Several large dairy producers and food companies have made news recently by getting rid of recombinant bovine growth hormone, also known as rBGH or rBST, from their milk supply. This is great news for consumers, since this genetically engineered growth hormone is known to cause harm to cows and may pose health risks to humans. But in Missouri, things appear to be going backwards. SB 1279 is in the Missouri Senate and would restrict dairy labeling telling you whether your dairy was produced without the artificial hormone rBGH / rBST.

Bats Perish, and No One Knows Why

By TINA KELLEY
Published: March 25, 2008

Al Hicks was standing outside an old mine in the Adirondacks, the largest bat hibernaculum, or winter resting place, in New York State.

It was broad daylight in the middle of winter, and bats flew out of the mine about one a minute. Some had fallen to the ground where they flailed around on the snow like tiny wind-broken umbrellas, using the thumbs at the top joint of their wings to gain their balance.

CALLING B.S. ON THE IDEA OF 'MARIJUANA ADDICTION'

The U.S. government believes that America is going to pot --
literally. Earlier this month, the U.S. National Institute on Drug
Abuse announced plans to spend $4 million to establish the nation's
first-ever "Center on Cannabis Addiction," which will be based in La
Jolla, Calif. The goal of the center, according to NIDA's press
release, is to "develop novel approaches to the prevention, diagnosis
and treatment of marijuana addiction."

Not familiar with the notion of "marijuana addiction"? You're not

The following is an excerpt from my recently published globe-spanning philosophical novel, “Changing History”. “Changing History” is the story of seven international travelers who meet by happenstance in a snowstorm in the wild mountains of Tibet, stumble upon a teahouse and spend the night with a traveling Buddhist monk and nun. During the night, in Chaucerian style, the seven tell life stories about events and circumstances that led to their travels to Tibet and forced each to question fundamental aspects of her/his life, society and the world.

The Arkansas Governor and natural gas producers proposed a compromise last week on the severance tax issue. The compromise plan calls for a 5% tax rate, with a 36 month reduced rate of 1.5% for high cost new wells and a 24 month reduced rate for all other new wells.

The following newspaper article from New York State explains how gas drilling companies across the nation are injecting toxic chemicals into the ground without government or industry oversight.

The U.S. House of Representative's Oversight and Government Reform Committee
is investigating the process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, used
in the creation of gas wells, which allegedly has caused contamination of
the drinking water in several locations around the country. In the fracking
process, water, sand and other materials are injected deep into underground

Deal with Ameren UE sells out protection of Church Mountain

As Reynolds County citizens and as leaders of the East Ozarks Audubon
Society, the area's largest environmental organization, we are dismayed
by the settlement terms between the state of Missouri and AmerenUE over
Ameren's failed Taum Sauk reservoir.

Comments are due by December 27 for the settlement over the Taum Sauk reservoir. Read about it here.