CommonDreams.org

Taking anti-immigration rhetoric to a new xenophobic low – and citing Hispanic birth rates as proof – the so-called Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has released a report essentially finding that illegal immigrants playing their radios, probably loudly, are the reason for high energy consumption and carbon emissions that threaten the planet. Who knew?

From the report: "America's massive immigration-fueled population growth was the single largest contributing factor to the nation's increased energy consumption and carbon emissions over the past 35 years."

It seems lobbyists will have to influence-peddle the old-fashioned way – sneakily – now that the red-faced Washington Post has cancelled its planned series of "salons" offering access to policy-makers in exchange for a modest $25,000. (See below.) The leaked fliers for the events caused an uproar among people who seem to think news, and the opinions that inform it, shouldn't be for sale.

"We do not offer access to the newsroom for money," said editor Marcus Brauchli, who attributed the snafu to "a lack of effective communication internally." "We just are not in that business."

Mid-way through an Eco Week declared by DK GreenRoots, a new environmental advocacy group, a piece reminding us that bottled water makes no environmental, economic or moral sense. To wit: 

Along with the fossil fuels burned and greenhouse gases burned, making/ moving a 1-kg bottle of water uses 6.74 kg of water. Traces of Bisphenol-A have been found in almost every American tested for it. The average cost of a bottle of water is 2,000 times that of tap water. Over 26,000,000,000 bottles of water are sold in North America each year, with 86% going into landfills. 1,500 are discarded every second.

Etc. For more on DK Green Roots, go here.

For those of us who have long labored for or believed in a free press, an appalling CD piece about the Washington Post's new "salons" offering health care and other lobbyists the chance of "a collegial evening" with Obama officials, Congresspeople, business leaders and editors, "those powerful few" who make policy – all for a mere $25,000 a shot. I know newspapers are hurting, but must they abandon all ethical standards to survive, and if so, do we want them to?

"A people that wants to be free must arm itself with a free press" – investigative journalist George Seldes.

At 52 years of age and after 20 years of successful environmental campaigning around the world, the Rainbow Warrior II is approaching its recommended decommissioning date and needs to be replaced.

Hoping to combat America's growing obesity, California today became the first state to require that chain restaurants provide calorie counts for their food, along with amounts of sodium, saturated fat and carbohydrates. Still, the brochure's on the counter, yours for perusing or not. Wanna know what's in Chili Cheese Fries? No, you don't.

Happy Canada Day, marking the joining of the British North American colonies into a federation; remarkably, the motherland didn't wholly relinquish political control until 1982, by which time Canadians were some fed up with her. Along with burgers and fireworks, Canadians celebrated by answering surveys about themselves. Among the findings on multiculturalism, seal meat (5% eat it) and hockey (52% play it), 85% "see themselves as fundamentally different from Americans." Only 13 percent "see a future scenario where Canada becomes part of the U.S."

"That's about the level of support for a flat Earth or believing Elvis is alive," says Peter Donolo of The Strategic Counsel.