Monsanto 1, 60 Family Farmers (and the world) 0

I just have to pass this along.  Are we that grow and replant  seeds to be criminals? The short answer is YES! That is private property.

Organic seed farmer Jim Gerritsen: "This flawed ruling will not deter us from continuing to seek justice."

- Common Dreams staff

On a day that 'Occupy' groups, environmental and food justice organizations have called for a global day of action to resist corporate control of the food system, news comes that a federal judge has ruled in favor of seed giant Monsanto Co. in a lawsuit filed on behalf of 60 family farmers, seed businesses and organic agricultural organizations challenging the company's seed patents.

See more from Reuters and Willie Nelson
Excerpt:
"Over the last thirty years, we have witnessed a massive consolidation of our food system. Never have so few corporations been responsible for more of our food chain. Of the 40,000 food items in a typical U.S. grocery store, more than half are now brought to us by just 10 corporations. "

Meet Second District Candidates For U.S. Congress In Fortuna

WikiLeaks: Saudis often warned U.S. about oil speculators

McClatchy News:

WASHINGTON — When oil prices hit a record $147 a barrel in July 2008, the Bush administration leaned on Saudi Arabia to pump more crude in hopes that a flood of new crude would drive the price down. The Saudis complied, but not before warning that oil already was plentiful and that Wall Street speculation, not a shortage of oil, was driving up prices.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/05/25/114759/wikileaks-saudis-often-warned.html#storylink=omni_popular#storylink=cpy

The Real Reason For High Gas Prices That CNN, Fox and MSNBC Won't Tell You

The main stream media in this country are pounding us with stories about how high gas prices are and how high they might get.  They then say Obama may have trouble in the election with gas prices this high.  They also bring up his opposition to the Keystone XL Pipe Line project that would bring dirty tar sands crude from Canada to refineries in Texas. 



Forests being carved out for tar sand oil. Photo by ucobserver.org



What the main stream media refuses to say is why?  Why would the president be against an oil pipeline if we need more oil?  Why are gas prices going up even though Obama has allowed for more and more drilling, even in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The media will say it’s because of the tension in the Middle East.  Since I have been alive, there have been tensions in the Middle East so lets put that reason aside.  They used to tell us that demand was too high and domestic refining capacity was too low and that was what was driving the cost of gas and diesel fuel here in the US.  The fact is, today domestic demand is at a 15 year low for gas and diesel and due to expanded exploration during the Bush and Obama administrations the country has too much oil and too much refined fuels.  Last year for the first time in 60 years the US became a net exporter of refined fuels, gasoline, diesel and kerosene or jet fuel.  Refineries are closing due to lack of demand locally.  Excess fuel is being sold on the world market and sent overseas.  This is driving up domestic gas and diesel fuel prices.  Another factor is Wall St. speculation.  A law that required speculators of fuel to take delivery of said fuel was changed so that those not in the business unlike airlines, railroads or fleet managers could bet on the price but not be responsible for actually holding the product they bought.  This has caused the banksters to drive up the price of fuel world wide. 

Back to that Keystone XL Pipeline to Texas.  That oil is not for the US to consume it is for a refinery in Texas to refine and then sell overseas, mostly to countries in Europe. Drill baby drill said Sarah Palin and other Republicans telling us that if we only tapped the oil we have here at home, the price of gas would go down.  They were either seriously misinformed, dumb as rocks or intentionally lying to the US public. Anyone that looks into it will see that as a commodity, oil and gas are sold on the world market and that market sets the price.  What we have now is a domestic supply being shipped offshore to some of the same countries that many of our jobs were sent to. This is of little benefit to US consumers but makes the oil companies lots of money.  It also helps out the rest of the world that we are conserving fuel at home so that we can share it with the rest of the world. 

There is no domestic shortage of oil, gas or diesel.  There is no shortage of refinery capacity and there is no shortage of manipulation by the main stream media to try to manipulate the US public into thinking that we need to drill in sensitive coastal waters and national parks to avoid $5-dollar a gallon gas.  If we stopped the exports, prices would go down but we can't because we are not a democracy, we are a republic that favors international free trade over our own financial and physical well being.

3rd. District Candidate Karen Brooks Holds Ice Cream Social Today

In celebration of Presidents Holiday, 3rd district candidate, Karen Brooks is hosting an ice cream social at the Mad River Grange from 1 to 3 pm today in Blue Lake. (Feb. 20th). The grange is located at 110 Hatchery Road in the center of town. This is a free event, but guests are asked to bring two cans for food for the Blue Lake food pantry.

Hot Fudge sundaes will be served while guests meet Karen Brooks and hear her vision for the county. There will also be a district map to show the people of Blue Lake where the boundary for the fifth and third district falls.

The 5th district is currently held by conservative Ryan Sundberg and the 3rd is held by progressive Mark Lovelace.  Karen Brooks is a conservative and hopes to unseat Lovelace in the next election.

Susan Adams and Peter B. Collins In Arcata Thursday

Former KGOE radio talk show host Peter B. Collins will be in town on Thursday to interview Susan Adams who is running for Congress.

Susan Adams is a nurse, mother, grandmother, educator and County Supervisor.  See Bio & web site.

Peter B. Collins spent years on the radio as a progressive talk radio host.  He works part time for KGO in San Francisco and spent years in the afternoon spot from 3 to 6 pm on KGOE 1480 in Eureka Ca. during his syndicated radio days.  Peter B. currently does podcast shows that can be found at his web site here.
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Meet Susan, Peter B. and myself at a public conversation this Thursday, February 16th at 7:30 pm at the Arcata Community Center 321 Community Park Way in Arcata.

This event is free and opened to the public. 

I will  be there with Charles Douglas  of the Humboldt Sentinel running a video camera so this is not about me.  I will be there to answer any kgoe questions you might have before and after the event.

5.5 5.6 Magnitude Earthquake Hits 31 miles North East of Eureka Ca.

I have no word of injuries or damage but we were shook up by the 5.5 magnitude earthquake that struck at 1:07 pm Pacific time.  It was about 18 miles east of Trinidad.

The U.S.G.S. has upgraded the quake to 5.6

Is Art Bell Back On Overnight Radio?

I am still trying to get confirmation from Premiere Radio Networks on this.  ABC News is reporting that the king of overnight radio Art Bell is in fact back live on the radio overnights.

They say he is even on for 5 hours instead of 4, which is the length the show originally was.

See the ABC Story
Update:  As suspected, this is an old story.

Great Weather For A Beach Race

Weekend whether was fantastic for exploring the dunes of Little River State Beach which is where I shot some pictures of runners in the annual Trinidad to Clam Beach Run on Saturday.  I occupied the tallest dune and just took in the panoramic view.  With winters like this, who needs summer?

San Onofre Nuke Plant Shut Down Over Possible Leak

Photo Information

Radio station KFI Am 640 in Los Angeles is reporting that Southern California Edison has shut down reactor #3 due to sensors that may have discovered a leak.

See story or This At Common Dreams

Here is a press release from Southern California Edison:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Operators Assessing Leak and Shutdown of Reactor Unit

ROSEMEAD, Calif., Feb. 1, 2012 – Southern California Edison (SCE), operator of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, continues to plan for the repair of the steam generator tube leak in Unit 3 following a precautionary shutdown Tuesday. Sensitive monitoring instruments at Unit 3 continue to show no change in radiation levels that would be detectable off-site.

Operators responded quickly yesterday to indications of a steam generator tube leak based on readings from highly sensitive instruments designed to detect this condition, and in time to take action to prevent any potential change in detectable radiation exposure outside the plant boundary. Operators safely shut the plant down and isolated the component that contained the leaking tube within four hours of detecting the indications.

Currently, operators are cooling down Unit 3 and reducing pressure in the plant, which is the method to stop the tube from leaking. They are meticulously following prescribed procedures written specifically for addressing a tube leak condition.

"There was no threat then, nor is there now any danger to the public or to plant workers," said Pete Dietrich, senior vice president and Chief Nuclear Officer for Southern California Edison. “Our operators performed exactly as they are trained to perform and took prompt action to ensure we did not create a situation involving any challenge to the health and safety of the public,” Dietrich said.

Unit 2 is currently offline for a planned maintenance, refueling and technology upgrade outage. Service will not be affected; Southern California Edison has ample reserve power to meet customer needs.

About Southern California Edison

An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.