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Inside the New Print Edition of Our Subscriber-Only Newsletter! Drug Companies and Psychiatrists
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Inside the New Print Edition of Our Subscriber-Only Newsletter!
Drug Companies and Psychiatrists
Partners in CrimeEugenia Tsao reports on the upcoming revision of one of the most important books in America, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Here’s where the drug lords, the shrinks and the insurance companies collude in establishing hundreds of bogus psychic conditions requiring the psychotropic drugs from which they reap billions every year. There are about 250,000 migrant laborers in Israel, mostly from the Philippines and Thailand. Meanwhile tens of thousands of Palestinians can’t find work. From Tel Aviv, Yonatan Preminger reports on Israel’s vicious employment strategy. Also in this latest newsletter Andrew Cockburn updates his CounterPunch world exclusive on how the U.S. has secretly helped build Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. Get your new edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and t-shirts make great presents.
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Today's Stories July 16, 2009 Paul Craig Roberts
Manuel Garcia, Jr. Vijay Prashad Dean Baker Ray McGovern Jonathan Cook David Rosen Eric Walberg Greg Moses Sousan Hammad Binoy Kampmark Tracy McLellan Website of the Day July 14, 2009 Eamonn McCann Joanne Mariner Franklin Spinney Steve Heilig Ali Abunimah Dave Lindorff Nikolas Kozloff Ellen Brown Alice Slater Ron Jacobs Joe Allen Website of the Day July 13, 2009 Uri Avnery Mike Whitney P. Sainath Gareth Porter Paul Moore Tim Wise Andy Worthington Former Insider Shatters Credibility of Military Commissions David Macaray Cal Winslow Niranjan Ramakrishnan Website of the Day July 10-12, 2009 Alexander Cockburn José Pertierra John Ross Conn Hallinan Nikolas Kozloff Clifton Ross / Carl Ginsburg Michael Neumann Gilad Atzmon Jeffrey St. Clair Ellen Hodgson Brown Jim Goodman Christopher Bickerton Wendell Potter Dave Lindorff David Ker Thomson Anthony DiMaggio Raymond Lawrence Walid El Houri Stephanie Westbrook Roger Gaess David Yearsley Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
July 9, 2009 Ronnie Cummings Jonathan Cook Nikolas Kozloff James Bovard Norman Solomon Afghanistan: the Escalation Scam Allan Nairn Andy Worthington Tomas Borge Nadia Hijab Paul Krassner Website of the Day July 8, 2009 Saul Landau Dean Baker Winslow T. Wheeler Eric Walberg Ray McGovern David Rosen Dr. Mona El Farra Ron Jacobs Benjamin Dangl Alan Farago Website of the Day July 7, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Uri Avnery Brian M. Downing Gary Leupp Gregory A. Burris David Macaray Laura Flanders Alan Farago Greg Moses Dan Bacher Website of the Day July 6, 2009 Patrick Cockburn Diana Johnstone Nikolas Kozloff Gary Leupp Jonathan Cook Tim Wise Franklin Lamb Charles R. Larson Carlos Benemann Shepherd Bliss Jerry Kroth Karyn Strickler Website of the Day July 3-5, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Eamonn Fingleton Jeffrey St. Clair Mike Whitney Pam Martens George Ciccariello-Maher Paul Craig Roberts Patrick Cockburn Anthony DiMaggio Roger Burbach John Ross Nikolas Kozloff Gareth Porter Andy Worthington Saul Landau David Macaray Adam Federman Jane Slaughter Labor's Vague Rally for Health Care Russell Mokhiber Black Caucus Muzzled on Israeli Kidnapping of McKinney Robert Jensen Robert Bryce Belén Fernandez Missy Comley Beattie C. G. Estabrook Stephen Martin Charles R. Larson Lorenzo Wolff Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend July 2, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Nikolas Kozloff Wendell Potter Ellen Hodgson Brown Christian Christensen Iran: Networked Dissent? Patrick Irelan Binoy Kampmark Returning Iraq Nicola Nasser Brian Tokar Dan Bacher Website of the Day July 1, 2009 Vijay Prashad Alberto Vallente Thorensen Paul Craig Roberts Robert Weissman Manuel García, Jr. Victor Figueroa-Clark / Pablo Navarrete Norman Solomon Franklin Lamb Martha Rosenberg Diane Rejman Website of the Day June 30, 2009 Michael Hudson Esam Al-Amin Benjamin Dangl Jonathan Cook Franklin Lamb George Wuerthner Todd Gordon Ron Jacobs Kenneth Libby Julian Vigo Website of the Day
June 29, 2009 Ishmael Reed Nikolas Kozloff Clifton Ross Patrick Cockburn Uri Avnery Conn Hallinan James G. Abourezk Ralph Nader Carol Miller Greg Moses Website of the Day June 26-28, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Doug Peacock Daniel Wolff Mike Whitney John Ross David Rosen Emily Ratner Gareth Porter Farid Marjai Nadia Hijab Paul Craig Roberts Fred Gardner Carl Ginsburg Paul Watson David Ker Thomson Farzana Versey Geoff Berne Todd Alan Price Ramzy Baroud Jeff Sher Dr. Carol Paris Despite My Arrest by Max Baucus, I Will Continue to Advocate for Quality Health Care for All Walter Brasch Adultery as Family Value? Glen Johnson Charlotte Laws Charles R. Larson Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend June 25, 2009 Kathy Kelly Jack Bratich Wendell Potter Charles R. Larson Alan Farago Jonathan Cook Gareth Porter Bitta Mostofi / David Macaray Mark Schuller Website of the Day June 24, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Dean Baker Andy Worthington James Bovard Diana Gibson / P. Sainath Gareth Porter Robert Alvarez Dave Lindorff Steven Colatrella Remembering Giovanni Arrighi Website of the Day
June 23, 2009 David Price Patrick Cockburn James Ridgeway / Dave Lindorff Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero Gary Leupp Brian M. Downing Robert Bryce Nicholas Dearden Yousef Munayyer Website of the Day June 22, 2009 Michael Hudson Esam Al-Amin Chris Floyd Jack Z. Bratich Atash Yaghmaian Laura Carlsen Paul Craig Roberts Vijay Prashad Fred Gardner Andy Thayer David Macaray Website of the Day
June 19 - 21, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Patrick Cockburn Al Giordano Henry A. Giroux Anthony DiMaggio Paul Craig Roberts John Ross Gareth Porter Carl Ginsburg Tommi Avicolli Mecca Joe Bageant Serge Halimi P. Sainath Jim Goodman Dave Lindorff Rannie Amiri Robert Fantina Harvey Wasserman Walter Brasch David Ker Thomson Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Kim Nicolini Ben Sonnenberg Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
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Pulse of the PlanetThe Search for Environmental Justice in Perry County, AlabamaBy GREGORY V. BUTTON The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the nation's largest public utility, has recently gained approval from the EPA to ship three millions of tons coal ash waste, from the December 2008 Kingston Fossil Fuel Plant ash spill disaster in Kingston TN to Perry County, Alabama. The TVA is now shipping ash coal waste that contains significant levels of 14 toxic substances including arsenic, lead, mercury selenium and radioactive elements to a private waste site owned by Perry County Associates. This move has generated considerable controversy. Why? For reasons I will explain later, largely because it appears to be a blatant case of environmental injustice. First, you need to know more about Perry County. Situated in the heart of our nation's "Black Belt" it is the second poorest county in Alabama. Unemployment is around 17 percent. The median income of its residents is around $24,000 and approximately a third of the county lives below the poverty level. Added to that is the fact that 70% of the county is black. Now, here is the rub, the majority of the county's politicians are black including the county commissioners who endorsed the idea. The politicians claim that they have backed the idea because it will bring more employment to the county. They claim the waste will bring $4 million dollars in fees to the county and create as many as 50 jobs to a county whose population is 10,6000 people. In an Associated Press story (AP) (7/02/09) Michael Churchman, executive director of the Alabama Environmental Council stated: Even if you accept the county commissioners' rationale it clearly underscores the asymmetrical economic power relations of this nation and demonstrates just how desperate a poor, southern minority county is in today's America. The more affluent State of Pennsylvania has refused a request a TVA request to ship the waste to their state because they deemed the waste hazardous. The Tuscaloosa News has published an editorial objecting to the "toxic dumping" and among other things stating that, "the money is fleeting and the job-lasting about a year. The waste and its impact are on the environment forever" In a recent meeting last month in Roane County TN, Anda Ray, TVA Senior Vice President of the Office of the Environment, justified the decision in part by saying the county residents endorsed the idea. She then, somewhat adroitly, amended the statement-"mid-stream"- with the caveat that the locally elected officials were the ones that did so and not the county's residents leaving the impression with many in the audience that the citizens of Perry County endorsed the idea. It would seem from the reports in the press and discussions with Perry County residents that the decision is highly unpopular among some, if not many. A number of people have argued that the risks greatly exceed any potential benefit. For instance, an AP story recently reported that the district attorney for the county, Michael Jackson, is "vehemently" opposed to the idea and has stated that the decision by local politicians was: tragic and shortsighted." Congressman, Arthur Davis, who represents the county, and who intends to run for governor of Alabama, is also strongly opposed to the ash fill landfill. Which brings us back to why this appears to be a prima facie case of environmental justice. Let's be very clear about this, according to Presidential Executive Order 12898 (1994) and the EPA's website:
First of all, according to reports in the press and statements made by numerous individuals in the community, a meaningful process involving the community members, and not just a select group of elected officials, has not taken place. Moreover, the statutes that the EPA implements require the agency to consider a host of factors including public health, cumulative impacts; social costs, and welfare impacts. And then there is the fact that, under the Toxics Substances Control Act (TSCA) it explicitly directs EPA to target low-income and minority populations for assistance and to consider such vulnerable populations in setting standards. Finally, there is no evidence to the contrary that any of the above stated procedures listed on the EPA website have been implemented let alone taken into consideration. The fact that the county commissioners are also a minority population does not absolve them, or the EPA, from insuring that the county's residents have an opportunity to participate in the decisions that may disproportionately affect them. As Lisa Evans, an attorney for Earthjustice has argued, regardless of race, the decision to allow the dumping of TVA waste in Perry County adversely affects all low-income residents in the county: an outcome that pertains directly to federal environmental justice policy concerns. In responding to criticisms of institutional racism, TVA, Peyton T. Hairston, TVA's Vice-President for Corporate Responsibility and Diversity, spokesperson, according to the publication, Facing South, stated that TVA made the decision to ship the waste to Perry County for reasons other than the racial composition of the community. Another TVA spokesperson has repeatedly stated to the press that the primary reason the Perry County waste site was chosen is because it is accessible by railroad. While this may be true, a basic precept of environmental justice rightly contends that regardless of intent, the impact is the same: a poor minority suffers a disproportionate risk regardless of the rationale for such a decision. In 2006, during the Bush Administration, the US EPA's Office of Inspector General conducted an evaluation report and found "that EPA senior management has not sufficiently directed program and regional offices to conduct justice reviews in accordance with Executive Order 12898. (Report No. 2006-P-00034, September 18, 2006). More recently, earlier this month, a coalition of environmental justice leaders led by Robert Bullard, log-time environmental justice advocate, have urged the Obama administration to enforce stricter standards in regard to environmental waste. So here is the question: what has the EPA done to improve this situation under the new Obama administration? Specifically, has the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice taken appropriate action in the case of Perry County? What exactly have they done? How transparent has their decision making process been? If they have reviewed and approved the sitting of this waste what is their rationale for such a decision? As one elderly, back resident of Perry County, stated, "If we can't get environmental justice enforced under the administration of a black president than we ain't never going to get any justice!" President Obama might want to consider that halting the dumping of toxic waste in Perry County might well be one of those "defining moments" he spoke so eloquently of during his campaign for President. Gregory V. Button is a professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. As a Congressional Fellow working in the late Senator Paul Wellstone's (D-Minn) office he wrote the Senate Amendment to create the office of Environmental Justice (S. AMDT 338 to Amend S. 171). The language used in President's Clinton's Executive Order 12898 was based on this legislation. He can be reached at: gregoryvbutton@mac.com For more information please see Sue Sturgis's excellent reports for Facing South: * Dumping in Dixie: TVA sends toxic coal ash to poor black communities in Georgia and Alabama" * "Decision to dump TVA's spilled coal waste in Alabama community sparks resistance" * "Pa. rejected TVA's spilled coal ash as too contaminated"
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