 |
| HOLLAND, MI - JUNE 19: Republican Presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney speaks at his last campaign rally as he completes a five day bus trip in Holland State Park June 19, 2012 in Holland, Michigan. Mr. Romney continues his battle against President Barack Obama for votes. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife) |
 |
| Turkeys in Folsom (Photo credit: rckenned) |
 |
| Syria (Photo credit: No Lands Too Foreign) |
Lies Canadian Journalists Tell
The conversation seems to have begun. What can consumers of Canadian
journalism expect in the way of honesty?
If the recent (and ongoing?) Margaret Wente fustercluck is any indication,
not much.
Today, there is another spectacular example of dishonesty, larded with
bonus condescension.
In the National Post, Barbara Kay writes about abortion and informed consent
.
First, check out the language.
Everyone has a different reason for killing her unwanted fetus. Reminding
them of when life begins is not going to change their minds, even those who
are killing them for gender reasons.
... more »
Should Presidential Candidates Be Specific?
Mitt Romney has been (very selectively; he doesn't really mean it) arguing
that making specific promises while you're running for president is a
mistake. Matt Yglesias sort of buys into it:
At one point during the debate, Romney nailed this precisely by noting that
the details of tax policy are something that Congress hammers out. The
president has some enormous powers in the legislative process, but they're
powers of agenda-setting and the ability to veto—not at all the power to
delve deep into details. And indeed I'd say President Obama ended up having
a lot of problems with his b... more »
A Confederation of Muppets
The dueling duopolists of the presidential pageant are creating and
fund-raising off yet another phony wedge issue. They are so desperate to
take our minds off the fact that participatory democracy is a mere illusion
that they're not even bothering to be original this time. It's the Second
Coming of Big Bird in only one campaign season! Republicans have been
threatening to de-fund PBS since time immemorial, and it's always been an
empty threat by posturing phony deficit hawks. But starting today, the
latest skirmish in The Wars of Sesame Street has been officially been
declared. So ... more »
Breaking! Romney made accurate statement!
*THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012*
*Bay State students may be number one:* On the Washington Post’s web site,
Ruth Marcus is batting Romney around for his various misstatements last
night.
Obama didn’t seem to care. Neither did potted plant Lehrer. With Marcus
setting a good example, let’s hope more journalists do.
That said, we have breaking news about last night’s debate! Repeatedly,
Romney made a basically accurate statement about Massachusetts schools!
He kept saying the schools were number one, bathing in their reflected
glow. We can’t tell you what role Romney played. But Bay State ... more »
As if last night’s debacle wasn’t enough!
*THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012*
*This too, on the Times front page:* As if last night’s debate wasn’t
enough, consider the piece which appeared on the front page of today’s New
York Times—above the fold, no less!
In our hard-copy Washington Edition, this ridiculous news report appeared
in that high-profile spot. It bore this headline:
‘07 Talk by Obama Resurfaces,
Renewing Questions on Race
That’s right! Above the fold, high up on page one, the Times explored that
five-year-old speech in which Obama touched on some racial issues.
In the National Edition and the New York Edition, debate... more »
Erdogan Wants War With Syria
*Photo: Turkey's Erdogan is depicted as a vampire*.
*Links*:
*Erdogan's Gets War Powers*.
*Turkey authorizes military operations in Syria*.
*China urges restraint on Turkey-Syria border tensions*.
*The Kurdish Problem In Turkey’s Syria Problem*.
*Syria opposes escalation of violence with Turkey*.
Roger Baker : 'Class' Used to Be a Dirty Word
Class
Warfare. Political cartoon by Steve Segelin / Charleston City Paper.
'Class' used to be a dirty word:
Elections point to new paradigm
The 2012 presidential race is shaping up as a new kind of political
fight being fairly openly fought around the issue of class and
inequality with racial overtones.
By Roger Baker / The Rag Blog / October 3, 2012
Not so long ago, during Barack Obama's
Heavy metals found in most of kids’ products
The majority of stationary and other items used by children circulated in
the local market tested by the National Institute of Environmental Research
contain high traces of heavy metals.
According to the NIER data submitted to Rep. Hong Young-pyo of the
Democratic United Party, 123 of the 124 items tested last year contained
heavy metals that can be transferred to the body including lead, nickel and
cadmium.
In addition to the heavy metals, 14 items were shown to contain
above-regulation levels of phthalates. In the case of a Chinese company’s
shoes for infants, a phthalate level ... more »
Navy Spyware Maps Your Home From Smartphone Camera
The U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center has developed a new piece of spyware
to map your own house from an infected smartphone via its camera. It
utilizes the GPS, accelerometers and other phone hardware to visually map
out and spatially piece together the inside layout of your own home says
The Washington Times:
*The malware, dubbed “PlaceRaider,” “allows remote hackers to reconstruct
rich, three-dimensional models of the smartphone owner’s personal indoor
spaces through completely opportunistic use of the camera,” the researchers
said in a study published last week.*
http:/... more »
AARP to Obama: Don’t mention us again
*President Obama invoked AARP to defend his health care law last night,
prompting the influential group to release a statement telling him not to
do that again.*
“While we respect the rights of each campaign to make its case to voters,
AARP has never consented to the use of its name by any candidate or
political campaign,” the group posted in a statement. “AARP is a
nonpartisan organization and we do not endorse political candidates nor
coordinate with any candidate or political party.”
Obama can perhaps be forgiven for thinking he could mention AARP given how
they coordinated wit... more »
France to dismantle Roma camp South of Paris
*Paris (CNN) -- Citing "unsanitary and unsecure living conditions," French
Interior Minister Manuel Valls ordered police early Monday to dismantle a
Roma camp set up along suburban railway tracks in Evry, south of Paris, and
expel 72 inhabitants, including 19 children.
*
It is a controversial decision for President Francois Hollande's Socialist
Party, which attacked former President Nicolas Sarkozy when his party
dismantled Roma camps around France in 2010.
Since the beginning of August, five camps have been dismantled under Valls'
directive.
"I cannot support -- not just as inter... more »
Morocco 'warships block abortion ship'
* The government of Morocco has closed the port of Smir and is blocking the
harbor with warships to prevent the entry of a Dutch "abortion ship" to the
Islamic country, the organization running the ship said Thursday.
*
Abortion is illegal in Morocco, and the country's Health Ministry said in a
statement on Wednesday that it had not authorized the vessel's visit or any
procedures by nonresident doctors.
The abortion ship is run by Women on Waves, which was founded in 1999 by a
Dutch doctor to provide abortions to women in countries where the practice
is illegal.
Women on Waves doct... more »
Turkish police use tear gas against anti-war protesters
*Oct. 4 - Turkish police use tear gas to disperse a small group of anti-war demonstrators approaching parliament, as Turkey uses artillery against Syrian targets for a second day.*Turkey debates military action in Syria after civilian deaths
*Oct. 4 - World leaders urge level-headedness and express solidarity with
Turkey as Ankara debates military action in Syria after Syrian mortar fire
killed five Turkish civilians. Sarah Sheffer reports. *
EADS-BAE merger could be hostage to U.S. politics
*(Reuters) - To win approval for their planned $45 billion merger, EADS and
BAE systems must persuade Washington to let a pan-European behemoth control
some of the most sensitive U.S. defense contracts, without triggering a
political backlash.*
Defense industry experts say it should not be difficult for Washington to
protect its security interests in allowing the deal to go ahead, but the
politics could become complicated if Boeing and other competitors lobby
against the deal.
"The security issue can be dealt with if the deal is structured properly,"
said Loren Thompson, chief ope... more »
Authorities charge 91 in $430 million Medicare fraud
*(Reuters) - Ninety-one people including doctors, nurses and other medical
professionals have been charged with committing $430 million in Medicare
fraud in seven U.S. cities, authorities said on Thursday.*
An investigation coordinated by the Justice Department and the Department
of Health and Human Services uprooted alleged false billing schemes
involving $230 million in home health services, over $100 million in mental
health services and $49 million from ambulance transportation.
Charges range from healthcare fraud and conspiracy to wire fraud, kickback
violations, identity thef... more »
Cure for Cancer
The American Cancer Society is lying.
The cure for all types of cancers and many "chronic" diseases has been
known, tested, and practiced since WWII.
That treatment is illegal in the United States.
This 15 year old boy learned the truth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvzDHGLEUyw
4.2 Magnitude Earthquake SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA - 4th October 2012
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake has struck SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA at a depth of 4
km (2.5 miles), the quake hit at 16:25:02 UTC Thursday 4th October 2012
The epicenter was 77 km (47 miles) WSW of Haines, Alaska
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
"The Deception of A Civilization And The Regression of Reason"
*"The Deception of A Civilization And The Regression of Reason" *
By Truth Excavator
“When you observe the world you see people, you see houses, you see the
sky, you see tangible objects; but when you observe yourself within, you
see moving images–a world of images, generally known as fantasies. Yet
these fantasies are facts. You see, it is a fact that the man has such and
such a fantasy, and it is such a tangible fact, for instance, that when a
man has a certain fantasy, another man may lose his life, or a bridge is
built–these houses were all fantasies. Everything you do here,... more »
"Fiscal Meth"
*"Fiscal Meth"*
by Addison Wiggin
"We’re now four days into fiscal year 2013. [Yes, we know. But please try
to contain your excitement.]
As of Monday, Oct. 1, the national debt stands at $16,159,487,013.300.35.
This means the government racked up $1,369,146,684,743.20 in new
liabilities last year. We can confidently predict that with the usual
accounting games, the “official” 2012 deficit announced next week by the
Treasury will be somewhat less. What’s one of the telltale signs of
addiction? Denial.
“The U.S., in fact, is a serial offender, an addict whose habit extends
beyond ... more »
The Commentator - Cheering? For Gordon Brown?
Q) Why did 80,000 people boo George Osborne?
A) Because that's the capacity of the Olympic Stadium.
It would have been more accurate to say
A) Because they are utterly ignorant of public finance.
http://m.thecommentator.com/article/1635/cheering_for_gordon_brown_
Meet 'Mary' treesitter who held off the tarsands bulldozers
Treesitter 'Mary' is actually Maggie Gorry
and she's been arrested
after holding off the Keystone
pipeline tarsands destroyers.Reposted from Tarsands Blockade
http://www.tarsandsblockade.org
Tree Blockade Is Under Siege (Day 11)
Categories:
Uncategorized
TransCanada and law enforcement authorities have sealed off a perimeter to
the tree blockade and have besieged the blockade. Getting essential food
and water supplies in has become extremely difficult as they continue to
tighten their grip on our peaceful blockaders.
Early this morning Maggie Gorry came down from her perch atop a 40 f... more »
Leave to appeal from a summary conviction matter where accused acquitted at trial and convicted at first appeal
*R. v. MacKay*, 2012 ONCA 671 deals with leave to appeal to the Court of
Appeal by an accused who was acquitted at trial but convicted on appeal.
The Court holds such cases are looked on more favorably, from a leave
perspective, than cases where the accused is appeal a second time:
[20] The leading case on this issue is R. v. R.(R.), 2008 ONCA 497,
90 O.R. (3d) 641. The starting point for the analysis, as stated by Doherty
J.A. at para. 27, is that in the summary conviction appeal context,
“[a]ccess to this court for a second appeal should be limited to those
cases in w... more »
Spain averts Columbine-style massacre involving 300 pounds of explosives
Spanish police have foiled an attack on students at a university in Majorca
arresting a 21-year- old man who planned to stage a "Columbine-style"
massacre.
The student, named locally as Juan Manuel Morales Sierra, was arrested
Wednesday with more than 300 pounds of explosives he had ordered over the
internet.
Police said he had boasted of wanting to "do a Columbine" and expressed
admiration for the perpetrators of the 1999 US attack that killed 12
students and a teacher.
They believe he had tried, and failed, in several attempts to purchase
guns, before planning an attack using ... more »
3D Printed Drones & Guns: Post Scarcity & The World of Tomorrow
Hidden battle lines in the war for global hegemony.
*by Tony Cartalucci*
*October 4, 2012* - Recently, the Wall Street-London corporate-financier
Lowy Institute's "Interpreter" posted an article titled, "Printing a drone"
that conveyed the following concerns:
3D printers are both accessible and affordable in Australia. Effectively,
this means that an individual or group has the ability – with minimal
investment – to avoid the cumbersome task of purchasing expensive overseas
technology and instead print their weapon. A 3D printed drone is legal and
possible; weaponising it would b... more »
The two faces of Barack Obama
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=LKTtr_XuEP8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DLKTtr_XuEP8%26feature%3Dyoutu.be&gl=GB&client=mv-vf-uk&safesearch=always
Technical Difficulties with Podcasts? (UPDATED)
I've been getting sporadic reports of problems opening the podcasts, e.g.,
of people clicking on them from the "podcasts" tab with no result, being
unable to force a download to show up as an audio file, and so forth. If
you've been having this kind of difficulty would you let me know in
comments?
Please specify what kind of browser(s), and operating system(s) are
involved, and which (if any) workarounds have revolved the problem.
UPDATE: I've added an mp3 of Episode 10 to the files linked to under the "
podcasts" tab. I'd appreciate it if someone who has had difficulties tries
it t... more »
NATO Went to War for America, Why Not Turkey?
Like the United States, Turkey is a full member of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization. Article 5 of the NATO charter obliges all members to
come to the aid of any other member under attack. For the second day
running, Turkey has received artillery barrages fired by Syrian government
forces.
So, what's the hold up?
Turkey is the only Muslim member state of NATO. Maybe it's because we
have a Muslim state being attacked by a Muslim neighbour that accounts for
our apparent indifference.
I can't help thinking about John Baird, Harper ForAffMin, slamming the U.N.
for failing t... more »
Fighting Corruption with Vitamins
Malnutrition is a huge problem in Afghanistan. One-fifth of Afghan kids
are malnourished and that increases to one-third in combat zones. 60 per
cent of children under five are stunted.
Tens of billions of dollars of foreign aid flows into Afghanistan but much
of that disappears into the gaping maw of a corrupt government and
bureaucracy. The resurgent civil war prevents NGOs from operating at all
in some regions.
One solution being attempted by the World Food Programme is to distribute "fortified
food" to nearly half the country's population, 15-million in all.
Vitamins and... more »
Untitled
*And they're out of the gate ~American Zombie*
OHmyGAWD we have to INVADE! China is full of Al Qaeda! China hates us for our freedoms! China has weapons of mass destruction (really)! China wants to kill your babies while they sleep! The Chinese dress funny! The Chinese eat weird food! The Chinese think farting in elevators is funny! The Chinese tear the tags off of seat cushions! We HAVE to invade!!!
*and *China! Gulp! I certainly hope not anyway.
美国军方是会得到你的，只是等待和观望。
*American Scofflaw*
* 南卡罗来纳州警方的“官员”宣布，美国军事警察...
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/10/military-employed-for-crowd-control-at.html
*
*
*
*好消息是，他们仍然可以得到奶奶低的书前的跳动！ LOL*
Healthcare, Not Warfare: A Cosmic Thing
You've probably noticed that we're trying to monetize rock'n'roll
collectibles to help progressives thwart the two corrupt Inside-the-Beltway
party machines. This week, PDA and Blue America have teamed up to mark the
12th anniversary of America's violent involvement in Afghanistan by going
after two senior Republican militaristic policy-makers who are dead set on
extending the occupation of that country, House Armed Services Committee
chairman Buck McKeon and House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan. Both
espouse a radical Austerity agenda that cuts back on human needs for
health... more »
New Books in Science Fiction and Fantasy: Meagan Spooner's Skylark
Check out the third episode of New Books in Science and Fantasy, in which I
interview Meagan Spooner about *Skylark*.
The summary:
Lark Ainsley lives within a near-hermetically sealed city located in a
world scarred and depleted my magical wars. The Architects, who oversee the
City, maintain it by harvesting the non-renewable magical energy found in
each of the city’s inhabitants. But something goes wrong on Lark’s “Harvest
Day,” and she soon finds herself on a quest to find safety outside the
City’s walls–where the disappearance of magic has rendered the landscape a
wasteland fu... more »
Turkey, Syria and the Geopolitics of Identity
*This is a guest post by Peter S. Henne. Peter is a doctoral candidate at
Georgetown University. He formerly worked as a national security
consultant. His research focuses on terrorism and religious conflict; he
has also written on the role of faith in US foreign policy. During
2012-2013 he will be a fellow at the Miller Center at the University of
Virginia. *
*
*The Syrian shelling of Akcakale--a Turkish village on the Syrian
border--and Turkey's military response against Syrian targets was shocking.
Personally, it made me think of a 2009 trip I took to Antep and
Urfa--cities in so... more »
U.S. Election Officials "Reserving the Right to Cheat"
Election Fraud, Culture of Corruption in Pima County, why Early Ballots
shouldn't be counted before Election Day and what all this means. The
current court case "...alleges that Pima County, through the direction and
control of its county administrator C.H. "Chuck" Huckelberry, has
systematically subverted critical controls required to protect the purity
of elections. The elimination of those controls has permitted county
management to take advantage of the ability to cheat presented by defects
in our computerized election system. As a result, county management
fraudulently rigge... more »
big bucks big pharma
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
part 7
RIOTS COMING?
*USA*
Can the USA expect big riots in the next few years?
Major turbulence seems to come to the USA about every 50 years.
*In 1870*, there was major unrest in America.
*Around 1920*, race riots, strikes and anti-Communist feeling led many
Americans to think that revolution was imminent.
*Around 1970*, violent student demonstrations, political assassinations,
riots and terrorism led many Americans to think that revolution was coming.
In 2012, some people think that revolution is on its way, with one faction
of the rich elite going to war with another faction of the rich elite.
Web... more »
Spanish court backs right to protest after Madrid violence
*(Reuters) - A Spanish court on Thursday threw out a police case against
the organizers of a protest in Madrid last week that ended in violence and
dozens of arrests, saying people had a right to express their opinion.
*
Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards have taken to the streets in almost
daily protests against spending cuts.
Most are peaceful. But last Tuesday's demonstration in Madrid, promoted
through social networking sites by activist groups, turned violent with
youths clashing with police after thousands of people formed a human chain
around parliament.
Thirty-five people w... more »
Japanese airline, ANA, apologises for plane flip
*Sept 30 - Japan's ANA airline apologises for a pilot error that caused a
plane to flip in mid-air. Lindsey Parietti reports*
Euro zone considering bond insurance for Spain - sources
*(Reuters) - The euro zone is considering aiding Spain by providing
insurance for investors who buy government bonds in a move designed to
maintain Spanish access to capital markets and minimize the cost to
European taxpayers, European sources said.
*
One senior European source said the plan could cost about 50 billion euros
($64.5 billion) for a year. It would enable Spain to cover its full funding
needs and trigger potentially unlimited European Central bank buying of
short-term Spanish bonds in the secondary market.
If the gamble succeeds, it would achieve two important aims. Spa... more »
Iraq sentences U.S. citizen to life in prison
*(Reuters) - A U.S. citizen convicted of links with al Qaeda has been
sentenced to life in prison by an Iraqi court, a copy of the ruling showed
on Thursday.*
Omar Rashad Khalil, who is of Palestinian origin, was arrested in 2010 and
accused of helping finance and execute "terrorist operations" inside Iraq,
according to the ruling, a copy of which was posted on the Interior
Ministry website.
The ruling said Khalil, in his early 50s, was an architect and also went by
the name Abu Muhammad. He was sentenced by Baghdad's central criminal court
on Wednesday.
Government officials could... more »
Syria 'Sorry For Shelling Turkish Town'
*Syria has apologised for a mortar strike on a Turkish border town which
left five civilians dead and said the incident will not be repeated,
according to Turkey's deputy prime minister.*
Turkey had returned fire in response to the shelling of Akcakale, and its
parliament voted to authorise military operations inside Syria as a
"deterrent" against the Syrian army, deputy leader Besir Atalay said.
He said: "This mandate is not a war mandate but it is in our hands to be
used when needed in order to protect Turkey's own interests according to
potential developments in the future."
Tu... more »
Zuckerberg: Facebook Has One Billion Users....Are 80% of them also Fake?
*One in seven people on the planet now use Facebook to stay in touch,
according to the social networking giant's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.*
The eight-year-old company added 200 million new users in the last year,
bringing its total number of "friends" to a billion across the world.
Mr Zuckerberg announced the milestone in an interview with NBC on Thursday,
describing the development as "an amazing honour".
"To be able to come into work every day and build things that help a
billion people stay connected with the people they care about every month,
that's just unbelievable,"... more »
Sad Update on NDAA Indefinite Detention Provisions
NDAA Indefinite Detention Provision Back in Effect By Josh Gerstein,
Politico 03 October 12
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/13779-ndaa-indefinite-detention-provision-back-in-effect
[Excerpted] A federal appeals court has extended a temporary stay of a
district court judge's order barring the government from using an
indefinite detention provision in a defense bill passed by Congress and
signed by President Barack Obama late last year.
A three-judge motions panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd
Circuit issued the order Tuesday afternoon, indicating they saw... more »
Inhofe Seeks Hearings Addressing the EPA’s Monstrous “Illegal Human Experiments”
IntelHub
*Andrew W. Griffin*
Just days after Red Dirt Report featured a story out of St. Louis, Mo.
addressing the shocking revelation that the U.S. Army was conducting secret
experiments on citizens of that city without their knowledge in the 1950’s
-by spraying toxic substances on them – we learn that potentially deadly
human experimentation is taking place this very day – and sanctioned by the
U.S. government, no less! While those Cold War-era tests – some believed to
include radiological substances, primarily on lower-income, inner-city
folks – took place more than 50 years ago ... more »
Untitled
*Brees: No better time for Saints to face Bolts*
*Network of CCC cameras not working properly ~WWLTV*
*Federal Flood victims take on hurricane tour operators ~Stacy Plaisance*
*Jefferson Parish drainage pump failures examined ~Allen Powell II, N.O.
Advocate*
*Two bayou-spanning bridges set to open soon after delays ~WVUE*
*Wetlands Group Lobbies For Uniting Mississippi River Interests ~WWNO*
*The Meters nominated for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! *
Continuous Turkish artillery barrage cuts out 10-km buffer strip inside Syria
Constrained from a substantial military incursion into Syria by US
President Barack Obama’s veto and Saudi and Qatari refusals to help pay for
it, Turkey’s government and military decided to make do with carving out a
buffer strip 10 kilometers deep into Syria by continuous artillery barrages.
Thursday morning, Oct. 4 at 0300 GMT, Ankara ordered the Turkish army to
keep up its cross-border shelling of Syria after the first bombardment
Wednesday night in response to the deaths of five Turkish civilians and
eight injured by Syrian mortar shells which exploded in their village.
debkaf... more »
Bad Metaphors: Journals, Articles, and Pages
As a graduate student at an urban university,
I envy this RA's large office.New technologies adapt terms from older
tools, even when they're curiously inappropriate. Consider "dashboard,"
which we use now to refer to an easy display of critical information (as in
Google Dashboard) or the control panel of an automobile. Originally,
however, a dashboard was (per Wikipedia) "a barrier of wood or leather
fixed at the front of a horse-drawn carriage or sleigh to protect the
driver from mud or other debris "dashed" (thrown) up by the wheels and
horses' hooves."
Clearly, that term outlas... more »
Memphis Raising Most Regressive Taxes to Pay for $212 Million Hole Created by Charter Schools
In June we posted on the Gates-SfC plan for school consolidation in Shelby
County, which the State report says will cost Shelby County $212,000,000
over the next four years to pay for the segregated charter chain gangs that
are being created to contain, separate, and indoctrinate the next
generation of the poor in Memphis.
The County solution: raise the sales tax another penny, which will push
this most regressive tax (which includes taxing food) to over 10% (TN is #1
in the nation for highest sales tax). Oh yes, and in the meantime, reduce
property taxes so that the immeasurably ... more »
Read Stuff, You Should
Happy Birthday to Alicia Silverstone, 36. Sure hoping that Vamps turns out
to be awesome. Clueless, of course, is one of the great classic movies, and
she was terrific in it; she was also just fine in Branagh's Love's Labour's
Lost, which almost everyone hated -- but there is a small group of us who
loved it. Back to Vamps and Clueless: it really is one of the great
tragedies that Amy Heckerling doesn't have a long string of great movies. A
major black eye for Hollywood.
Just a little good stuff after a late night:
1. Good debate wrap from Ezra Klein. Even better debate wrap from Jo... more »
Income gap/income stagnation
*Ta-ken, Taichung.*
On one of the lists I frequent we were discussing the reasons for Taiwan's
stagnating income and slowing economic performance, stimulated by a recent
short piece in WSJ which touches on some of the issues. A friend point me
to this MUST READ article in Commonwealth on the tax situation here in
Taiwan.... as I've noted before, the wealthy simply don't pay taxes:
Jim Huang is 35 years old, a member of the third generation of a powerful
political family in Taiwan. He does not have a job, but he's doing just
fine.
In Taiwan, he lives in a 660 square-meter luxury a... more »
Sound Minus the Fury
(By *American Zen*'s Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari)
Dateline Denver, CO --- Just a few miles from where James Holmes allegedly
opened fire on a crowded movie theater in Aurora, killing a dozen and
wounding 58, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney faced off in the first
of three presidential debates without once mentioning gun violence. The
topic was completely ignored despite pleas from some of the victims to have
the candidates address it.
It was just one of many glaring omissions during a colorless debate that
was civil, congenial and utterly boring. There was no mention of... more »
Kristof v. Collins: The public face of don't care!
*THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012*
*All hail our pseudolib heroine:* The op-ed page of today’s New York Times
is framed by two columns—columns written by Nicholas Kristof and Gail
Collins.
Below, we’ll offer one complaint about one thing Kristof says. But his
column discusses an actual, real-world concern—the rising share of American
income being gobbled up at the top.
“In 2010, 93 percent of the gain in national income went to the top 1
percent,” Kristof notes at one point. Also this:
“America’s Gini coefficient, the classic measure of inequality, set a
modern record last month—the hi... more »
Debate round one: The rope-a-dope strategy
Judging from the mass meltdown in my twitter stream, clearly a
disappointing night for liberals. I seem to recall the same wailing and
rending of garments from the left at this point in 08. They wanted Obama to
draw blood and he didn't. Hell, he barely put up a fight. But I also
remember when this meme was invented in response to the same sort of
doom-saying.
Debate is three round fight. Rope-a-dope strategy dictates you hold back
and deliver the knock out punch at the end. Good to remember that media
over-built expectations for Obama. Now expectations are raised for Mitt.
Which ... more »
Amazon Ecosystem Continues to Grow
Amazon is not just a books, music, video, games and media retailer, it is
the major online 'one stop shop' for many and one that has a cross
merchandise offer that is very powerful and even threatens the likes of
Walmart. If we take the latest UK news that they are increasing their take
on of temporary UK staff for the Christmas run-up from 3,000 to 10,000
short-term packaging jobs in just three weeks, we see not only their
commitment, but also their decisiveness to do business. How many retailers
can you name who are taking on such numbers? Some 2,000 of the workers will
also ret... more »
Turkey authorizes military action in Syria after mortar attack that killed civilians
Turkey’s parliament voted Thursday to authorize military cross-border
operations into Syria, a day after an apparently errant mortar strike from
inside Syria killed five Turkish civilians.
Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay told the Associated Press that the
320-129 vote “is not for war,” but is intended to deter Syria from further
violence that could spill over the border.
Atalay also said that Syria has taken responsibility and formally
apologized for the death of the five Turkish civilians, and reassured the
United Nations that “such an incident will not occur again,” AP reporte... more »
Elections in Georgia: U.S. and NATO Lose their “Geopolitical Chess Queen”
Global Research
John Robles
*It is no secret that Saakashvili is the “West’s man in the Caucasus” the
darling of Hillary Clinton and Obama’s US State Department, NATO
headquarters and the Pentagon and the intelligence services of the UK and
the US. He is yet another despotic dictator that has murdered, oppressed,
strangled, tortured and subjugated his people with the support of the West
in exchange for advancing their geopolitical agenda in yet another region
far removed from their own borders yet where they want control.*
*As there is no statute of limitations on war crimes, Saakas... more »
Battle of the Blahs
All I can say about last night's debate is that this is what happens when
two right-wingers run against each other. If you're a Democrat, you knew
you were in trouble when your guy's opponent actually started attacking him
from the *left*.
Your heart sank when Mitt Romney suggested that the too-big-to-fail banks
should have been broken up, and you realized your bank-friendly President
doesn't have a leg to stand on. You collapsed in a heap when Barry bragged
that his great insurance company giveaway of a health plan was not only
copied and pasted from a conservative think tank, but ... more »
Your Way - Our Way - The Truth: A Poem by Zelda Quakawoot
Your Way - Our Way - The Truth Your way
**
*Tradition is replaced by authority
Respect is replaced by greed
What is happening to this nation,
Is the planting of an evil seed.
Culture is replaced by religion
This dominates the law
The heritage of this country
Is slipping out the door
Community is replaced by profit
Social issues stocks are down
It is easier to make up more rules
Since our voices are silent sounds
Security is replaced by wars
A nation so young to the slaughter
The old white leaders send to battle
The innocent sons and daughters
Custom is replaced by policy
So big and... more »
All regular child custody orders made under Part III of the CLRA at a Family Court branch location, with the explicit exceptions, are to the Divisional Court
*Marchildon v. Beitz* 2012 ONCA 668 holds the family law appeal routes “are
both confusing and inequitable”. After saying so the Court holds:
Under the CLRA, all regular child custody orders made under Part III of
the CLRA at a Family Court branch location, with the explicit exception of
those made under ss. 59 and 60, are appealed under s. 21.9.1 of the CJA.
Therefore, an appeal from them lies to the Divisional Court.
Is Matter Just a Frequency Range?
*Youtube*
Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter:
Delivered by FeedBurner Be the Change! Share this using the tools below.
Sharing on Reddit and Newsvine will help the most.
JIM LEHRER’S RERUN: Potted plant!
*THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012*
*Part 1—You’ve seen last night’s movie before:* Let’s start with a word
about the candidates, although politicians *aren’t* our focus here.
Last evening’s debate was a massacre. The massacre was so complete that it
was widely acknowledged by MSNBC’s pundits.
Candidate Romney was on the attack; he had a theme and a focus. Candidate
Obama had little focus or framework for his evening—virtually none at all.
He started with a jumbled complaint about Romney’s tax proposal. But he
seemed surprised by Romney’s (wholly predictable) reaction, then utterly
faded... more »
Why Are There Only Two Candidates in Presidential Debates?
*Ben Swann*
Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter:
Delivered by FeedBurner Be the Change! Share this using the tools below.
Sharing on Reddit and Newsvine will help the most.
Episode 28 in the Disarming Grandmothers Of The UK Series - "A Little Landmark"
October 4, 2012
*EPISODE TWENTY EIGHT: “A little landmark”*
Helen returns to the British Courts to try to overturn her conviction as a
Serious Organised Criminal. This time, however, there is a key person
missing as Sylvia steps aside for fear that another trial would take it’s
toll both on her as an individual and her friendship with Helen. Now a
solo activist against the state, Helen begins her new trial optimistic that
the Judge shares her concern about the interception of communications.
But with press interest dwindling and the women easily baffled by court
proceedings, ... more »
Bill could exile ‘thousands’ of permanent residents for minor crimes? I think not
Today’s Star has a story ( click here ) saying proposed government
legislation could “exile ‘thousands’ of permanent residents for minor
crimes”. Is that true?
I think not.
The actual language proposed says:
*BILL C-43*
*24. Subsection 64(2) of the Act is replaced by the following:*
*(2) For the purpose of subsection (1), serious criminality must be with
respect to a crime that was punished in Canadaby a term of imprisonment of
at least six months or that is described in paragraph 36(1)(b) or (c).*
Now, if the text was “*with respect to a crime that was subject to
punishment... more »
Thursday Morning Debate Reactions
I had three immediate reactions to last night's Presidential debate.
*First*, when one side is ecstatic and the other side is talking about how
"debates don't matter," that's a pretty good indication of who "won."
*Second*, #bizarro2004 continues, with Mitt Romney playing the role of
"John Kerry" and Barack Obama of "George W. Bush."
In fairness, though, Romney was less stilted than Kerry and Obama wasn't as
bad as Bush was during the first debate of 2004.
*Third*, as a former policy debater and debate coach, I felt a bit like I
was watching a decent national-circuit debater take o... more »
in which my roku experience gets even more awesome: how to set up a wireless vpn
You may recall that we switched our internet provider from Rogers to
TekSavvy in order to get more bandwidth, then dumped Rogers altogether by
switching from cable to streaming. >We bought a Roku streaming device. And
I fell in love with it.
No more paying for dozens of channels that we'll never watch. On-demand
viewing without DVR'ing. And no more cable bill! We even upgraded one Roku
to the model that has a USB port and a media server, so we can watch our
own media directly on our TV. Awesome.
There was only one piece missing.
If you use a streaming device, and you don't live in... 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." *
image: Zen Gardner Tony Cartalucci, *Contributor*
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 discre... more »
Gap Between College Costs and Inflation
click image to enlarge James Hall, *Contributor*
Anyone who has offspring attending university knows all too well the
spiraling costs of higher education. While purchases at the grocery or gas
pump jumps at alarming rates, the expense of tuition over the past few
decades have been in a league all of its own.
In the essay, College Education Economics, the subject of the student debt
is analyzed. This essay examines the primary reasons why the price of
educational institutions so dramatically outpaces the nominal rate of
inflation.
For even the casual observer, it is indisputable t... more »
Most Americans Have Come To Abhor The Republican Party
It may not work in the old slave-holding states but Elizabeth Warren and
many other Democrats in the rest of America are finding that nationalizing
the election is a powerful way of connecting to voters. And it goes beyond
the fact that the Republican Party-- their policy agenda and their
treasonous obstructionism-- is viewed negatively by a *majority* of
Americans. That's right, according to a brand new *Washington Post*/ABC
News poll only 39% of Americans see the GOP favorably and 53% now have a
negative view. When Elizabeth Warren points out to Massachusetts voters
that by re-e... more »
This is the face of the Religion of Peace and Tolerance, or at least the face of the actions of the Religion of Peace and Tolerance
Pastor Umar Mulinde (a former Muslim) was doused in acid by Muslims after a
Christmas Eve church service last year in Uganda.
Have the BBC ever reported the story of Pastor Umar Mulinde?
As in the above video, Pastor Mulinde not only discusses the acid attack
and his conversion from Islam to Christianity, but also his view of Israel,
and the Christian attitude towards persecution, I doubt that the BBC will
be interested.
Karl Denninger, “Romney, Obama: Both Frauds”
*“Romney, Obama: Both Frauds”*
by Karl Denninger
“Medicare, Medicaid- ha! Both of these clowncar folks cannot tell the
truth. Here is truth. The Federal Government spent $53 billion on health
care in 1980. Last year it spent $850 billion. That's an approximately 9.3%
annualized rate of increase. That means government spending on health care
(Medicare and Medicaid) doubles ever ~7.7 years. If you are now 50, and not
going to "lose anything" from current plans, you believe the Federal
Government can spend close to $14 trillion 30 years from now when you're
80. Note that the entir... more »
Milky Way Black Holes Found By Astronomers
*Astronomers have found two black holes, each up to 20 times heavier than
the Sun, hidden deep inside our own galaxy.
*
The unexpected discovery was made by a team exploring a 12 billion-year-old
cluster of stars in the Milky Way called M22.
It contains hundreds of thousands of stars and can be seen with the naked
eye as a hazy patch of light.
Scientists at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research now
believe there could be as many as 100 black holes inside the cluster.
Dr James Miller-Jones, who co-wrote a report that appears in the journal
Nature, said: "Simulations ... more »
Remember Walkerton
Tom Walkom writes in this morning's *Toronto Star* that the ever widening
meat recall is Stephen Harper's "Walkerton Moment." The tainted water
scandal in that small Ontario town marked the beginning of the end for Mike
Harris' government. Walkom writes:
Neither Harris nor Harper invented deregulation.
In Ontario, Bob Rae’s New Democratic Party government cut back drinking
water inspections well before Harris became premier.
In Ottawa, Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien’s 1997 decision to hand
over meat inspection to his industry-friendly agriculture ministry set the
stage for... more »
“Romney’s Sick Joke”
*“Romney’s Sick Joke”*
by Paul Krugman
“OK, so Obama did a terrible job in the debate, and Romney did well. But in
the end, this isn’t or shouldn’t be about theater criticism, it should be
about substance. And the fact is that everything Obama said was basically
true, while much of what Romney said was either outright false or so
misleading as to be the moral equivalent of a lie. Above all, there’s this:
MR. ROMNEY: “Let- well, actually- actually it’s- it’s- it’s a lengthy
description, but number one, pre-existing conditions are covered under my
plan.”
No, they aren’t. Romney’... more »
The Renewable Insanity of Monsanto, Bill Gates, the Rockefellers and Craig Venter
Cassandra Anderson, *Contributor*
Monsanto, Bill Gates, the Rockefellers, Craig Venter and other investors
are working behind-the-scenes to bring genetically engineered (GE) algae to
market with products that include fuel, animal feed made with manure, human
food and vaccines.
The US government has a stake in this enterprise, too. Obama put a
moratorium on drilling for oil on federal land and voted down the Keystone
pipeline, in addition to subsidizing the nuclear industry instead of
increasing oil reserves.
Obama has advocated replacing 17% of US oil imports with oil made from... more »
Massive Beef Recall Further Validates the Need for Small Farms and Local Agriculture
Dylan Charles, *Contributor*
Last week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued a massive recall of
beef packaged for consumption in Canada and the United States over fears
that "a combination of several 'deficiencies'" at the XL Foods plant in
British Columbia may have created conditions favorable for an E. Coli
outbreak.
E. Coli is a pathogenic strain of animal fecal bacteria that can cause
severe food poisoning and even death to humans. So far, at least 10
confirmed cases of E. Coli poisoning in Alberta have put consumers on edge,
but it does not appear that consumer dema... more »
YouTube Removes Undercover Video Showing Whole Foods GMO Misinformation
Anthony Gucciardi
Youtube has pulled an undercover ‘Organic Spies’ video questioning Whole
Foods employees as to whether or not any of the products within Whole Foods
contained GMO ingredients. Created to show how even the employees
themselves are misinformed (or even dishonest) about the very real presence
of Monsanto’s GMOs in a store like Whole Foods that is supposed to promote
health and wellness, the Organic Spies video received over 100,000 views in
a few short days.
The video has since been removed due to apparently ‘violating the Terms of
Service’, according to the genet... more »
Obama No Gore: Debate Raises Romney's Numbers (RESIST! - Cynthia McKinney On Real Leadership)
The Lawyers, Guns & Money blog scores a bullseye on the debate rating
scale. Obligatory Debate Commentary[ 12 ] October 3, 2012 | Scott Lemieux
I can pretty much outsource to Kuttner, Sargent and Chait. Romney was like
George W. Bush in the first Gore debate, a world-class bullshitter who
combined lying and dissembling about his own plans with clever
non-sequiturs. Only when it
Latest stories April Jones: Cops Drill Way Into Suspect's Home
*Police are drilling their way into the home of April Jones abduction
suspect Mark Bridger.
*
Activity at Mr Bridger's white farmhouse intensified as officers were given
until 5pm tomorrow to question the 46-year-old.
Search teams used drills to unbolt doors at the rented home and forensic
officers combed the garden in the hamlet of Ceinws by the Dyfi river in
mid-Wales.
The search came as police used a press conference to appeal for information
about Mr Bridger's movements and use of social media around the time April
vanished.
April's family also launched a pink ribbon campain t... more »
Ashton Kutcher Hoax 911 Call Investigated that led to officers arresting occupants of the Hollywood Hills home of actor Ashton Kutcher
*A woman rang police to say robbers were inside the house and that she had
locked herself in one of the mansion's bathrooms after three gunshots were
fired.*
Police rushed to the scene, with TV pictures showing footage of three
people leaving the property with their hands up as they were arrested by
officers.
But the call is now being investigated as another case of "swatting".
"Swatting" is the name given to a fake emergency call that leads to a
response team being sent to the scene. Read More
Spy Charge: Millionaire 'Sold US Secrets'
*A man has been charged with spying against America, while ten others are
accused of helping him send military secrets to Russia.*
The group are accused of plotting to send controlled military technology to
Russia as part of an alleged military exports ring between October 2008 and
2012.
The indictment alleges Alexander Fishenko and accomplices sold cutting-edge
microelectronics through the Houston-based Arc Electronics company he owned.
US authorities say the millionaire fooled the Department of Commerce into
thinking his company made traffic lights when it was actually supplying ... more »
The BBC's view of the first Presidential debate
The BBC reluctantly report that: 'Polls show Romney won TV debate with
Obama' but look at the comments that follow the report. Actually don't look
at all the comments, just the 'Editor's picks', here they are as of now:
'Comment numbe 382. vinod 51 Minutes ago This was just a debate so don't
build bridges on sand.Election will tell more.It is sure U.S. has to
change,that does not mean president.Obama is a good debater but he has
history of more than past nearly four years to prove what he says so how
can he be bolder?He is honest,no doubt..
Comment number 159. ScotUS1992 3 Hours a... more »
A debate?
Army documents: complaining about bias, believing in government conspiracies are terrorism indicators
Army’s “Radicalization into Violent Extremism”
Madison Ruppert, *Contributor*
A newly released document, originally published by the U.S. Army’s
Asymmetric Warfare Group in 2011, reveals that the Army has guidelines just
as insane as other government agencies that consider ordinary bodily
movements and just about everything else an indicator of potential
terrorist activity.
At this point, it is almost comical how many things can be considered an
indicator of terrorism including bumper stickers, boisterous groups of
Middle Eastern males and even educational or trade school inform... more »
Do Sales Rise as Discoverability Cost Increase?
As the roles across the value chain of the various publishing sectors
change we find ourselves asking, how much does it cost to acquire a new
customer, to retain them and to do business with them in an environment
where prices remain at best unstable and at worst are falling?In the old
world costs are fairly well defined, but in the new world these become far
more complex and all tend to add small increments to the overall cost of
doing business
Who should do what, and spend what to promote what, is an interesting
challenge with authors, publishers, retailers all trying to be the
... more »
Fear not greed: a new scam?
I got this under the title "your life is at stake" from Ray Cheng. It's an
interesting scam. It depends on fear rather than greed. And I fear some
will be caught:
To your attention
I want you to read this message very carefully and that you keep the
secret until further notice. You do not need to know who I am or where
I come from. I was paid an advance of $30,000 to eliminate you. My
sponsors one of which is what we can call an ex-convict that was
convicted by your firm long ago gave me the reasons I noted. I am more
than ten days and now I know that you are innocent of what yo... more »
4 Ancient Superfoods and their Timeless Benefits
Elizabeth Renter
Though the term “super food” has only been in circulation in recent years,
the idea of super-nutritious and life giving foods have been around since
the beginning of time. As a matter of fact, it’s likely that ancient man
had a far better idea of what true superfoods are than what we gather as we
wade through aisles of cans and boxes, seeking out those things that are in
their most natural forms. Still, today anyone can compile a hefty
superfoods list for the next shopping day.
*Ancient Superfoods for Your Superfoods List*
There are foods that have been around ... more »
Lost, bewildered without teleprompter...Obama the debater: Making Jimmy Carter look awesome
*Party like it’s 1980!*
Bewildered and lost without his teleprompter, President Obama flailed all
around the debate stage last night. He was stuttering, nervous and
petulant. It was like he had been called in front of the principal after
goofing around for four years and blowing off all his homework.
Not since Jimmy Carter faced Ronald Reagan has the U.S. presidency been so
embarrassingly represented in public. Actually, that’s an insult to Jimmy
Carter.
The split screen was most devastating. Mitt Romney spoke forthrightly, with
carefully studied facts and details at the ready. He... more »
Obama schooled by Romney: why he has no passion
If you haven't watched the first U.S. presidential debate that took place
in Colorado yesterday, maybe you should:
A vast majority of folks on both sides (including the Guardian, CIPig,
various left-wing power groups and individuals including Michael Moore,
Bill Maher, MSNBC, The Huffington Post, and almost 70% of people in polls)
agree that Romney has won. He was more prepared, more aggressive, more
connected with general principles, unusually emotional for this de facto
technocrat. He demolished ideas about his trying to abolish taxes for the
rich and similar nonsense – instea... more »
Iraq: ''Ten Years, a Million Lives and Trillions of Dollars Later''
*Ten years ago today the debate over the Iraq War came to Congress in the
form of a resolution promoted by the Bush administration. The war in Iraq
will cost the United States as much as $5 trillion. It played a role in
spurring the global financial crisis. Four thousand, four hundred, eighty
eight Americans were killed. More than 33,000 were injured.
*
As many as 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi civilians were killed. The monetary
cost of the war to Iraq is incalculable. A sectarian civil war has ravaged
Iraq for nearly a decade. Iraq has become home to al Qaeda.
The war in Iraq was sold ... more »
Big'' Changes Are Coming, But The World Will Not End''
*“Reflecting upon the news and the current state of affairs, it is striking
how events are playing out according to script, as history and strategists
have predicted. In the beginning of our journey, it was focused on
discovery, historical context and understanding as to what had changed
about markets, governments and people. The answer is almost everything if
one looks just at our lifetimes.*
On the other hand, nothing has really changed if one takes a longer view.
One of our favorite sayings is, “The only thing new is the history you have
not read”....
“We can vouch for that. A... more »
White House widening covert war in North Africa
*WASHINGTON (AP) — Small teams of special operations forces arrived at
American embassies throughout North Africa in the months before militants
launched the fiery attack that killed the U.S. ambassador in Libya. The
soldiers' mission: Set up a network that could quickly strike a terrorist
target or rescue a hostage.*
But the teams had yet to do much counterterrorism work in Libya, though the
White House signed off a year ago on the plan to build the new military
task force in the region and the advance teams had been there for six
months, according to three U.S. counterterror offi... more »
No Joy on Wall Street as Biggest Banks Earn $63 Billion
*Four years ago today, President George W. Bush signed into law the biggest
corporate rescue in American history. Even as U.S. unemployment has
remained above 8 percent for 43 months, the country’s biggest banks are
making almost as much as they ever have.
*
The combined $63 billion in profit reported by the six largest U.S. lenders
over the four quarters through June is more than they earned in any
calendar year since the peak in 2006.
Bank of America Corp. made more in the 12-month period than Walt Disney Co.
and McDonald’s Corp. combined. Citigroup Inc. (C), which like Bank of
... more »
The Last Housing Crash Is Not Even Over But Bernanke Is Already Setting The Stage For The Next One
Michael Snyder, *Contributor*
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is determined to push mortgage rates
to record low levels and he is encouraging the banks that the Fed regulates
to make home loans more freely. Wait a second - isn't that exactly what
caused the last housing bubble?
After 9/11, the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates and this caused
mortgage rates to steadily fall. Financial institutions were urged to help
"expand home ownership" in America, and many of them started making home
loans to people who never, ever should have gotten home loans. When
mortgage... more »
How foreclosures ate America: Incredible interactive map shows wave of property repossession over the past five years
*A new map that illustrates foreclosure rates across the country from
January 2007 to July 2012 makes uncomfortable reading for President Obama
and his team who insist that Americans are better off than they were four
years ago.
*
Charting the collapse of the housing boom in 2007, through the election of
President Obama and the world financial crisis, the map shows vast swaths
of the Southeast, Midwest and West turn purple indicating extremely high
numbers of foreclosures.
The fascinating and disturbing colour-coded interactive map reveals the
most recent data in July 2012 doesn't ... more »
Russia denies involvement in alleged U.S. smuggling network
*(Reuters) - Russian spy agencies were not involved in an alleged smuggling
network uncovered by the United States and Moscow is concerned by the
espionage allegations, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on
Thursday.*
"The charges are of a criminal nature and have nothing to do with the work
of the secret services," he was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. Read
More
Iranians protest over currency plunge
*Oct. 4 - Amateur footage appears to show Iranians protesting over in
Tehran's Grand Bazaar over the slump of the nation's currency. Sarah
Charlton reports.*
Shops stay closed in Tehran bazaar after clashes
*(Reuters) - Shops in Tehran's Grand Bazaar stayed shut and police
patrolled the area on Thursday as authorities struggled to restore normalcy
a day after security forces clashed with anti-government demonstrators
angered by the collapse of the currency.*
Several traders from the bazaar, whose merchants played a major role during
Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, told Reuters by telephone that most stores
were closed as businessmen stayed away for safety reasons.
On Wednesday, riot police fought demonstrators and arrested money changers
in the area during protests triggered by the co... more »
Two soldiers wounded in Yemen government building bomb attack
*(Reuters) - Two bombs went off at the gate of the local council
headquarters in Yemen's southern city of Ma'ala, wounding two soldiers, the
Defense Ministry said on Thursday.*
The attackers, whose affiliation was not immediately clear, fled the scene
and security forces defused a third bomb found at the building, the
ministry said in a statement on its website.
Yemen, overlooking one of the world's busiest oil shipping routes, is
plagued by poverty and lawlessness, which the toppling of veteran president
Ali Abdullah Saleh after an Arab Spring uprising has done little to change.
... more »
Greek police clash with protesting shipyard workers
(*Reuters) - Greek police clashed with protesting shipyard workers who
stormed the Defence Ministry complex in Athens on Thursday demanding back
pay that they said they were owed*.
About 250 workers from the Hellenic Skaramangas shipyard (HSY) forced their
way into the complex by pulling up a shutter and stood in the ministry's
grounds chanting "We want solutions, not layoffs!".
The head of the army's general staff, General Mihail Kostarakos, came out
to address the protesters but was booed and heckled.
Scuffles broke out when police surrounded the workers and used truncheons
to b... more »
Turmeric May Repair and Regenerate Diabetic Liver Function
Sayer Ji, *Contributor*
Groundbreaking new research published in the *Journal of the Medical
Association of Thailand* found that curcumin, the primary polyphenol in
turmeric, is capable of repairing and even regenerating the liver tissues
of diabetic rats.
The research was performed at Srinakharinwirot University in Bangkok,
Thailand. The administration of curcumin to diabetic rats, whose livers
showed the characteristic pathology and destruction of liver tissues and
microvasculature, resulted in significant reversal of the condition.
They noted:
Fascinatingly, liver microvas... more »
Let the Children Play: Societal Constraints Reduce Freedom and Produce Suppressed Automotons
Susanne Posel, *Contributor*
*
*Earlier this month a mother in Houston, Texas was arrested Tammy Cooper
for “child endangerment” when local police accused her of abandoning her
children who were riding scooters in the street at the end of a cul de sac.
Cooper explained in her complaint that she “often allows her 6- and
9-year-old children to ride their scooters on the street while she watches
from a chair in the driveway or through the large windows on the front of
her house.”
A neighbor reported Cooper to the La Porte Police Department, claiming
Cooper had “abandoned” her childre... more »
Senate panel: DHS fusion centers produce ‘predominantly useless information’ and ‘a bunch of crap’
Madison Ruppert, *Contributor*
A newly released report from the Senate’s bipartisan Permanent Subcommittee
on Investigations reveals that the claims of Janet Napolitano, the
Secretary of the behemoth Department of Homeland Security (DHS),
surrounding the United States’ so-called fusion centers are nothing short
of outright lies.
This is far from surprising to me since in September of last year a report
from the Homeland Security Policy Institute revealed the fact that
information received from fusion centers “often lacks value.”
Fusion centers are also involved in rolling out n... more »
Turkey Continues Shelling Syria with Parliamentary approval Updates
Update # 1- Turkey has the approval of it's Parliament to expand attacks on
Syria if necessary
I will keep updating this post as time permits- For background info check
the post from yesterday when this incident began* Turkey strikes Syria in
"retaliation". Or as distraction? NATO meets*
*Turkey just keeps killing Syrian civilians via shells or proxies.*
*
**Turkey is demanding action at the UN* -Turkey seeks Security Council
action after Syria attack
Turkey demanded that the UN Security Council take action against Damascus
on Wednesday
*Turkey has never been shy about mounting c... more »
Eyes on Spain as ECB meets, bazooka ready
*(Reuters) - European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will keep his
bond-buying bazooka on display when the bank meets on Thursday, but Spain's
reluctance to request aid from EU partners means he is unlikely to pull the
trigger soon.*
A month after Draghi unveiled the bond-purchase plan that was hailed by
many as a savior for the single currency bloc, investors are still waiting
for Madrid to bite the bullet on a rescue.
Before it does, the ECB cannot act, and markets are likely to remain
jittery. Spanish two-year note yields have climbed more than half a
percentage point in t... more »
New study suggests humans are not naturally violent
J.G. Vibes
A new study published last month in *Nature Journal*suggests that humans
are naturally good. This study adds to the mounting evidence against the
popular misconception that corruption is a trait of human nature.
In ten experiments using economic games, scientists observed that faster
decisions result in more cooperation and generosity, while slower,
calculated decisions show a decrease in cooperation and generosity. The
conclusion is that the automatic reaction is to be friendly, generous and
cooperative, and only upon further consideration do humans become greedy or... more »
Human Nature: A Self-fulfilling Prophecy?
Peace and happiness is our natural state J.G. Vibes
If there is one thing that is holding this species back from a world of
peace, freedom and abundance it is the idea that destructive behavior is
naturally present in human nature. Whenever someone suggests finding
peaceful solutions to problems that are currently being “solved” with
violence, they are typically told that peaceful interactions just don’t
jive with human nature.
It seems that a very negative picture of human nature is ingrained into the
social consciousness, but in reality we have no way of truly determining
what ... more »
The Secret Covenant of the Elite
*Youtube*
**
Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter:
Delivered by FeedBurner Be the Change! Share this using the tools below.
Sharing on Reddit and Newsvine will help the most.
CNN - Romney wins first debate
Republican nominee Mitt Romney has defeated President Barack Obama in the
first presidential debate, according to a CNN poll conducted Wednesday
night.The poll, conducted following the debate in Denver, showed that 67%
of debate watchers believed that Romney won the showdown, while only 25%
said Obama was the winner.According to CNN Polling Director Keating
Holland, "No presidential candidate has topped 60% in that question since
it was first asked in 1984."
3rd American Airlines flight in a week experiences loose seats
*(CNN) -- American Airlines, already grappling with union issues and
bankruptcy fallout, is now confronting a third problem: growing reports of
loose seats.
*
On Tuesday, the company said another flight had experienced loose seats,
bringing the total to three flights on two planes in a week.
A plane headed from Vail, Colorado, to Dallas on September 26 had seats
come loose, the airline's vice president of safety confirmed Tuesday.
The same aircraft experienced a similar problem on a New York to Miami
flight on Monday morning. That flight had to return to John F. Kennedy
Airport. Rea... more »
Deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak spreads: 4 dead
*(CNN) -- A non-contagious, fungal form of meningitis has sickened 26
people in five states, killing four, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention said Wednesday.*
Five additional cases were reported in Tennessee, health officials said
Tuesday. The total number of cases in that state is 18.
Three cases have been reported in Virginia, two each in Florida and
Maryland and one in North Carolina, the CDC said. Two people have died in
Tennessee, one in Virginia and one in Maryland.
All of those infected had received steroid injections to the spine.
Tennessee: Meningitis outb... more »
Riot police swarm anti-Ahmadinejad protesters in fury over currency
*Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian riot police swarmed a major bazaar
Wednesday in Tehran as demonstrators launched protests against firebrand
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, blaming him for plummeting currency that's
leaving families across the country struggling.* A day after Ahmadinejad
acknowledged that his country is taking a hit, and placed the blame largely
on "the enemy's" sanctions, crowds of protesters also took to the streets
in another commercial area in the capital, shopkeepers said. They chanted
slogans slamming Ahmadinejad's regime and complained about the high prices
of ... more »
Sudan: Peacekeepers Killed in Ambush
*Four Nigerian soldiers belonging to the United Nations-African Union
peacekeeping mission in Darfur were killed in an ambush on Tuesday evening
by unidentified attackers.
*
Peacekeeping troops have been in Darfur since 2007. Some 16,000 troops,
mostly from African nations, are currently based in the region; 78 have
died.
The soldiers killed on Tuesday were ambushed near a peacekeeping base in
western Darfur. Eight soldiers were also injured. War broke out in Darfur
in 2003, when rebel groups took up arms against the central government.
According to the United Nations, 300,000 pe... more »
Lebanon: Explosion kills three Hizbullah fighters
*An explosion ripped through a Hezbollah munitions depot in East Lebanon
Wednesday killing three of the group's fighters and wounding an unknown
number, Hezbollah said in a statement. *
“It led to the martyrdom of three of our mujahideen brothers and wounded
several. We are now working to treat the effects of the incident and
cooperate with relevant parties,” the statement said of the incident at the
Bekaa valley village of Nabi Chit
The depot held old munitions, rockets, and “remnants of Israeli raids in
the area,” according to Hezbollah.
The explosions in Lebanon's Bekaa Wedne... more »
Iran erupts as embargo sends currency plunging
*Hundreds of protesters have clashed with police in Tehran after the
government attempted to stop the Iranian currency plummeting in value by
cracking down on speculators, beginning with the city's black-market money
changers.*
The sprawling Grand Bazaar, whose merchants were instrumental in the
overthrow of the Shah in 1979, was closed as traders shut their shops in
solidarity with the currency traders, and called for government action to
head off an economic collapse.
The riots were a sign that Western sanctions aimed at halting Iran's
nuclear programme are taking their toll on ... more »
Turkish artillery has renewed firing at targets in Syria after shells from across the border on Wednesday killed five Turkish nationals.
*Several Syrian troops were killed by Turkish fire, activists from the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.*
Turkey's border town of Akcakala was shelled, apparently by Syrian
government forces, on Wednesday, killing a woman and three children.
The UN Security Council is due to meet later to condemn Syria's actions.
Ankara's response marks the first time it has fired into Syria during the
18-month-long unrest there.
Turkey also asked the UN Security Council to take "necessary action" to
stop Syrian "aggression".
The request was made by Turkish envoy to the UN, Ertugrul Apakan... more »
4.8 Magnitude Earthquake FLORES REGION, INDONESIA - 4th October 2012
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake has struck the FLORES REGION, INDONESIA at a
depth of 15.3 km (9.5 miles), the quake hit at 06:38:45 UTC Thursday 4th
October 2012
The epicenter was 88 km (54 miles) ENE of Palue, Indonesia
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
'Amityville' house back on market, blood not included
*(CNN) -- Able to scare up a few bucks?*
Just in time for Halloween, the owners of the home made famous in the
spooky 1970s film "The Amityville Horror" are dramatically slashing the
asking price on their Toms River, New Jersey, colonial, which was used for
exteriors in the film.
The decision wasn't triggered by demonic activity, however. Apparently,
another frightening "D" word was to blame.
"My husband and I are getting a divorce," said Odalys Fragoso, who bought
the house with her husband Jose Fragoso in 2001. "It's not that the house
is haunted or anything. We had wonderful ti... more »
India's "Repair it" Culture
ALL photos courtesy: David Kraemer
When I was growing up, we didn't buy new things - we fixed broken things
because we were too poor to buy new ones. When my children were growing up,
we didn't buy new things - we fixed broken things because I was a single
parent and the money never seemed to go far enough.
I still fix things and so do my children; but, now we do it for the
environment. Everything we fix and/or modify for continued use is one less
item in the landfill. I wear my recycled clothing; fix my broken
appliances; and, get by with less with pride. David Kraemer brings us
... more »
ALEC/DFER's Gloria Romero Stands Her Ground on Won't Back Down
*"The idea of “choice” has been manipulated by the corporate reformers and
spread by groups like ALEC, who seek to use methods such as the Parent
Trigger to turn public schools over to privately-managed charters. This is
not real choice; nor is it parent empowerment." — Parents Across America.*
My commentary in response to: Gloria Romero: 'Parent Trigger' fight hits
the big screen
[image: Gloria J. Romero, Queen of California School Privatization, head of
reactionary DFER, darling of the CCSA.]
Photo by Mark Warner (CC BY-SA 2.0)
The corporate charter trigger film is a shameful far... more »
4.8 Magnitude Earthquake SALTA, ARGENTINA - 4th October 2012
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake has struck SALTA, ARGENTINA at a depth of 173 km
(107.5 miles), the quake hit at 06:11:05 UTC Thursday 4th October 2012
The epicenter was 67 km (41 miles) WNW of San Antonio de los Cobres,
Argentina
No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
4.8 Magnitude Earthquake VANUATU - 4th October 2012
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake has struck VANUATU at a depth of 95.5 km (59.3
miles), the quake hit at 04:04:34 UTC Thursday 4th October 2012
The epicenter was 104 km (64 miles) South of Port-Vila, Vanuatu
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time
POLICE HELPED CARRY OUT NORWAY ATTACK?
*Oslo policewoman Britt Børve*
*
**Who stopped police helicopter from pursuing Anders Breivik?*
Oslo police 'knew' the car number plate of the Oslo bomber, alleged to be
'Anders Breivik'.
But the police failed to follow the bomber's car from Oslo to Utoya island.
Reportedly, Britt Børve, Oslo Police Department's Operation Leader,
'blocked' the anti-terror DELTA force from pursuing the bomber's car.
Reportedly, she didn’t forward the tip, from a member of the public, about
the Fiat Duplo van, with the number plate VH24605, to the region’s police
districts, the radio, TV and newspape... more »
China Landslide Buries 18 Primary School Children
*Eighteen primary school pupils have been buried in a landslide in the
Yunnan province of China.*
Youfang Elementary School and two farm houses were destroyed by the
landslide in the village of Zhenhe in Yilang county.
The village was hit by two 5.6-magnitude earthquakes on September 7 - with
the loss of 81 lives.
A statement on the Yiliang government website said it was unclear whether
the students had survived the crush.
Another person - in one of the farm houses - is also trapped, it is
believed.
Officials said rescuers had arrived at the site and residents had been
moved fro... more »
Buildings Cooled with Sweat Mats
Photo courtesy: © Rotzetter ACC et al. / Advanced Materials
Heating and cooling systems are by far the most power hungry things in a
building. Ways to make your home more energy efficient typically revolve
around ways to make heating and cooling more efficient -- better
insulation, weather proofing, smart thermostats, etc. But what if there was
a way that buildings could cool themselves just like the human body does --
by sweating?
Researchers at ETH Zurich are developing a synthetic mat that could be
applied to roofs and essentially allow buildings to sweat in order to cool
off... more »
Killer quote from last night's Presidential debate
It's by Mitt Romney:
"Mr. President, you're entitled as president to your airplane, and to your
own house, but NOT YOUR OWN FACTS"
Post-debate, Chris Matthews lapses into panic mode [VIDEO] | The Daily Caller
http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/03/post-debate-msnbcs-chris-matthews-lapses-into-panic-mode/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
At least Chris Matthews accepts that MSNBC is pro Obama. I wish the BBC
would admit their bias.
Evading quantum mechanics: again
A reader named "the guy from Rhinoceros" has brought my attention to yet
another article trying to evade quantum mechanics; it has clearly become a
fashionable hobby of many people these days. Otherwise sensible
semi-technical Ars Technica wrote an article with a deliberately offensive
title,
Demolishing Heisenberg with clever math and experiments.
No kidding. It's a title of three lies because the authors aren't
demolishing Heisenberg but working tightly within the framework he
co-discovered; their maths isn't clever but rather completely trivial; and
they have done no experiments... more »
Shark Rescues Man?
This may of course be a simple fluky coincidence. Yet when a shark makes
a point to disturb a human being sleeping in a drifting boat allowing that
person to effectively rescue himself, one must wonder and question
everything we think we know about shark intelligence and motivations.
This was someone's good deed for the day and perhaps it is time to give
them some peace.
It is always a delight when nature confounds.
*Shark 'Rescues' Man Lost At Sea For 15 Weeks*
*After 15 weeks drifting at sea, sleeping next to his dead brother-in-law,
a man is edged to safety ... more »
Prostate Obesity
Thought provoking to say the least. Effectively we are understanding that
obesity generates an imbalance at the genetic level that plausibly
accelerates the onset of active cancers.
At least it adds one clear additional reason to limit obesity itself. This
does not cure the risk but it promises to somewhat postpone things.
In the event obesity is damaging enough anyway and applying the arclein
diet clearly works. In my own case I have watched 45 pounds drift away.
Google this blog for information.
*Obesity Promotes Prostate Cancer by Altering Gene Regulation*
*S... more »
Tiwanaku Seduces
Tiwanaku is important not just because it became the center of a large
populous state in the Alto Plano that built with cut stone over an apparent
two thousand year history, but it is also the location of extraordinary cut
monolithic fitted stones made from andesite hardness 8 and the use of
concrete as well.
The only civilization able to do this in human prehistory as we understand
it was the Egyptians when they built the Great Pyramid in 2400 BC. Even
then the quality of work shown was over the top. We could accomplish the
same today, but with huge steel handling beds... more »
NASA Mulls L2 Space Station as Next Giant Leap
The most compelling reason to establish a working space startion ot the
L2 Lagrangian location is to develop deep space technology for later
expeditions to Mars and the Moon itself. For that reason, I suspect that
this is going to happen. It is a legitimate next step.
What I would like to see is the development of a balloon envelope that can
be inflated on location and act as a safety net for the construction of the
actual station. Entry would be through docking arrangements at the hub ends
thus allowing some level of rotation able to send loose material to the
equator... more »
Depressing Letdown: Obama MIA At 1st Debate
By Manifesto Joe
I felt pretty depressed after watching every word of Wednesday night's
debate between President Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Scumney.
Oh, it could have been worse for Obama supporters. It looked pretty much
like a boring draw, if you'll pardon the boxing analogy. There were no
knockdowns.
But this worked very much in Scumney's favor. Expectations for him were
pretty low, so this performance actually gave many people the perception
that he won. Never mind that the fact-checkers had a field day with all the
bogus numbers he was tossing around. TV debates ... more »
Romney Tax Plan as Budget Busting as Ever
Seriously, I could just re-post my February 27th post word for word tonight
and it would be just as true as it was then. The Romney tax plan blows a $5
trillion hole in the budget via tax reductions and he still hasn't told us
anything about the tax breaks he would get rid of to pay for it, which he
has to do because he calls it revenue neutral, as he did again in tonight's
debate.
Amazingly, Romney kept denying that his tax reductions reduce revenue by $5
trillion over 10 years *when considered by themselves*, even accusing the
President of lying about it! He kept insisting that hi... more »
Big Brother is watching you more closely than ever: CCTV cameras, the spies in our midst
*The march of CCTV cameras - which now recognise your face from half a mile
away - is remorseless. So why aren't we all as mad as hell?*
Don’t get so agitated, a minister in the last Labour government once told
me, most CCTV cameras do not work anyway. Of all the justifications for
this Big Brother technology that watches over us from every street corner,
this was the most original.
The cameras that are meant to make us feel safer, and to make potential
criminals think twice, weren’t up to the job. If that was ever true, it
certainly isn’t the case now. For an alarming, and timely,... more »
Colorado Debate
My first reactions after the debate are up at PP. Short version: Romney
performed well while Obama was flat; Romney's policies come out of the
debate even more muddled than before; and the whole thing was probably dull
for most viewers, featuring no memorable gaffes or great lines, which might
suggest it will disappear from the headlines quicker than most of these
things do.
Since then, I've seen a little of what pundits are saying and the instant
polls, both of which came in strongly for Romney. I wasn't sure that would
be the case (on the instant polls); I didn't say anything abou... more »
Google admits Middle Eastern governments could be spying on its users as it warns of 'state-sponsored' hacking attacks
*Google has launched a new effort to warn its users that they could be the
victims of cyberattacks from hostile governments.*
Account-holders working in international relations, development and other
sensitive areas have received messages from the search giant informing them
of recent efforts to spy on their online history.
The move comes after the company started detecting 'tens of thousands' of
new hacking attacks originating in the Middle East.
Google is a tempting target for hackers, as it is not focussed solely on
search but also offers its users services such as email, mappin... more »
The Deception of A Civilization And The Regression of Reason
*Nearly four years after its release for free on the Internet, "The Obama
Deception" by Alex Jones is more relevant than ever*.
"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, *"Alex Details The Implosion of American Society,"* Wednesday,
October 3, 2012.
"When you... more »
Nigeria attack: Arrests over Mubi students' killings
*Nigerian police say they have made many arrests following the killing of
at least 26 people at a college hostel in the north-eastern town of Mubi.*
Most victims were students called out by name by the gunmen, police said.
The attackers went from door-to-door, shooting or stabbing.
It is unclear who is responsible.
Some suspect the Boko Haram militant group, while police sources are
linking it to a student union election, which was contested on sectarian
lines.
BBC Hausa service editor Mansur Liman says the newly elected leader of the
student union at the Federal Polytechnic Mubi ... more »
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 »
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 »
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment