You may not have heard about this one, but like the graphic shows, it’s an octopus.

ACTA is an abbreviation for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. It is an International Treaty that will be pushed to implementation by 2010. It has been discussed in secret since October 2007, and has been leaked by government officials who were against the unconstitutional, ineffective, inhumane, and unlawful nature of such a treaty.

Countries affected by this treaty include but are not limited to:

Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, The Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States

The official goal of the agreement is the international enforcement of strong intellectual property rights. Some of our concerns include the vague, amorphous manner in which “counterfeit” is used in many of the public comments. These uses run the gamut from undisputedly illegal products to expressly legitimate generic products.

Click Here to check it out an find out what you can do to STOP ACTA.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Now that BP appears to have vanquished its ruptured well, authorities are turning their attention to gathering evidence from what could amount to a crime scene at the bottom of the sea.

The wreckage — including the failed blowout preventer and the blackened, twisted remnants of the drilling platform — may be Exhibit A in the effort to establish who is responsible for the biggest peacetime oil spill in history. And the very companies under investigation will be in charge of recovering the evidence.

Read more…

This man needs to change parties. His picture is next to DINO in the dictionary.

In a case of typical lawyer-behavior, BP appears to be delaying decisions about the validity of many claims for damages from the Gulf oil spill, leaving claimants frustrated by bureaucratic obstacles and confusing requests for more documentation.

The Michigan Messenger reports that yesterday evening, its journalists were denied access — again — “to a key oil spill site after attempting to record video of the Kalamazoo River.”

Corporate goons and law enforcement are blocking the media from public spill sites.

Read more…

EPA whistleblower, Hugh Kaufman, on Countdown July 28th.

Monday, May 24th, 2010

After initially approving a chemical oil dispersant called Corexit, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency retracted it’s allowance and ordered British Petroleum to stop dumping the mysterious chemical substance by Sunday.

However, the oil giant has ignored the government’s deadline and was continuing to dump large volumes of Corexit into the Gulf on Monday, according to The New York Times, apparently to keep the massive sea floor oil plumes from surfacing and possibly washing ashore.

“The company told the agency that no better alternative was available,” the paper noted.

More here @The DonkeyEdge

This sonofabitch needs the old heave-ho. He is so blatantly a banking lobbyist even before leaving office, let alone waiting for the required time-out. He has absolutely no scruples.

Dodd Approached FDIC’s Bair to Gauge Interest in Consumer Post

Dodd Urges White House to Nominate FDIC’s Bair as Head of Consumer Agency

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I am hoping this is not just wishful thinking. There are noises in Europe about the second dip coming. We should cross our fingers it’s not and try to believe…

Well, it looks as though we might be on our way out of the might Bush Trough. I hope W is remembered in history as the person who robbed the United States Treasury and handed a basket case to President Obama.

The red bars are the accelerating rate of job loss during President Bush’s last year in office; the blue bars are the decelerating rate of job loss during President Obama’s first year of office.

The chart was put together by the House Democratic leadership.

…jaf