OntheWilderSide

On Dec. 4, farmers marched on Wall Street. Here’s one video of a speech by Jim Gerritsen, an organic Maine farmer, who discusses the class action lawsuit against Monsanto, and a more recent piece by singer-songwriter, Willie Nelson:

Occupy the Food System

By Willie Nelson,
Reader Supported News

Thanks to the Occupy Wall Street movement, there’s a deeper understanding about the power that corporations wield over the great majority of us. It’s not just in the financial sector, but in all facets of our lives. The disparity between the top 1 percent and everyone else has been laid bare – there’s no more denying that those at the top get their share at the expense of the 99 percent. Lobbyists, loopholes, tax breaks… how can ordinary folks expect a fair shake?

No one knows this better than family farmers, whose struggle to make a living on the land has…

Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger

Sometimes a story comes around that writes itself and merely needs highlighting of certain facts to make its points. This link below will provide concrete data on why this country has become a corrupted corporatist state, along with why the federal budget deficit is so high. Its title is “For Hire: Lobbyists or the 99%? How Corporations Pay More for Lobbyists Than in Taxes”

http://publicampaign.org/sites/default/files/ReportTaxDodgerLobbyingDec6.pdf

What this document clearly shows, with highly readable charts is that 30 of the top US Corporations not only pay more for lobbying than in taxes, but in fact that they receive huge tax credits, although being highly profitable. Over a three year period 2008-2010 these companies had combined profits of $163.691 billion, received tax credits of $10.602 billion and spent $475.67 million on lobbying. Only one of these companies, FedEx, actually paid taxes. They paid $37 million…

We hope you’ve enjoyed our recent winter holiday posts, which will help you to Fair Trade your Christmas & Chanukah.  This current post began as a snapshot of our favorite Fair Trade Christmas Cards.  But with so many fabulously creative and charming greetings to choose from, we quickly found our ourselves building a Christmas Card extravaganza.  However, when you read the missions of the two producers we feature most heavily in this collection (Cards from Africa and Sanctuary Spring), we think you’ll agree that more is definitely merrier.

Cards from Africa:

“Our greeting cards are all handcrafted by young people in Rwanda who have been orphaned by genocide or AIDS. The cardmakers are all heads of households, responsible for providing for the remaining younger siblings in their family. Cards from Africa pays above-market wages so that the cardmakers can feed their families and send the younger siblings…

By Metro Farm

The federal government will soon craft a new Farm Bill that will give billions of dollars to the largest, most profitable farms in the nation.  This leads us to ask…

What will we get for our billions of Farm Bill bucks?

This Saturday at 9am Pacific, the Food Chain Radio show with Michael Olson hosts Iowa State University Economics Professor Bruce Babcock and Farm Bill Hackathon Hostess Beth Hoffman for a conversation about the 2012 Farm Bill.

The Steering Committee of the South Carolina Green Party endorses the South Carolina Immigration Coalition’s call for rallies against the Anti-Immigrant Law, S.B. 20.   Please attend these rallies in Columbia, Charleston, Greenville and Spartanburg on Sunday, December 18 and the Unity & Peace Rally held in Charleston at Washington Park on Monday, December 19.   As we meet with other South Carolinians we will build a social movement which can achieve a solution to the nation’s crisis in immigration and citizenship.

MEDIA ADVISORY

Contact-Tammy Besherse- [email protected]

 

–Photo and Live News Shot Opportunity–

The SC Faith Community to Hold Interfaith Prayer Vigils across the State to Reflect on Anti-Immigrant Law, S.B. 20

Sunday, December 18, 2011

South Carolina faith leaders and the faith community will gather at prayer vigils across the state on Sunday, December 18, to call attention to a hearing the following day in U.S. District Court in…