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| Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, with Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| BEIJING - MARCH 06: Bo Xilai, Secretary of Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, attends a meeting during the annual National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People on March 6, 2011 in Beijing, China. Known as 'liang hui,' or 'two organizations', it consists of meetings of China's legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), and its advisory auxiliary, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife) |
Internet Blockade Broken in China
Chinese netizens are trapped behind a wall against the
Chinese communist regime for 'freedom of speech'.
Facing millions of netizens' continuous attacking,
the Chinese communist party (CCP) had no way out.
Analysts pointed out, netizens are longing for the truth,
and challenging the CCP's internet blockade,
resulting in a breach of the blockade, but how?
Voice of America reporter Qi Zhifeng observed the current
internet in China, and pointed out that
netizens in China are waging war against the
Chinese Communist regime for 'speech freedom'.
Under their watchful eyes, Chinese netizens wo... more »
The mysterious detention center that houses Bo Xilai revealed
Before being expelled from the Party and
his administrative post,
former CCP Secretary of Chongqing Bo Xilai was said to be
housed in a secret place near the Miyun Reservoir of Beijing.
Recently, overseas media reported that Bo Xilai is now
at the Kuangou Guest House of Huairou district, 50 km northeast of Beijing.
The Kuangou detention center is a secluded courtyard.
During the judicial processing, Bo is likely to be transferred
to Qincheng Prison, which is known to host the imprisoned rich and powerful.
The following is our report.
Since being taken away from his home in Beijing by th... more »
Syria car bombings kill more than two dozen in Aleppo
*BEIRUT — A series of car bombs exploded in the embattled Syrian city of
Aleppo early Wednesday, killing more than two dozen people, injuring many
more and causing massive damage.*
Suicide car bombers struck Saadallah al Jabri Square, the city's largest
plaza and once the site of huge pro-government rallies, the official Syrian
Arab News Agency said. The agency put the death toll at 34, though other
reports indicated that 40 or more had been killed, and said 122 were
injured.
Later, Turkey said it responded with artillery fire into Syria after the
Turkish border town of Akcakale w... more »
Canada Is Jewish Occupied Territory: Canadians Critical Of (Prime Minister) Harper "World Statesman Of The Year Award"
Canada is most definitely Jewish occupied territory. There once was a time
when Canada was revered around the world as a country that was truly built
and based on the idea of peace for all human beings, but not any more.
Now this once great nation of mine is rapidly being added to the list of
pariah nations on planet Earth that includes both the criminal state of
Israel, and the United States of America.
Recently, we saw how the Canadian Israeli controlled poodle Prime
Minister, Stephen Harper was announced by a pro-Zionist Jewish organization
in New York City, called "Appeal Of... more »
Did Jello Biafra Write "Let's Lynch The Landlord" About Sam Zell?
Nationally, Sam Zell is best known as one of the sleaziest and most
hated
landlords in America. He probably owns more rental property than anyone
other than the Pope. Most of Zell's $4.8 billion net worth has been
derived
from wheeling and dealing in the property markets. But here in L.A. he's
mostly known as the penny-pinching, sleazy right-wing scumbag who
destroyed
the *L.A. Times*. In Chicago he's also known as the Blagojevich
conspiratorwho "somehow" escaped without going to prison and the guy who
decided to
sell the Cubs *and* Wrigley field (though separately, to squeeze
every... more »
Government scraps flawed rail deal in embarrassing U-turn
*(Reuters) - The government has torn up a deal awarding one of its biggest
rail franchises to a private operator, in a humiliating U-turn that raises
doubts about the government's handling of the privatised railways.
*
*
*Ministers froze three more rail franchise competitions on Wednesday after
the Department for Transport (DfT) said that "completely unacceptable"
flaws had been uncovered in its handling of bids to run the West Coast Main
Line, a jewel in the crown of the rail network linking London and Scotland.
The debacle is damaging for the ruling Conservative Party, which began ... more »
Native leaders urge US presidential candidates to honor Indigenous rights
*Indigenous Leaders Challenge Presidential Candidates on Keystone XL, *
*Environmental Justice, and Treaty Rights*
*By Jennifer Baker *
**
*918-720-2925** (mobile)*
**
*jennifersbaker@gmail.com*
*Censored News*
*http//www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com*
DENVER -- Indigenous people and organizations from Colorado and across the
United States came together on Tuesday to raise their voices in the
presidential battleground state of Colorado on the eve of the first
nationally televised presidential debate. Dissatisfied with President
Obama’s and Governor Romney’s failure to address the many ... more »
5.0 Magnitude Earthquake MINDORO, PHILIPPINES - 4th October 2012
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake has struck MINDORO, PHILIPPINES at a depth of
58.5 km (36.4 miles), the quake hit at 01:55:20 UTC Thursday 4th October
2012
The epicenter was 16 km (9.9 miles) Southwest of Tayaman, Philippines
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
4.9 Magnitude Earthquake NEAR THE COAST OF CENTRAL PERU - 3rd October 2012
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake has struck NEAR THE COAST OF CENTRAL PERU at a
depth of 32 km (19.9 miles), the quake hit at 22:48:57 UTC Wednesday 3rd
October 2012
The epicenter was 51 km (31.6 miles) South of Paracas, Peru
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
Untitled
*Payton, Loomis, Vitt to attend Sunday's Saints game! ~Gambit *
Satire: "Millions of Americans Lose Consciousness"
*"Millions of Americans Lose Consciousness"*
by Andy Borowitz
DENVER (The Borowitz Report)— “Millions of Americans lost consciousness on
Wednesday night between the hours of 9 and 10:30 P.M. E.T., according to
widespread anecdotal reports from coast to coast. The sudden epidemic of
sleepiness prevented voters from watching more than a minute or two of the
first Presidential debate between former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney
and President Barack Obama, which the few observers who remained awake have
called the most tedious in American history. Moderator Jim Lehrer’s opening... more »
4.7 Magnitude Earthquake WESTERN MONGOLIA - 3rd October 2012
A magnitude 4.7 earthquake has struck WESTERN MONGOLIA at a depth of 12.6
km (7.8 miles), the quake hit at 22:23:22 UTC Wednesday 3rd October 2012
The epicenter was 14 km (8 miles) WSW of Bayanbulag, Mongolia
No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
5.0 Magnitude Earthquake NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA - 3rd October 2012
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake has struck the NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW
GUINEA at a depth of 56.9 km (35.4 miles), the quake hit at 21:02:38 UTC
Wednesday 3rd October 2012
The epicenter was 112 km (69 miles) ESE of Kimbe, Papua New Guinea
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
The Upcoming War On Iran: Iran Is Already Under Attack
The criminal state of Israel and their slave puppets in the United States
are still continuing their plans and build up of forces for their intended
attack on Iran that could happen very soon. What is now expected is an
Israeli "false flag" attack against a major target that these criminals
will try to pin on Iran so as to convince a more skeptical public that an
attack on Iran is necessary.
But what is not known by many is that the innocent and peaceful nation of
Iran is indeed already under attack now. For this article, I want to
present the following video by James Corbett, e... more »
October Surprise: Is Obama Planning Major Airstrike on Libyan Targets?
Today, a Defense Department official confirmed to Breitbart News that there
is advance planning for a “substantial air package” against targets in
Libya. Military sources suggest that this means that flight missions
against Libyan targets will include manned flights, not merely drones.
The New York Times reported yesterday that the Obama administration is
preparing an operation to “kill or capture militants” involved in the
Benghazi attack resulting in the murder of our ambassador to Libya and
three other Americans. According to the Times, the Joint Special Operations
Command is pu... more »
140 Characters in Search of a Decent Candidate
About the only clear advantage Twitter has over blogging is that it's
tailor-made for live-blogging things like the presidential debate. What
follows are 12 of my better, more heavily retweeted dispatches during
tonight's debate.
My prediction for the debate? #Tcot's keyboards will have the letters "n",
"i", "g" "e" and "r" rubbed off by 9 o'clock. #p2 #p21 #tlot
— Robert Crawford (@jurassicpork59) October 4, 2012
@anndromney to Michelle: "You people sure know how to dress considering you
shop at Target!" #p2 #p21 #debates
— Robert Crawford (@jurassicpork59) October 4, 2012
"I li... more »
"Happy, Dancing People"
“Where the Hell is Matt? 2008”
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY&feature=relmfu
China, Japan, those islands--and the coming collapse of ‘the bargain’
[image: image]
*The Middle Kingdom Problem*
LAST WEEK I POSTED pictures of riots inside China against Japanese
“occupation” of some rocks in the East China Sea the Chinese call the
Diaoyu Islands, and the Japanese call Senkaku Islands. We might call them
just islets, because these rocks (see them above) just don’t make the grade
as islands.
So why is feeling running so high in China about the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islets
that smiling car dealers can hold up banners with perky slogans boasting:
“We will kill every Japanese person even if it means deaths for our own”?
And Chinese movie t... more »
Another domino falls as Hollande pushes France into depression
If French President François Hollande thinks he can assuage the bond
markets by dishing out tax-heavy austerity instead of genuine reform, he
has been given very bad advice.
His tragically-misguided budget offers no strategic plan to reverse -- or
even to stop -- thirty years of slow national decline. He offers no
worthwhile measures to slim the Leviathan state, now a Nordic-sized 55pc of
GDP, without Nordic labour flexibility or Nordic free markets.
He does not tell us how he will stem the slide in France’s share of
eurozone exports over the last decade, down from 17pc to 13pc, o... more »
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Large galaxies grow by eating small ones. Even our own galaxy practices
galactic cannibalism, absorbing small galaxies that get too close and are
captured by the Milky Way's gravity. In fact, the practice is common in the
universe and illustrated by this striking pair of interacting galaxies from
the banks of the southern constellation Eridanus (The River).
*Click image for larger size. *
Located over 50 million light years away, the large, distorted spiral NGC
1532 is seen locked in a gravitational struggle with dwarf galaxy NGC 1531,
a struggle the smaller galaxy will eventual... more »
Rachel Carson, "These Long Vistas..."
"The aim of science is to discover and illuminate truth. And that, I take
it, is the aim of literature, whether biography or history or fiction. It
seems to me, then, that there can be no separate literature of science…
The winds, the sea, and the moving tides are what they are. If there is
wonder and beauty and majesty in them, science will discover these
qualities. If they are not there, science cannot create them. If there is
poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it
there, but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave
out the... more »
Chet Raymo, “Blur”
*“Blur”*
by Chet Raymo
“This was not one of the more spectacular of the APODs (Astronomy Pictures
of the Day), but it caught my attention (click to enlarge). Two spiral
galaxies, with rich dust lanes, one more tightly bound than the other, more
or less twins of our own Milky Way Galaxy. M65, at upper left, and M66 at
lower right, two of the 110 fuzzy blurs in Charles Messier's 1784 catalog
of fuzzy telescopic blurs. Messier was a comet hunter- that is, a seeker of
blurs. He compiled his list of stationary blurs so as not to mistake them
for comets. Comets are part of our solar sys... more »
Justin Trudeau Tells Alberta That Liberal Federal Gov't Was WRONG To Implement National Energy Program (you know .. Pierre's policies)
*Younger Trudeau appears to distance himself from his father in Alberta*
*CALGARY - Justin Trudeau appeared to distance himself from his famous
father as he made Alberta the first stop on his campaign to take over the
federal Liberal party.*
*Trudeau chose Calgary, home to the country's energy company boardrooms, to
say he would never use the wealth of the West to gain votes elsewhere. *
*He said it is wrong to divide Canadians over natural resources.*
*It's a particularly sensitive issue in a province where resentment still
burns over the introduction of the national energy program ... more »
Protests rock Tehran as militia attempts to prevent riots from spreading throughout Iran
The Iranian government Wednesday, Oct. 3, invoked the emergency measures
drawn up for the 2009 protests to deploy large-scale Bassij militia forces
in the capital and put down the first angry protests against mounting
economic hardship and the plummeting rial.
Debkafile’s Iranian sources report two waves of riots swept through
Tehran’s trading centers Wednesday:
the stores trading gold coins and foreign currency on Fereowsi, Estanbol
and Manoucheri Streets, and the celebrated gold jewelry market in the
Tehran Bazaar.
Money changers and gold traders attacked police forces and torch... more »
"The Opposite of Courage..."
"The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is
conformity."
- Rollo May
Tips for debate non-watchers -- and for watchers too
[*From Gay.net; see below. (Click to enlarge.)*]
*by Ken*
I won't say you couldn't pay me to watch the debate -- at least not until
I've heard the offers. So I'll just say it seems unlikely anyone will come
up with the right number, so personally I expect to be following my
traditional political-debate strategy of staying the heck away and trusting
in the days to come, however much I might wish otherwise, the parts I need
to see will become inescapabl.
For goodness' sake, there's an AL East title to be decided tonight, and I
assume various other MLB business to be determined. Actu... more »
Cholera in Haiti
Cholera in Haiti & the United Nations - IJDH.ORG from New Media Advocacy
Project on Vimeo.
“Eating Meat Made Us Human, Suggests New Skull Fossil”
*“Eating Meat Made Us Human, Suggests New Skull Fossil” *
by Charles Choi
“Fragments of a 1.5-million-year-old skull from a child recently found in
Tanzania suggest early hominids weren't just occasional carnivores but
regular meat eaters, researchers say. The finding helps build the case that
meat-eating helped the human lineage evolve large brains, scientists added.
"I know this will sound awful to vegetarians, but meat made us human," said
researcher Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo, an archaeologist at Complutense
University in Madrid.
Past research suggested prehuman hominids such ... more »
Oil and Nature: A Landscape Reconfigured
[image: 'Swamp and Pipeline, Geismar, Louisiana' (1998), from
'Petrochemical America', an exhibition with photographs by Richard Misrach
and 'throughlines' by Kate Orff. © Richard Misrach, courtesy of
Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York; Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco; and Marc
Selwyn Gallery, Los Angeles]
By EMMA BRYCE
25 September 2012
In the stark white space of the Aperture Gallery in Chelsea, billboard-size
photographs present an array of haunting scenes. A chemical plant with a
cemetery in the foreground. An empty basketball court alongside a turreted
oil refinery. A lush swamp... more »
Rob Anders' CONvictions
Infamous for falling asleep whilst warming a CPC backbench in the House of
Commons, Rob Anders "beaked off" recently.
There was the predictable fall-out and, as one journalist mused, there must
have been some vigorous "arm-twisting behind the scenes" to get Anders to
produce a classic CON non-apology. He did not retract his spurious claims
nor admit he had made a mistake by advancing fallacious information, but
instead stated his remarks were inconsiderate and insensitive.
In the meanwhile, two tweets from Glen McGregor were intriguing. One
referenced a piece he wrote in 2009 abo... more »
Al-Qaeda blamed for Europe-wide forest fires
Al-Qaeda has been blamed for a recent series of forest fires across Europe,
as the head of Russia's Federal Security Service claimed they were set by
arsonists as part of the group's low-cost attack strategy.
"One should note that setting fires to forests in the countries of the
European Union is a new tendency in al-Qaeda's strategy of a 'thousand
cuts'," Alexander Bortnikov said, according to state news agency RIA
Novosti, at a meeting of heads of security agencies.
"This method allows (al-Qaeda) to inflict significant economic and moral
damage without serious preliminary prepar... more »
U.S. warned European governments not to support Palestinian state
JTA
The United States reportedly warned European governments in a memorandum
not to support a Palestinian bid for increased status at the United
Nations.
The memorandum, which was seen by the British newspaper the Guardian,
called giving the Palestinians enhanced non-member state status "extremely
counterproductive" and threatened "significant negative consequences" for
the Palestinian Authority, including financial sanctions, the newspaper
reported on Oct. 1.
The memorandum, sent by U.S. officials to representatives of European
governments at the United Nations General Assembl... more »
Archaeology: "Early Humans Migrated North 800,000 Years Ago"
"Early Humans Migrated North 800,000 Years Ago"
by redOrbit
"Ancient man migrated out of Africa into northern Europe more than 800,000
years ago, far earlier than previously believed, according to a new study
released Wednesday. A collection of flint tools unearthed near Happisburgh
in the eastern British county of Norfolk, where winter temperatures reach
32F degrees below zero, is from the earliest known settlement of humans,
according to the landmark study published in the British journal "Nature."
The discovery suggests that humans, 26,000 generations ago, survived
climates sim... more »
Keystone XL Pipeline: Pending disaster like the Enbridge Michigan oil spill?
*Thoughts: Anyone with a brain will realize that pursuing fuels that are
highly toxic and dangerous to procure is not a recipe for success, but
disaster. John's efforts are highly commendable because he's among the very
few who care. I'm glad people like him exist, because if they didn't, the
world would be even more nightmarish than it currently is, and that's
saying something.*
*
**That said, there are important questions that he and anti-oil protestors
are not asking themselves, probably because they're hard questions:*
*
**1. There is absolutely no way that biofuels + renewable ... more »
David Icke jeered by Useful Idiots at Bestival
David Icke is a controversial figure. He has spoken and written about
issues ranging from the Banking mafia and the fraudulent money system,
through to the very fabric of reality. For many people, David Icke is
problematic. His notions of the Moon being an artificial structure placed
in orbit around the Earth by beings not of this world, is the reason for
much mistrust. The evidence he uses to back up this assertion, rests
mainly on claims that the Moon has been heard to ring like a bell, and
therefore, it must be hollow, and it follows that if it is hollow, that
must be due to... more »
TSA to Implement Body Scanners that Instantly Know Everything About your Body
Lisa Garber
If you thought the x-ray scanners at the airport were bad, wait until you
find out that TSA employees will soon know what you had for breakfast and
how pumped you are to sit on a plane for twelve hours.
Unfortunately, you won’t know what they know, because Homeland Security’s
new toy is capable of detecting every molecule on your person from over 164
feet (50 meters) away—without your permission.
*CIA-Backed Company Develops New Scanners*
Within the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will
instantly know everything about your body, clothes, an... more »
Brookings Institution's "Which Path to Persia?" Report
US corporate-funded Brookings 2009 report conspires against the nation of
Iran. Plot includes using terrorists, provoked war, economic warfare, and
covert military and political subversion against the Iranian people.
*Editor's Note*: October 3, 2012 - Brookings has taken down their .pdf
reports, leaving dead links. The "Which Path to Persia?" report has been so
frequently referenced it would be impractical in the short term to fix all
the dead links. Instead, the report is being presented in full below, via
Scribd.
For a full analysis of the document please see *"Which Path to Persi... more »
Elsewhere: Debates, Debates
I have two posts up at Plum Line today. The first was about how the debates
don't matter to the horse race...truth is, by the time it went up this
morning I'm really not sure it's necessary any more. There's been a fair
amount of pretty good coverage about it all.
The second one, however, is about why the debates do matter: as rituals of
democracy, for educating partisans, and for representation. So if you're
looking for something to read before the debate and you've had it with hype
debunking, you might want to click over for that one.
As I did during the nomination season debates,... more »
'Get out of decaying France while you can', campaign warns
France's youth should leave a "decaying and ultra-centralised country run
by old men", according to a new campaign that has sparked debate on how the
country treats its younger generation.
Young French people should seek work and hope for the future abroad,
according to an unlikely trio of influential men in their 30s –
entrepreneur Félix Marquardt, rapper Mokless and TV journalist Mouloud
Achour, who have launched a campaign dubbed "Barrez-Vous"("Beat It").
In a tribune in Libération newspaper earlier this month, they said French
young people must face the "embarrassing truth" th... more »
The Daily "Near You?"
Neptune Beach, Florida, USA. Thanks for stopping by.
Alex Details The Implosion of American Society
"The real world is spinning around us. What you see on the television, what
the globalists try to distort, is a twisted version of reality. All of us
see through rose-colored glasses. None of us have all the answers,
everything we do is distorted in one way or the other. That is the
non-perfection which is the perfection of humanity, and God's plan." - Alex
Jones.
Turkey Attempts to Trigger War Vs. Syria
Turkey fires rounds into Syria after unknown attackers fire mortars into
Turkish border town.
*by Tony Cartalucci *
*October 3, 2012 *- After over a year of harboring foreign terrorists and
supporting their operations near and across the Turkish-Syrian border,
NATO-member Turkey has claimed it has retaliated with military force
against "targets" inside Syria for an alleged attack on Turkish territory
that it has blamed on the Syrian government.
Despite heavily armed listed-terrorist organizations operating in large
numbers on both sides of the Turkish border with Turkey's explici... more »
Turkey hits targets inside Syria after border deaths
*Turkish artillery has fired on positions inside Syria after shells from
Syria killed five people in a southern Turkish border town.
*
A woman and her three children were among those killed earlier when the
shells, apparently fired by Syrian government forces, hit Akcakale.
Turkey's response marks the first time it has fired into Syria during the
18-month-long uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Nato ambassadors are due to meet later.
The military alliance's ambassadors would meet under Article 4 of the Nato
charter, which provides for consultations when a member stat... more »
Clinton "outraged" by Syria mortar strike in Turkey
*(Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed outrage on
Wednesday after a mortar bomb fired from Syria killed five people in
southeastern Turkey and said Washington would discuss with Ankara on what
the next steps should be.*
"We are outraged that the Syrians have been shooting across the border. We
are very regretful about the loss of life that has occurred on the Turkish
side," Clinton said in remarks during an appearance with Kazakhstan's
visiting foreign minister.
"We are working with our Turkish friends. I will be speaking with the
(Turkish) foreign minister late... more »
Romney's parade of cons
Didn't think I would watch the whole video but it was as compelling as a
car wreck on the highway. You don't really want to look, but you kind of
can't help yourself. I was particularly struck by the little girl at about
the three minute mark. At first it looked like she saw the cardboard Obama
cutout and smiled at it. Then she hear the grownups talking bad about our
President and her demeanor changed...
On a vaguely related note, betting these grim, self-satisfied blowhards are
probably all as bad tippers as Mitt Romney.
The GOP hopeful had “two carnitas bowls with guacamole — ... more »
Turkey strikes Syria in "retaliation". Or as distraction? NATO meets
This has to be considered a possible false flag. Or did Turkey undertake
this attack to distract from the horrific attacks in Aleppo, Syria today?
The Aleppo attacks caused mass destruction and killed 50 people.
It is entirely within the realm of possibility that NATO backed mercs
lobbed the mortar bombs into Turkey, enabling Turkey to justify this so
called retaliatory attack.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office said Turkish forces in
the border region immediately shelled Syrian targets spotted by radar
Wednesday, in response to what it called a “heinous” atta... more »
Just Say NO!!!! The Economy Has Stalled Due to Rethug Non-Job Creation "Strategy" (How the Government's Lies Become Truth)
You can't fool Paul Krugman, Robert Reich or Paul Craig Roberts with the
public relations razz-ma-tazz of "debates" being the meaningful gauge of
who will win the November election. Nope. They know the true score. So do
we. And after reading the essays below no one can say we don't have all the
figures and the knowledge of who's using them to deny us a return to a
decent democratic economy.
Is Your Cell Phone Giving Away All Your Secrets?
Privacy? That's a thing of the past. The Surveillance State is the new
reality and, barring massive government intervention, it's here to stay.
How are you liking that fancy Android cell phone? Don't bother answering
that, we already know.
*Taxpayer-funded programs have created malware for Android smartphones that
can remotely take over your phone's camera and use it to spy on you,
according to reports in the Washington Times and PCWorld.*
* ...Researchers from the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center developed the
software along with researchers from the school of Informatics a... more »
Ready For Tonight? The First (Yawn) Debate
Romney's been practicing zingers for the last two weeks. Obama's been
governing. And both their teams have been running election campaigns.
Obama's really well; Romney's ... well, just look at how he's been tumbling
in the polls in every state he and Ryan wander into and start talking.
Romney and Scott Brown share a chief campaign strategist, Eric
Fehrnstrom... maybe Eric tossed Brown the zinger about not being Elizabeth
Warren's pupil Monday night in their debate. You *know* Brown was just
sitting there waiting for the appropriate moment-- appropriate to the
right-wing lizard br... more »
... "run away! run away"! ...
*The federal food safety watchdog says there was a delay in getting data on
tainted beef from the Alberta slaughterhouse now under scrutiny in the
largest beef recall in Canadian history. George Da Pont began to explain
this to reporters during a Calgary media availability with Agriculture
Minister Gerry Ritz Wednesday but a federal government political
communications staffer cut short the press conference. *
*Mr. Da Pont, president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, was
answering a question on why the CFIA took so long to get information on
particular lots of meat from XL Fo... more »
3.8 Magnitude Earthquake NEVADA - 3rd October 2012
A magnitude 3.8 earthquake has struck NEVADA at a depth of 10.7 km (6.6
miles), the quake hit at 19:51:08 UTC Wednesday 3rd October 2012
The epicenter was 14 km (9 miles) SSW from Nixon, Nevada
No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
TURKISH ARTILLERY FIRE RAINS DOWN ON SYRIA AFTER SYRIAN MORTARS LAND INSIDE TURKEY; NATO CONVENING FOR EMERGENCY MEETING
Connecticut Court Aquits Rapist Because Victim Couldn't Scream
Yeah, you heard that right. The Connecticut Supreme Court, by a 4 to 3
vote, overturned the sexual assault conviction of a man who allegedly raped
a woman who “has severe cerebral palsy, has the intellectual functional
equivalent of a 3-year-old and cannot verbally communicate.”
The court held that Connecticut law the man could not be convicted if there
was any chance that the victim could have communicated lack of consent.
The court ruled the state failed to adduce, "*any credible evidence that
the [victim] was either unconscious or so uncommunicative that she was
physically inc... more »
Turkey Fires Back After Syria Shelling
*Turkey says it has struck targets inside Syria with artillery fire in
retaliation for a mortar strike which killed a woman and her children in a
Turkish town.
*
A statement from the Turkish Prime Minister's office said it was in
response to a "mortar strike across the border".
Nato ambassadors are to meet later tonight after Turkey protested angrily
to the organisation and to the United Nations
The mortar exploded in a residential area of the border town of Akcakale.
It was fired from from Tall al Abyad just across the border in Syria.
Abdulhakim Ayhan, the mayor of Akcakale, said... more »
Untitled
*Hey Newhouses, You Should Have Known Diana Pinckley ~Errol Laborde *
To Dissect a Polemic: First, Examine the Polemicist
Dissecting The Atlantic's Reform Manifesto: Part IV
Go to Part I; Part II; Part III
"Why Kids Should Grade Their Teachers," by Amanda Ripley
I had an instructive moment in my education well after I left the
educational institutions at which I'd been vacationing ("all work and no
play," right?): I was working at a bookstore, naturally, as I was "between"
my eight or nine Clinton-approved careers (there are no right-left divides
when it comes to power, people), where one of the managers was a great
reader of review journals (as befits a bookstore manager as one who might
find it exped... more »
can we stop the next war before it starts? don't attack iran: saturday, october 6
This Saturday, October 6, is an *International Day of Action: Don't Attack
Iran*. People will be standing up for peace all across Canada. Some event
listings are below, and a search on Facebook may turn up a few more.
From the Canadian Peace Alliance:
Almost ten years after the start of the Iraq War, we face the threat of
another war. This time the target is Iran. And the process that led to war
nearly a decade ago is strikingly similar to the situation today. It
started with sanctions, which our government insisted were a “humanitarian”
alternative to war but then lead to air strik... more »
150 years of lesbians
From 1855...
To 1998...
For the intervening years take a trip to Autostraddle
"I Just Tell 'Em..."
"People often ask me, 'Will, where do you get your jokes?' I just tell 'em,
'Well, I watch the government and report the facts, that is all I do,
and I don't even find it necessary to exaggerate."
- Will Rogers
"Questions Unlikely to be Asked Wednesday Night"
* "Questions Unlikely to be Asked Wednesday Night"*
by Robert Reich
"*Governor Romney:* You’ve said that you have used every legal method to
reduce your tax liability. You’ve also said that as president you would
close tax loopholes in order to help finance a major across-the-board tax
cut. What specific tax loopholes have you used that you would close? A
followup: Would you close the loophole that allows private-equity managers
to treat their income as capital gains, subject to a 15 percent tax, even
when they risk no capital of their own?
*President Obama:* You have spoken e... more »
SAVILE; ELITE CHILD ABUSE
*Sir James Savile in naval uniform, 1990.* Website for this image.
Reportedly, Jimmy Savile was named in Operation Ore, the police
investigation that caught a number of child sex 'deviants.'
"It was made clear to me by the Guildford Police not to even think of
raising the name Savile at the time or there would be consequences. A Crown
Prosecution Service officer Mr. S also told me the same," said lawyer
Giovanni Di Stefano.
*Chris Spivey » Blog Archive » JIMMY SAVILE.*
*'The Beast of Jersey murdered my sister'*
Toad Hall left this comment about Jimmy Savile and the UK police:
In... more »
how to send mail to kimberly rivera
Kimberly Rivera, the Iraq War veteran and war resister who was forced out
of Canada by the Harper government, is being held in at her former base in
Fort Carson, Colorado. Supporters wishing to write to Kimberly Rivera can
send cards and letters to this address:
Kimberly Rivera
c/o All Souls U. U. Church
730 North Tejon Street
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
USA
Supporters at the church will bring Kim her mail in batches. This will draw
less attention to her on the base, and might circumvent some censorship.
However, please be aware of her situation and refrain from messages that
could b... more »
UFO In the Shape of the DNA Tesseract
Check out the UFO at 2:02 in the video...look familar? Its the same sort of
shape as the DNA tesseract.
For information on the DNA tesseract see
http://americankabuki.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-celestial-mystery-solved-secret-to.html
Giant Tar Sands Lakes for Athabasca
Big Oil has figured out it's way too expensive to fill in their bitumen
mines with soil and far, far cheaper to simply transform them into lakes.
Here's the kicker. Big Oil says we'll have to wait for several
generations to find out whether these lakes turn into pristine ponds or
toxic pits. They call it an industrial experiment.
*It may take a century to find out what is left around Fort McMurray.
Because the lakes, 30 of them, will be built by Canada’s oil sands
industry. When the companies mining heavy crude from northeastern Alberta
finish their work, they intend to pump wat... more »
5.4 Magnitude Earthquake MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES - 3rd October 2012
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake has struck MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES at a depth of
144.5 km (89.8 miles), the quake hit at 18:28:33 UTC Wednesday 3rd October
2012
The epicenter was 198 km (123 miles) East from General Santos, Mindanao,
Philippines
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
4.6 Magnitude Earthquake KEPULAUAN BATU, INDONESIA - 3rd October 2012
A magnitude 4.6 earthquake has struck KEPULAUAN BATU, INDONESIA at a depth
of 10 km (6.2 miles), the quake hit at 17:59:17 UTC Wednesday 3rd October
2012
The epicenter was 188 km (116.5 miles) South of Gunung stoli, Sumatra,
Indonesia
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
Mexican Diplomat Says America Pretty Much Invited The Sinaloa Drug Cartel Across The Border
Business Insider
Michael Kelley
Leaked emails from the private U.S. security firm Stratfor cite a Mexican
diplomat who says *the U.S. government works with Mexican cartels to
traffic drugs into the United States* *and* *has sided with the Sinaloa
cartel in an attempt to limit the violence in Mexico*.
Many people have doubted the quality of Stratfor's intelligence, but the
information from MX1—a Mexican foreign service officer who doubled as a confidential
source for Stratfor—seems to corroborate recent claims about U.S.
involvement in the drug war in Mexico.
Most notably, the repor... more »
31 Days of Photo Props: Mirrors
One of my favorite props to use with newborns and other small children is
mirrors. I haven't met a little one yet, who doesn't love to smile at
themselves in the mirror. It gives them an opportunity to play, and you are
still getting the fabulous pictures you want.
Shooting with mirrors can be tricky, since the only reflection you want in
the picture is the subjects. I tend to shoot these pictures on a slight
angle, so I don't show up behind them.
For babies, I use a flat mirror. It is actually a candle mirror that I
picked up at a craft store. I scrunch up a sleeping baby and p... more »
4.3 Magnitude Earthquake CENTRAL KAZAKHSTAN - 3rd October 2012
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake has struck CENTRAL KAZAKHSTAN at a depth of 3 km
(1.8 miles), the quake hit at 15:28:08 UTC Wednesday 3rd October 2012
The epicenter was 28 km (17.4 miles) South of Bayzhansay, Kazakhstan
No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
The Right Will Howl Tonight
Income inequality seems to have sprung up as a hot issue in the American
elections. With a consummate rent-seeker, Mitt Romney, carrying the
Republican banner, America's crippling inequality - income, wealth and
opportunity - was bound to bubble to the surface.
Today's American Right (no, they're not conservatives) has reacted like
junkyard dogs at the mention of inequality. It sends them howling about
"class warfare" and "unearned wealth." We can expect to hear plenty of
their growling tonight and for days to come.
Americans are taught to honour their flag, not to spit in chu... more »
Smells like press spirit!
*WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012*
*The Times previews body language:* How empty is your political press corps?
The morning’s hard-copy New York Times leaves little to the imagination. We
refer to the full-page review of tonight’s debate, a trio of pieces which
consume page A16 in this morning’s Washington Edition.
At the bottom of the page, Jackie Calmes presents a sensible, perfectly
serious preview of the economic claims which might be made tonight.
But that’s at the bottom of the page. The top two-thirds of A16 is consumed
by a pair of reports which give us the soul of the Times.
Fi... more »
ROWTH
I've started the Obi Wan Kabuki blog as an expansion of American Kabuki.
I've come to realize that American Kabuki really has two audiences, a
financial and government changes audience and a ascension and lightworker
audience. So please pay a visit to Obi Wan Kabuki!
Obi Wan Kabuki is for the Jedi among my audience. Consciousness, earth
changes, channelings, and similar messages will find their main home on
this new blog. The transition will occur slowly, the two blogs will be
cross linked in the header links (hopefully we can get the AK ones working!
Hint, hint, Google!) s... more »
Argentina: Background Info on Cattle Mutilations
Source: VISION OVNI
Date: October 3, 2012
*Cattle Mutilations: Background Information on Cattle Mutilation in Santo
Domingo (Argentina)*
*By Andrea Pérez Simondini - Visión OVNI*
Veterinarian Dr. Jorge H. Teves has informed the media of the events you
will read about below, without the ADDED information that appears in most
of them. While he states that this is a "strange" case that is unknown to
him, he makes it clear that he cannot explain it - only report his
observations.
If we recall the year 2000, we may recall that mutilated animals appeared
in several provinces, presentin... more »
MKO terrorists work with Mossad
Federal Jack
The Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), which has often collaborated with
the Israeli spy agency Mossad against the interests of Iran.
Help Us Transmit This Story
Add to Your Blogger Account Put it On Facebook Tweet this post
Print it from your printer Email and a collection of other outlets Try
even more services
Cyber attackers disrupt Internet in Iran: official
*(Reuters) - Cyber attackers have targeted Iranian infrastructure and
communications companies, disrupting the Internet across the country, a
state official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.*
Iran, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, has tightened cyber security since
its uranium enrichment centrifuges were hit in 2010 by the Stuxnet computer
worm, which Tehran believes was planted by arch-adversaries Israel or the
United States.
"Yesterday we had a heavy attack against the country's infrastructure and
communications companies which has forced us to limit the Internet," Mehdi
Akhavan... more »
Pro-Pivot
NPR has a story up today about the horrors of candidates who duck questions
in debates. Apparently there's a guy who is dedicated to eradicating this
scourge:
Todd Rogers, a behavioral psychologist at Harvard's Kennedy School of
Government, got interested in looking at pivots, or dodges, or whatever you
want to call them, after watching the 2004 Bush/Kerry debate I quoted
earlier.
To him, the dodging on both sides of that debate was enraging, and he
couldn't understand why others didn't feel the same.
Well, I don't feel the same, so I'll try to explain.
Rogers and others worried a... more »
Georgia: Saakashvili’s election loss. Will he relinquish power?
You may think, well he lost, so surely he has to. No, he doesn't have to.
He has more then another year to stay in power and even then, he has been
so busy changing laws in Georgia, that it is Mr Saakashvili that has to
name the next Prime Minister. Does that sound farfetched? It isn't. Sadly,
for the Georgians, the majority of whom despise this despotic leader this
is the reality.
Prior to the election reports there were reports that the opposition
supporters had flooded the 'capital' city of Tblisi
An estimated 100,000 opposition supporters rallied in Georgia's capital
Saturday ... more »
Censored: What the mainstream media club doesn't want you to know today
*What the mainstream media club doesn't want you to know*
**
*By Brenda Norrell*
*Censored News*
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photo 1 by Code Pink. Photo 2 by Ben Powless, Mohawk.
Mary the Texas tree sitter continues to hold off TransCanada’s Keystone
bulldozers that are seizing family farms at Winsboro, Texas, as an Ottawa
judge throws out charges against tar sands protesters at Parliament and
Lakotas fight the tarsands in the Plains.
The Code Pink delegation is now in Pakistan and meeting with the victims of
Obama drone strikes, as a Flotilla ship sails from Italy for Gaza.
In A... more »
UPRISER: The Evolution of Revolution
http://www.indiegogo.com/upriser
UPRISER // the evolution of revolution “The reasonable person adapts
themselves to the world; the upriser persists in trying to adapt the world
to themself. Therefore, all progress depends on the upriser.” ~ adapted
from George Bernard Shaw
*What is UPRISER?*
UPRISER is being designed as the ultimate platform for rapid grassroots
organizing, seeding revolutionary ideas, innovation, launching startups,
whistle-blowing, and starting and coordinating positive initiatives
democratically.
*The New Roundtable for Revolutionaries*
From innovators ... more »
If you're watching the US Presidential debate tonight, some pointers as to when (not if) Barack Obama is lieing
The Washington Examiner lists some of the "poker tells" which Barack
Hussein Obama displays when answering questions.Here's a few:
'First, the president begins a pattern of "ahs" and "uhmms" which are as
embarrassing as they are revealing. The awkward pausing punctuated by these
semi-stutters increases in frequency as the president senses his own
flailing about.
Next, the president begins filibustering. His average length of answer in
every press conference is already epic, but he has been getting worse as
the presidency has dragged on. Pressers are not battles between the
"reporte... more »
Everybody's Right
I am filled with hope, love and excitement for what is to come. Something
has changed recently and although I cannot show you a picture of what it
was, I can tell you what I see. I see all of us right.
There are so many versions of truth. What if they were all correct? We
stand today a divided planet. There are nations and within them states and
within them counties and towns. Within the towns there are men, women and
children; from every nation, following every religion, team, political
party, interest and sexual preference. Within each of these you will find
a belief s... more »
Blogger Page Link Errors
There is a problem with Google's Blogspot/Blogger page link which are at
the top of the page. Curiously they worked last night, and they work on
the sister blog to this site, but not on American Kabuki today. I found
this comment on the Google Blogspot blog which indicates the problem has
been going on since mid September, and it is not yet fixed:
[image: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 Pages linked to an external web
address are not currently working. We'll update this post when we have more
information. Google blogspot Pages external link error, javascript error,
missing URL]... more »
U.S. troops prepare to leave Germany
*Oct. 3 - Some 4,000 troops of the U.S. military's 170th Infantry Brigade
Combat Team prepare to leave their home of some 60 years, in Baumholder,
Germany. Deborah Lutterbeck reports*
Gwen Ifill attempts to compile a list!
*WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012*
*D-minus elite on debates:* Pseudo-journalists love to discuss our past
White House debates.
Gwen Ifill tried to do so this Sunday. Her effort was marked by two
familiar press traits—self-involvement and incoherence.
Ifill presented a piece in the Washington Post: “5 Myths about presidential
debates.” For what it’s worth, these are the “myths” she tried to shoot
down:
*Gwen Ifill’s five myths about debates:*
1. Voters use debates to decide.
2. Candidates approve the questions ahead of time.
3. The moderator should pick fights with the candidates.
4. He w... more »
Your Hillary Meme of the Day
...courtesy of yours truly at P'ville.
Bruce Welch's Shadows - Atlantis
address-withheld@my.opera.com.invalid (Dr. John v. Kampen) at - 11 hours ago
Link: http://youtu.be/QTuHd9eO8Do
More here and with Phil Kelly (lead guitar) there. Some 50 (!) years ago I
played the same on the same gear with my band...
John
IMF has uneasy role in euro zone crisis
*(Reuters) - The euro zone debt crisis is pushing the International
Monetary Fund into new, and at times, uncomfortable territory. The global
lender is preparing to monitor some of Europe's largest economies possibly
without its biggest weapon - money.*
The IMF lacks the financial heft to come to the aid of economies the size
of Spain or Italy on its own, even though its monitoring and enforcement
role would be in demand.
Can it impose sufficient conditions on a large European country to effect
change and preserve its credibility, without any funds?
"One difficulty for the IMF is ... more »
Stating the obvious/ The best Christy Clark Bashing column I`ve read
Ross K led me to this well written column, no name calling, no blathering
on for hours about her inability, just a few well placed words, beyond
bombastic Bloatto, pure class with a touch of humour..
I don`t want to spoil the read with snippets, a must read, in full..
http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Braid+Chump+change+remark+another+Christy+Clark+classic/7334474/story.html
And in case you haven`t heard...Christy is applying, or should I say
auditioning for a new career..
Here`s the lead...
The Straight Goods
Cheers Eyes Wide Open
New Congressional Ads
Two very different ads for each of the two New Hampshire congressional
districts, one up top for Ann Kuster and one directly below this paragraph
for Carol Shea-Porter. NH-01 and NH-02 are two of the only districts in the
country where the DCCC is supporting independent-minded progressive
reformers instead of their usual corrupt conservatives in the image of
Steve Israel, Joe Crowley and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. And they just
released two good ads targeting the Republican incumbents, Charlie Bass and
Frank Guinta. The object is to replace Bass with Ann Kuster and to replace
Guin... more »
What Will We Make of Earth? Heaven or Hell?
*by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy*
We have known about threats to planet earth for years if not decades!
Possibly even longer! And NOTHING is ever done to restrain rapacious
assaults on the only environment that we will ever have; nothing is done to
slow the increases in the consumption of fossil fuels; nothing is ever done
to preseve the integrity of habitats, estuaries et al; nothing or very,
very little is done to improve air quality as a result of a rapacious
consumption of fossiul fuels, the use of oil derivatives in motor vehicles
or the alarming rate with which we destr... more »
Grave risk of harm exception under the Hague Convention
*Husid v. Daviau,*2012 ONCA 655 deals with the grave risk of harm exception
to the general rule that children abducted from one Hague Convention on the
Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction jurisdiction are to be
returned. In this case, the child was born in Peruto a Peruvian father and
a Canadian mother. The child was resident in Peru until the mother brought
her to Ontario 16 months before the trial. The mother and father were
involved in litigation in Peru relating to custody and access and the
mother brought the child to Ontario under an order permitting her to travel
... more »
Today's Dilbert Cartoon
A reader pointed out that this is today's Dilbert desk tear off calendar.
The man in gray hair is Warren Buffet. This was originally published
October 3, 2009.
Wednesday Afternoon Video
Explanation at *Wired*:
Hard to believe, but it’s been 10 years since goofy fun-rockers They Might
Be Giants released their first family album, No! To accompany the album’s
10th anniversary reissue, the Giants have recorded a revise of the
geography-laden track “Alphabet of Nations” and released an accompanying
crowdsourced video to benefit the Global Fund for Children.
Day 10: Texas treesitters hold off Keystone tarsands seizing family farms
**
*Video: Eleanor Reacts to TransCanada Destroying Her Land *
Reposted from Tarsands Blockade
http://tarsandsblockade.org
Everyone who meets Eleanor Fairchild will tell you that she doesn’t seem
like she’s a day over 50. She turned 72 last month. A year ago on her 71st
birthday she was arrested along with 1,252 other people during the peaceful
sit-ins in front of the White House to stop Keystone XL. She has done
everything she can to prevent the destruction of her land by TransCanada,
dreading the day when they would start plowing through her 300 acre farm
outside Winnsboro, Texas... more »
4.6 Magnitude Earthquake NORTHERN ITALY - 3rd October 2012
A magnitude 4.6 earthquake has struck NORTHERN ITALY at a depth of 10 km
(6.2 miles), the quake hit at 14:41:28 UTC Wednesday 3rd October 2012
The epicenter was 37 km (23 miles) WNW from Parma, Italy
No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
CODEPINK Peace Delegation now in Pakistan, Meeting with Victims of Obama’s Drone Strikes
CODEPINK Peace Delegation now in Pakistan, Meeting with Victims of Obama’s
Drone Strikes
*For Immediate Release*
Contact:
Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK, medea@codepink.org, +923365978798
Alli McCracken, CODEPINK, alli@codepink.org, +923419853545
Robert Naiman, Just Foreign Policy, +923419853377
Islamabad, Pakistan— Today the full CODEPINK delegation to Pakistan will
arrive in Islamabad to begin a week of activities to express their
opposition to US drone strikes in Pakistan. A pre-delegation group of
American activists has been on the ground in Pakistan for several days
meeting with thi... more »
This 36-second video illustrates how to knockout a goof. Here, a young woman gets it in the face. Yeah, baby!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2211276/Cop-caught-sucker-punching-woman-parade-let-silly-string-face-taken-streets-investigation-takes-place.html
Catch of the Day
Nepotism alert: this one goes to David S. Bernstein.
Because he totally called yesterday's Drudge-Hannity-whatever idiocy a
couple of weeks ago. He explained why it's important for Mitt Romney's
campaign to keep generating stupid junk to throw at Barack Obama, because
if they don't...
It's vitally important for, say, the Romney campaign to keep the
movement-conservative audience engaged, to keep their interest up so they
will turn out to vote in big numbers.
But it's also important that the movement-conservative marketplace not go
veering off into dangerous looney-land. And that's ... more »
Dem/Repub Debates: A Pox on Both Their Houses
Why listen to a debate in which none of the really important questions
facing us will be broached?
Why listen to a debate whose outcome is a forgone conclusion?
The debates are kabuki theater, controlled by *The Commission on
Presidential Debates*, or CPD, which was begun in 1987 by
the Republican and Democratic parties. The CPD's true function is to
prevent any third party candidate from getting into the debates, although
if you go to their website you'll see high fallutin' language about how
pure their motives are. By keeping third party candidates out, all those
embarrassing qu... more »
Untitled
*More on the Corps of Engineers' theft of public funds in New Orleans*
*Live blog: Tuesday’s Orleans Parish School Board candidate forum ~The Lens*
*Spike Lee, Mayor Landrieu unveil new crime-fighting campaign *
*Coastal scientist Nancy Rabalais is honored with a McArthur fellowship
award*
*Haunted Houses and Halloween Events *
*Greg Schatz: Where the River Meets the Railroad Tracks ~offBeat*
*Anders Osborn w/da Bonarama and Dave Malone at Wednesdays in Lafayette
Square! *
Untitled
I've been getting quite pissed off recently at the way several politicians
(current and past) - no names, no pack drill - have set up companies to
receive all income other than parliamentary salaries. The usual form of
explanation when questioned is that these politicians claim that they
personally draw no monies from these companies and that the companies pay
just expenses.
Please note that I believe this means that the company will pay for
perfectly legitimate expenses that otherwise the MP would have to pay for
out of taxed income if he was not operating through a limited company... more »
Like Shit to a Blanket
A few years ago I was debating the role of government with a young guy from
Alberta.
Smart guy, not well educated, but very keen on small government and
personal self-reliance.
He was holding his own, countering my arguments in favour of government
services and functions that I considered not suitable for private-sector
delivery or individual initiative.
Until I got to food and water safety. (I threw in restaurant inspections
too. We'd just had a local brouhaha about dirty restaurants and as a young
guy, he ate out a lot.)
He paused, thought about it, then agreed: we do need en... more »
Mmmm fruity
The Fruit Salad Tree Company of Emmaville, NSW, Australia sells trees that
have up to six different fruit-bearing branches grafted on them.
* Stone fruits which grows peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots and
peachcots
* Citrus which grows a winter and summer orange, mandarins, lemons, limes,
grapefruits, tangelos and pomelos
* Multi-apples only
* Multi-nashi fruit only
The Fruit Salad Tree can be grown in the ground as for normal fruit trees,
or in pots for those people with very limited space. Instead of having
numerous different trees with more fruit than your household can consu... more »
Pop Music Brings a Lot More Readers than Social Science: Follow-up on ‘Kangnam Style’
[image: Korea_Seokguram_Buddha] Now THAT is Korean art – the Seokguram
Buddha; I’ve been to see it 3 times
The Internet has slapped down my arrogance. I told myself I wouldn’t write
about k-pop, but that post on ‘Kangnam Style’ drove so much traffic to my
site and twitter, that here is a response to all the comments. It’s kinda
of depressing how my posts on Asian political economy or what-not get
little traffic and a lot of yawns, but K-pop brings huge numbers. It’s like
those Facebook posts on something you find interesting that no one bothers
to look at, but put up a pic of yourse... more »
Chuka Umunna waffling and Ed Miliband panicking
I particularly enjoyed Jeremy Paxman's skewering of Ed Miliband's lie on
the 'millionaire tax cut' from 4:10. Do the Labour party really think the
public is that stupid? One major mistake by Jeremy Paxman, on what basis is
Chuka Umunna deemed 'highly intelligent'? Why would anyone trust the Labour
tossers who got us into this economic mess with the levers of power ever
again? Meanwhile when a Labour politician starts wobbling his lips, trying
to sound affronted that anyone would think so badly of him, I am reminded
of Tony Blair's protestations that he was a 'pretty straight guy'. ... more »
Ocean Releases
*Ocean Releases***
Consensus holds that Fukushima constitutes the greatest radiological
release into the ocean ever to occur. According to Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution in Massachusetts, levels of radioactive cesium reached more
than 100,000 becquerels per cubic meter in early April of 2011.[i] The
World Nuclear Association suggests that 169 Petabecquerels of Iodine-131
equivalent were releases into the ocean from Cesium-137, Cesium-134, and
Iodine-131from March 26 to September 30th.[ii]This figure does not include
March releases into the atmosphere, which the World Nuclear ... more »
An open letter to the unemployed seeking good jobs
This is an actual open letter that I just found on Worcester, MA Craigslist
in the Manufacturing section. He describes himself as a business owner
who's frustrated at not being able to fill the positions in his factory and
seems to be a genial (if semi-illiterate) soul and an all-around nice guy.
But, as often happens with Us and Them, there's a certain disconnect often
producing a tendency for the employer to blame their workforce or potential
hires for existing evils. Outsourcing is one of them, a fact he sort of
addresses in his open letter. Gee, isn't it guys like him and not we... more »
Will Obama Take AIPAC's Advice And Sink An Iranian Sub?
Read Richard Silverstein's article,* WINEP’s Clawson Advocates U.S. Sinking
Iranian Sub to Provoke War*.
Will President Obama take AIPAC's advice and start a war with Iran by
sinking one of its ships, or will he send these rascals packing for
overstepping?
If Obama is serious about peace and democracy in the Middle East then he
must call out AIPAC's false flag champions in the debates with Romney and
inform the American people about what is really going on. The President
must be an educator and a peacemaker, not a monstrous demon hell-bent on
starting WWIII.
DISAGGREGATION NATION: A very old regional tale!
*WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012*
*Epilogue—Two last perspectives:* If you want to compare the performance of
the public schools of two different states, you have to “disaggregate” test
scores.
If you don’t, you will end up thinking foolish things. For example, you
will think that Maine has the best public schools in the nation. You will
think that because the public schools of Maine have almost nothing but
white kids.
You will even think that in a year when white kids in Texas are outscoring
their Maine counterparts in Maine by large margins (see THE DAILY HOWLER,
9/27/12.) But then,... more »
Did you hear her say, we're gonna provoke an attack. And both of them say it could be next year? And what an uncomfortable laugh.
Bank Hacking a False Flag Hoax
"*VIRTUAL 9-11: Will Israel Hack The US Banking System Computers and
Falsely Blame It On Iran?*
*
*
*Netanyahu didn't get any traction at the UN today. Indeed his bomb chart
has become an object of ridicule in the alternative media. By now he is
throwing a huge tantrum. He wants his war and Netanyahu is a man used to
always getting what he wants.*
*
**There are only three things Netanyahu can do now to get the war with Iran
going before the Israeli elections next month.*
*
** The first is to simply go ahead and attack Iran, expecting that the
United States will protect Israel from the... more »
Ball of Confusion
It's a truth almost universally acknowledged that since 9/11, the USA has
been rapidly disintegrating into the Orwellian nation of Oceania. But it's
also true that while vast swaths of data are being collected and stored on
every man, woman and child on the planet, they're not serving any earthly
purpose except as junk food for the insatiable maw of the Department of
Homeland Security. (DHS)
Those DHS "fusion centers" are bastions of delusion sinking under the
weight of their own bureacratic excess. Like the old Temptations' protest
song, our spy state is just one great big Ball of... more »
Wednesday Morning Linkage
Dan Nexon is not responsible for
today's links.Dan is traveling today, so it's the Duck of Minerva's version
of Assistant Editor's Month (or, perhaps, assistant to the editor's month):
- Dani Rodrik becomes the Clippy of forensic investigators, as he
relates how the Turkish government may have faked evidence against 300
officers on coup-plotting charges: "It looks like you're trying to frame
someone for treason. Would you like help with that?" (*Dani Rodrik's
Weblog*)
- Jay Ulfelder shows off a political science version of the Netflix Prize,
in which a bunch of ... more »
5.7 Magnitude Earthquake KEPULAUAN BATU, INDONESIA - 3rd October 2012
magnitude 5.7 earthquake has struck KEPULAUAN BATU, INDONESIA at a depth of
9.7 km (6 miles), the quake hit at 13:32:36 UTC Wednesday 3rd October 2012
The epicenter was 253 km (157 miles) SSW from Sibolga, Sumatra, Indonesia
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
*Note: This earthquake may get upgraded soon, the majority of the stations
measure this between a 6.0 - 6.8 Magnitude Eartquake*
Municipalities do not have a duty to consult to accommodate Aboriginal interests
*Neskonlith Indian Band v. Salmon Arm (City)*, 2012 BCCA 379 considers the
duty to consult. In *Haida Nation v. British Columbia (Minister* *of
Forests)* 2004 SCC 73 ruled that while the "processes of negotiation"
towards reconciliation between First Nations and the Crown are being
pursued, the honour of the Crown "may require it to consult and, where
indicated, accommodate Aboriginal interests." This "duty to consult" was
said to arise whenever the Crown has "knowledge, real or constructive, of
the potential existence of the Aboriginal right or title and contemplates
conduct that ... more »
Interesting Bank Post
*"US banks earned $34.5 billion in the quarter that ended June 30, up from
$28.5 billion in the same quarter last year, and marking the 12th
consecutive quarter banks have reported year-over-year **improvements**."*
*Yup, the BIG BANKS are **BOOMING** while the unemployment and economic
crisis remain unresolved.*
*At least interest rates are low*:
"Banks are biggest winners as mortgage rates drop" by Peater Eavis | New
York Times, August 09, 2012
Interest rates on mortgages and refinancing are at record lows, giving
borrowers plenty to celebrate. But the bigger winners are the ba... more »
NATO Terrorists Mass Slaughter Civilians in Aleppo, Syria
Al Qaeda-style terrorist bombings slaughter/maims scores, Western media
spins war crime as terrorists "targeting government forces."
*by Tony Cartalucci*
*October 3, 2012* - NATO-backed terrorism swept the northern Syrian city of
Aleppo this week, killing and maiming scores of civilians. Al Qaeda-style
car bombings targeted public squares throughout the city in a coordinated
attack the Western press has attempted to claim was "targeting government
forces." CNN in their article, "Syria: Dozens killed in blasts at Aleppo
public square," bases this conclusion on the discredited "Syrian... more »
WotW: Joining the Fight Against Breast Cancer
If I were to ask you to *list the eight most important women in your life*,
who would they be? Your mom? Your sister? Your daughter? Your best friend?
Chances are, if you start listing all the women close to you it would be a
pretty long list.
Now imagine one of these women coming down with breast cancer.
Did your heart sink?* Breast cancer* is extremely prevalent,* affecting 1
in 8 women* over the course of their lifetime. That number sounds abstract
until you start attaching names to the eight women closest to you, and then
it hits home.
*October is Breast Cancer Awareness Mon... more »
First Tuesday in October
*It comes after **Monday**, right?*
*
*"Justices tackle far-reaching human rights case; Supreme Court opens term
with a familiar issue" by Adam Liptak | New York Times, October 02, 2012
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court opened its new term Monday by hearing a
second round of arguments in an *important human rights case* that it first
considered in February.
*
**And it turns out most of them want nothing to do with it. Not surprising
given we have a court that has basically approved torture and spying. *
The question before the court then was whether federal courts have
jurisdiction t... more »
Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for the death of a Hezbollah commander
*BEIRUT: The Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for the death of a
Hezbollah commander reportedly killed in Syria in remarks published in a
Saudi newspaper Wednesday.*
“Members of the FSA ambushed Ali Hussein Nassif, also known as Abu Abbas,
with an explosive device that killed him and two of his bodyguards in Al
Qusayr area in Homs,” FSA commander Col. Riad al-Asaad told Okaz newspaper.
An AP report Tuesday quoted a Lebanese security official saying that Nassif
and several Hezbollah fighters had been killed in Syria.
Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim Moussawi confirmed the deaths o... more »
Read Stuff, You Should
Happy Birthday to David Obey, 74. Hope he's enjoying his retirement; he
certainly earned it.
The good stuff:
1. If you haven't had enough of this already, Dylan Matthews gathers up the
evidence on debate effects.
2. That Harrison Hickman thing yesterday (in the news yesterday, actually
happened a while back) is going to be cited forever and ever, and often, by
folks like me and John Sides, who did an item on it already.
3. Did you know this one? "We’ve actually achieved 70% of the discretionary
spending cuts called for in the SB budget plan." I didn't; Jared Bernstein
did.
4. Jon... more »
Chinese surveillance ships patrol Diaoyu Islands waters
*BEIJING, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Four Chinese marine surveillance ships
patrolled in the waters off the Diaoyu Islands on Tuesday after the
Japanese right-winger's intrusion, the Foreign Ministry confirmed.*
China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes the Japanese
right-wingers' illegal entrance into the waters off the Diaoyu Islands and
is keeping high vigilance to their intention and purpose, FM spokesman Hong
Lei said Tuesday at a regular press briefing.
The provocation of this kind will make the situation more complicated if
not stopped, said Hong Lei.
The patrol team -... more »
Dolphin stranded on Gyllingvase beach
*A dolphin found stranded on a Cornish beach has been put down, say marine
rescuers.*
The Common dolphin was discovered on the high water line at Gyllingvase
near Falmouth early on Wednesday.
Members of British Divers Marine Life Rescue covered the animal with wet
towels and seaweed to keep it comfortable.
A vet who was called to the scene assessed that it was too sick to be
returned to the sea. Source
Iran police clash with protesters over currency crisis
*Riot police in Iran have clashed with protesters in the capital over sharp
falls in the currency, the rial.*
Tear gas was used to disperse the demonstrators, some of whom were setting
fire to tyres and rubbish bins. There were many arrests, reports say.
Eyewitnesses told the BBC that scores of people gathered outside the
central bank, calling for the governor to stand down, chanting
anti-government slogans.
The rial has plummeted to record lows against the US dollar in recent days.
Up to 100 angry traders and official money lenders gathered in front of
Iran's central bank. But th... more »
Syrian Rebels Bomb the hell out of Aleppo square killing at least 31 people
*At least 31 people have been killed and dozens wounded by five bomb
explosions in the centre of Syria's second city, Aleppo, officials have
said.*
Four of the blasts happened in the city's Saadallah al-Jabari Square, near
a military officers' club and a hotel.
Pro-government al-Ikhbariya TV broadcast pictures of bodies being pulled
out of buildings damaged by the blasts and a large crater in a road.
Government forces have been fighting rebels for weeks for control of Aleppo.
Rebel fighters launched a new offensive last week to try to seize more
districts. Fires over the weekend g... more »
Plane Missing In Australia Found: No Survivors
*All six people on board a vintage plane have been killed after the
aircraft crashed into remote countryside in the Australian state of
Queensland.*
Rescue teams had been searching for the aircraft after the plane's owner
and pilot Des Porter, 68, made an emergency call on Monday.
In a tragic twist, Mr Porter survived a crash in the same plane when he was
11, although his father and brother did not survive.
As an adult he rebuilt the aircraft and learned to fly it himself.
Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokesman Mike Barton said the crash
site was found about 2pm on Wednesd... more »
Turning Their Own Right Wing Extremism Against The Republican Party
If we lived in a completely rational world, Paul Krugman's spectacular
Sunday column, The Real Referendum would translate to the congressional
races and there basically wouldn't be any more Republicans outside of the
Old Confederacy. The world, I'm sure you've noticed, isn't completely
rational. Still, as he says, "Voters are, in effect, being asked to deliver
a verdict on the legacy of the New Deal and the Great Society, on Social
Security, Medicare and, yes, Obamacare, which represents an extension of
that legacy. Will they vote for politicians who want to replace Medicare
with... more »
Whiskey Friendly Fungus Damages Louisville Properties
Rachel Rindfleisch at Contaminated Nation - Water Contamination, Land Pollution & Hazardous Waste locations - 15 hours ago
By: Duane Craig
Residents in and around Louisville, Ky., have been dealing with a black
material staining their siding, outdoor furniture, vehicles and anything
else in the open air for as long as they can remember, according to this
article.
But now, the culprit has been identified. It’s called Baudoinia, a
naturally occurring fungus that is so hearty researchers haven’t found a
single carbon source that it can’t use for nutritional needs. So far, there
is no evidence the fungus is harmful to people and other living things,
other than how it might reduce sunlight from reaching the ... more »
A brisk morning swim...
SUSY with a colored adjoint chiral multiplet
I discussed the same exciting possibility in November 2011 and May 2012 but
because there's a new paper on the arXiv, I won't resist to make another
comment.
The paper is called
Pushing the SUSY Higgs mass towards \(125\GeV\) with a color adjoint
and it was written by Gautam Bhattacharyya and Tirtha Sankar Ray. Even
though the names may look like two names of the same ethnic origin, the
paper is actually an outcome of an Indian-German-French-Australian
collaboration. ;-)
Steven Weinberg has said many nontrivial propositions I fully subscribe to
and one of them is
"Our mistake ... more »
4.9 Magnitude Earthquake NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN - 3rd October 2012
magnitude 4.9 earthquake has struck NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN at
a depth of 35.4 km (22 miles), the quake hit at 09:39:58 UTC Wednesday 3rd
October 2012
The epicenter was 65 km (40 miles) Southeast of Ishinomaki, Japan
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
4.4 Magnitude Earthquake NORTHERN ITALY - 3rd October 2012
A magnitude 4.4 earthquake has struck NORTHERN ITALY at a depth of 10 km
(6.2 miles), the quake hit at 09:20:44 UTC Wednesday 3rd October 2012
The epicenter was 0 km (0 miles) WNW of Sanfront, Italy
No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
4.7 Magnitude Earthquake OFF THE COAST OF OREGON - 3rd October 2012
A magnitude 4.7 earthquake has struck OFF THE COAST OF OREGON at a depth of
10 km (6.2 miles), the quake hit at 08:16:41 UTC Wednesday 3rd October 2012
The epicenter was 393 km (244 miles) West of Waldport, Oregon
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
4.8 Magnitude Earthquake MARIANA ISLANDS REGION - 3rd October 2012
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake has struck the MARIANA ISLANDS REGION at a depth
of 35.1 km (21.8 miles), the quake hit at 08:02:16 UTC Wednesday 3rd
October 2012
The epicenter was 223 km (138 miles) East of Saipan, Northern Mariana
Islands
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
Hillary Clinton laughs about provoking war with Iran
*Youtube*
This is the most disgusting warmongering ever seen on TV.
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4.2 Magnitude Earthquake NEAR THE COAST OF NICARAGUA - 3rd October 2012
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake has struck NEAR THE COAST OF NICARAGUA at a
depth of 64.7 km (40.2 miles), the quake hit at 06:26:41 UTC Wednesday 3rd
October 2012
The epicenter was 64 km (39 miles) Southwest of Jiquilillo, Nicaragua
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
5.3 Magnitude Earthquake NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA - 3rd October 2012
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake has struck the NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW
GUINEA at a depth of 30.5 km (19 miles), the quake hit at 06:26:17 UTC
Wednesday 3rd October 2012
The epicenter was 202 km (125 miles) South of Taron, Papua New Guinea
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
The Political Farce in America
*Youtube*
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Mistakes by Government officials cost the taxpayer £40m as FirstGroup's contract to run West Coast Main Line has to be axed
*The West Coast Main Line contract has been cancelled because of mistakes
by Government officials in a move that will cost the taxpayer £40m.*
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has dramatically ripped up a deal
that handed the responsibility for running one of Britain's busiest
railways to FirstGroup.
In a major embarrassment for the Government, he conceded the U-turn was
down to "deeply regrettable and completely unacceptable mistakes" in his
own department.
Three officials from the Department for Transport (DfT) have now been
suspended and two independent reviews into the c... more »
Monday Memory
"Occupy Boston marks 1st anniversary" by Travis Andersen | Globe
Staff, September 30, 2012
About 60 demonstrators gathered in front of the State House Sunday
afternoon to mark the one-year anniversary of Occupy Boston, reuniting as a
small but spirited contingent whose anticorporate fervor has apparently not
diminished over the past year.
Amid a backdrop that included a tent with the phrase “U R being cheated”
scrawled across it and a large sign that read in part, “We’re Still Here!”
protesters sang, ate snacks, and gave fiery speeches espousing the economic
populism that became ... more »
SEC Sues the One Rating Firm Not on Wall Street’s Take
Bloomberg
William D. Cohan
The Securities and Exchange Commission, it seems, has finally lost its mind.
In April, motivated by what I consider pure maliciousness, the SEC
initiated a “cease and desist” administrative proceeding it deemed
“necessary for the protection of investors and in the public interest”
against Egan-Jones Ratings Co., a privately owned, 20-person firm based in
Haverford, Pennsylvania, and against its principal owner, Sean Egan.
Egan-Jones, founded in 1995, is one of nine ratings companies that the SEC
has accredited as “nationally recognized,” allowing the f... more »
Mildred Ryder - The Peace Pilgrim
*Mildred Norman Ryder, AKA Peace Pilgrim
July 18, 1908-July 7, 1981
Spiritual Teacher, Non Violence Advocate, Peace Prophet*
*We must walk according to the highest light we have, encountering lovingly
those who are out of harmony, and trying to inspire them to a better way.
Whenever you bring harmony into any unpeaceful situation, you contribute to
the cause of peace. When you do something for world peace, peace among
groups, peace among individuals, or your own inner peace, you improve the
total peace picture. No action is fruitless.
There is within the hearts of people deep desir... more »
Judge tosses Occupy Chicago park arrests
Chicago Tribune
David Heinzmann
The mass arrests of Occupy Chicago demonstrators that city leaders held up
as a model for how to respect protesters' rights has been ruled
unconstitutional and tossed out of court by a Cook County judge.
In a 37-page ruling issued today, Associate Judge Thomas Donnelly ruled the
October 2011 arrests were unconstitutional because the city routinely
chooses not to enforce the curfew for events the city supports, such as the
2008 Election Night rally for President Barack Obama. The judge noted that
no arrests were made at that event, even though it went ... more »
The Legend of The Cedar Tree - A Cherokee Legend
Cedar Trees
The Legend of The Cedar Tree
A long time ago when the Cherokee people were new upon the earth, they
thought that life would be much better if there was never any night. They
beseeched the Ouga (Creator) that it might be day all the time and that
there would be no darkness.
The Creator heard their voices and made the night cease and it was day all
the time. Soon, the forest was thick with heavy growth. It became difficult
to walk and to find the path. The people toiled in the gardens many long
hours trying to keep the weeds pulled from among the corn and other food
plant... more »
Crumbling Castle
John Ivison reports that cracks are beginning to show in the Conservative
Fortress. The backbenches are getting restless:
Simply put, I think MPs on the government side of the House who have been
around since 2004, 2006 or 2008 are thinking about their legacy and
resolving that always voting at their party’s call, and never thinking for
themselves at all, is not how they want to be remembered.
There are no whispers of regicide in the Conservative caucus. Mr. Harper
will remain Prime Minister until he or the voters decide otherwise. He
remains respected for leading the party into ... more »
"Arbitrage" - An Important Movie?
If you haven't seen it, Woody Allen's 1989 film "Crimes and Misdemeanors" is
a good one. I remember at the time reading how the actors (especially
Martin Landau and Alan Alda) played their characters as much nicer people
than Woody Allen had intended them to be. The result was a much more
believable story. Because few people live their lives full-time in
"asshole" mode. There's often a thread of logic rationalizing their idiotic
or selfish behaviour, allowing them to see themselves as good people; sane
people in an insane world. (Again, one of the great significances of the
Margaret... more »
Russia tells NATO to stay away from Syria
Reuters
Gabriela Baczynska
*Russia told NATO and world powers on Tuesday they should not seek ways to
intervene in Syria's civil war or set up buffer zones between rebels and
government forces.*
Foreign Minister Gennady GatilovMoscow further called for restraint between
NATO-member Turkey and Syria, where violence along their shared border has
strained relations between the former allies.
Tensions have flared since a mortar round fired from inside Syria struck
the territory of Turkey. Ankara has threatened to respond if the strike
were repeated.
When asked by Interfax if Moscow w... more »
Casino banking to blame?
http://www.fcablog.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/casino-bank-scaled.png
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