ALTERNET–  Some of the most undercovered stories of 2010 were actions taken by ordinary people standing up for a more just and equitable society. People are taking to the streets on a regular basis across the country, but unlike the corporate-sponsored Tea Party — whose spokespeople can’t answer basic questions about the deficit they claim to be so worried about — those who believe in health care, affordable housing, economic justice, education, a living wage, and a better life for all rarely, if ever, get the attention they deserve. Instead, the media, even the alternative media, spent the better part of last year obsessing over the Tea Party and manufactured personalities like Sarah Palin, while ignoring people like 85-year-old Julia Botello.

Last month, Botello was among 22 people arrested for blocking the doors of a Chase Bank branch in downtown Los Angeles. Over 200 people, many of them homeowners facing foreclosure and eviction, took part in the action organized by Home Defenders League and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment.

According to the Alliance, these families have never participated in an event or protest before, but they have exhausted all other options. Imagine if over 200 Tea Partiers took part in a similar action. Imagine if an 85-year-old Tea Party member was photographed being led away by two cops, one holding each arm. Not only would this video footage be shown over and over again on the cable shows, Julia Botello would be bombarded with interview requests, but because she’s standing in solidarity with people who are losing their homes, she’s only been contacted by two other reporters.

“If we’re united, we’re a better force. We need to stand together,” she says. “I use my voice for the people. I know all of the councilmen and councilwomen in my area. I’m not afraid to speak and ask for better conditions for my community.”

Botello found her voice 10 years ago after falling and hurting her knee on a routine walk home. Her South Central Los Angeles neighborhood was usually dark because the street lights rarely worked. “We usually had only one light that worked, so I went to local council meetings and raised my voice. Why are our streets dark? We need light. My neighborhood hasn’t been dark since.” She’s been going strong ever since. If there’s an action focusing on an issue she cares about, she will do whatever it takes to be there, even if it means rescheduling an overdue eye surgery. “I still have time and I want to keep going.”

In addition to the Chase Bank action last month, several other grassroots actions failed to receive the attention they deserve. These actions, no matter how small, should not be discounted. Let’s hope these voices and demands become too loud to ignore in 2011.

Continue reading about the 6 Revolts the Tea Party-Obsessed Corporate Media Overlooked.

Photo by Abby Martin

© COPYRIGHT ALTERNET, 2011

RAW STORY– Iraq’s newly appointed oil minister on Monday said the country’s daily oil production has increased by about 100,000 barrels a day, exceeding 2.6 million barrels per day for the first time in 20 years.

Abdul-Karim Elaibi said Iraq’s production of crude will continue to rise and will reach its planned, higher targets “sooner than expected.”

“Today, our production exceeded 2.6 million barrels a day,” Elaibi told reporters during a ceremony to formally put him in charge of Iraq’s oil ministry after the country’s new government was sworn in last week.

“We haven’t reached this figure since 20 years ago,” Elaibi said.

Last week, Elaibi also reported an increase by 100,000 barrels a day to 2.5 million barrels a day, saying it was a significant jump in a long while.

Iraq has awarded 15 oil and gas deals since 2008 to international companies in the first major investment drive in more than three decades aimed at strengthening the country’s battered energy industry.

The crude-rich nation plans to raise its daily output to about 12 million barrels by 2017.

Read full article about the increase in Iraq’s oil production here.

Photo by flickr user indigo prime

© COPYRIGHT RAW STORY, 2010

MEDIA ROOTS- The Obama campaign mobilized one of the largest grassroots movements for a presidential candidate in recent history. Barack Obama became a global icon symbolizing people’s hope for change. The SF bay area was a hub of support for Obama during election time. Now two years into his presidency, Media Roots set out to see if people are tuned into their favorite candidate’s actions- and if his actions warrant their support.

Media Roots conducts on the spot interviews with people in Berkeley and Oakland, CA about their support for President Barack Obama.

OP-ED NEWS– On December 22, both houses of the U.S. Congress unanimously passed a bill authorizing $725 billion for next year’s Defense Department budget.

The bill, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011, was approved by all 100 senators as required and by a voice vote in the House.

The House had approved the bill, now sent to President Barack Obama to sign into law, five days earlier in a 341-48 roll call, but needed to vote on it again after the Senate altered it in the interim.

The proposed figure for the Pentagon’s 2011 war chest includes, in addition to the base budget, $158.7 billion for what are now euphemistically referred to as overseas contingency operations: The military occupation of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan.

The $725 billion figure, although $17 billion more than the White House had requested, is not the final word on the subject, however, as supplements could be demanded as early as the beginning of next year, especially in regard to the Afghan war that will then be in its eleventh calendar year.

Even as it currently is, the amount is the highest in constant dollars (pegged at any given year’s dollar and adjusted for inflation) since 1945, the final year of the Second World War. With recent U.S. census figures at 308 million, next year the Pentagon will spend $2,354 for every citizen of the country at the $725 billion price tag alone.

Last year’s Pentagon budget, by way of comparison, was $680 billion, a base budget of $533.8 billion and the remainder for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. In July of this year Congress approved the 2010 Supplemental Appropriations Act which contained an additional $37 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Read full article about the Pentagon’s Christmas Present: Largest Military Budget Ever here.

Written by Rick Rozoff

Russia Today Reports on the Largest Military Budget Increase Ever 

Photo by Flickr user US Army

YAHOO NEWS– The Environmental Working Group released a report Monday indicating that millions of Americans are regularly drinking hexavalent chromium, made famous in the film “Erin Brockovich” as a carcinogen, through their tap water.

The group — whose study was first reported in a story Sunday by the Washington Post’s Lyndsey Layton — tested water from 35 U.S. cities and found that samples from 31 cities contained hexavalent chromium. The highest concentrations were found in Norman, Okla.; Honolulu; and Riverside, Calif. The substance had been a widely used industrial chemical for decades and has evidently leached into the groundwater in many areas.

The EWG report states:

“Despite mounting evidence of the contaminant’s toxic effects, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not set a legal limit for chromium-6 in tap water and does not require water utilities to test for it. Hexavalent chromium is commonly discharged from steel and pulp mills as well as metal-plating and leather-tanning facilities. It can also pollute water through erosion of natural deposits.

“The authoritative National Toxicology Program (NTP) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has said that chromium-6 in drinking water shows ‘clear evidence of carcinogenic activity’ in laboratory animals, increasing the risk of gastrointestinal tumors. Just last October, a draft review by the EPA similarly found that ingesting the chemical in tap water is ‘likely to be carcinogenic to humans.’ Other health risks associated with exposure include liver and kidney damage, anemia and ulcers.”

Read full article about Cities’ Water Containing Hexavalent Chromium here.

Photo by Flickr user GFRPhoto