E-mails released Monday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the environmental group Friends of the Earth paint a picture of a sometimes warm and collaborative relationship between the lobbyist for the pipeline company, Trans-Canada, and officials in the State Department, the agency responsible for evaluating and approving the billion-dollar project.
In a stunning conflict of interest, public hearings on federal approval for a proposed tar-sands pipeline are being run by a contractor for the pipeline company itself. The U.S. Department of State's public hearings along the proposed route of the TransCanada Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline this week are under the purview of Cardno Entrix, a “professional environmental consulting company” that specializes in “permitting and compliance.”
The Russians over-hyped the headline, but otherwise did a superb job of cutting to the chase and presenting a short live (no edits) interview and a compelling transcript.
Fury over corporate power in the US is spreading from New York across the country. Thousands have joined the ‘Occupy Wall Street' movement, angered by the economic slump that may lead to a revolution in the country.
Robert David Steele, political analyst and former intelligence officer, told RT the US right now is much more desperate than people realize.
“We have 22 per cent unemployment and on our way to 30 per cent. We are 16 per cent below the poverty line and on our way to 30 per cent. There is no question in my mind that this is going to be a very dark winter in the United States,” he stated. “Unless the government restores its own integrity and starts paying attention to the public interest rather than to the special interests, I believe that we will have a form of revolution, initially non-violent, but with the potential to become violent,” he added.
Despite the fact that “Occupy Wall Street” protesters have raised everything from lack of jobs to global warming, there is a common cause uniting the activists, Steele believes.
“These are not stupid people. They are very smart and they understand that at root this is about corruption in government and corruption on Wall Street,” he explained. “And until you have electoral reform, you cannot restore the integrity of US government. So there is a common cause, but it is voiced in many different ways,” he maintained.
The protest started out peacefully, but now it is the third week and more than 700 people have been arrested on Brooklyn Bridge. And according to Steele, the NYC police have on the one hand been very well-managed and on the other hand have gotten out of control at lower levels.
“My personal hope is that the general non-violent strike will be used to force the issue of electoral reform,” he concluded.
Core Proposed Program for Occupy Wall Street (Across the Nation):
CORRUPTION is the common enemy, both in government and in the private sector.
Interview with Jonathan Fryer, broadcaster and journalist
American Awakening?
As many political analysts believe recent revolts in the US and Europe against the ruling economic systems are part of a global movement, some other observers argue that the uprisings simply seek personal demands.
Phi Beta Iota: Excellent lead-in video, video interview with three figures, focus on global banking system optimized to fraudulently confiscate wealth. Transcript also included.
Further Note: The well-intentioned mobs are falling apart for lack of a narrative and organization scheme. They need to get a grip, to include having articulate spokespersons to counter the Wall Street narrative now playing out, that they are spoiled mis-behaving children who will go away once it gets cold.
CORRUPTION is the common enemy, both in government and in the private sector.
I just attended the Commit Forum in NYC, a two day event on corporate responsibility. The sponsors rate all the companies in the Russell 1000, placing them on a best to worst scale for the practice of corporate responsibility. It turns out that companies who rank in the Top 100 for corporate responsibility outperform the S&P 500 by a considerable margin. But that comes not from the profit-maximization ethos that lies behind agency theory. It comes from a qualitative belief in the value of service as part of the way one does business. The good companies set a higher bar, ask people to live by higher standards, elicit greater competence, and achieve better results. It isn’t about dollars, alone; it’s also about doing business in ways that give life more meaning.
Follow the Online Trading of Greek & other EU PIIGS CDS Bankruptcy Defaults. Discover how all EU PIIGS Govt Bond Spreads, Interest Rates & Govt Lending Programs are daily Manipulated
Submit your Complaint, attaching any Document or other Proof of Fraud.
Bank Docs, Receipts, Greek Bonds Buy/Sell Orders & Order Forms, Short Selling Proof Docs, Transactions & Settlements Information & Docs, CDS Contracts, Agreements, Banks, Companies, Investment & Hedge Funds details, Speculators, Accomplices & Partners details, Greek Partners, Intermediaries & Govt Officers details, Corruption Proofs, Articles, Blogs, etc.
SPANISH CRIMINAL CHARGE AGAINST RATING AGENCIES : A dozen Spanish Layers, represented by Gonzalo Boye, following to our lawsuit, charged with criminal fraud the US Rating Agencies Moody's, Standard & Poors and Fitch Ratings.
Phi Beta Iota: We anticipate the eventual eradication of Goldman Sachs particularly, and the New York banks generally. Governments and the public are beginning to recognize the possibilities of mass legal action and the value of both the re-nationalization of property and the confiscation of third-country assets acquired by Goldman Sachs as a result of its fraud.
Little coverage to begin with, then mostly negative following ….. indications that the “fat cats” are calling in favors to discredit this initiative. With the Transport Workers Union filing a complaint about the commandeering of buses to move the detained, word is spreading….time for social media to step up to the plate as it has
elsewhere?
And for sleet and torrential rains – anything that might convince the precious insufferables who have taken over Wall Street that they have had enough of exercising their First Amendment rights to the inconvenience of tens of thousands of people who actually have to work for a living.
This bunch ought to get down on their knees in thanks that America‘s capitalist Founding Fathers saw fit to protect the privileges of the dumb and obnoxious along with everyone else.
They should also salute the NYPD and all its officers for paying diligent attention to ensuring that peace and harmony reign in their daze of rage. But no.
Instead, in a disgraceful attempt at intimidation, partisans of Occupy Wall Street, as the micromovement calls itself, posted on the Internet the name, address and telephone number of a ranking cop who dosed a couple of upstarts with pepper spray – along with the same information about the officer's family members.
If the NYPD has made any tactical error in this episode, it was in being too tolerant.
Phi Beta Iota: Despite the topless bits and the strong flavor of 1960's emergence, the mob is disorganized and lacks both leadership and focus at the ground level. Strategicially there have been flashes of genius, including the recognition that Electoral Reform must be the core demand – all corruption stems from the corruption of the electoral system, and that the movement must be nation-wide. Lacking an intellectual framework for self-governance, and a means for bringing pressure to bear (such as calling for a general strike and a national sick-out in sympathy, while demanding that each Representative co-sponsor Electoral Reform Act 2.2), it is very possible they will be diminished by time as Wall Street waits for winter.
