 |
| Left: Original photo of Jacques Steinberg. Right: Photo aired on Fox News Channel. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
 |
| Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington DC. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
go back to sleep
No,
there's nothing on the moon,
go back to sleep.
Turkey scrambles fighter plans to Syrian border
*Oct. 12 - Turkey scrambles two fighter planes along the border with Syria
after a Syrian military helicopter bombed a border town. Deborah Lutterbeck
reports.*
Jihadists join rebels to seize Syrian air defence near Aleppo
If Al-Jazeera says it is a jihadist group then it probably is:
Story
BEIRUT—A shadowy jihadi group believed to be linked to Al Qaeda fought
alongside rebels who seized a government missile defence base in Syria on
Friday, activists said, heightening fears that extremists are taking
advantage of the chaos to acquire advanced weapons. … A report by a
correspondent with the Arabic satellite network Al-Jazeera who visited the
base Friday said Jabhat al-Nusra had seized the base. The report showed a
number of missiles and charred buildings, as fighters covered their faces
with black cl... more »
Out Damned Spot
Oil in new Gulf slick matches that of 2010 spill. By Steven Mufson and
Joel
Achenbach. The Washington Post October 10, 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/oil-in-new-gulf-slick-matches-that-of-2010-spill/2012/10/10/1f2b937c-1336-11e2-be82-c3411b7680a9_story.html[Excerpted]
The oil in a slick detected in the Gulf of Mexico last month matched oil
from the Deepwater Horizon spill two years ago, the Coast Guard said
Wednesday night, ending one mystery and creating another.
“The exact source of the oil is unclear at this time but could be
residual
oil associated with the ... more »
IF YOU'VE HAD ANY DOUBTS THAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT IS ABOVE THE LAWS THAT PERTAIN TO YOU AND ME, AFTER WATCHING THIS THEY'LL BE GONE WITH THE WIND.
------------------------------
* the**REALnews
Permalink*
OCTOBER 12, 2012
*Leading US Officials Support Terrorist Listed Group with Impunity*
Michael Ratner Report: Supreme Court finds Telecoms won’t be prosecuted for
illegal wiretapping
*Watch full multipart The Ratner Report*
More at The Real News
*Bio*
Michael Ratner is President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional
Rights (CCR) in New York and Chair of the European Center for
Constitutional and Human Rights in Berlin. He is currently a legal ... more »
Commenting on the failure of an accused to testify
*R. v Prokofiew* 2012 SCC 49 , released today, deals with, among other
things, a judge commenting on the failure of an accused to testify.
Section 4 (6) of the Canada Evidence Act provides:
The failure of the person charged, or of the wife or husband of that
person, to testify shall not be made the subject of comment by the judge or
by counsel for the prosecution
The Court points out that the words “subject to comment” really means
subject to adverse comment – the Court may point out, where appropriate,
that the failure to testify is not to be taken against the accused:
[3] ... more »
It’s time for Jeff Zeleny to go!
*FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2012*
*Fox friend steals from Goofus and Gallant:* Whatever you think of last
night’s debate, it’s time for Jeff Zeleny to go.
Zeleny is the timid fellow who represents the New York Times in panel
discussions on Special Report. That's on the Fox News Channel.
He’s also the fellow who wrote the Times’ front-page report about last
night’s debate. In our view, it’s time for this hackster to go:
ZELENY (10/12/12): *Biden and Ryan Quarrel Aggressively in Debate, Offering
Contrasts*
It was the debate that President Obama and Mitt Romney did not have a week
ago.
Vic... more »
Reality Show
By Capt. Fogg
Oh *who cares* whether Ryan or Biden "won" this TV spectacle? Vice
presidents don't count, unless you think about Cheney, and although Romney
is a sock puppet with the strong arm of the radical authoritarians making
his lips move, I don't see him being led around by Ryan as another Darth
Cheney. Who cares anyway? It's not as though the public has become smarter
or has learned from experience. These things are only a game and never,
ever does a President resemble in office what he tried to resemble on
camera and the platform they sell at the convention is rarely more... more »
ADHD Drugs Prescribed to ‘All Academically Struggling’ Children
Dees Illustration Lisa Garber
There is a frightening new trend in the medical community: prescribing
psychoactive stimulant medication to children from low-income families to
boost their academic performance. To be more clear, doctors are actually
prescribing ADHD drugs to students who are academically struggling. Here’s
the kicker: the kids don’t have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD).
*Evening the Scales*
One proponent of the trend, Dr. Michael Anderson, says that ADHD is a “made
up…excuse” for the real illness, which is a social and educational
environment unwi... more »
Untitled
*The Many Lies of BountyGate~Saints Win*
*ESPN report: Vilma appeal calls for Goodell recusal based on bias*
*Food trucks: ‘Let the public decide’ ~Danny Monteverde, Advocate*
*Crecent City Blues and BBQ Festival
*
The Cheshire Cat's Sodomization of Goober and Other Tales of Republican Woe
(By *American Zen*'s Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari.)
The late, great Hunter S. Thompson once described Vice President Joe Biden
as "a rabid weasel on speed." At several times during last night's debate
in Mitch McConnell land (henceforth referred to as the place where "No!"
went to thrive), the good gonzo journalist arose literally from his own
ashes and reminded us why his wisdom and spot-on caricatures are still so
relevant and necessary.
Hosted by *ABC*'s Martha Raddatz, the woman to whom Dick Cheney once said,
"So?" when she'd told him 2/3's of the American people thought in... more »
Man held in mental health detention to finally get a trial — or will he?
image source Janet Phelan
Charlie Castle, who has been battling to get his day in court since he was
grabbed off the street by two workers from the San Bernardino mental health
court over a year ago, may finally get to see a judge today.
Charlie’s plight has raised disturbing questions as to the reasons for the
zealousness with which he was systematically robbed of all of his rights,
including his right to have a jury trial on his alleged mental health
issues. Speculations have run the gamut—from rumors of enormous wealth
inherited by Castle, who has been homeless for over a de... more »
IDF on guard for Iranian-Hizballah drones from Palestinian Gaza
The Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s threat Thursday night of more UAV’s
over Israel aroused concern in the Israeli high command that Iranian drones
had been smuggled into the hands of the Palestinian Hamas extremists ruling
the Gaza Strip. He implied that Tehran or Hizballah might ask Hamas to
release them over Israel, possibly in coordination with UAV intrusions from
Lebanon.
After rolling out Hizballah statistics claiming Israel had violated
Lebanese airspace 20, 864 times (!), Nasrallah said in his televised
speech: “This is our natural right and we will send them whenever w... more »
Austerians at the Gate
You could tell the fix was in just by the way Martha Raddatz phrased her
question at the creepy veepy debate last night:
MS. RADDATZ: Let’s talk about Medicare and entitlements.
Both Medicare and Social Security are going broke and taking a larger share
of the budget in the process. Will benefits for Americans under these
programs have to change for the programs to survive, Mr. Ryan?
Social Security is not an entitlement and it's not going broke. It has not
contributed one penny to the almighty deficit. It's not part of the United
States budget. But Beltway insider Martha Raddatz... more »
The EU Peace Prize
Daniel Nexon at - 1 hour ago
Erik Voeten is pleased: The Realist argument about the importance of the
U.S. security umbrella is probably correct. Yet, the dire predictions
regarding the future of European integration have yet to materialize.
Indeed, the EU sped up its integration considerably … Continue reading →
World’s largest reinsurance firm: Climate change causing rise in weather disasters
[image: Two tornadoes struck New York City on 8 September 2012. One swept
out of the sea and hit a beachfront neighborhood and the second, stronger
twister hit moments later. Jake Dobkin / AP]
By Doyle S. Rice
10 October 2012
The number of natural disasters per year has been rising dramatically on
all continents since 1980, but the trend is steepest for North America
where countries have been battered by hurricanes, tornadoes, floods,
searing heat and drought, a new report says.
The study being released today by Munich Re, the world's largest
reinsurance firm, sees climate chang... more »
LEHRER’S RERUN: Jim Lehrer, before and after!
*FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2012*
*Epilogue—By law, the gods can’t be wrong:* Did Jim Lehrer do something
wrong at last week’s debate?
He may have been following orders! After Lehrer was criticized for his
performance, the guild did what it always will do:
It rose in defense of its gods.
In Politico, Dylan Byers quoted Lehrer defending his own performance. “I’ve
always said this and finally I had a chance to demonstrate it,” Lehrer
said. “The moderator should be seen little and heard even less.”
That was Lehrer on Lehrer. In a separate report, Byers quoted Janet Brown,
boss of the debat... more »
Kashmiri farmers face drought losses without government support – Spring and autumn have disappeared due to climate change – ‘We are helpless before nature’
[image: Muhammad Saddique looks at his drought-stunted maize crop in
Chakohti, in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, after the summer 2012 rains
failed. ALERTNET/Roshan Din Shad]
By Roshan Din Shad
10 October 2012
CHAKOTHI, Pakistan (AlertNet) – The failure of Muhammad Saddique’s maize
crop following a three-month drought has left him threatened with lack of
food and economic ruin.
But the government of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, where Saddique lives,
seems unprepared and unable to help farmers like him adapt to changing
weather patterns that are linked to climate change, he ... more »
"The Largest Economy In The World Is Imploding Right In Front Of Our Eyes"
*"The Largest Economy In The World Is Imploding Right In Front Of Our Eyes"
*
by The Economic Collapse
"A devastating economic depression is rapidly spreading across the largest
economy in the world. Unemployment is skyrocketing, money is being pulled
out of the banks at an astounding rate, bad debts are everywhere and
economic activity is slowing down month after month. So who am I talking
about? Not the United States - the economy that I am talking about has a
GDP that is more than two trillion dollars larger. It is not China either -
the economy that I am talking about is more t... more »
China’s epic traffic nightmares
[image: Drivers check for a better view during 'Car Free Day' in Beijing.
Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images]
By Charles Riley
7 October 2012
(CNN Money) – More people live in China than any other country, and in 2010
it surpassed the United States as the largest car market on Earth. As the
popularity of automobiles grows, China's infrastructure has struggled to
keep pace.
The result is – like anywhere else in the world – traffic jams.
Yet traffic jams in China are not always brief hiccups during the evening
commute. In fact, the worst jams in China, while rare, can last f... more »
Journal of Current Chinese Affairs Taiwan Issue
*Pre-game warmups.*
Some great stuff here. The Sullivan/Sapir article is really good and you
should track down Sullivan's articles on Chen Shui-bian's discourse, which
I keep forgetting to blog on. Sullivan loves Taiwan and is a very
insightful writer and thinker. The Schubert "analysis" of the election is
basically a Grand Narrative Establishment rehash (you're probably better
off with mine). The European integration piece is quite balanced all things
considered; I haven't had a chance to read the others.
Journal of Current Chinese Affairs
OPEN ACCESS
Content alert: Issue 3/20... more »
Seven states, seven warning signs of global warming
[image: A firefighter walks in front of burning trees during the 2011
Wallow fire in Arizona, which burned more than 538,000 acres and was the
biggest in state history, 10 June 2011. According to NOAA's National
Climatic Data Center, the damages from U.S. wildfires in 2011 exceeded $1
billion. Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press]
By Dan Turner
18 September 2012
As the signs that the world is warming grow ever more unmistakable, one of
the ironies of the American political debate on the topic is that leaders
in the states being most heavily affected are often those least incline... more »
European Union Nobel Peace Price Award - What the public are saying
*NOTE: In the past 2 years Democracy has gone in reverse in Europe with
several European Countries losing their full democracy status when they
were downgraded to Flawed Democracy Status*
Mark Dobrzanski
1:48 PM on 12/10/2012
Did I read that right? "EU" and "democracy" in the same sentence?? Awarding
this prestigious award to the new (E)USSR cheapens and demeans previous
DESERVED award winners.
Raymond Vermont
1:16 PM on 12/10/2012
The expansion of the EU is very likely to create future military conflict
not prevent it.
Wilfred Lavagna
1:06 PM on 12/10/2012
The committee should ta... more »
“America's New Great Depression?"
*“America's New Great Depression?*"
Sluggish Economic Growth, Staggering National Debt
by Dr. Rossen Vassilev
“The American economy is caught between the Scylla of sluggish economic
growth and the Charybdis of a staggering national debt aggravated by
Washington’s unyielding partisan deadlock over taxes and spending cuts.
After the Great Recession of 2008, the approaching “fiscal cliff” at the
end of this year threatens to cause even more economic havoc and bring
about another recession which some “doom-and-gloom” economists darkly
predict may turn into a new Great Depression.
Th... more »
Rob Ford is making Mel Lastman look like a genius
According to Mel Lastman, Mayor Rob Ford is making former Mayor Lastman
“look like a genius.”
Mel Lastman, who was Toronto’s outspoken mayor from 1998 to 2003, said
Wednesday at a Brampton Bad Boy store opening that Rob Ford’s stubbornness
is putting the city in jeopardy.
“All I know is since I’ve left (politics), I look like a genius,” said
Lastman, age 79.
“I’m not a genius, obviously, but he makes me look like one. I know him,
he’s stubborn and stubborn sometimes is good, but not constantly. You can’t
be that stubborn and run a city.”
Since taking the mayoral office in 2010, F... more »
42 Reasons to Legalize Marijuana
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Live Tweets From Last Night's VP Debate
Live blogging or tweeting a debate surely isn't on a par with running into
burning buildings, facing armed criminals or defusing bombs in a war zone.
It's not a heroic endeavor yet there's a demand for it and requires special
skills such as thinking on one's feet while multitasking in a rapid-fire
social networking environment such as Twitter. What follows below are some
of the better dispatches launched from my laptop last night as I listened
to the debate on C-Span last night. (The @ShitWillardSez parody account is
mine, too.)
C-Span: HBO for nerds. #VPDebate #p2 #p21
— Robert Cr... more »
4.9 Magnitude Earthquake GULF OF PARIA, VENEZUELA - 12th October 2012
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake has struck the GULF OF PARIA, VENEZUELA at a
depth of 12.3 km (7.6 miles), the quake hit at 12:16:19 UTC Friday 12th
October 2012
The epicenter was 6 km (3.7 miles) SSE of Yaguaraparo, Venezuela
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
The most deluded comment of the year?
"Europe got through two civil wars in the 20th century and we have
established peace thanks to the European Union. So the European Union is
the biggest peacemaker in history"
Herman Van Rompuy after EU was awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
Someone explain that at the time of both world wars there was no
supranational body in Europe so these were not 'civil wars'. Also that the
EU is not a country yet and whilst I have breath left in me,I will fight to
ensure that the UK will not be a member of an EU. superstar.
31 Days of Photo Props: Mom and Dad
While mom and dad my be frazzled trying to get their child ready for the
perfect picture, they usually get over looked, when they might actually be
the most important person in the photograph. When I worked in a portrait
studio, one of our goals was to always get mom or dad in at least three of
the photos. It didn't need to be their face, it could be their hands or
legs, but getting them into the photos was extremely important, even if
they didn't originally want to be in the pictures. Why? Because even if you
don't think you want to be in the picture, most parents end up loving
p... more »
Lawsuits Highlight the High Environmental Cost of Fossil Fuel Energy
Rachel Rindfleisch at Contaminated Nation - Water Contamination, Land Pollution & Hazardous Waste locations - 3 hours ago
By: Duane Craig
Property owners in Arkansas’ Independence and Faulkner counties are up in
arms over hydraulic fracturing activities they say are pumping drilling
waste beneath their properties.
The property owners have filed a lawsuit against Southwestern Energy
Company, Chesapeake Energy Corp. and XTO Energy Inc. The plaintiffs claim
the drilling companies reduce royalties paid to landowners by the amount it
costs them to dispose of drilling fluids. In this case, the plaintiffs say
the companies are pumping the waste below ground and that waste is
migrating below neighboring prope... more »
Read Stuff, You Should
Happy Birthday to Bob Mould, 52. As good as there is.
And some good stuff after all:
1. John Sides, pre-debate.
2. Joseph Cera on the Veep debate and public opinion.
3 Really good Adam Serwer item on Libya, Team Obama, and "politicization."
4. And Ann Friedman continues GIFing the debates.
Op-Ed on Climate Change and Disasters in The Denver Post
After Munich Re announced earlier this week for the eleventy-third time
that it had found the elusive "footprint" of climate change is disaster
loss data (it had apparently been hiding in the tail section of Amelia
Earhart's long-lost plane, who knew?), I was invited by The Denver Post to
write an op-ed.
Here is how it starts:
Over the years, the political debate over climate change has been waged on
many fronts. At various times at the center of the debate, we've seen green
jobs, SUVs, Al Gore and climate "deniers." The latest front in this battle
is extreme weather.
Earlier ... more »
EU: a Nobel Peace Prize?
I am left speechless by the information that the EU has won the Nobel peace
prize (Reuters; Nobel prize website). After Arafat, Gore+IPCC, and Obama,
among a few others, it's yet another incredible choice. The 2012 Nobel
prize in literature was just fine – a Chinese writer may be official but
he's still successful in the world and the success isn't due to his OK
links with the Chinese communist leadership. But a Nobel prize for the EU?
*Picture from Market Watch, "EU’s Peace Prize and the mockery of timing"
(click at it)*
It's not even clear what it means for the EU to win the p... more »
Comprehensive Survival Food List & Storage Guide
Rady Ananda
Survival food storage practice doesn’t require Mormon membership, but the
tradition, wrought from their first Utah winter, is worth emulating should disaster
strike ortechnology fail, two survival books by Mat Stein. This guide, Part
2 of my survival series, relies on Stein’s books, and websites dedicated to
survival preparedness.
At its most basic, food storage wisdom demands that you buy what you eat,
and organize and label the boxes or bins with contents and date. Stocks
should be rotated based on shelf-life longevity. Using Stein’s general
guide, when properly... more »
US Dollars and Soldiers Don't Have to Participate in Every War
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Why Did the Lawyer Put This in My Severance Agreement?: The Cooperation Clause
This continues my series of posts deconstructing the legal gobbeldy-goop in
employment agreements. Today I'll talk about a clause I often see in
severance agreements: the cooperation clause. It may look something like
this:
*Employee agrees to cooperate with Employer in connection with any legal
matters, if so requested by the Company, including agreeing to make himself
available at the Employer's request to assist with matters requiring the
provision of information and/or testimony.*
Yikes! My clients never like this and neither do I. And really, what good
do most employers think... more »
Turkey sends 2 fighter planes to Syrian border- No fly zone reinforcement?
It appears, *if this witness account is accurate*, Turkey may be acting to
shore up the positions their NATO backed terrorists have taken up in Syria.
If this report is correct, we know that Syria did not agree to that "buffer
zone" as Turkey was claiming earlier this week.
* Globe and Mail: Turkey sends two fighter planes to border after
opposition town bombed in Syria*
*Turkey scrambled two fighter planes to the border with Syria on Friday
after a Syrian military helicopter bombed the Syrian border town of
Azmarin, a Reuters witness said.*
This story appears to be just breaki... more »
Turkey Scrambles Jets To Syrian Border
*Turkey has sent fighter planes to its border with Syria after a military
helicopter bombed the Syrian town of Azmarin.*
There has been intense fighting between rebels and Syrian government forces
this week in Azmarin and neighbouring towns,
an area strongly opposed to President Bashar al-Assad's rule.
Fighting along Turkey's 560-mile border with Syria has repeatedly spilled
over into Turkish territory in the past week, with the Turkish army
responding in kind to gunfire and mortar shells fired from Syria.
Turkey's chief of staff General Necdet Ozel said on Wednesday that his
troop... more »
CBS 60 Minutes: "The Threat From Huawei" - Oct 8, 2012
*The recent report by The US House Intelligence Committee concerning Huawei
is causing concern in Saskatchewan in view of the $70 Million dollar
contract recently signed between the Saskatchewan Party government and the
Chinese company.*
*60 Minutes did this feature based on the House Report. *
*Someone in Premier Wall's administration should watch this. *
Elites-- A Bunch Of Stuff... And Malarkey
When I woke up Thursday I hoped I might have slept through the VP debate.
But not even close. When I got downstairs the first thing I saw was a tweet
from Bernie Sanders about how the Waltons own so much of the country.
That's because no one has adopted the *DWT* Billionaire Extermination
Project-- new tax rates, back to the Eisenhower years. How about anything
over, say $5 million-- I'd compromise at $10 if I had to-- gets taxed at
91%. No loopholes of any kind for anyone with over $5 million net worth.
And then *actual* extermination for millionaire tax cheats-- *after* a fair
t... more »
Celebrities Lend Their Sarcasm For Your Right to Know About GMO Food
*YouTube - GoodFoodnH20*
Click here to help us get this ad on the air: http://fwwat.ch/Right2KnowTVAD
To learn more about Prop 37 and Food & Water Watch's campaign to make GE
Labeling the Law, visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org/yeson37.
"What makes you think you have the right to know?" asks Danny DeVito in a
witty, ironic public service announcement by the political action committee
sponsored by consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch in support of
Proposition 37. California's ballot initiative to label genetically
engineered foods. A diverse, all-star cast joins DeVito in the "Ri... more »
Hundreds flock to public meeting to debate restart of potentially dangerous San Onofre reactor
Image credit: Google Maps/Cryptome Madison Ruppert, *Contributor*
Over 850 people turned out at the recent public meeting debating the plan
to restart the highly contentious and potentially dangerous San Onofre
Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in Southern California which has
remained offline for almost nine months.
A report published earlier this year revealed that there is a distinct
possibility of even disasters occurring in the future which are
significantly larger than the radioactive leaks discovered earlier this
year which were later reviewed by a Nuclear Regulatory Commi... more »
3 Portland activists indefinitely detained for refusing to speak at grand jury hearing
Leah-Lynn Plante J.G. Vibes
Since late July, three activists have had their lives torn apart by the
police and the legal system, simply because they refused to answer any
questions in a grand jury case, regarding crimes that they have absolutely
no connection to. As of right now, all three are behind bars, with no clue
when they will be able to get out.
The most recent to be sent away was Leah-Lynn Plante, this week she
repeated the same process that she just watched her room mates go through.
After being summoned to speak twice and refusing to speak both times, the
prosecutors ... more »
A Lost Generation
While the Harper government touts its record for job creation, it never
mentions youth unemployment. That's because it focuses on its core
constituency -- baby boomers, like me, who have retired. For the
Harperites, the young don't matter. Indeed, they are a lost generation.
Carol Goar, in the *Toronto Star, *invites her readers to consider the
facts:
• The International Labour Organization (ILO) projects no change in the job
outlook for youth until 2016 at the earliest.
• Statistics Canada shows temporary and contract work is increasing at a
faster pace among young workers tha... more »
Bo Xilai Officially Taken Into Custody
On October 11, Epoch Times exclusively reported that
former party secretary of Chongqing Bo Xilai was officially taken into
custody in Qincheng Prison.
The report said that around 3:00 pm on October 7,
General Hospital of Beijing University of Aeronautics located in Beijing
Beiyuan was heavily guarded.
Taken into custody by a group of Qincheng prison's police,
Bo Xilai took a comprehensive physical examination.
It indicated that Bo has been formally taken into custody.
Its understood that General Hospital of Beijing University
of Aeronautics is the cooperation hospital of Qincheng pris... more »
Joe Biden comes out swinging, but Paul Ryan delivers his own blows
In pure political terms it seemed like a draw to me:
Story
Now there's more ice at South Pole than ever (So much for global warming thawing Antarctica!)
*Ice around the South Pole has expanded to cover a record area, scientists
revealed yesterday – a month after saying that the North Pole had lost an
unprecedented amount of its ice.*
Researchers say – rather confusingly – that both occurrences are down to
the ‘complex and surprising’ effects of global warming.
The record Antarctic sea ice cover was revealed in satellite images from
the US National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado.
At the end of the southern winter in September, ice covered 7.51million
square miles of sea – more than at any time since records began in 1979.
For... more »
Too good to be true, part II: U.S. weekly unemployment claims drop to 4.5 year low. . . but they may not have counted the whole of California
*Another week, and another set of barely believable unemployment figures. *
A crucial government report released today showed a dramatic drop in the
number of people filing jobless claims to the lowest level since February
2008. . . but it soon emerged one major state's figures weren't added to
the total.
The Obama administration hailed a shock drop of 30,000 last week to a
seasonally adjusted 339,000, but one Labor Department official let slip
that the figures may have fallen because the state, not officially named
failed to turn over its figures which in turn were not added to th... more »
Amanda Diaz bites woman police officer's face in bloody assault after being pulled over
*A crazed New York woman tore skin from a police officer’s face with her
teeth after she was pulled over and arrested for swerving into oncoming
traffic.*
Amanda Diaz, 27, of Staten Island was driving a 1998 Nissan Maxima at about
five miles per hour around 5 p.m. in Grasmere, New York last Thursday when
police spotted her crossing over the center line on a two-lane road and
pulled her over.
When officers approached Diaz and asked for her license, she grew agitated
and began swearing, according to the Staten Island Advance.
The officers determined that Diaz’s license had in fact b... more »
Yongda Huang Harris flies to LA with hatchet, knives, clubs, bulletproof vest and GRENADE (but TSA only stopped because of his flame-resistant pants)
*Few will have escaped the embarrassment of an airport baggage search when
a pair of tweezers of nail clippers sets of the x-ray alarm.*
And woe betide those who forget about a bottle of water stashed in the
bottom of their backpack.
Worryingly, though, deeply more dangerous items have been passing through
security with no objection, most recently a man setting down in Los Angeles
from Japan.
Yongda Huang Harris arrived at LAX wearing a bulletproof vest and
flame-resistant pants, having checked in a suitcase full of weapons.
The 28-year-old was on a stopover on a trip from Japan en... more »
Germany holds firm on Greece as IMF pressure mounts
*(Reuters) - Germany held firm on Friday in insisting it was too soon to
say Greece deserved more time to meet its budget-cutting goals even as the
head of the IMF laid out the case for leniency.*
Greece, Spain and the euro zone's slow progress toward debt reform was
center stage at International Monetary Fund meetings despite Europe's best
effort to step out of the spotlight.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, sitting next to Germany's finance
minister, said Athens needed more breathing space. "Given the... lack of
growth, given the market pressure, given the efforts that ha... more »
Climate Hero Gwich'in Sarah James 2012
Published on Oct 10, 2012 by Growthbuster
*Gwic'in Sarah James honored as a climate hero by the Atlas Awards in
Washington on Oct. 7, 2012*
Sarah James participated in Earth Week 2012, and is a native of the
Gwich'in tribe from Arctic Village, Alaska. She was awarded the Goldman
Environmental Prize in 2002 for her work protecting caribou calving and
nursery grounds in the Arctic National Refuge from oil and gas drilling.
The Atlas Awards honor climate heroes for leadership towards more caring
and sustainable lives that can ultimately stabilize Earth's climate. This
is a brief cli... more »
Reactions to EU Nobel Peace Price
*FORMER GERMAN CHANCELLOR GERHARD SCHROEDER*
"This is an important and right decision by the Nobel Prize Committee and a
big encouragement for the people in Europe. It comes at the right time for
closer togetherness in Europe and it *strengthens those powers that are
pushing for closer integration in the European Union*.
*More realistic Reactions *
The Spectator's James Forsyth isn't a fan of the award. He writes: "It is a
bizarre decision given what is going on in Europe right now. Watching the
reaction of the Greek crowd to Angela Merkel on her visit there this week,
it was hard... more »
European Union Wins 2012 Nobel Peace Prize........This is No Joke!!
*The EU is praised for bringing stability and democracy to the continent at
a testing time for the 27-nation bloc.........* *DEMOCRACY!!! Are they for
real?*
The EU has won the Nobel Peace Prize for its long-term role in uniting the
continent, as the bloc faces its greatest internal crisis since it was
established in the 1950s.
The committee praised the 27-nation EU for rebuilding after World War II
and for its role in spreading stability to former communist countries after
the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.
The EU and its predecessors "have over six decades contributed to peace an... more »
Six Sure Signs Someone You Know Is an Islamophobe
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/eric-allen-bell/six-sure-signs-someone-you-know-is-an-islamophobe/#.UHfn_IgcBec.twitter
Classical physics is sometimes more indeterministic than quantum physics
*Norton's dome is a non-problem in quantum physics*
A user at the Physics Stack Exchange asked a question about a fun system in
classical physics:
Norton's dome and its equation
The question was why it was apparently possible for the acceleration of a
marble to exceed any bound, including \(g\) itself. I answered: the dome is
actually finite, truncated at some distance from the bottom.
*Click the dome above for Norton's web page giving the original
presentation of the problem or try this David Malament's exposition.*
What's the problem? Well, the problem is that classical phys... more »
"In The Final Analysis..."
"In the final analysis, our most common link is that we inhabit this small
planet.
We all breathe the same air.
We all cherish our children's future.
And we are all mortal."
- John F. Kennedy
Bangladesh's Toxic Tanneries
If you buy leather produced in Bangladesh, odds are it came from the these
conditions. There comes a time when everyone has to make the decision as
what they will accept and what they cannot accept. Then, they must decide
whether they will act or ignore the situation. After you have finished
viewing the videos and reading the blog, it is my sincere wish that each
reader will refuse to buy Bangladeshi leather particularly Hazaribagh
leather. Then, if the spirit is moved, letter, emails or phone calls to
local leather shops letting them know that if they sell Bangladeshi
leather, yo... more »
The Poet: David Whyte, "Sweet Darkness"
*"Sweet Darkness"*
"When your eyes are tired the world is tired also.
When your vision has gone no part of the world can find you.
Time to go into the dark where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.
There you can be sure you are not beyond love.
The dark will be your womb tonight.
The night will give you a horizon further than you can see.
You must learn one thing: the world was made to be free in.
Give up all the other worlds except the one to which you belong.
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness
to learn anything or anyone that does not brin... more »
"The Cry Of Their Mothers..."
"Humanity is the spirit of the Supreme Being on earth, and that humanity
is standing amidst ruins, hiding its nakedness behind tattered rags,
shedding tears upon hollow cheeks, and calling for its children with
pitiful voice. But the children are busy singing their clan's anthem; they
are busy sharpening the swords and cannot hear the cry of their mothers."
- Kahlil Gibran
U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman HM1 Richard Barnett, assigned to the 1st
Marine Division, holds an Iraqi child in central Iraq in this March 29,
2003 file photo. Confused front line crossfire ripped apart an Iraqi... more »
“A Singular Cause of War”
*“A Singular Cause of War”*
By Peter Michaelson
"Political scientists and other experts say there's no simple cause of war.
Human nature, they say, is just another ingredient in the recipe for war,
along with varying portions of racism and religion, geography and language,
and economics and culture. If so, is war too complex a problem for us
simple people to understand or prevent? Does war, to put it in the
guilt-free passive tense, just happen? Or can war be understood in a way
that enables us to take responsibility for this continuing shame upon our
species?
Most people cite ... more »
Hamas in their own words
"Hamas must declare that it was formed to eliminate the state of Israel,
and that Israel is an entity that must disappear. [Hamas] should declare
that its political, military, and social plan is the liberation of all the
land by means of resistance"
The words of Kana'an 'Obeid, an advisor to the Hamas government in Gaza, in
an October 8, 2012 article in the Hamas newspaper Al-Risala.
Is that clear enough for the British Foreign Office, for the BBC? Will the
BBC even report these words?
*Thanks to Jihad Watch for the spot.*
Compassion is...The Most Powerful Divine Emotion of a Hue'Man A Guest Post by Jyothis Chrystallis Orthonis
Compassion is... The Most Powerful Divine Emotion of a Hue'Man *This
Articulation is being presented inspired YET AGAIN by Eva's latest Blog on
Compassion...
that I felt most profoundly matching / resonating with WHO I AM
and what I have known and have forever wanted to speak about it...
and yet at times, it is these Magical Angels we need who comes softly
nudging in your heart
with LOVE-PROMPTs of all invisible kinds that gets you to EXPAND upon with
your own Unique Light... Grateful to you Eva...*
COMPASSION - what is it NOT?
~ * is-NOT, S-Y-M-P-A-T-H-Y or PITY or offering of Sorry... more »
Is the CDC’s Mandated Vaccine Schedule a Health-Disguised Compulsory Sterilization Program? by William Davies
Is the CDC’s Mandated Vaccine Schedule a Health-Disguised Compulsory
Sterilization Program? by William Davies
Food Freedom News, 10 October 2012
Part I
Wikipedia mistakenly defines Compulsory Sterilization as “Compulsory
sterilization (or sterilisation), also known as forced
sterilization (or sterilisation), programs are government policies which
attempt to force people to undergo surgical *sterilization*.
But surgery is not necessary to sterilize. During WWII, the Nazis
experimented on people at Auschwitz to develop *vaccines that sterilize* at
routine doctor’s appointments under... more »
Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up 10.12.12"
*"Weekly News Wrap-Up 10.12.12"*
Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"The Vice Presidential debate was this week, and it was supposed to get
into the real down and dirty numbers. Vice Presidents rarely make a
difference in the outcome of a Presidential election, so who cares who won.
I am focusing on what is not said, and both parties conveniently leave out
the $85 billion a month the Fed is printing to bail out bankers and
suppress interest rates. Both parties get plenty of help from the
mainstream media not talking about the real issues. For example,
yesterday’s USA Today ran a piece... more »
Bulk is Better
A good way to store your bulk foods. Photo courtesy: mrsdkrebs/CC BY 2.0
Once relegated to the dusty corner of the health food store, the bulk food
aisle has bloomed into a viable section of many mainstream supermarkets.
Bulk food has grown up! And with good reason. Buying food in bulk
significantly reduces the amount of direct packaging going into landfills.
And the ability to purchase from bulk bins in smaller amounts cuts down on
food waste. It’s the antithesis to big box stores.
Bulk goods require less overall transportation for delivery to consumers.
There is much less packagi... more »
Giant 'mystery eyeball' discovered on South Florida beach
*The discovery of an enormous eyeball on a South Florida beach begs a very
pertinent question: What kind of creature did it belong to? The "mystery
eyeball," as it's being referred to by the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission, was found Wednesday by a beachcomber on Pompano
Beach.*
Carli Segelson, spokeswoman for the agency, said the eyeball is slightly
larger than a baseball and presumably belonged to some kind of marine
animal.
"We're hoping to determine what kind, but at this point we just don't
know," Segelson said.
The eyeball is being preserved and will be d... more »
Two U.S.-bound flights return to London and Paris after suffering almost-simultaneous mid-air emergencies
*Two U.S. bound planes were forced to land at Heathrow and Paris this
afternoon after suffering mid-air emergencies within minutes of each other
over British airspace.*
A Kuwait Airways plane had to land at Heathrow Airport shortly after
take-off while an Air France aircraft returned to Charles De Gaulle in
Paris.
It is believed the cabin of Kuwait Airways 777 filled with smoke as it
approached the Irish Sea off Wales, forcing the captain to turn the plane
around and land back at Heathrow.
Passengers were then taken of the plane while the incident was
investigated. It is thought ... more »
US defence giants poised to swoop on BAE following collapse of merger with French and German companies
*Fears were growing last night that BAE Systems could fall prey to a major
US competitor.*
A number of American aerospace and defence companies are believed to be
running the rule over the UK defence giant, which could put British jobs at
risk.
It came as pressure mounted on the company's top two executives to resign
after they led the group into disastrous negotiations with the European
aerospace conglomerate EADS.
And banks – including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley – which advised the
two companies are likely to share in a £10million reward pot for their work
even though the... more »
Fight brewing over Greek austerity
*Tokyo (CNN) -- A fight over the future of the Greek bailout is brewing
between two key factions overseeing Europe's debt crisis, as officials
publicly disagreed with the International Monetary Fund chief's call to
give Athens more time to adhere to tough austerity measures.
*
Olli Rehn, vice president of the European Commission, told CNN on the
sidelines of the IMF meetings in Tokyo, "even the IMF can be open to
criticism. It is not the final word."
His comments follow German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble's rebuke of
IMF chief Christine Lagarde's call to give Greece two more y... more »
In Baghdad, little faith in U.S. elections
*Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Laith repeats my question back to me, chuckling.
"What is the Iraqi media saying about the US elections?" He pauses,
thinking how best to answer. "Man, the situation is so bad now, we only pay
attention to staying alive." He laughs again.*
An Iraqi journalist who works for several international news organizations,
Laith tells me that he only narrowly escaped being killed by a car bomb the
previous day.
"If I had been a few minutes late for work, you wouldn't be able to talk to
me." Laith chuckles again like so many people do in Baghdad, a resilient,
tough, ... more »
Surprise, Surprise, Jobless Claims Slide, Import Prices Rise, Trade Gap Up...But who actually Believes it?
*Weekly jobless claims fell to their lowest level in four years, while the
U.S. trade deficit widened and import prices rose more than expected,
according to economic numbers released Thursday.*
The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid plummeted to 339,000 last
week, the lowest level in more than four years. The sharp drop offered a
hopeful sign that the job market could pick up.
The Labor Department said weekly applications fell by 30,000 to the lowest
level since February 2008. The four-week average, a less volatile measure,
dropped by 11,500 to 364,000, a six-month low.
... more »
Biden contradicts State Department on Benghazi security
*Vice President Joe Biden claimed that the administration wasn't aware of
requests for more security in Libya before the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S.
mission in Benghazi during Thursday night's debate, contradicting two State
Department officials and the former head of diplomatic security in Libya.
*
"We weren't told they wanted more security. We did not know they wanted
more security there," Biden said.
In fact, two security officials who worked for the State Department in
Libya at the time testified Thursday that they repeatedly requested more
security and two State Department off... more »
Jamie Dack tortured to Death by 3 Men and 1 Woman for just £20
*A man was beaten with a rounders bat for his bank card and laptop before
being 'slowly tortured to death' with knives and broken bottles, dumped in
a wheelie bin and set on fire, a court heard.*
'Vulnerable' Jamie Dack, 22, was lured to a squat in Southampton and beaten
by three men and a woman who stole his debit card and PIN number and used
them to withdraw just £20 to fund a night out.
The 'cold-blooded' gang - afraid their victim would go to the police - kept
him in the flat overnight where they later tortured him to death over
several hours using broken glass and kitchen kniv... more »
Complete Collapse? 'EU on a Wing and a Prayer, Hoping For The Tooth Fairy'
11 October 2012
Almost junk - that's the grim verdict on Spain's credit rating coming from
the influential agency Standard and Poor's. In the latest blow to the
cash-strapped economy, S&P downgraded Madrid's debt score by two notches.
For more, RT talks to Patrick Young, the executive director of investment
consultancy DV advisors.
Source: The Telegraph UK
Incredible Edible Todmorden
© Incredible Edible Todmorden
What I want to know is: When I can I move? Imagine having fresh,
unadulterated fruits and vegetables growing all around town. Not to
mention, the wholesome country eggs being produced there. Good, nourishing,
natural food is the best defense against disease and illness. *Way to go,
Todmorden!
*
The Incredible Edible town called Todmorden in the north of England is a
model for sustainable living based on the local food movement. TreeHugger
has posted about Edible Incredible before but this blog promotes
Todmorden's Egg Map, as well as their Green Route ... more »
NHL and NHLPA in labour relations face off: no penalties for Alberta employers caught offside
Members of the NHLPA wait around for their Sui Generis Alberta employers to
obey the law. Alberta hockey players may not appear exactly as illustrated
– for one thing, they wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the stove. Since
the regular season of the National Hockey League was supposed to start
yesterday, but won’t be starting ... more »
EU insurers strip cover from ships storing Iran oil
*(Reuters) - Two European insurers have withdrawn cover for tankers
involved in the Iranian oil trade, the first such move since tough new
sanctions were imposed in July, documents obtained by Reuters show.*
The tankers, operated by Hong Kong's Titan Petrochemicals Group Ltd, were
used to store Iranian oil for top oil trader Vitol and little known
shipping firm Glammarine, Reuters reported previously.
While the European Union sanctions bar Western-based insurers from covering
tankers that carry, rather than store, Iranian oil, the documents show the
insurers were not prepared to ri... more »
Shark Attacks Woman in Delta
* Ughelli — A 38-year-old woman, identified as Mrs. Torugbene-Ere Aboh,
escaped death by the whiskers, following a violent attack on her by a shark
at Forcados River in Oboro Community, Burutu Local Government Area of Delta
State.*
Vanguard gathered that the woman, a mother of five, who was taking her bath
in the overflowing river, had gone for a three-day fasting programme in a
church in the community, when she was attacked by the shark in the river.
Narrating her ordeal, Mrs Aboh, said: "Shortly after I started bathing, I
felt a sharp cut on my right leg and I screamed for help. ... more »
California reports second case of plague in an animal in a week
*A chipmunk found at the Lake Tahoe Basin United States Forest Service
(USFS) Taylor Creek Visitor Center has tested presumptively positive for
the bacterium, Yersinia pestis, the agent of plague, according to an El
Dorado County Department of Environmental Health press release Oct. 10.*
This is the second reported case of plague in a small animal in California
in a week. Last week, the Riverside County Department of Environmental
Health reported a positive case in a ground squirrel collected at the Fern
Basin campground in the San Jacinto Mountains. The campground is north of
Idyl... more »
14 killed, 1500 fishermen missing in Bangladesh storm
*DHAKA: At least 14 people were killed and an estimated 1,500 fishermen are
missing after tropical storms smashed into Bangladesh's southern coastal
islands and districts early on Thursday, police said.*
Police said at least 1,500 mud, tin and straw-built houses were also
levelled in the storms that swept Bhola, Hatiya and Sandwip islands and
half a dozen coastal districts after Wednesday midnight.
At the worst-hit island of Hatiya, at least five people were killed after
they were buried under their houses or hit by fallen trees, said local
police chief Moktar Hossain. More than 1,... more »
Measles outbreak kills 10 in less than a month in Kuando Kubango, Angola
*Menongue - Ten people died of a measles outbreak from 17 September to the
present date, in Menongue City, capital of the south-eastern Kuando Kubango
Province, a fact that is worrying the local health authorities.*
ANGOP has learnt that most of the deceased are children below the age of
two, but there is also the record of a 35-year old adult.
According to the head of the Menongue Municipality health department,
Carlos Jonas, who gave this information to ANGOP on Thursday, in view of
this worrying reality, which includes the fact that this disease is highly
contagious, the author... more »
West Bank cash crisis as donors fail to pay
*The Palestinian Authority, facing a major cash crisis, has warned 150,000
employees it does not know when they will receive their September salaries.
*
The crunch has been caused largely by the failure of international donors
to make good on aid pledges. Nour Odeh, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian
Authority government, told The Independent that international donors had
provided only 40 per cent of aid pledged for 2012. About half of the
Palestinians' $2.54bn (£1.58bn) annual budget comes from donors.
"The President and the Prime Minister have repeatedly urged all donors and
friend... more »
Nigeria crackdown risks playing into Islamists' hands
*(Reuters) - A military crackdown across Nigeria has hobbled Boko Haram for
now, but as the army campaign intensifies it is likely to fan popular anger
in the impoverished north that could ultimately make the Islamist sect's
3-year-old rebellion stronger.
*
The group, which wants to carve an Islamic state out of Nigeria, remains
the top security threat to Africa's leading oil producer, and Western
powers are worried about its growing links to more fiercely anti-Western
jihadist groups in the region.
At least 2,800 people have died in fighting since the insurrection began,
Human Rig... more »
China evictions increase, leading to more unrest
*12:54AM EST October 12. 2012 - BEIJING – China says it has worked hard to
overhaul its judicial system in ways that better protect human rights, but
one of the country's most widespread abuses is increasing and is a leading
cause of unrest.*
The forced eviction of residents from their homes and farmland has
quickened over the past three years, human rights group Amnesty
International said in a report issued Thursday.
Evictions make up the leading cause of protests here, especially in the
countryside. Homeowners have been risking violence and jail to prevent
their ouster and prote... more »
France 'uncovers biggest bomb plot in years'
*Prosecutors in France have said an alleged Islamist terror cell was
planning the biggest bomb attack on France since the mid-1990s.*
Police arrested 12 people in raids at the weekend, during which one suspect
was killed as he fired on officers.
Five of the detainees have since been released but seven remain in custody,
on suspicion of terrorist activity.
Bomb-making materials were found during the raids, which followed an attack
on a Jewish shop last month.
Two suspects are also suspected of involvement in a network for Islamists
waging jihad abroad, Paris prosecutor Francois Mol... more »
FSA's Turner says economy may need more radical steps
*(Reuters) - Britain must be ready to adopt more unconventional measures so
that debt cutting and the euro zone crisis don't crimp economic growth for
years, Financial Services Authority Chairman Adair Turner said.*
Turner, who has applied to be the next governor of the Bank of England from
July 2013, strayed beyond his remit in a speech to financial leaders to
show his willingness to embrace radical thinking to boost the recession-hit
economy.
Policymakers face a tough trade-off between forcing banks to be better
capitalised and ensuring the economy has enough credit. But this job... more »
5.1 Magnitude Earthquake NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN - 12th October 2012
Please watch this video Ed Balls. Ed Miliband, Stephanie Flanders and anyone else in the Labour/BBC cabal who believe that raising taxes is the answer to raising tax revenue
The Laffer Curve explained so even an idiot could understand it.
Now the two Eds are alledly highly intelligent men, despite much evidence
to the contrary. Whilst Stephanie Flanders is supposedly a highly
intelligent woman, albeit historically in two cases with terrible taste in
boyfriends. So please try and grasp what is in this video. Oh and where do
you think the 'hump on the Laffer curve is?
Slow Human Brain Development Differs From Chimps
This is really unexpected and also unusual. It is is a huge difference and
it clearly allows the brain to develop exceptional complexity in its youth
and adolescence. That this would be markedly different tells us that it is
very important.
Thus we receive guidance that human development needs to be properly
exploited as part of general education. A wide range of mental exercises
need to be taught and practiced under supervision by the educational
establishment. Until now, all this has been haphazard. We need to do much
better than that. At present, the best and brighte... more »
Major Progress on Age Related Muscle Wastage
We seem to have a real lead here for tackling the problem of age related
muscle loss. It appears to be related to the switching from dormancy to
active for the stem cells involved. It also looks like that creative
therapies are plausible and may become available fairly quickly.
More importantly, this knowledge will promote a deep search among
alternative health types to locate a natural activator that is presently
overlooked. I suspect that this could be discovered.
At least we now have a clear starting point and this should result in
corrective therapies in several y... more »
Heaven is Real
This is a particularly excellent example of lucid dreaming. If you have
never experienced this, you will find it difficult to credit the effect.
It is seriously different from simple dreaming. I have personally
experienced the effect once during a rare afternoon nap.
My experience was brief and different from this. Meditation attempts to
guide you into this state with the master acting as your guide. However,
reports from those unguided by a known master such as this doctor show the
appearance of a guide anyway. In my own case a guide stepped up who I did
not prop... more »
Three Recent Yeti Reports From Siberia
Thanks to the internet, this type of information is no0 longer lost and
unsurprisingly, people are now becoming braver in making their reports.
Also I think the steady drop off in human hunting generally is allowing a
generation of these creatures to become less wary of us and more inclined
to encroach. It is not yet at the point of a interactive comfortable
relationship in which communication becomes possible but I suspect the
trend is there.
Somehow I suspect that a Sasquatch walking into a campsite would still
empty the site. It would take the right person to stand... more »
ELIZABETH TAYLOR SLEPT WITH REAGAN AND JFK, ACCORDING TO BOOK
*Elizabeth Taylor, reportedly a CIA mind control victim, 'slept with Reagan
and Kennedy.'*
Ronald Reagan and John F Kennedy slept with Elizabeth Taylor, according to
a new book *Elizabeth Taylor: There is Nothing Like a Dame* by Danforth
Prince and Darwin Potter
Reagan, who was reportedly bisexual, slept with Elizabeth Taylor when she
was aged 15.
Kennedy reportedly enjoyed a threesome with Elizabeth Taylor and actor
Robert Stack.
Taylor reportedly had sex with Peter Lawford, Errol Flynn, Tony Curtis,
Paul Newman and Frank Sinatra, among others.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowb... more »
Joe Biden Stomped All Over Eddie Munster's Ass -- But Obama Will Have To Do Something Similar
By Manifesto Joe
It seems a picture of split verdicts on the vice presidential debate, held
Thursday night. I suppose there are enough people living in alternative
universes to make that so. I watched every word, and it looked to me like
legendary badass Joe Biden drew blood at least five times for every one
time for "Ayn."
Of course, I'm prejudiced, but I was a bit concerned about Obama's
performance at the first of the presidential debates. Obama is going to
have to win the second and third encounters with Scumney. He turned in a
dry, professorial performance in their first debat... more »
Veep Wrap
My take on the Biden/Ryan showdown is up over at Plum Line. Basically, I
predicted that reactions would be mostly determined by whether people like
Joe Biden or not; he dominated that much.
I'll just add a few random points here...
1. I strongly suspect that Ryan will come off worse on the transcript than
he did live on TV. We'll see, but that's my guess.
2. It remains amazing the extent to which Republicans, despite having a
perfectly fine real target, are running against a fictional Obama. There
was a bit of the real target tonight; Ryan had a riff he repeated at least
once about... more »
An Attack on Iran Will Legitimize The Islamic Republic
In the American Vice Presidential debate on Thursday, Paul Ryan repeatedly
made the point that President Obama's foreign policy was "unraveling." But
Ryan didn't elaborate on how Obama's foreign policy was falling apart other
than point to an isolated terrorist incident against the American
ambassador in Libya on the 11th anniversary of the September 11 events.
When Iran was brought up, Ryan criticized Obama's approach to that country,
saying that the administration's sanctions are not tough enough, but,
again, he didn't explain how tougher they could get. He also implied, quite
... more »
asteroid 2012 TC4 (56 feet wide) Comes Closer to Earth Than the Moon Friday
*A new found asteroid the size of a house will fly closer to Earth than the
moon on Friday (Oct. 12), but poses no danger of impacting our planet, NASA
says.*
The space rock, called asteroid 2012 TC4, is about 56 feet wide (17 meters)
and will come within 59,000 miles (95,000 kilometers) of Earth at its
closest point when it zips harmlessly by on Friday. That's about one-fourth
the distance to the moon.
But you don't have to wait to see live views of the interloping space rock:
There are two live webcasts of the asteroid today (Oct. 11). The Virtual
Telescope Project and Slooh Spa... more »
US Drone Strike Kills 18 in Pakistan
An American drone fired missiles into a compound in the Orakzai tribal
region on Thursday, killing 18 Afghans and wounding 4, a senior local
official in the area said. Drone strikes are rare in Orakzai, which lies to
the west of the regional capital, Peshawar. Most strikes in the
C.I.A.-directed drone campaign occur along the border with Afghanistan,
concentrated in North and South Waziristan. Source
Egypt's Chief Prosecutor Resists President's Effort to Oust Him
* CAIRO — President Mohamed Morsi and Egypt’s chief prosecutor clashed
Thursday as the prosecutor refused the president’s attempt to remove him.*
It was one of the first skirmishes in a long-awaited battle pitting the
Islamists who have risen to power since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak against
the secular-minded legal establishment left over from the Mubarak era. Mr.
Morsi sought to name the prosecutor, Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, ambassador to
the Vatican. But by the end of the day, state news media had reported that
Mr. Mahmoud had publicly refused to leave his job, citing a law barring ... more »
Europe uneasy in IMF spotlight as Tokyo meetings start
*(Reuters) - Greece, Spain and the euro zone's slow progress toward debt
reform took center stage at IMF meetings on Friday despite Europe's best
effort to remove itself from the spotlight.
*
The International Monetary Fund recommended that some of Europe's
debt-burdened countries take a bit more time to reduce budget deficits,
arguing that moving too fast is counter-productive because it hurts the
economy.
The shift was welcomed by some emerging market countries as well as
long-time critics who say that the tough conditions attached to IMF loans
inflict undue economic pain and mak... more »
Gil Collar did nothing to justify the killing Says Lawyer
*An Alabama university student who was shot dead by police while unarmed
and naked did nothing to justify the killing, a lawyer for his family has
said.
*
Attorney Jere Beasley was speaking after viewing surveillance footage of
the moments leading up to 18-year-old Gil Collar's death.
He was killed in the early hours of Saturday after reportedly taking LSD at
a music festival and threatening an officer at a campus police station.
Police had earlier said the surveillance footage would make clear why Mr
Collar was shot.
But Mr Beasley said the first-year student never came closer tha... more »
Deadly US Meningitis Outbreak: 14,000 At Risk
*American health officials say 14,000 people have been exposed to
contaminated drugs linked to a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak.*
Fourteen people are dead and at least 170 infected across eleven states
after being treated for back pain with tainted steroid injections.
The US Centre for Disease Control released the new information as the
Federal Drug Administration (FDA) reported that 50 vials of the medicine
had tested positive for the fungus so far.
Doctors are rushing to warn people who might have been exposed, many of
whom might not experience symptoms for around 30 days afte... more »
4.6 Magnitude Earthquake BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION - 12th October 2012
A magnitude 4.6 earthquake has struck the BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION at a
depth of 500.9 km (311.3 miles), the quake hit at 03:18:49 UTC Friday 12th
October 2012
The epicenter was 372 km (231 miles) WNW of Chichi-shima, Japan
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
Satire: "Poll: By Wide Margin, Democrats Want Biden in All Remaining Debates"
* "Poll: By Wide Margin, Democrats Want Biden in All Remaining Debates"*
by Andy Borowitz
DANVILLE, KY (The Borowitz Report)—In a poll of Democratic voters taken
immediately following Thursday night’s Vice-Presidential debate, a wide
majority said they wanted Vice-President Joe Biden to appear in all
remaining 2012 debates.
According to the constitutional scholar Davis Logsdon, of the University of
Minnesota, the scenario of Mr. Biden appearing in all the remaining
debates, while surely unorthodox, is within the realm of possibility:
“According to the Constitution, the Vice-Pre... more »
Wait... Santorum Didn't Eat Big Bird Yet?
Republicans might not want you to think about Big Bird-- they don't-- but
they'd rather you think about that than about systematic and strenuous
Republican Party efforts-- always at taxpayer expense-- to limit the
franchise and keep as many people from voting as possible. Ohio's soulless
Ken-doll Secretary of State, Jon Husted, was at it again-- appealing a
Federal Court decision that ordered him to restore early voting. Husted is
taking it to the anti-democracy Supreme Court for a decision.
OK, back to Big Bird. *Sesame Street* teaches integrity, sharing,
honesty... and arithmeti... more »
6.7 Magnitude Earthquake NEAR THE SOUTH COAST OF PAPUA, INDONESIA - 12th October 2012
A magnitude 6.7 earthquake has struck NEAR THE SOUTH COAST OF PAPUA,
INDONESIA at a depth of 24.7 km (15.3 miles), the quake hit at 00:31:30 UTC
Friday 12th October 2012
The epicenter was 103 km (64 miles) North of Dobo, Indonesia
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
*JAKARTA (Oct 12, 2012): A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's
easternmost province of Papua on Friday, the US Geological Survey said,
with reports of minor damage to some houses on remote islands but no
tsunami warning issued.*
The epicentre of the quake, which struck a... more »
HuffPo’s 11 Myths About the Fed, Refuted
Liberty Classroom
by Tom Woods on October 9, 2012 *• *43 Comments
(by Tom Woods and Bob Murphy)
The other day the Huffington Post ran an article by a Bonnie Kavoussi
called “11 Lies About the Federal Reserve.” And you’ll never guess: these
aren’t lies or myths spread in the financial press by Fed apologists. These
are “lies” being told by you and me, opponents of the Fed. Bonnie Kavoussi
calls us “Fed-haters.” So she, a Fed-lover, is at pains to correct these
alleged misconceptions. She must stop us stupid ingrates from poisoning our
countrymen’s minds against this benevolent array o... more »
5.1 Magnitude Earthquake SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION - 11th October 2012
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake has struck the SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION at
a depth of 34.9 km (21.7 miles), the quake hit at 22:03:45 UTC Thursday
11th October 2012
The epicenter was 100 km (62 miles) ENE of Visokoi Island
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
Beauty Treatment Kills One and Hospitalizes Three
Women are dying to look more beautiful and more youthful - literally. Photo
courtesy: yahoo!news.com
My personal prayers are with these women. Going to a beauty parlour should
not be a life-threatening adventure. May the remaining three recover.
A 46-year-old woman has died in Hong Kong and three others are fighting for
their lives following a beauty parlor treatment that involves blood
transfusions further highlighting a lack of regulation in the city's
cosmetic industry.
The cases have prompted an investigation by police and medical authorities,
and renewed calls by health exper... more »
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Seen as a seagull and a duck, these nebulae are not the only cosmic
clouds to evoke images of flight. But both are winging their way across
this broad celestial landscape, spanning almost 7 degrees across planet
Earth's night sky toward the constellation Canis Major.
*Click image for larger size.*
The expansive Seagull (upper left) is itself composed of two major
cataloged emission nebulae. Brighter NGC 2327 forms the head with the more
diffuse IC 2177 as the wings and body. Impressively, the Seagull's wingspan
would correspond to about 250 light-years at an estimated distance ... more »
The Most Bizarre Performance in Vice Presidential History: Ryan Wins
31 minutes into the debate and one thing is clear - Joe Biden’s behavior
will appeal to the obnoxious who are already in his corner – but any decent
person watching the circus environment of his creation - will recognize the
absolutely sophomoric behavior for what it is.
Biden had his first strike against himself when he walked out on the stage
with his face pulled so tight you could bounce a quarter off of it. At
first I asked my wife what Barbara Walters was doing on the stage.
Biden’s non-stop, fake laughter was bizarre and painful to watch. He is a
caricature of a used car s... more »
"Mad People..."
"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the cat: "We're all mad here. I'm mad.
You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll,
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
Free Download: Andrew M. Lobaczewski, "Political Ponerology"
*"Political Ponerology:*
*A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes"*
by Andrew M. Lobaczewski
"Imagine- if you can- not having a conscience, none at all, no feelings of
guilt or remorse no matter what you do, no limiting sense of concern for
the well-being of strangers, friends, or even family members. Imagine no
struggles with shame, not a single one in your whole life, no matter what
kind of selfish, lazy, harmful, or immoral action you had taken. And
pretend that the concept of responsibility is unknown to you, except as a
burden others seem to accept ... more »
Free Download: George Orwell, "1984"
"From the moment when the machine first made its appearance it was clear
to all thinking people that the need for human drudgery, and therefore to a
great extent for human inequality, had disappeared. If the machine were
used deliberately for that end, hunger, overwork, dirt, illiteracy and
disease could be eliminated within a few generations. But it was also clear
that an all-round increase in wealth threatened the destruction - indeed,
in some sense was the destruction - of a hierarchical society. The most
obvious and perhaps the most important form of inequality would already
... more »
Magnitude 6.7 Earthquake - NEAR THE SOUTH COAST OF PAPUA, INDONESIA
Earthquake Details
- This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
Magnitude*6.7*Date-Time
- *Friday, October 12, 2012 at 00:31:30 UTC*
- Friday, October 12, 2012 at 09:31:30 AM at epicenter
- Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 4.842°S, 134.085°EDepth24.7 km (15.3 miles)RegionNEAR THE SOUTH
COAST OF PAPUA, INDONESIADistances103 km (64 miles) N of *Dobo, Indonesia*
173 km (107 miles) ENE of *Tual, Indonesia*
225 km (139 miles) SW of *Nabire, Indonesia*
439 km (272 miles) S of *Manokwari, Indonesia*Location Uncertaintyhorizontal
+/- 12.8 km (8.0 miles)... more »
Dr. Kevin Barrett, "Twilight of the Psychopaths"
"Twilight of the Psychopaths"
by Dr. Kevin Barrett
"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're
being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put
away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it." - John
Lennon
When Gandhi was asked his opinion of Western civilization he said it would
be a good idea. But that oft-cited quote is misleading, assuming as it does
that civilization is an unmitigated blessing. Civilized people, we are
told, live peacefully and cooperatively with their fellows, sharing the
necessary lab... more »
"Things haven't really gone off the deep end for the Obama campaign. They've gone back to normal" (Gail Collins)
*Here's the optimistic view of tonight's debate . . .*
*"Things haven't really gone off the deep end for the Obama campaign.
They've gone back to normal. You knew that the
Obama-is-going-to-win-by-10-points euphoria wasn't going to last. . . .
"You have to calm down, Democrats. Romney hasn't turned into some new
supercandidate. You were just underestimating him during September. He's
the same old Mitt."*
*-- Gail Collins, in her NYT column today,*
"Democrats at the Deep End"
*by Ken*
"It's a tough time to be a Democrat," says Gail, kicking off today's
column. "When Democrats run ... more »
New Model Legislation Would be Great First Step Toward Subsidy Reform
Yesterday, Good Jobs First released new model legislation to increase the
transparency, accountability, and effectiveness of state and local
subsidies, which I estimate to total $70 billion per year. If states were
to adopt these laws, subsidy administration would improve dramatically, and
if all states adopted them, it would put an end to job piracy as well.
The model legislation revolves around four principles. First,
company-specific, web-based reporting of subsidies received and compliance
with job quality and other performance requirements. This would be
supplemented by report... more »
Tom Hayden : Dark-Skinned Democracy Wins in Venezuela
Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez celebrates with a crowd of supporters after
winning reelection. Photo by Juan Barreto / Getty Images.
Chavez' Bolivarian Revolution:
Dark-skinned democracy
wins in Venezuela
Modern liberals see something ominous in the Chavez mandate. They
frequently opine that the dark-skinned poor are an uneducated,
worshipful, populist mass of people subject to the Leader
With 19 states deprived of exit polls, the blind are even blinder
Election Defense Alliance
JONATHAN SIMON
According to the "father of exit polling," the late Warren Mitofsky, exit
polls are intended for academic analysis of voting patterns and opinions
(e.g., what did 25 to 34 year-old white males regard as the most important
issue?) and not as any sort of check on the validity of the votecounts.
Unless, of course, you are anywhere else on Earth (other than America),
where exit polls are routinely employed, often with the sanction of the
government of the United States, as just such a check mechanism, and have
frequently led to official calls fo... more »
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