Why Did The Fed Write Criminals A $42 Million Check?

The original article :  Care2

NOTE: This brings me back to yesterday's post about a new law being introduced that would make undercover filming documenting Agribusiness, Vivisection, Medical Labs, etc.  abuse of live animals a Felony   We live in a country where doing the right thing, the compassionate thing, the ethical thing is the new 'Wrong' punishable by fines, prison time and a Felony record. We live in a country where Big Corporations get rewarded for being directly responsible for acts of Environmental Terrorism that causes the death of millions of sea creatures and birds.  

Wednesday marked the one year anniversary of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Called the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, the spill caused the death of 11 rig workers, hundreds of endangered marine animals, and spoiled countless miles of beach and marshes.

Although BP is currently the focus of a federal criminal investigation for its part in the disaster, the Department of Defense saw fit to award Air BP, a division of BP Products North America, a $42 million contract to supply fuel to Dover Air Force Base for the next month and a half.

An investigative report from Truthout.org identified this particular deal as "an unusual and compelling urgency" contract, which means the government would be "seriously injured"and national security could be at risk unless the Defense Logistics Agency was permitted to "limit the number of sources from which it solicits bids or proposals."

Truthout's Jason Leopold writes that "according to government contracting regulations, 'an unusual and compelling urgency precludes full and open competition' and 'delay in award of a contract would result in serious injury, financial or other, to the Government.'"

In laymens terms, this means the government just handed BP a $42 million check with almost no competing bids from other companies.

Leopold's investigation also discovered that EPA talks about possibly debarring or limiting BP from receiving additional government contracts after the deadly Deepwater horizon explosion "went nowhere" largely because the federal government relies too heavily on BP to meet its needs.

"...ultimately what it came down to was a lack of interest in holding this company accountable," one EPA official said.

According to USAspending.gov, which tracks government contracts, BP was awarded 52 government contracts worth $56.5 million for fiscal year 2011 to supply fuel, gas, and other petroleum products to agencies such as the Defense Department and Department of Health and Human Services. From fiscal year 2006 through 2010, BP received 707 government contracts worth nearly $7 billion.

It's hard to wrap one's mind around the hypocrisy and utter betrayal of the governments decision to coddle an environmental terrorist like BP. A terrorist that cost American taxpayers over $10 billion dollars while reporting millions of dollars in profit for 2010.

The government seems to think the American people are too lazy or too stupid to realize that this is a gross injustice to the people and animals whose lives were destroyed because of BP's "lack of a safety culture."

Once again, it's imperitive that people rise up and demand that companies like BP, Transocean, Cameron International and Halliburton are held accountable for their actions like any other criminal.

Push aside your discouragement, and reaffirm your resolve. Sign a petition, write a letter to your congressperson, call the White House. Most importantly vote with your dollar and REFUSE to finance the greedy practices of BP or any of its other brand names.

Related Reading:

Gulf Oil Spill: 10 Horrifying Facts You Never Wanted To Know

Environment Beyond BP: Politics, Policy and Power

Scientists Link Mass Dolphin Deaths To BP Oil Spill

Evil *Graphic Video*

I have no words for this, only tears.....





Let man be noble,
Generous and good;
For that alone
Distinguishes him
From all the living
Beings we know.
   ~Goethe

The Fate of Dairy Calves: A texas Farm

I don't need to add any narrative to this as the video speaks for itself.  What I do need to point out is that Agribusiness is pushing for a law that makes filming these atrocities a Felony and The Corporate Owned Slime that are Lawmakers will no doubtfully pass into law.  What kind of a country do we live in  when exposing atrocities perpetrated on living beings become a the Felony and not the act itself ? 

Evil doesn't like when a light shines on it.
Agriculture Industry Pushes To Make Undercover Filming Of Farm Animal Abuse Illegal

UNITED NATIONS: Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving "Mother Earth" the same rights as humans

I cried when I read this.  Could this be the beginning of our salvation because without animals, without  bees, without a living earth we have no chance of survival?  I have to say, this is the first real hope I've felt any real hope for  us and our non-human brethren.

UNITED NATIONS — Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving "Mother Earth" the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country.

Bolivia is planning to table a draft United Nations treaty giving "Mother Earth" the same rights as humans. (Photograph by: NASA) The bid aims to have the UN recognize the Earth as a living entity that humans have sought to "dominate and exploit" — to the point that the "well-being and existence of many beings" is now threatened.

The wording may yet evolve, but the general structure is meant to mirror Bolivia's Law of the Rights of Mother Earth, which Bolivian President Evo Morales enacted in January.

That document speaks of the country's natural resources as "blessings," and grants the Earth a series of specific rights that include rights to life, water and clean air; the right to repair livelihoods affected by human activities; and the right to be free from pollution.

It also establishes a Ministry of Mother Earth, and provides the planet with an ombudsman whose job is to hear nature's complaints as voiced by activist and other groups, including the state.
"If you want to have balance, and you think that the only (entities) who have rights are humans or companies, then how can you reach balance?" Pablo Salon, Bolivia's ambassador to the UN, told Postmedia News. "But if you recognize that nature too has rights, and (if you provide) legal forms to protect and preserve those rights, then you can achieve balance."

The application of the law appears destined to pose new challenges for companies operating in the country, which is rich in natural resources, including natural gas and lithium, but remains one of the poorest in Latin America.

But while Salon said his country just seeks to achieve "harmony" with nature, he signalled that mining and other companies may come under greater scrutiny.

"We're not saying, for example, you cannot eat meat because you know you are going to go against the rights of a cow," he said. "But when human activity develops at a certain scale that you (cause to) disappear a species, then you are really altering the vital cycles of nature or of Mother Earth. Of course, you need a mine to extract iron or zinc, but there are limits."

Bolivia is a country with a large indigenous population, whose traditional belief systems took on greater resonance following the election of Morales, Latin America's first indigenous president.
In a 2008 pamphlet his entourage distributed at the UN as he attended a summit there, 10 "commandments" are set out as Bolivia's plan to "save the planet" — beginning with the need "to end capitalism."

Reflecting indigenous traditional beliefs, the proposed global treaty says humans have caused "severe destruction . . . that is offensive to the many faiths, wisdom traditions and indigenous cultures for whom Mother Earth is sacred."

It also says that "Mother Earth has the right to exist, to persist and to continue the vital cycles, structures, functions and processes that sustain all human beings."

In indigenous Andean culture, the Earth deity known as Pachamama is the centre of all life, and humans are considered equal to all other entities.

The UN debate begins two days before the UN's recognition April 22 of the second International Mother Earth Day — another Morales-led initiative.

Canadian activist Maude Barlow is among global environmentalists backing the drive with a book the group will launch in New York during the UN debate: Nature Has Rights.

"It's going to have huge resonance around the world," Barlow said of the campaign. "It's going to start first with these southern countries trying to protect their land and their people from exploitation, but I think it will be grabbed onto by communities in our countries, for example, fighting the tarsands in Alberta."

Ecuador, which also has a large indigenous population, has enshrined similar aims in its Constitution — but the Bolivian law is said to be "stronger."

Ecuador is among countries that have already been supportive of the Bolivian initiative, along with Nicaragua, Venezuela, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Antigua and Barbuda.

© 2011 Postmedia News

Interspecies Interactions

Sometimes the Preciousness is just far too deep for words....

The Babysitter

I recently read an article about Chickens expressing empathy and compassion....