TAKE ACTION: Land Grab Bill Threatens America's Rainforest from EARTHJUSTICE 2APR12

THERE are just some areas of this country that should be left alone, untouched, wild, primitive. Look at the picture below and you'll agree the Tongass National Forest is one of these areas, it definitely should not be turned over to sealaska or any other corporation for clearcutting and / or development. Click the link to send Sec of Agriculture Vilsack a message telling him to save Tongass N.F. from sealaska and any other corporation!

TAKE ACTION! Land Grab Bill Threatens America's Rainforest
	Congress is considering a bill that would give away some of the best old-growth habitat in Alaska’s magnificent Tongass National Forest to the Sealaska Corporation for clearcutting. Take Action Today!
Right now, Congress is considering the fate of many of the finest stands of coastal temperate rainforest in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest—considered to be the crown jewel of the U.S. National Forest system. If passed, this legislation will hand over tens of thousands of acres to Sealaska Corporation for clearcutting and commercial development. Gone will be towering stands of trees as old as 500 years and as big as 10 feet in diameter—some of the richest prizes in this vast old-growth rainforest. Gone, too, will be the home they provide for eagles, bears, wolves, salmon and countless other species. Also harmed will be the many southeast Alaskans who live off these lands and waters for their subsistence lifestyles and livelihoods, and the many others from across the country who rely upon and visit the Tongass for world-class recreation, hunting, tourism, and sport and commercial fishing. Sealaska has already received over 290,000 acres of land from the Tongass in a previous Congressionally approved deal to settle native land claims that the corporation sought back in 1976. This current legislation (H.R. 1408 and S. 730) would change that deal and give Sealaska new and many of the best areas of the Tongass. Allowing this single corporate stakeholder to gain control and ownership of the most valuable areas of the Tongass undermines the Forest Service’s plan to transition out of old-growth logging and into more sustainable economic development through ecosystem restoration, fishing, and tourism. The proposed legislation also gives away numerous smaller parcels scattered throughout the Tongass, including popular anchorage areas, hunting and fishing hotspots, and many of the best sites that sit at the edge of wilderness areas, heads of bays, and mouths of salmon streams. Privatizing these sites for commercial development by Sealaska Corporation would restrict public access and jeopardize the number of tourism and outfitter businesses, sport and commercial fishermen, and local Alaskans and visitors who rely on the Tongass for their livelihoods and recreational enjoyment. Don’t let this corporate earmark legislation irreversibly harm the national treasure that is the Tongass. Join with us and urge the Obama administration to steadfastly oppose the legislation as the bills work their way through Congress. Please act now to save this magnificent place by sending this letter to USDA Secretary Vilsack—who oversees the U.S. Forest Service—asking him to protect the Tongass National Forest and oppose the Sealaska Corporation legislation. Sincerely, Rebecca Judd Legislative Counsel Earthjustice

©2012 Earthjustice | 50 California Street, Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94111 | 415-217-2000 | action@earthjustice.org

Roundup Birth Defects: Regulators Knew World's Best-Selling Herbicide Causes Problems, New Report Finds 6JUN11

I'VE always dealt with weeds the old fashioned way, pull and dig them out...and tolerate them, like dandelions, in the yard, because I have NEVER trusted any of the weed killers to be safe.....
WASHINGTON -- Industry regulators have known for years that Roundup, the world's best-selling herbicide produced by U.S. company Monsanto, causes birth defects, according to a new report released Tuesday.
The report, "Roundup and birth defects: Is the public being kept in the dark?" found regulators knew as long ago as 1980 that glyphosate, the chemical on which Roundup is based, can cause birth defects in laboratory animals.
But despite such warnings, and although the European Commission has known that glyphosate causes malformations since at least 2002, the information was not made public.
Instead regulators misled the public about glyphosate's safety, according to the report, and as recently as last year, the German Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, the German government body dealing with the glyphosate review, told the European Commission that there was no evidence glyphosate causes birth defects.
Published by Earth Open Source, an organization that uses open source collaboration to advance sustainable food production, the report comes months after researchers found that genetically-modified crops used in conjunction Roundup contain a pathogen that may cause animal miscarriages. After observing the newly discovered organism back in February, Don Huber, an emeritus professor at Purdue University, wrote an open letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack requesting a moratorium on deregulating crops genetically altered to be immune to Roundup, which are commonly called Roundup Ready crops.
In the letter, Huber also commented on the herbicide itself, saying: "It is well-documented that glyphosate promotes soil pathogens and is already implicated with the increase of more than 40 plant diseases; it dismantles plant defenses by chelating vital nutrients; and it reduces the bioavailability of nutrients in feed, which in turn can cause animal disorders."
Although glyphosate was originally due to be reviewed in 2012, the Commission decided late last year not to bring the review forward, instead delaying it until 2015. The chemical will not be reviewed under more stringent, up-to-date standards until 2030.
"Our examination of the evidence leads us to the conclusion that the current approval of glyphosate and Roundup is deeply flawed and unreliable," wrote the report authors in their conclusion. "What is more, we have learned from experts familiar with pesticide assessments and approvals that the case of glyphosate is not unusual.
"They say that the approvals of numerous pesticides rest on data and risk assessments that are just as scientifically flawed, if not more so," the authors added. "This is all the more reason why the Commission must urgently review glyphosate and other pesticides according to the most rigorous and up-to-date standards."

National forests plan would expand local discretion over wildlife management 11FEB11

AGRICULTURE Sec Tom Vilsack couldn't provide specifics on how this proposal improves the original plan because it doesn't. All this plan does is open the flora and fauna of our National Forest to gross mismanagement and abuse by local forestry officials influenced by the communities they live in. The final decisions on National Forest management have to be made in Washington, and be subject to a public comment period. All comments on this proposal can be made at
ADDRESSES: Submit comments through the public participation portal at
http://www.govcomments.com/. Alternatively, submit comments by addressing them to Forest Service Planning DEIS, C/O Bear West Company, 132 E 500 S, Bountiful, UT 84010; or via facsimile to 801-397-1605. Please identify your written comments by including “planning rule” on the cover sheet or the first page. Alternatively, submit comments through the World Wide Web/Internet website http://www.regulations.gov.
By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 11, 2011; 12:26 AM


The Obama administration unveiled a proposal Thursday to give directors of national forests more discretion over managing endangered wildlife, reversing decades-old rules that left the sensitive decisions to officials in Washington.
U.S. Forest Service officials said the proposed rules also would expand the definition of protected wildlife to plants and better preserve clean water on some of the nation's most pristine lands.
But environmentalists said the 94-page proposal would water down strongly written wildlife protections adopted nearly 30 years ago by the Reagan administration.
"They give too much discretion to individual forest supervisors" without specific directions, said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund. "We don't know that they're going to protect species or not. There is no question that this is a rollback to required protection to wildlife habitat."
In a briefing on the proposed rule, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke in broad terms about the proposal, saying it would provide ways to respond to threats such as plagues of pests that prey on trees, wildfire and climate change. Vilsack did not say specifically how the new plan improves on the original plan, which has been amended numerous times since its introduction in 1982.
Later, in a telephone interview, Joel Holtrop, deputy chief of the National Forest System, said that by giving local officials more discretion, the proposal takes into account what the old plan does not - that forests in Alaska are different from those in Florida and should be governed by local science.
"This proposed rule addresses diversity requirements . . . strongly protects wildlife," Holtrop said, by extending protections from solely "vertebrate species to all plants and animals."
The Forest Service said that while planning the new rules it held 40 public meetings during which 3,000 participants logged more than 25,000 comments.
The service manages 155 national forests, 20 grasslands and a prairie that compose about 195 million acres rich in wildlife, timber, clear water, natural gas and other resources.
Managing the forests is "a balance in recognizing . . . that things are different in different places," Holtrop said. He said local officials will have directions on how to protect wetlands, for example, but he acknowledged that the proposed rule "is not being explicit at how wide these protective corridors need to be."
The public has until May 16 to comment on the rule. The Forest Service will develop a final rule by year's end, Holtrop said.
"We're confident this is a good rule," he said. "We're also confident that it can be improved . . . over the next 90 days."
At the Pew Environment Group, Jane Danowitz, director of U.S. public lands, expressed dissatisfaction. "Here we are talking about wanting to make sure some of the safeguards of the Reagan administration stay in place," Danowitz said.
"Clearly, in terms of wildlife protection, it is disappointing that they have been weakened under this proposal," she said, referring to the more decentralized decision-making.

Report Shows The Recovery Act Creates Jobs and Changes Lives for the Better 20OKT10

MORE proof the Recovery Act is working, not as fast as all as us would like, but it has created more jobs than the greedy rich who want to keep their bush era tax cuts for themselves though the lies and deception, the propaganda from the gop and tea-baggers is that these people need their tax cuts to create jobs (yeah, jobs overseas because they haven't been creating jobs here!).
 
Posted by Tom Vilsack on October 20, 2010 at 04:02 PM EDT 
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is a driving force in job creation and economic renewal in rural America.
Earlier today, I released a report (pdf) outlining how funds allocated to seven programs administered by USDA Rural Development have sparked economic growth,  created or saved over 300,000 jobs, and funded projects in almost 3,000 counties. USDA staff approved 95,000 loans, made 2,500 grants and assisted 2,000 rural businesses with loan guarantees.  We also assisted 93,000 American families close home loans, either by guaranteeing a loan from a lending institution or making a loan through our direct program.  We approved Internet projects that will provide an estimated 7 million people, many of them in remote areas including Tribal lands, access to improved state-of-the-art broadband service.

Secretary Vilsack meets with construction workers at a plant site in Berlin, MD. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is providing construction jobs across the nation. September 20, 2010. (by U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Those are significant numbers, but as I travel the country, I am most impressed by the individuals who tell me how their lives are being changed, directly or indirectly, because of the Act.  In Port Angeles, Washington, 147 workers have jobs because a Business Loan guarantee allowed a plywood plant to reopen after a three year shutdown.  Older job seekers in Tennessee are receiving computer training and developing new work skills thanks to a computer lab funded with a Rural Business Enterprise Grant.  A firm in Gering, Nebraska, saw demand for its homes rebound after USDA partnered with lending institutions, the city and a development firm to provide local residents with quality homes.  Through the Recovery Act, USDA has funded over 850 water projects to improve public health and environmental quality; over 560 public safety facilities; 312 cultural and educational facilities including 196 library projects; and over 180 healthcare facilities. 
These efforts will continue to drive job creation for the next several years, but as importantly, the buildings, broadband and water systems, taken together, supply the economic fabric for business expansion by private companies.  The Recovery Act is a continuing success, and today’s report confirms that.
Read the report (pdf).
Tom Vilsack is Secretary of Agriculture