Guardian UK:
"Californians facing the prospect of endless drought, mandated cuts in water use and the browning of their summer lawns are mounting a revolt against the bottled water industry, following revelations that Nestlé and other big companies are taking advantage of poor government oversight to deplete mountain streams and watersheds at vast profit.
An online petition urging an immediate end to Nestle’s water bottling operations in the state has gathered more than 150,000 signatures, in the wake of an investigation by the San Bernardino Desert Sun that showed the company is taking water from some of California’s driest areas on permits that expired as long as 27 years ago.
Last month a protest at a Nestlé Waters North America bottling plant in Sacramento, the state capital, forced a one-day closure as protesters brandishing symbolic plastic torches and pitchforks blocked the entrances. The revelations have agencies from the California State Water Resources Control Board to the US Forest Service scrambling to justify a regulatory framework that is poorly policed and imposes almost no requirements on the big water companies to declare how much water they are taking."
-->The NY Times covered this story in one sentence in an article written for its on-line Opinions page.
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Common Dreams:
"With Elizabeth Warren fans and other progressives' less-than-ardent view of Hillary Clinton as Democratic frontrunner for President, nobody's ready to cut her any slack, least of all Bernie Sanders. Citing America's 'grotesque level of income and wealth inequality.' he said Wednesday he seriously questions if Clinton is 'prepared to take on the billionaire class,' adding, 'It's not what she says, it's what she does.'
Newly published - and stunningly revealing - records of the top 20 contributors for both Senators bear him out. Clinton's money comes solely from Wall Street and other fat cats, with Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan at the top of the heap; Sanders' money comes solely from unions, except for two teachers' groups and the American Association for Justice. From one wry observer, 'If you want to think she's a populist, be my guest.'
Sanders says he'll decide by the end of April whether he can mount a credible campaign to run. If not, and Hillary's the candidate, he says our 'only hope (is) a very strong grassroots movement that says 'enough is enough'...The country belongs to all of us, and not just the billionaire class.' "
-->Mainstream media never really gets at this level of truth. It is too busy propping up a political system that is neither democratic nor just. The NYT didn't bother reporting this research into the top 20 contributors to both of their campaigns.
