Northern California Moms Protest Unnecessary LBAM Spraying

Excerpted from the "Stop the Spray" website:

THE LIGHT BROWN APPLE MOTH (LBAM)
ERADICATION PROGRAM:
A Hazard to Public Health & The Environment

* Urban populations in Santa Cruz & Monterey counties were aerially sprayed with a synthetic pheromone-pesticide without their consent in the Fall of 2007.
* 643 reports of illness followed the spraying.
* Millions of Californians are slated to be sprayed REPEATEDLY beginning in Summer 2008 and continuing up to 9 months per year, for at least 5 years, according to agency officials.
* Other methods of applying toxic pesticides are already being used in our neighborhoods and on private property without our consent.
* $74 million is the minimum cost of the 2008 spraying program in California
* No substantiated damage has occurred to any crops in California.
* THIS IS NOT OVER YET!

The California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the State of California claim that synthetic pheromone-pesticide sprays will eradicate the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM), an insect that entomologists say has lived in California for more than three decades.

Not Necessary: In New Zealand, where the LBAM has been present for over 100 years, control is achieved almost exclusively by non-toxic means, including naturally existing predators. Expert scientists say that eradication of the LBAM in California is not even possible.

Not Effective: Aerial spray of this synthetic pheromone-pesticide has not been used before over populated areas and has never been used to eradicate a pest. Entomologists and agriculture experts say it will not be effective. The CDFA admits that it can't be sure that any moths have been affected (inhibited from mating) by the spraying done thus far.

Not Safe: CheckMate LBAM-F, the chemical compound used in the first spray has not been tested for long-term health effects, and contains ingredients with known toxicities. Furthermore, it is contained in plastic micro-capsules, some of which are small enough to lodge in the deepest recesses of human lungs.

Not Over: Although a Superior Court judge in Santa Cruz County recently ruled that spraying in Santa Cruz could not continue there until after an Environmental Impact Report has been completed, the CDFA plans to seek an appeal. In addition, the court’s decision only applies to Santa Cruz County. And though Governor Schwarzenegger has temporarily issued a delay of the continuation of the spraying, he also insists that spraying is safe and necessary to avoid "…a devastating impact on our state's environment and economy." [Bakersfield Californian, 4/24/08]

The CDFA plans to start spraying in Monterey, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties on August 17, 2008. California communities are raising our voices and calling on Governor Schwarzenegger to stop the spray today.

To sign the petition or get more information go to Stop the Spray.

FOX Expert: If the Mob Ran Things, There'd Be No Obama Issue

Tracy Byrnes, a FOX Business analyst, went completely over the line in her comments during the Cavuto show that aired April 23rd on FOX Business Network.

Byrnes is a dedicated water-carrier her bosses at FOX News. If they asked her to say the moon is made of green cheese, she'd say it. So when you listen to the following comments, realize that - despite the surprised looks on the faces of Neil Cavuto and John Layfield - she is, in all probability, simply stating what she's heard around the FOX set and in the halls of power at FOX Central.

During a ludicrous discussion about whether or not the "mob" (Mafia) is controlling the cost of oil, Byrnes said "I've seen the mob in action. I'm thinking it could rule the world and they probably should. We wouldn't have the Obama issue, quite frankly, if Tony Soprano was in charge."

What exactly did Ms. Byrnes mean by the "Obama issue"? And what, pray tell, does she think the mob should do to the Senator from Illinois?

Later in the show, embittered comedian Dennis Miller let the FOX audience know precisely why Ms. Byrnes was hired by FOX Business Network.

If, after watching the video below, you think that FOX should issue an apology to Sen. Obama and censure Ms. Byrnes, contact them here:

feedback@foxbusiness.com and comments@foxnews.com



As for one of the other FOX financial experts - John Layfield - he's a joke. Several years ago the former wrestler was censured in Germany for doing the Nazi salute and goose-stepping during a WWE house show. This caused a huge ruckus in Germany, which has strict laws against such behavior.



If that wasn't bad enough, here's a video of Layfield hawking Mamajuana Energy sex potion!



With "business experts" like these discussing pretentious, manufactured tabloid topics, is it any wonder that FBN's ratings are in the toilet?

Karl Rove Tests New Talking Point: Obama Just Another Uppity Black Man.

FOX News contributor Karl Rove - who is still very active as an informal advisor to John McCain - has tried out various smear tactics against Sen. Barack Obama in the past several months.

As we all know, FOX News was the first channel to begin floating various slurs against the Senator from Illinois.

The FOX & Friends crew made their by now infamous attempt to portray Obama as a closet terrorist because he attended a Muslim school in Indonesia as a child.

When the "madrassah" controversy didn't work, they tried the "his-middle-name-is-Hussein" and "he-doesn't-wear-a-flag-pin" approaches. After that fizzled, FOX News and the right wing noise machine dipped into the lexicon of racist code words and began painting Obama as all talk and no action, which is "code" for the stereotype of the jive-talking black man, a shallow con artist who is charming but shiftless.

That didn't seem to work either, so the smear merchants went into pure swiftboat mode, and tried to convince American voters that Sen. Obama is guilty by association. The malevolent maestro of slime, Sean Hannity, fulminated against Obama's minister, snarled like a mad dog about Mrs. Obama and drooled over the fact that Sen. Obama - gasp! - served on a charitable foundation with former Weather Underground member William Ayers.

None of these attacks seemed to stick either, so now FOX is trying a new tack.

On April 18th during a preview showing of Hannity's America, Karl Rove floated his latest talking point. He spoke with host Sean Hannity (who's been buddy-buddy with the likes of racist Hall Turner) and repeatedly used the word "arrogant" to conjure up yet another noxious stereotype that lingers just below the surface in the minds of some older Americans who are uncomfortable with African-American success.

By using the word "arrogant" to describe Obama, Rove deliberately pandered to those who remember when the n-word was used in children's play songs and who, to this day, carry the memories of the ofttimes turbulent struggle by African-Americans to carve out a place at the American economic table.

Most Americans supported the civil rights movement, but a small percentage of our citizenry retreated into anger and fear. As middle class jobs left the small towns and competition for the few remaining jobs increased, some people lashed out at African-Americans, seeing them as competitors who were getting special privileges. That simmering anger often expressed itself in racially offensive words meant to belittle and invalidate any black person who dared to push for a better life or stand up and challenge the status quo.

The state of Pennsylvania has the second largest concentration of older Americans in the United States. Karl Rove is well aware of this fact, so he knows precisely what he is doing by using the word "arrogant" to describe an educated, self-assured African-American man like Barack Obama, a man who seems to take everything in stride with humor and good grace.

Let's cut to the chase.

Rove knows that Obama is going to be the Democratic nominee and he is desperate to redefine Obama's assured self-confidence as "arrogance" in a benighted hope that older voters will translate the word into a less politically correct phrase.

In the video below, in a slimy bit of "framing" Karl Rove is basically saying that Sen. Barack Obama is nothing more than an "uppity n****r" who doesn't know his proper place in the white man's world.

During Discussion of "Sicko" and Health Care, Ben Stein Smacks Downs FOX's Neil Cavuto

Wow! Will wonders never cease? On the February 23, 2008 edition of "Cavuto on Business" that aired on the FOX Business Network, Ben Stein let 'er rip!

During a discussion of the possibility that Michael Moore's "Sicko" might win an Oscar, Stein argued that the rich should be willing to pay more taxes in order to facilitate better health coverage for those Americans who cannot afford it. He was vehemently - and angrily - rebutted by FOX Business regulars Neil Cavuto, Charles Payne and Tracy Burns. Guest Mark Lamont Hill agreed with Stein while another FOX expert, Adam Lashinsky, tried to take a middle road.

When Rupert Murdoch started the FOX Business Network, he said his objective was to reach out to "Main Street" Americans with happy, upbeat news about the greatness of American business.

I find it ironic that none of the FOX hosts seems to have a shred of respect for or knowledge about what it takes to make it - day to day - on the real Main Streets of America!

At one point Charles Payne says that the green movement has been a "godsend" for American business because, "all you have to do is take a shampoo, put 'green' on it and sell it for ten cents more."

Need I say more?

FOX Business Network Continues Its Assault on the Middle Class and the Poor

FOX Business Network's head rah-rah boy, Neil Cavuto, and his quartet of johnny-one-note business "experts" continue their loud-mouthed, rude campaign to convince their heartland viewers that rich people are good guys who don't deserve to pay more taxes and don't have a "moral imperative" to help those who have less.

I continue to wonder why everyday Americans still support this elitist group of uber-rich hypocrites who consistently sound like Ebeneezer Scrooge before he's been visited by the three ghosts!

The rest of my commentary is embedded in the video below.

Pentagon Takes Cue from Barack Obama, Bombs Pakistan Unilaterally

In August 2007 Hillary Clinton accused rival Barack Obama of being "naive" because he indicated that he would meet with the leaders of unfriendly nations. She claimed he was unprepared to make the tough decisions necessary to defend the United States. Sen. Obama responded that in the absence of any other options, he would bomb a country like Pakistan unilaterally if it meant eliminating a known terrorist threat. (Source: Reuters)

At the time he was hauled over the coals by Republican talking heads.

During an episode of Hannity & Colmes on August 4, 2007, Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute Fellow Kate Griffin claimed that Sen. Obama had studied at the "Jimmy Carter school of foreign policy." "That's exactly what Jimmy Carter did with the Shah of Iran," she said. "We had an ally and then they turned into our most ferocious enemy in the world. ... I'd feel sorry for Obama if this weren't so incredibly important and negligent on his part, to talk about going into a sovereign nation, invading it, basically handing the government and their nuclear arms supplies over to the ... extremist terrorists." (Video available at Brightcove.)

On August 14, 2007 the uber-conservative Hannity repeated Griffin's false talking points. According to Media Matters, Hannity "claimed that Obama has stated his 'willingness to invade an ally against their will,' referring to Pakistan. However, as Media Matters for America repeatedly noted, Obama never said he would 'invade Pakistan.' Rather, Obama stated in an August 1 speech: "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets [in Pakistan] and President [Pervez] Musharraf won't act, we will." (Two-part video of entire interview available at Newshoundsblog: Part 1 and Part 2.)

I guess the Pentagon liked the idea.

On January 29th, the United States military implemented Barack Obama's strategy. Using good intelligence and on-the-ground cooperation by local informants, we launched a drone into Pakistan and killed a highly-place al-Qaeda leader. The U. S. did this without the cooperation of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. (Source: Washington Post)

Bingo! Barack Obama got it right!

Now, here's the capper!

On February 10th, eleven days AFTER authorizing a unilateral incursion into a sovereign nation without the approval of its leadership, President George W. Bush denigrated Barack Obama on national TV. He said this to Chris Wallace on FOX News Sunday: ""I certainly don't know what he [Barack Obama] believes in. The only foreign policy thing I remember he said was he's going to attack Pakistan and embrace Ahmadinejad."

Welcome to the madhouse that masquerades as American political discourse!

FOX Business Bashes Barack Obama. "Experts" Say He'd Destroy Capitalism.

Oh, my. Oh, my. I haven't paid much attention to FOX News since leaving News Hounds about two months ago. Therefore, I thought I could once again watch a few shows without having a coronary or grabbing for the bottle of Pepto Bismol.

I was wrong.

This past weekend, I made the mistake of subjecting myself to what passes for financial news on FOX - the two-hour Cost of Freedom block on Saturday, February 16th and FOX Business Network on February 18th. FOX's head business honcho, Neil Cavuto, has clearly decided that it's his job to bolster the moth-bitten, creaky campaign of John McCain by unleashing his pack of rabid, greedy "FOX business experts" on Democratic front-runner Barack Obama.

The first salvo was fired on Bulls & Bears, hosted by brassy, red-headed dominatrix Brenda Buttner. Her harem of experts - Gary B. Smith, Scott Bleier, Pat Dorsey and Tobin B. Smith - dutifully dumped on a possible Obama presidency, universally agreeing that Barack Obama's economic plan would result in the demise of capitalism.

Check out this laughable exchange:



Later, Neil Cavuto and his band of merry hatchet men (and one woman) continued the Obama-bash during his own Cavuto on Business show.



Then, perpetually peppy preppy David Asman joined the Forbes on FOX gang - including two-time losing Presidential candidate and failed Giuliani campaign manager, Steve Forbes. They slammed Obama's comments on CEO compensation, claiming that he should be equally hard on his Hollywood "buddies" as well. This was just another trumped-up excuse to make disparaging comments about Obama by implying that he's anti-business. Thank goodness Quentin Hardy was once again on board to snap the discussion back to reality!



British ex-patriate and former CNBC anchor Stuart Varney continued the hate fest on the FOX Business Network show FOX Business that aired yesterday, President's Day, February 18th. Varney made no bones about his disdain for Obama's economic plan. As usual on FOX media outlets, the person selected to represent the opposing POV was ineffective. This time it was Leigh Gallagher of Fortune Magazine. She tried her best but Varney and his sidekick du jour, Ed Ponsi hammered home their pro-greed, anti-middle class message. (Note: The sync between the picture and the sound on this video is slightly off.)