CheckTheWeather

Yesterday Democratic Senators decided it was time to wait on supporting the American Power Act, a senate bill introduced by Senators John Kerry (Democrat) and Joe Lieberman (Democrat turned Independent). The American Power Act was touted as legislative action that would lower air pollution and create millions of new jobs in various forms of alternative energy.

The Energy Action Coalition aka “the hub of the youth climate movement” responded this morning with a Call to Action. Read the rest of this entry to find out the gameplan and how you can play a starring role in this real life thriller to save the world.

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Yesterday, July, 20, 2010 Fox News aired an excerpt of a speech by Shirley Sherrod, the US Department of Agriculture’s Georgia director of Rural Development. In the speech given at an NAACP event this past March, Sherrod discusses dealing with racism and discrimination within the agricultural community and then coming to terms that those most impacted were poor people regardless of race.

After Fox Faux News aired the story, the USDA and even the NAACP who invited her to speak issued statements of astonishment. In fact Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack called Sherrod immediately stating that she needed to write a letter of resignation. When Sherrod mentioned she was driving and not near a computer he told her type it from her blackberry phone.

That was the case until the full speech was aired which showed that Sherrod did not say the comments out of the malice that Faux news tried to represent in the excerpt they aired. Check the full speech below:

What’s even grimier is that Vilsack stated in his tirade against Sherrod,  ”There is zero tolerance for discrimination at the USDA.” HOWEVER,  African-American farmers are still waiting for payment from a 1.25 billion settlement deal made  from a class action lawsuit against the USDA for decades worth of discrimination. Right now the funds are tied up in bureacratic mess while African-American farmers continue to loose valuable assets and farmland waiting for the big payback. Check out this video from CNN to find out exactly what’s going on.  

For more information on what’s going on with Black Farmers visit the National Black Farmer’s Association Website at www.blackfarmers.org. Call your Senator today and tell them to appropriate the delayed funds to the Black Farmers!

The NAACP just got back from visiting the gulf coast and the news is no bueno for Black and Asian workers in the Gulf Coast. Find out what’s going on by reading this article from the root.com written by Environmental Reporter, Brentin Mock 

Minorities See Little Benefit From BP Oil Spill Jobs.

Early Sunday morning, several interns and staff of the Southwest Workers Union were greeted by a hail of bullets. James Domingue an intern from Southern Louisiana was hit in the hip and suffers from a shattered pelvic bone. Domingue was in San Antonio to support SWU’s Roots of Change Community Garden. Donations  and cards can be sent to:

Solidarity Fund
Southwest Workers Union
PO Box 830706
San Antonio, TX 78283

You can also donate online by clicking here

To read the full story of what went down check out the post linked below

San Antonio Current – Blogs.

As we fly out on our quest to highlight the real, our paths crossed with emerging Hip hop legend DJ Cavem. Based out of Denver, Colorado, DJ Cavem incorporates all aspects of hip hop culture to the cause he is most passionate about, Food Justice. Check out the trailer from the interview and Check the site out next week for the full interview.

Another update from Chester, Pennsylvania courtesy of Ghettoprint.com. You all will be happy to know this is a very positive update. Click on the link below to see how community members are utilizing food for change in Chester.

[ CHESTER GREEN ] Chester’s Community Grocery Co-op Making Great Strides – Ghetto PRINT Network.

Ain’t this some Bullmess! After all the lost lives, Dead and destroyed animals and water life they still want to drill oil. Shame on the New Orleans judge that lifted the ban and shame on the readers at mediatakeout.com for this story only recieving 1,732 views in comparison to a picture of Mary J. Blige with a bikini wedgie getting a whopping 142,647 hits in only a few hours.

SMH really people, do ya’ll want the world to end or what? Check the link below for the full story.

Deepwater Drilling Ban Lifted by New Orleans Federal Judge – Bloomberg.

While the United States is talking about the BP oil spill, across the Atlantic, an oil crisis has been killing off the Niger Delta for five decades. Check this story from Laura Adibe, writer with AOL Black Voices on what’s popping off in the Niger Delta. Trust it’s even deeper than what Talib Kweli was talking about in his new song Black Gold.

Niger Delta Spills: Nigerias 50-Year Oil Crisis Ignored – BV Black Spin.

Once you’re done come back and click on this link to listen to Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek’s new track and find out why traveling to the Niger Delta impacted him so much he had to pull out the pen and start writing.

http://checktheweather.net/2010/05/28/talib-kweli-and-hi-tekblack-gold-is-all-about-that-dirty-oil/

Theroot.com a leading African-American New Site is Obsessing over none other than Checktheweather.net!  Today Checktheweather.net was featured in theroot.com’s article “Worth Obsessing Over: Our Favorite Blogs”. Check the link below to see why they they think we’re kinda cool, plus the 16 other sites they have their eye on. On the real, we can’t lie, We love the root.com too .

Best Blogs – Black and Otherwise.

The Politics of Climate Change has been growing in relevancy over the past few years across the world.  In December of 2009 at the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, President Obama and a few other countries including China, Brazil and South Africa came up with a two page statement known as the Copenhagen Accord. The Accord was delivered during the last day of the Conference and faced tough scrutiny from world leaders who saw it as not tough enough on reducing the worst impacts of Climate Change. The President of Bolivia, Evo Morales was so upset that he decided to host the first ever World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (PWCCC) in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Over 20,000 people from around the world attended the free conference. Together, the people came up with the People’s Agreement on Climate Change.

At the recent climate negotiations in Bonn Germany, leaders from Bolivia, China and developing nations that make up the G77 (a group of developing nations) were outraged to find that developed nations were trying to keep the People’s Agreement out from being utilized in future UN Climate Negotiations. Instead, some developed nations like the United States would only like to see the Copenhagen Accord being used to direct negotiations.

So how do the two documents compare when it comes to saving the world and ensuring justice and equality? Check this link from the official World People’s Conference on Climate Change to find out:

Comparision of the People’s Agreement and the Copenhagen Accord « World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth.