here’s why it’s a civil rights issue.

The Stunning Success of the Wilderness Act

by RoseannPinedo Posted on October 1, 2014

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

This story first appeared on the TomDispatch website.

Let us now praise famous laws and the year that begat them: 1964.

The first thing to know about 1964 was that, although it occurred in the 1960s, it wasn’t part of “the Sixties.” The bellbottoms, flower power, LSD, and craziness came later, beginning about 1967 and extending into the early 1970s. Trust me: I was there, and I don’t remember much; so by the dictum variously attributed to Grace Slick, Dennis Hopper, and others (that if you can remember the Sixties, you weren’t part of them), I must really have been there.

1964 was a revolutionary year. It was a time when Congress actually addressed the people’s business, and it gave us at least three great laws.

One was the monumental Civil Rights Act, which aspired to complete the tragic and sanguinary work of the Civil War and achieve the promise of the Thirteenth Amendment.

Continue Reading »

Originally from: 

The Stunning Success of the Wilderness Act

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, PUR, Radius, Sunbeam, Ultima, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Stunning Success of the Wilderness Act

The Civil Rights Act Was Signed Into Law 50 Years Ago Today

by Hilton0041 Posted on July 2, 2014

Mother Jones

Here is President Obama’s statement on the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

In 1964, President Johnson put pen to paper and signed the Civil Rights Act into law. Fifty years later, few pieces of legislation have defined our national identity as distinctly, or as powerfully. By outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, the Civil Rights Act effectively ended segregation in schools, workplaces, and public facilities. It opened the door for the Voting Rights Act, and the Fair Housing Act. And it transformed the concepts of justice, equality, and democracy for generations to come.

The Civil Rights Act brought us closer to making real the declaration at the heart of our founding – that we are all created equal. But that journey continues. A half a century later, we’re still working to tear down barriers and put opportunity within reach for every American, no matter who they are, what they look like, or where they come from. So as we celebrate this anniversary and the undeniable progress we’ve made over the past 50 years, we also remember those who have fought tirelessly to perfect our union, and recommit ourselves to making America more just, more equal and more free.

Continue reading:  

The Civil Rights Act Was Signed Into Law 50 Years Ago Today

Posted in Anchor, FF, GE, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Civil Rights Act Was Signed Into Law 50 Years Ago Today

Whistleblower Crackdowns, Self-Censorship, Stonewalled FOIAs: The 1st Amendment Under Attack

by SalinaR35rp Posted on June 17, 2014

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

This story first appeared on the TomDispatch website.

America has entered its third great era: the post-constitutional one. In the first, in the colonial years, a unitary executive, the King of England, ruled without checks and balances, allowing no freedom of speech, due process, or privacy when it came to protecting his power.

In the second, the principles of the Enlightenment and an armed rebellion were used to push back the king’s abuses. The result was a new country and a new constitution with a Bill of Rights expressly meant to check the government’s power. Now, we are wading into the shallow waters of a third era, a time when that government is abandoning the basic ideas that saw our nation through centuries of challenges far more daunting than terrorism. Those ideas—enshrined in the Bill of Rights—are disarmingly concise. Think of them as the haiku of a genuine people’s government.

Deeper, darker waters lie ahead and we seem drawn down into them. For here there be monsters.

The Powers of a Police State Denied

America in its pre-constitutional days may seem eerily familiar even to casual readers of current events. We lived then under the control of a king. (Think now: the imperial presidency.) That king was a powerful, unitary executive who ruled at a distance. His goal was simple: to use his power over his American colonies to draw the maximum financial gain while suppressing any dissent that might endanger his control.

In those years, protest was dangerous. Speech could indeed make you the enemy of the government. Journalism could be a crime if you didn’t write in support of those in power. A citizen needed to watch what he said, for there were spies everywhere, including fellow colonists hoping for a few crumbs from the king’s table. Laws could be brutal and punishments swift as well as extra-judicial. In extreme cases, troops shot down those simply assembling to speak out.

Continue Reading »

See the original article here:  

Whistleblower Crackdowns, Self-Censorship, Stonewalled FOIAs: The 1st Amendment Under Attack

Posted in alo, Anchor, Casio, Citizen, FF, Free Press, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, PUR, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Whistleblower Crackdowns, Self-Censorship, Stonewalled FOIAs: The 1st Amendment Under Attack

Alabama GOP Is Offering $1,000 for Voter Fraud Tips at Polling Places Today

by Lionel4334 Posted on June 3, 2014

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

Today, more than 700,000 Alabamans are headed to the polls for the state’s Democratic and Republican primaries. It’s the first election since Alabama passed its tough new voter ID law, but the Alabama Republican Party apparently doesn’t think the bill goes far enough. According to the state GOP newsletter, the party is sending trained volunteers to patrol polling places—and offering $1,000 rewards for tips that lead to felony voter fraud convictions. Below is a snippet from the missive, which went out Monday:

Any suspicion of fraud or witnessing the willful non-enforcement of the Alabama’s voter laws needs to be reported….”Reward Stop Voter Fraud” signs with our hotline number will be placed at random polling locations tomorrow and at all polling locations in November. Poll watchers trained by ALGOP staff will also be watching to ensure that Alabama’s election laws—including the new photo voter ID law—are not being violated. Our signs and poll watchers will send a clear message to those wishing to commit voter fraud. Anyone attempting to tamper with the election process will be caught and will be prosecuted.

The campaign could add to the confusion surrounding the new law’s requirements. And the underlying tactics are reminiscent of the controversial “ballot integrity” initiatives that cropped up in the 1960s, following the passage of two landmark bills: the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, which banned discriminatory voting practices such as poll taxes and literacy tests. Under a program called Operation Eagle Eye, the Republican National Committee recruited tens of thousands to volunteers to patrol polling places in heavily Democratic neighborhoods. The ostensible goal was to deter voter fraud, but some of their techniques seemed designed to intimidate voters. Poll watchers were encouraged carry walkie talkies, snap photos of citizens casting ballots, and enlist Republican-friendly sheriffs to help block voters whom the party had deemed ineligible. In Alabama, the GOP also offered rewards for tips leading to arrest and convictions for breaking certain election laws.

Continue Reading »

Source article:

Alabama GOP Is Offering $1,000 for Voter Fraud Tips at Polling Places Today

Posted in Anchor, Citizen, FF, GE, LAI, Landmark, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Alabama GOP Is Offering $1,000 for Voter Fraud Tips at Polling Places Today

Finally, the NYPD Will Stop Seizing Condoms from Suspected Sex Workers

by KathiIvest Posted on May 13, 2014

Mother Jones

The New York Police Department announced this week that its officers would stop seizing unused condoms as evidence of prostitution, which is a significant win for public health advocates. Because prostitution charges rarely go to trial, advocates have long argued that the main consequence of arresting suspected sex workers for carrying condoms is to discourage protected sex—and sabotage efforts to bring down the rate of HIV/AIDS.

On Monday, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed. “A policy that inhibits people from safe sex is a mistake and dangerous,” he said. “And there are a number of ways you can go about putting together evidence without condoms.”

Still, New York police may continue to use condoms as evidence for arrests in sex trafficking and promotion of prostitution cases, which civil rights and health advocates say leaves a huge loophole in the law. And the practices of counting condoms as evidence of a crime or confiscating them remain widespread in urban centers across America, with devastating health effects.

Police departments in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and San Francisco all use similar tactics, even as these cities spend millions distributing free condoms and trying to protect sex workers at risk for contracting or transmitting HIV. In these cities, a 2012 Human Rights Watch report found, “Police stops and searches for condoms are often a result of profiling, a practice of targeting individuals as suspected offenders for who they are, what they are wearing and where they are standing, rather than on the basis of any observed illegal activity.”

The best example of this practice gone wrong may be New Orleans. Civil rights advocates there blame aggressive police tactics—including the seizure of condoms—for Louisiana’s staggering HIV/AIDS rate. A December Human Rights Watch report found that “sex workers, transgender women and others at high risk of HIV infection told us that they were afraid to carry condoms and that they sometimes had to engage in sex without protection out of fear of police harassment.” Partly as a result, the state’s infection rate is twice the national average.

The problem, the report continues, is not just that criminalizing condoms makes people less likely to carry them. Arresting individuals on such a thin premise guarantees that people at a high risk for contracting or transmitting HIV/AIDS get arrested a lot. This interferes with their medical treatment. “One transgender woman was arrested for prostitution 10 times in three years, and has yet to keep her appointment with the clinic,” the report states.

The New York general assembly and the California legislature are both pushing measures to ban the use of condoms as evidence across the state. Health advocates across the country have vocalized their support for these bills, but their merits may be best summed up by Maria, a sex worker in San Francisco who spoke to Human Rights Watch in 2012: “Why is the city giving me condoms when I can’t carry them without going to jail?”

Link – 

Finally, the NYPD Will Stop Seizing Condoms from Suspected Sex Workers

Posted in Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Finally, the NYPD Will Stop Seizing Condoms from Suspected Sex Workers

Dot Earth Blog: Beneath the Surface of China’s Great Urban Rush

by Finley Kay Posted on April 22, 2014

green4us

Inside of a Dog – Alexandra Horowitz

The bestselling book that asks what dogs know and how they think, now in paperback. The answers will surprise and delight you as Alexandra Horowitz, a cognitive scientist, explains how dogs perceive their daily worlds, each other, and that other quirky animal, the human. Horowitz introduces the reader to dogs’ perceptual and cognitive abilities and then draw

iTunes Store
White Dwarf Issue 12: 19 April 2014 – White Dwarf

It’s a hobby extravaganza this week as host of new hobby tools are released; in a special edition of Sprues And Glue we go in-depth on using them, while Paint Splatter takes an in-depth look at texture paints. You’ll also find Astra Militarum tactics, a Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey Battle Report and much more. About this Series: White Dwarf is Ga

iTunes Store
How to Raise the Perfect Dog – Cesar Millan & Melissa Jo Peltier

From the bestselling author and star of National Geographic Channel’s Dog Whisperer , the only resource you’ll need for raising a happy, healthy dog. For the millions of people every year who consider bringing a puppy into their lives–as well as those who have already brought a dog home–Cesar Millan, the preeminent dog behavior expert, says, “Yes,

iTunes Store
My Boyfriend Barfed in My Handbag . . . and Other Things You Can’t Ask Martha – Jolie Kerr

“Wise and funny. . . . The Lorrie Moore short story, or the Tina Fey memoir, of cleaning tutorials.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times “Thrillingly titled. . . . For a generation overwhelmed not just by dust bunnies, but by bong water on the carpet, pee stains on the ceiling and vomit seemingly everywhere, Jolie Kerr dispenses cleaning advice free of judgme

iTunes Store
Codex: Astra Militarum (Enhanced Edition) – Games Workshop

The Astra Militarum are the mighty Hammer of the Emperor, an army so vast that it has never been fully recorded by the scribes of the Administratum. Drawn from a million worlds, its men and women are the thin line between Humanity and the void. On hundreds of thousands of warzones across the galaxy the armies of the Astra Militarum hold back the advance of a

iTunes Store
Codex: Militarum Tempestus (Interactive Edition) – Games Workshop

Codex: Militarum Tempestus The Scions of the Militarum Tempestus are the highly skilled elite of the Astra Militarum. Trained from youth in the combat schools of the Schola Progenium, each one has been psycho-conditioned to obey without question and kill without remorse. In battle, the toughest missions fall to the Tempestus Scions. Their specialist sq

iTunes Store
How to Paint Citadel Miniatures: Astra Militarum – Games Workshop

The Astra Militarum is an army of regimentation and proud tradition, with soldiers drawn from across the length and breadth of the Imperium. Their uniforms and iconography reflect this strict adherence to military organisation, and whether it is the Scions of the Militarum Tempestus, the Imperial Guardsmen of Cadia or the tanks of an armoured formation, each

iTunes Store
The Art of Raising a Puppy (Revised Edition) – Monks of New Skete

For more than thirty years the Monks of New Skete have been among America’s most trusted authorities on dog training, canine behavior, and the animal/human bond. In their two now-classic bestsellers, How to be Your Dog’s Best Friend and The Art of Raising a Puppy, the Monks draw on their experience as long-time breeders of German shepherds and as t

iTunes Store
Codex: Astra Militarum (eBook Edition) – Games Workshop

Codex: Astra Militarum The Astra Militarum are the mighty Hammer of the Emperor, an army so vast that it has never been fully recorded by the scribes of the Administratum. Drawn from a million worlds, its men and women are the thin line between Humanity and the void. On hundreds of thousands of warzones across the galaxy the armies of the Astra Militarum hol

iTunes Store
Marijuana Grower’s Handbook – Ed Rosenthal

The all new Marijuana Grower’s Handbook shows both beginners and advanced growers how to grow the biggest most resinous, potent buds! This book contains the latest knowledge, tools, and methods to grow great marijuana – both indoors and outdoors. Marijuana Grower’s Handbook will show you how to use the most efficient technology and save time, labor, and

iTunes Store

See original article here – 

Dot Earth Blog: Beneath the Surface of China’s Great Urban Rush

Posted in Bunn, Citadel, Citizen, Dolphin, eco-friendly, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, Monterey, ONA, solar, solar power, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Dot Earth Blog: Beneath the Surface of China’s Great Urban Rush

New Voting Rights Act Bill Won’t Stop ID Schemes

by AshelyStory Posted on January 17, 2014

Mother Jones

Civil rights advocates and some progressives are voicing concerns about a bipartisan Voting Rights Act overhaul introduced in both houses of Congress Thursday. The proposal would reinstate federal oversight of states with a recent history of voter discrimination, though it leaves voter ID laws off the list of grievances that qualify as discrimination.

The original Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965 and amended most recently in 2006, subjected states and counties that had historically used a “test or device” like literacy tests or racial gerrymandering to restrict voting to special oversight—any new election laws in those places had to be approved as nondiscriminatory by the federal government.

The formula for determining which jurisdictions needed oversight—which included Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia along with parts of California, Florida, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, and South Dakota—was ruled unconstitutional in a controversial Supreme Court decision last year. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts called the formula outdated, writing, “It would have been irrational for Congress to distinguish between states in such a fundamental way based on 40-year-old data, when today’s statistics tell an entirely different story.”

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and John Conyers (D-Mich.) introduced a bill to revamp that formula and reinstate the Voting Rights Act’s protections. Under the proposal, any states whose electoral changes violated federal laws (like Texas’ redistricting attempt, which federal judges tossed out in 2012 due to its dilution of minority voting power) five times over the past 15 years would be subject to federal scrutiny, while any local jurisdiction with three violations or one violation and “persistent, extremely low minority turnout” would get the same treatment. Under these rules, only Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas would fall under statewide federal oversight.

While members of the Congressional Black Caucus signaled their support for the legislation, according to National Journal, the Hispanic Caucus and civil rights organizations have expressed misgivings. Voter ID laws are exempted from the violations list, meaning restrictive changes passed in North Carolina, Texas, and elsewhere won’t be held against those states. “These voter ID laws make it harder for people of color to have a say in our democracy,” said Katherine Culliton-González, director of voter protection for the civil rights advocacy organization Advancement Project. “There’s no reason for this distinction. It’s arbitrary.” (Voter ID laws can still be blocked if the Department of Justice or federal courts deem them unfair; they just won’t count toward a state’s five-violation total.)

Culliton-González also took issue with a provision that only court rulings, not consent decrees or settlements, will count in a state’s violation total. Organizations like Advancement Project often settle voting rights lawsuits to get changes implemented faster, she said, whereas the proposed bill would incentivize drawing out court proceedings.

Still, Advancement Project and the ACLU have called the legislation an important first step. Provisions like the voter ID exemption may be necessary to win support from conservatives and other lawmakers from affected states, even if the legislation is a longshot to pass. For progressives on the fence, it’s a matter of how much they’re wiling to compromise to see a big element of the Voting Rights Act back in action.

DV.load(“//www.documentcloud.org/documents/1006225-voting-rights-act-legislation.js”,
width: 630,
height: 600,
sidebar: false,
container: “#DV-viewer-1006225-voting-rights-act-legislation”
);

Voting Rights Act Legislation (PDF)

Voting Rights Act Legislation (Text)

View the original here: 

New Voting Rights Act Bill Won’t Stop ID Schemes

Posted in alo, FF, GE, LG, ONA, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on New Voting Rights Act Bill Won’t Stop ID Schemes