Racketeering Charges Filed Against Donald Rumsfeld & Monsanto

Much of the world welcomed the electoral rebuke given President Bush's Republican Party and the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
In an extraordinary joint statement, more than 200 Socialist members of the European Parliament hailed the American election results as "the beginning of the end of a six-year nightmare for the world."
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was president of Searle Pharmaceuticals, a company owned by Monsanto... Rumsfeld is believed to have earned around US$12 million from the sale of Searle to Monsanto.
Racketeering charges have been filed against Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, Monsanto, NutraSweet Co., the American Diabetes Association and Dr Robert Moser for distributing toxic aspartame, in a class action representing many plaintiffs, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California seeking $350 million in damages.

The suit charges the defendants with manufacturing and marketing a deadly neurotoxin unfit for human consumption... US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, is mentioned throughout the lawsuit.
The Bush administration's could be called the Monsanto Cabinet, per Robert Cohen, author of "Milk, The Deadly Poison" which details the horrid politics behind the contamination of our nation's milk and beef supply with bovine growth hormone.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was president of Searle Pharmaceuticals, a company owned by Monsanto. Rumsfeld was also the Secretary of Defense under President Ford.

Rumsfeld is believed to have earned around US$12 million from the sale of Searle to Monsanto.

Attorney General John Ashcroft reportedly received $10,000 for his senatorial campaign from Monsanto in the mid 90s. Ashcroft's contribution from Monsanto was five times that of any other congressional hopeful. Ashcroft, and Sr. Bush Supreme Court appointee Clarence Thomas were instrumental in gaining Food and Drug Administation (FDA) approval for Monsanto's controversial artificial sweetener aspartame, which has been linked to over 200 ailments that include Alzheimer's disease, juvenile diabetes, depression, epileptic seizures, blindness, memory loss, excitability, weight gain, multiple sclerosis and lupus (The Idaho Observer, November, 2000).

[Former] Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman was on the board of directors of Calgene Pharmaceutical, another company currently owned by Monsanto.

Secretary of Health Tommy Thompson is the fourth member of the Bush cabinet to have direct ties to Monsanto. The former governor of Wisconsin designated his state as a "biotech zone" for the use of Monsanto's bovine growth hormone even though dairy farmers in his state opposed the designation by a 9-1 ratio. Thompson reportedly received $50,000 from biotech companies during his election campaign.

Bovine growth hormone, which does increase the productivity of dairy cows, has also been linked to many health problems in children and adults (The Idaho Observer, November, 2000) and makes cows sick.

Bovine growth hormone has been outlawed in most countries, but not the U.S.

And as Cohen points out, another player in the Monsanto-studded Cabinet is Rep. Richard Pombo, who will head the Agriculture Subcommittee on Dairy, Livestock and Poultry. Pombo is also a Monsanto boy, having taken campaign money from it while stalling a 1994 bill to make labeling mandatory for milk or milk products containing Bovine Growth Hormones. Pombo helped kill the bill in committee...

Monsanto has proven to be one of the most greedy, ruthless and environmentally irreverent corporations in world history. One cannot serve the interests of Monsanto and serve the interests of people at the same time. ---

Niche Issues Creates More Reason For Legal Protection

There are a number of reasons you may need to take lawsuit action against another party. In some cases, you may have purchased a product with which you are not happy or that has injured you or made you ill. You may have received poor service from a company or individual that has ended up costing you money or has hurt you in some way. You may have taken a trip and been injured or you may just need to make a point through litigation.

For instance, many people have complained about going on cruise ship vacations only to be struck down by what seems to be an illness that is infecting the entire ship or something happens aboard cruise ship and they are unsure about how to seek appropriate compensation. In terms of the mysterious cruise ship illness, in many cases, on ships, this occurs but you are not in any real significant danger, for the most part. In most cases, the cruise ship illness is a gastro-intestinal virus and it includes common annoying symptoms like a low grade fever, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Cruise ships are close quarters and despite their best efforts to ensure that ships are as clean as possible, the seriously infectious Norovirus can still come aboard – on passengers. Noroviruses are usually spread through person to person contact and are typical of people who have had exposure to fecal matter from unwashed food, in untreated water or through person to person contact with people who don’t regularly wash their hands.

In more serious cases of cruise ship negligence, fires have broken out on some cruise ships recently and people have been seriously injured or people have lost a loved one who literally disappears from the ship itself. People also can slip and fall or fall prey to other accidents on board. In any of these instances, if you feel you have been treated unfairly or that you have been injured as a result of your time on a cruise ship, you should seek the advice of an attorney.

Student taking the SAT are another group who are now seeking compensatory damages because of incorrect scoring reports that were mailed out to a huge number of high school students in the fall of 2005. Although the scores have now been adjusted and re-checked, many students may have been adversely affected in their college application process, in any fees they incurred to retake the test or to take SAT prep courses that were unnecessary – not to mention the stress and agony of getting the wrong score! There has been a rash of incorrect standardized test scoring recently and if you have been negatively affected, lost a potential job or have been kept from graduating, you may win damages.

As you can see, there are many situations in which seeking an attorney and filing a lawsuit may be appropriate. If you feel as though your consumer rights have been violated or that you have sustained a personal injury because of another party, you should seek the advice of a qualified attorney to protect your rights and secure any compensation to help you.

Free Holiday E-Book

I have a nice ebook about holiday traditions that I would like to give to you absolutely FREE of charge. Please email me dottye789@earthlink.net to get your copy.

Wal-Mart has violated U.S. child labor laws - Say No

Do you shop at Wal-Mart? Wouldn't you like to shop there knowing that Wal-Mart follows U.S. child labor laws and refuses to profit from overseas child labor abuses? Unfortunately, this is not the case.

This holiday season, join our partner Wake Up Wal-Mart in calling on Wal-Mart to adopt a zero tolerance policy on child labor: http://go.care2.com/e/R2ZR/b9qg/DmWm

A recent investigation by the National Labor Committee revealed children, some only 11 years old, were making Wal-Mart clothes in a Bangladesh factory. The children report being routinely slapped and beaten, forced to work 12 to 14 hours a day, often seven days a week, for wages as low as 6 and a half cents an hour.

Right here in the United States, Wal-Mart's own internal audit found 1,371 instances in which minors worked too late at night, during school hours, or too many hours in a day. It also found 60,767 instances of workers missing breaks and 15,705 instances where employees were forced to work and miss meal times.

Despite all of this, Wal-Mart refuses to adopt a zero tolerance policy on child labor! Our children deserve better from Wal-Mart. This holiday season, tell Wal-Mart to adopt a zero tolerance policy on child labor.

Take Action against the FCC - Help Save The Net

The FCC is at it again, ignoring the public interest to give handouts to massive corporations. This time, Chairman Kevin Martin has thrown the FCC's ethics out the window to rush through the mega-merger of AT&T and BellSouth.

Martin is forcing one commissioner, Robert McDowell, to overlook a conflict of interest and rubber stamp the AT&T merger without safeguards for Net Neutrality -- the longstanding principle that prevents Internet providers from discriminating between Web sites.


This move could undermine basic freedoms for all Internet users. Together, we can stop Martin:

Stop Martin. Act Now to Save Net Neutrality

Chairman Martin is racing to deliver special favors to AT&T before the incoming Congress can provide oversight. Commissioner McDowell rightly "recused" his vote on the merger because he had prior business ties affected by the deal. That left the FCC in a 2-2 tie.



Rather than negotiate with commissioners in good faith, AT&T and Chairman Martin have resorted to strong-arm tactics to force McDowell to violate his ethical standards and vote for the merger.

Stop Martin. Act Now to Save Net Neutrality

Congress has begun to respond to Martin's outrageous behavior. Incoming House leaders John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Martin Tuesday demanding that the merger be handled "without compromising the ethical standards of the independent agency or the individual Commissioners involved."



This objection was echoed in the Senate by incoming Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye. He wrote to Martin: "I hope you will reconsider your decision to waive the ethical rules presently precluding Commissioner McDowell's participation and return to serious negotiations with your colleagues at the Commission. These rules and the rules of professional responsibility in general exist for a reason and should not be tossed away lightly."


We agree. To stop this unethical abuse of power, we need to make sure other members of Congress know about Martin's action and put a stop to it. Sign this letter to Congress today. Your comments will also be sent to the FCC:

Stop Martin. Act Now to Save Net Neutrality

Don't let Chairman Martin skirt accountability and sell out Internet freedom. Take action now.


Hugs & Kisses

{{The Net}}

Fire chief quits over dog food race suit

By Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles
December 02, 2006
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20858376-1702,00.html


THE chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department announced his retirement overnight, succumbing to political pressure over a black fireman who sued the city, claiming racial discrimination, after he was served dog food in his firehouse spaghetti.

Chief William Bamattre, who in recent days saw city leaders demand his firing and accuse the department he led for more than a decade of rampant racism and sexism, said he told Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa that he would step down by Jan. 1.

In announcing his departure Chief Bamattre, 54, made no mention of firefighter Tennie Pierce, but a furore over the racial discrimination lawsuit and an aborted $US2.7 million settlement by the city has raged around him for weeks.

The Los Angeles Times quoted an unnamed official who said that Chief Bamattre had become "a liability" for the city.

"Throughout its history the members of this department have prevailed despite many challenges," Chief Bamattre said in a written statement. "Reaffirming our collective unity in commitment and purpose, the LAFD can transform adversity into opportunity."

There was no immediate word on who would replace Chief Bamattre, who took over the fire department of America's second-largest city after his predecessor left amid similar charges of racism and sexism.

Pierce, who sued after fellow firefighters slipped dog food into his spaghetti in 2004, attracted little attention until earlier this month, when the City Council voted to pay him $US2.7 million, one of the largest settlements in city history for a fire department discrimination claim.

The huge payment triggered an uproar, fuelled by popular KFI-AM talk-radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, who encouraged listeners to protest by mailing cans of dog food to the council and City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.