Headlines for Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Obama signs financial reform into law
Today, President Obama signed historic financial reform legislation into law.

“This is the central lesson of not only this crisis, but of our history.  Ultimately there’s no dividing law between Main Street and Wall Street.  We rise or fall together as one nation.  So these reforms will help lift our economy an lead all of us to a stronger, more prosperous future.”

The bill is considered the largest overhaul of the financial system since the Great Depression.  It creates a consumer protection agency, gives government more control over failing financial firms, and limits the types of risks firms can take.

“Our financial system only works, our market is only free when there are clear rules and basic safeguards that prevent abuse, that check excess, that insure that it is more profitable to play by the rules than to game the system.”

Another provision requires US companies to ensure they are not using raw mineral materials sourced in the Congo, where sexual violence is an epidemic.

The Obama administration has also announced intentions to reduce greenhouse gas pollution by federal agencies by 13% in the next decade.  The reduction covers indirect sources of pollution like commuting and other travel.  This expands on an executive order issued in October 2009 that requires the government to be a leader in creating a green economy.  The federal government is the largest single consumer of energy in the country.

Oakland approves large-scale factory pot production
The Oakland City Council has voted to permit four industrial scale marijuana farms, to sell cannabis to medical marijuana dispensaries.  It’s a move some say will make Oakland the “Silicon Valley of Marijuana” while others say it will corporatize a grassroots industry built by the counterculture.  FSRN’s Kellia Ramares has the story.

The city will begin issuing permits in January for 4 industrial farms that would have no size limit.  Among other things, the regulations will require applicants to pay a $211,000 annual permit fee that will be used to hire a regulatory staff to oversee compliance.  Proponents of taxing and regulating marijuana see industrial farming as creating jobs and tax revenues for the cash strapped city.

But Elizabeth Frantes, a longtime medical marijuana patient and activist calls the Oakland decision an abomination.

“No other medication in the state of California is allowed to be taxed.  So if these people are truly in favor of medical marijuana why do they support this huge tax? It’s certainly without precedent.”

Small and medium sized growers, including patient collectives, say this measure will push them out of an industry they risked arrest to build.  California will vote this November on Proposition 19, which would legalize the recreational use of marijuana.  Federal law still makes all use of marijuana illegal.  Kellia Ramares, FSRN, Oakland.

Chinese oil spill spreads
China’s official estimates of the scope of an oil spill caused by a pipeline explosion last weekend have increased significantly.  Now authorities say the oil has spread to cover 170 square miles of ocean near the port city of Dalian on the Yellow Sea.  The Guardian reports 800 fishing vessels are assisting in the clean up and one person has drowned.

Former Mexican state utility workers approach day 90 of hunger strike
A long-running hunger strike in Mexico City protesting the closing of a state utility has taken a dramatic turn, as two strike participants have developed medical complications.  FSRN’s Shannon Young has more.

Cayetano Cabrera and Miguel Ángel Ibarra have been on hunger strike since late April in protest of a presidential decree, which dissolved the state-owned electrical company that served Mexico City and the surrounding area.  A doctor who has been monitoring the health of the group of 15 hunger strikers warns the two men are currently at risk of heart failure.  Cabrera has lost 46 pounds and Ibarra has lost 55 pounds.

The protesters are calling on the federal government to re-instate the 44-thousand workers who lost their jobs overnight when President Felipe Calderon dissolved the public utility and sent police to occupy the company's facilities.  The government has not officially responded.

Unions across Mexico criticized the move, and some saw it as a decisive test case for public sector labor rights.  The closure of the utility effectively signaled the end of the country’s oldest labor organization, the Mexican Electricians Union, which had a long history of supporting leftist causes.  Mexico's Supreme Court recently upheld the constitutionality of the presidential decree that dissolved the power company - and by extension, ended official recognition of the union.  Shannon Young, FSRN, Mexico.

Israel still denies it violated international law during Gaza War, but says it will restrict use of white phosphorous weapons
Israel will restrict the use of white phosphorus weapons, according to a report the country’s foreign ministry sent to the UN.  The report is the result of an internal investigation into allegations of illegal tactics used during the war in Gaza.  It states the Israeli Defense Forces are working on a “clear doctrine” and “permanent restrictions” on the use of the weapons, which is banned from being used near civilians by international law.  Israel says it has opened 47 criminal investigations and is currently prosecuting 4 military personnel related to incidents during the war.  But officials maintain that it did not violate international laws of engagement.