A bird's eye view of the vineyard
Putin rewrites the law of the geopolitical jungle Fri Apr 23, 2021 15:34 | amarynth
By Pepe Escobar and first posted at The Saker Blog Putin?s address to the Russian Federal Assembly – a de facto State of the Nation ? was a judo move
American plans something but ends up differently Fri Apr 23, 2021 12:20 | amarynth
By Zamir Awan for the Saker Blog “I flew to Afghanistan, to the Kunar Valley ? a rugged, mountainous region on the border with Pakistan. What I saw on that
Exit Terra: Did You Know We Have Been Contacted By Aliens? Thu Apr 22, 2021 18:41 | amarynth
Global media mobilize for unparalleled Outer Space news By Thorsten J. Pattberg for the Saker Blog The latest information hype are Aliens. I see more and more articles. The print papers holler on triumphantly:
What was Putin referring to? (OPEN TREAD #16) Thu Apr 22, 2021 17:44 | The Saker
This is an excerpt of the (relatively short) part of Putin’s speech dealing with foreign issues: “We really want to maintain good relations with all those engaged in international communication,
The Spirit of the Times Thu Apr 22, 2021 17:22 | amarynth
By Jimmie Moglia for the Saker Blog To understand Hegel the reader must be in perfect health, though sometimes the minds of geniuses deliver compact nuggets of wisdom, understandable and
The Saker >>
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Declining standards in Irish journalism
Mainstream media: Failing to speak truth to power Anthony
David Quinn’s selective tolerance Anthony
A Woulfe in judges clothing Anthony
Sarah McInerney and political impartiality Anthony
Public Inquiry >>
A Blog About Human Rights
Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights
Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights
Human Rights Fri Mar 20, 2020 16:33 | Human Rights
Turkish President Calls On Greece To Comply With Human Rights on Syrian Refugee Issues Wed Mar 04, 2020 17:58 | Human Rights
US Holds China To Account For Human Rights Violations Sun Oct 13, 2019 19:12 | Human Rights
Human Rights in Ireland >>
Stay Sceptical. Control the Hysteria. Save Lives.
Mass Covid Testing a ?Waste of Time and Money?, MPs Told Tue Apr 20, 2021 20:13 | Michael Curzon
Biostatistics Professor Jon Deeks has criticised the Government's mass Covid testing plan as a waste of "time and money", highlighting that in some areas only one positive case would be found after 10,000 tests.
The post Mass Covid Testing a “Waste of Time and Money”, MPs Told appeared first on Lockdown Sceptics.
Civil Service Job Advert Confirms Covid Passports Are In Development Tue Apr 20, 2021 18:12 | Michael Curzon
Michael Gove is visiting Israel to study possibilities for a Covid passport scheme in Britain. But new civil service job adverts suggest that the development of both digital and non-digital passes is already underway.
The post Civil Service Job Advert Confirms Covid Passports Are In Development appeared first on Lockdown Sceptics.
Warning About Blood Clots Should be Added to Labels for Johnson & Johnson?s Covid Vaccine, Says E.U.... Tue Apr 20, 2021 17:17 | Michael Curzon
There is a "possible link" between the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine and blood clots, according to the European Medicines Agency. The regulator says that a warning should be added to labels for the vaccine.
The post Warning About Blood Clots Should be Added to Labels for Johnson & Johnson’s Covid Vaccine, Says E.U.’s Medicines Regulator appeared first on Lockdown Sceptics.
Ministers Created Confusion by Not Differentiating Between Lockdown Guidance and Law, Police Watchdo... Tue Apr 20, 2021 11:49 | Michael Curzon
Police have not been given enough notice about changes in the law and guidance relating to Covid, about which ministers added further confusion by not differentiating between the two, says Britain's police watchdog.
The post Ministers Created Confusion by Not Differentiating Between Lockdown Guidance and Law, Police Watchdog Says appeared first on Lockdown Sceptics.
More Than 810,000 UK Workers Have Lost Jobs Since March 2020 Tue Apr 20, 2021 09:13 | Michael Curzon
56,000 Brits lost their jobs last month, taking the total number of losses to 813,000 over the past year of lockdowns, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
The post More Than 810,000 UK Workers Have Lost Jobs Since March 2020 appeared first on Lockdown Sceptics.
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5Earlier this year in June, farmers from both sides of the border turned out for a Tractor Run from Manorhamilton to the Ballroom of Romance in Glenfarne to coincide with the G8 that tool place then a short distance away in Fermanagh.
More photos and summary can be found at: http://www.loveleitrim.org/love-leitrim-home-page/photo...otos/
John Sheridan of the Ulster Farmers Union and Pat Gilhooley of the Leitrim IFA. Pat expressed the serious concerns of the IFA in relation to Fracking.
Please Get Informed - Just Take a Few Minutes to Read and Share - Thank you.
People all over the world are fighting fracking you just won't hear that much about it in Irish media. This week after violent attacks from the police a few weeks ago, First Nations tribes people of New Brunswick, Canada, continue their battl...e to protect their children's health, water and land against fracking. http:/.../lastrealindians.com/for-immediate-release-sacred-fire-blockade-to-begin-at-noon-on-nov-4/
"This is an issue of human rights and access to clean drinking water, and it's fundamentally about sovereignty and self-determination. Support for the Elsipogtog and their actions to reclaim lands in their territory is something that is powerful and united from coast to coast and around the world." - Clayton Thomas-Muller, Idle No More. - http://www.commondream
s.org/headline/2013/11/05-5
While these people stand up to the worlds most powerful industry, the people of their neighbouring provinces, Quebec and in the last few days Newfoundland, can breathe a sigh of relief for now, as both province's federal governments have placed moratoria on fracking.
"Holding one of the revoked licenses (in Quebec), Lone Pine Resources, an oil and gas company, is now launching a $250 million lawsuit against the Canadian government over Quebec’s fracking moratorium under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Although Lone Pine maintains all its operations in Canada, it’s registered in Delaware which allows it to make claims under NAFTA." - http://commonsensecanadian.ca/quebec-fracking-nafta-cha...ofit/
"The proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the European Union (EU) and Canada would grant energy companies far-reaching rights to challenge bans and regulations of environmentally damaging shale gas development (fracking), a new briefing by Corporate Europe Observatory, The Council of Canadians and the Transnational Institute shows." - http://corporateeurope.org/pressreleases/2013/eu-canada...-bans
"This is the system to which we will be subject if the transatlantic treaty goes ahead. The US and the European Commission, both of which have been captured by the corporations they are supposed to regulate, are pressing for investor-state dispute resolution to be included in the agreement. The Commission justifies this policy by claiming that domestic courts don’t offer corporations sufficient protection because they “might be biased or lack independence.”(12) Which courts is it talking about? Those of the US? Its own member states? It doesn’t say. In fact it fails to produce a single concrete example demonstrating the need for a new, extra-judicial system. It is precisely because our courts are generally not biased or lacking independence that the corporations want to bypass them. The EC seeks to replace open, accountable, sovereign courts with a closed, corrupt system riddled with conflicts of interest and arbitrary powers. Investor-state rules could be used to smash any attempt to save the NHS from corporate control, to re-regulate the banks, to curb the greed of the energy companies, to renationalise the railways, to leave fossil fuels in the ground. These rules shut down democratic alternatives." - http://www.monbiot.com/2013/11/04/a-global-ban-on-left-...tics/
Intensive secret lobbying by U.S. law firms on behalf of major oil and gas companies is presently taking place in Brussels. "Gathered at the Brussels office of Covington & Burling, a prominent Washington-based firm, were some of its lawyers and lobbyists, along with executives from some of the world’s largest oil companies, including Chevron and Statoil. Their aim was to help shape the European Union’s policies on the gas and oil drilling technology known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. They were meeting with Kurt Vandenberghe, then a top environmental official for Europe and a prime player in the debate over fracking, which is even more contentious in Europe than in the United States." - http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/19/world/europe/lobbying...&_r=0
The current EU Commissioner for Climate Action is Connie Hedegaard. Today she made herself available to answer questions via twitter. There were very few contributors to this online Q & A. No Fracking Ireland asked the commissioner "if communities continue to resist fracking will you ignore this and allow industry to over-ride wishes of communities?". This question was put to the commissioner several times, each time ignored. another contributor asked about fracking, their question was also ignored.
The major battle of course is in getting the facts and information out there to the general public. The bans and moratoria against fracking to date, have happened because of intense public protest and pressure on governments. Trying to give people the full picture and extent of the destructive nature of the fracking industry is not easy, especially in a country like Ireland where we have a very pro-industry, media culture. This has been well proven by the treatment given by state TV and national newspapers to the Shell to Sea campaign.
With fracking there are so many aspects to cover, use and contamination of water, the contribution to climate change, ponzi economics, industrialisation/contamination of land, contamination of air, serious human health risks, stalling of renewables, threat to wildlife, ecosystems, earthquakes, damage to sustainable industries, risk to food production etc etc... Because 'fracking' for shale gas and oil is only over a decade old, and has moved closer to areas where people live, many of these areas of concern are only now being discussed and documented. It will be years before we understand the full affects.
For every academic report or piece of evidence we have against fracking, industry fights back ten fold. They've got the money to have reports written when needed, on demand, plus this industry fund many of the major universities around the world. When it comes to the oil and gas industry science is a commodity. People are shocked when they hear that even the U.S. EPA have turned their back on communities and the environment in support of the frackers. Leaked U.S. EPA documents showed that the industry and the EPA were aware of water contamination but chose to keep that information from the public. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZx8kWdWUxk
In Ireland the government and industry want to keep this issue from being properly debated, they want the majority of the public to believe this to be a NIMBY campaign. It is being portrayed in the media as a "Leitrim" or "Clare" issue and in the north as a Fermanagh issue. The fact is that there are shale formations throughout the country. When the 'options licenses' were handed out in the ROI vast areas of 11 counties were included. The demand for future water supply on this island will come from the Shannon Basin Region, the very same region the companies want to frack. It is vital for the future of this whole island that this region is protected from this industry. To date, because of the lack of national media coverage, people are still largely uninformed. An uninformed public means the government can quietly push ahead, while informed TD's say little because there are, as they see it, "no votes in this issue". It's up to us to change that.
The fight against fracking is happening right now in communities all over the world and because of that global unity, this fight is very winnable. These communities are fighting on our behalf. The people at the fore-front of this battle in South America, the U.S., Poland, U.K., Romania etc need our support. To show our solidarity we intend to highlight what is going on in these countries. If the attitude of the vast majority in Stormont and the Dail, towards this industry, is to be heeded then the frackers are not far from our door. Public pressure has worked to secure moratoria and bans in other countries. Thankfully, we are not in the situation, for example that the U.K are in, where the companies are on the ground, drilling has commenced and people are having to fight stronger to stop the industry from pushing forward. Here we have the luxury of some time, but we need to use that time, act now and make it clear to investors, industry and government that we are awake, informed and we are saying no. We hope you will help in whatever way you can.
Our symbol is the black shamrock.
In the words of the Lock the Gate campaign Australia, "Our resistance is non-violent but non-negotiable".
For info on local groups, events and how you can help please join and SHARE our facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/146055765467930/?fref=ts
Find out further info/news etc on our website - http://frackingfreeireland.org/
On twitter @notofracking
More articles here - http://indymedia.ie/article/101995?search_text=fracking
Sign our petition here - http://nofrackingireland.wordpress.com/ find petitions for NI etc on website.
How they can even think about doing this considering Ireland is running out of safe drinking water.
A report on ThinkProgress titled: Texas Homeowner Battles $3 Million Defamation Lawsuit For Exposing Fracking Company’s Pollution
explains how a local Fracking company is suing him after he exposed that they had contaminated his water supply with methane and benzene.
The opening paragraphs of the report are:
Steve Lipsky, a Texas homeowner, has found himself at the center of a $3 million lawsuit for defamation from an oil and gas company, after he exposed the company for contaminating his water supply with methane and benzene.
Despite his attempts to avert the expensive legal entanglement, Julie Dermansky reports at DeSmogBlog that last month the Fort Worth Court of Appeals allowed the defamation case to move forward.
Lipsky sued Range Resources originally in 2011, prompted by an Environmental Protection Agency order that Range Resources endangered Texas residents’ health. His case was dismissed, because the presiding judge claimed there was no jurisdiction, but Range Resources took the unusual step of countersuing Lipsky for libel. It alleged that Lipsky and others conspired to get “the EPA and the media to wrongly label and prosecute Range as a polluter of the environment.”...
The interesting issue here not really pointed out in the story is that his initial efforts to sue Range Resources was dismissed by the judge, yet it is funny how when it is the other way around they allow the case to go forward against Mr. Lipsky.
The lesson to learn here for people in Ireland, particularly farmers, is that the state will side with the Fracking companies in the courts and you will find it incredibly difficult to get any justice and compensation once they have poisoned your land and the water beneath you. So the best policy is probably to make sure they never sign a lease with you or any of your neighbours.
This is taken from the Fracking Matters Newsletter available at the link below.
I attended the meeting in Kilmihil on Sat, most of which was about
fracking. The United Farmers are totally opposed and that was the
general response from the floor.
One issue was raised about some retail
groups who are refusing to buy food from regions where fracking is going
on.
Reflecting on this I raised the question on twitter on Sunday and my
message was immediately retweeted by two large non national anti
fracking organisations. They are screaming for facts.
It seems to me that if the information is true, then it will be the key
to getting all Irish farmers and politicians on
side- even the IFA cannot ignore such a threat to Ireland.
I gave out copies of my brochure which were very well received.
Clare Brochure: full of info contact: info@irishcitizensparty.com
Read letters and reply under letter- correspondence below
The Letters section referred to above is reproduced here:
Guaranteed Fracking Free Food in Irish Supermarkets??
The Irish Citizens Party info@irishcitizensparty.com wrote this question to various
Supermarkets.
Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, Supervalue, Superquinn,
Dunnes, Musgrave,Tesco and Marks and Spencers.
Below some responses
Has Musgrave policies relating to purchasing meat/milk or fruit/vegetables
produced in rural regions where the fracking industry is active?
Reply from LIDL
Reply from Tesco
++++++++++++++++++
IRISH CITIZENS PARTY
Thank you David for your prompt response.
Lidl is an international organisation and I must presume that not all food sold in your
Irish stores originates in this country. Some may come from regions where fracking is
underway.
Ireland is proud of its green image and is a huge exporter of high quality food.
However, Loop Head where I live is listed on the London Stock Exchange as an asset of
Enegi Oil Plc who hold a license to frack the 'Clare Basin'.
All the information available to us worldwide confirms our fears of massive and
irreversible environmental/ health hazards associated with this industry.
Lidl's no 'comment response' offers no comfort to me,